This Tuscan kale soup is as delicious as it is healthy! Made with creamy white beans and veggies in a savory herbed broth, it's super comforting and hearty enough to make a meal of!
Soup season is all year long if you ask me! I love soup and will gladly down big bowls of it even in the ninety plus degree summer heat.
What does change throughout the year is the varieties of soup that I enjoy. In the summer I might go for something light, like zucchini soup or lemon orzo soup. As things cool down I start to crave thicker, heartier soups, like this Tuscan kale soup.
Don't get me wrong: I'll take a bowl of this any day. But I especially like it during the cooler months, which we're now approaching. It's super comforting and satisfying, without being overly heavy. This one is actually healthy, with beans and veggies being the stars of the show.
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Olive oil. Another high-heat oil such as canola, vegetable or coconut oil can be used if you prefer, though olive oil will give your soup the best flavor.
- Onion.
- Celery.
- Carrots.
- Garlic.
- Vegetable broth. Use your favorite brand. I really like Better Than Bouillon in seasoned vegetable flavor.
- Cannellini beans. Feel free to substitute another variety of white beans, such as navy beans or great northern beans.
- Dried thyme. Prefer fresh thyme? Go for it, and double the amount.
- Red pepper flakes.
- Tuscan kale. This type of kale is a bit more tender than curly kale. It's also darker in color, has elongated leaves, and a bumpy surface, as you can see in the photos above. Tuscan kale might also be labelled as dinosaur kale, Italian kale, or Lacinato kale at the store. Feel free to substitute any other variety of kale if you can't find it.
- Lemon juice.
- Salt & pepper.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot, then add the onions, carrots and celery. Sweat the veggies for a few minutes, until they start to soften up.
- Add the garlic and sauté it with the veggies for just a minute, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the broth, white beans, thyme and red pepper flakes. Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, until the veggies are soft.
- Take the soup off heat and blend some of it. How much should you blend? That's up to you! I've blended about a third of mine, but you could blend more for a creamier soup, or less for a brothier soup.
Tip: An immersion blender is a great tool for blending soup because you don't have to take it out of the pot! If you don't have one, a regular blender or food processor will work just fine. In any event always be super careful when blending hot liquids.
- Place the pot back on the burner and begin heating the soup again and adding chopped kale. You'll probably need to add the kale in batches, stirring each one in and letting it wilt before adding more.
- Simmer the soup a little while longer, until the kale is very tender.
- Take your Tuscan kale soup off of the burner and season it with some lemon juice, along with salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy your soup! I love to serve mine with a big chunk of crusty bread.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is!
Most of the sodium comes from the broth and beans. Try using low sodium varieties of each of those ingredients.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover Tuscan kale soup will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 4 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
More Kale Soup Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Tuscan Kale Soup
Equipment
- 1 Immersion blender (or standard blender or food processor)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 2 medium celery stalks, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 cups vegetable broth, plus more as needed (I use 5 cups total)
- 2 (14 ounce or 400 gram) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Pinch red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 large bunch Tuscan kale (about 1 to 1 ½ pounds/450 to 675 grams), stems removed and leaves roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with the oil and place it over medium heat.
- Add the onion, carrot and celery. Sweat the veggies for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften.
- Stir in the garlic and cook it with the veggies for about a minute, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the broth, beans, thyme and red pepper flakes.
- Raise the heat and bring the broth to a boil, then lower the heat and allow the soup to simmer for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
- Remove the pot from heat.
- Blend about half to a third of the soup (depending on how thick you like it) either using an immersion blender or by transferring it to a blender or food processor in batches. Use caution when blending hot liquids.
- Return the soup to the burner and begin stirring in the kale, adding it in batches if needed, stirring each addition in until it wilts and another batch can be added.
- Bring the soup back up to a simmer and let it cook for about 10 minutes, until the kale is tender, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the soup from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
- Ladle into bowls and serve.
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This one is a winner. Hearty but not heavy. I used 'elephant kale' (also called tuscan kale) and it was delicious!
A - M - A - Z - I - N - G. THANK YOU!!!
I love soup on a cold winter day
We are sort of snowed in here in Missouri. I had kale I needed to use.
Simmering now
I also love using my immersion blend to thicken. Husband doesn't think he likes kale. We will see how the soup hits him today. The rest of us will enjoy.
I didn't have veg broth so added extra spices and vegs
Fantastic soup. Make it all the time
I really love this soup And I have made it several times. Thank you for sharing the recipe! I always add some extra garlic and herb seasoning as I love my soups to have extra seasonings.
I had no idea the soup was going to become a fast favorite. I used better than bouillon Italian herb because that’s what I had on hand. Absolutely delicious.!!! Thank you.
This soup is amazing & easy! I added a diced jalapeno when adding the broth & while serving I added some parmesan cheese & diced avocado. This is definately now one of my fav soup recipes! Thank You!
Simmer with lid on or off?
Uncovered. Soups are usually simmered with the lid off, unless the recipe specifies otherwise. :)
LOVE this soup and so does the family, so much so it is now on rotation.
This is a soup I keep on returning to each winter to warm me up and it never fails!! Thank you for making this one of the classics in my kitchen!
I love this soup! I made it with curly kale because that's all I had, and I didn't have lemons, but it still turned out fantastic. It's so inexpensive to make too. Definitely a keeper.
Made 2 months ago. Delish. Making again now. Adding polish sausage. Love it
simple and delicious! I didn’t have celery, and I subbed chickpeas for the beans. Turned out great.
I used Chinese Kale and I added red beans instead of the white ones. Also I used sweet potato noodles because I have a heap on hand. I didn't have the right ingredients, yet I managed not to add any meat (thus distinguishing myself from the comment below :)) and it turned out great. Thanks for the inspiration.
Delish! My husband and I loved every bite. I added some Italian chicken sausage for a meat component because my husband doesn’t think any meal is complete without meat. I also used chicken stock instead of vegetable because I didn’t have any on hand. It all turned out wonderfully!
Excellent! Recommend for kale soup lovers!
Absolutely delicious! I added turkey kielbasa to mine. Everyone loved it. This will be a new favorite.
I added some cubed rotisserie chicken along with some cabbage that I didn't want to go bad...my husband said he was glad I put some chicken in the soup...the soup turned out great...thank you for sharing...
This is some of the best soup I’ve ever made. WOW, wow, wow! It’s going into the regular rotation.
Sitting here in Tuscany... Just tried this recipe with some fresh thyme 11 steps from the door. Was a delicious success.
Absolutely delicious!
I just made this! This is one of the best soups I've made. I did not have celery so I just used a few extra carrots and it is delicious! I will definitely be making this again!
Wonderful!!!
Loved it. Super fast and easy. Only thing I added was parmesan rind I had in freezer just for some flavor depth. Will be making this again
This was so easy and delicious!
I added some chorizo and used curly kale, the only problem with which was that it needed longer to cook. Next time I'll add kale at the start and perhaps another can of beans which I'll blend separately before adding to the soup.
Loved this recipe! I had bought 2 lbs of kale (oops :-) and needed a way to use up the extra. Added extra spice/red pepper flakes but otherwise didn't change anything. Absolutely delicious and very filling. Thanks for sharing.
Made this today. Only thing I changed was I used about half the amount of kale. Made some homemade bread to go with it. So very good! Thank you for this delicious, flavorful recipe!
This is probably the best soup I’ve ever made. Talk about eating it year-round I’m in Miami and it’s super hot now and still I could not wait for dinner to sneak myself a bowl of soup. I used organic reduced sodium “better than bouillon” veggie base. I didn’t have dried thyme so just threw in some fresh. It’s a keeper and I’m ready to check out more of your recipes!
Thank you Alyssa, i love this soup. So easy to make
This soup is great! vegan too
It was an Oh My God moment. I added Chorizo to it.
Can i use a crockpot ?
I'm sure you can, but I haven't used one for this particular recipe myself, so I'm not sure about cook time. I'm thinking about 2 hours on high or 4 on low, but that's just a guess. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try it!
How about in an InstantPot?
This has to be one of the most delicious soups I've made. Prior to making it, I was dubious it would have much flavor; boy, was I wrong. You always have absolutely the best recipes.
I needed something healthy and warm today so this soup was the right choice for me. I used chickpeas instead of beans (I had them at home) and flavored it with bit more of the lemon juice, it was yummy. Thank you for the recipe.
Made with pantry staples, easy to throw together, and delicious!! My new favorite soup recipe
This was sooo good. I used Better Than Bouillon vegetable and a little of McKays Chicken seasoning. I added a couple of potatoes and some rosemary. I used more water. It makes a big pot of soup But Will not last long.
I Will be making this again.
I love, love this recipe over and over is what i will be doing. The taste is amazing with just fresh veggies, veg broth and a couple of spices.
Friends gave us kale from their garden and I'm glad I found your recipe as I've not tried kale before.
It came out delicious and I only needed to use a 1/2 lb of kale. I'll also be adding more vegetable broth to the remaining soup to thin it out a bit. The red pepper flakes gave it a nice kick and the fresh squeezed lemon juice enhanced the flavors too.
Thank you!
Delicious and healthy! My grocery store didn't have Tuscan kale, but this turned out great with just regular kale. I did end up adding some extra lemon juice and seasonings to mine (nutritional yeast and italian seasoning). Was able to cut back on the sodium a lot with low-sodium broth and beans. Super delicious paired with some toasted French bread with butter.