Hearty, warm, filling and comforting, this kale soup with cannellini beans and quinoa will keep you full for hours. Vegan, gluten-free, and best of all, you'll only have one pot to clean up!
Kale Tips
Even though kale stems are edible, they're tough and fibrous and take a long time to soften. For recipes other than kale soup, we prefer to cut and discard the stems below the leaves. The stem part, where the leaves are attached, is usually thinner and not as tough. You can either keep the kale ribs or discard them by running a knife along with them. That would depend on how thick the stems are and how you're preparing the kale.
Here are some ideas on how to cook kale
From kale soup recipes to salads and pesto, there are many ways to make it part of your healthy diet. Check out our complete how-to-cook kale guide.
- Kale soup: You can add kale to any vegetable, bean or lentil soup. A tough vegetable like kale works great in soups because it softens while the soup cooks. Adding kale to your soups is a great way to get your daily serving of healthy green leafy vegetables. Check out our Veggie Sausage and Kale Soup
- Kale Salad: for a more tender raw kale salad we recommend that you remove the kale leaves from the stems and massage them with olive oil, salt and lemon to break down some of the kale fibers, for a softer, easier to digest salad. If you don’t mind a little extra chewiness in your salad and don't want to take the time to separate the kale leaves from the stems, you can blanch the kale first, as we did in our Kale Salad with Chickpeas Tempeh Bacon Bits, and in our Vegan Kale Caesar Salad with Mushroom Bacon Bits.
- Sautéed or braised kale: you also have the option to buy the pre-cut and pre-washed kale, (we always give it an additional wash or three) and either braised as we did in our Braised Curried Kale with Spiced Chickpeas recipe or as a filling to our Vegan Garlicky Kale Pizza Empanadas.
- Kale pesto: use kale instead of basil to make a pesto check out our Penne Pasta with Vegan Cauliflower & Walnut Kale Pesto.
- Green Smoothies: Some people add kale to their green smoothies. To be quite honest, we're not big fans, but if you are, go ahead and enjoy!
How to prepare kale
- Separate the kale from the bunch
- Remove and discard stems
- Cut along the length of the center rib
- Separate ribs from leaves
- Chop kale
- Discard ribs and stems or save them to flavor a veggie broth
Other Healthy Soup Recipes You May Like
- Moroccan Harira Soup
- The Best Vegetable Soup
- Wheat Berry and Chickpea Soup
- Immune Booster Vegan Ramen Bowl
- Coconut Carrot Ginger Soup
- Zucchini Sweet Potato Soup
Some Fabulous Kale Recipes to Try Today
- Purple Kale Farro Bowl
- Vegan Kale Caesar Salad with Mushroom Bacon bits
- Meatless sausage and kale soup
- Braised Kale with Spiced Chickpeas
- Penne Pasta with Cauliflower and Kale Pesto
- Kale Salad with Chickpeas and Tempeh Bacon Bits
- Vegan Garlicky Kale Pizza Hand Pies
Did you like this Kale Soup with Cannellini Beans and Quinoa?
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Kale & Cannellini Bean Soup
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 6 cups 1x
Description
Hearty, warm, filling, and comforting, this kale soup with cannellini beans and quinoa will keep you full for hours. Vegan, gluten-free, and best of all, you'll only have one pot to clean up!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1- 10oz bag of chopped kale
- 1- 32oz container of organic vegetable or no-chicken broth (we use this one)
- 3 cups water
- 1- 15oz can organic cannellini beans
- ½ to 1 tsp salt ( to taste)
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp allspice
- Pinch of cayenne (optional)
- ½ cup raw quinoa
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Saute the garlic and kale over medium heat for about 5 minutes
- Add the vegetable broth, water, beans, salt and spices
- Bring to a boil, add quinoa and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ½ cups
- Calories: 213
- Sugar: 2.7
- Sodium: 845.7
- Fat: 6.3
- Saturated Fat: .9
- Unsaturated Fat: 4.7
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 32
- Fiber: 6.6
- Protein: 9.7
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: how to make kale soup, kale soup, vegan kale soup
Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes says
Wow yeah...that whole list definitely sounds like NO fun!! However, this soup looks delicious and like it's lots of fun to eat 🙂 It especially looks good on this rainy day we are having here in NY....
Allie | Baking A Moment says
I would love a hot bowl of this soup on this dreary day... it looks so comforting! Love how you've added a little quinoa. It must be so satisfying. Good luck with your new job and all the moving stuff. It is a hassle though, isn't it? Hopefully it will all be behind you soon enough 😉
Davida @ The Healthy Maven says
This soup sounds amazing! Just starting the apartment hunt now and it is the WORST. Not to mention the lack of sleep grrrr. This soup will have to make up for it!
Kelly says
Moving and house hunting is hard and not fun, hopefully you get through it soon 🙂 This soup sounds like a perfect comforting meal to help soothe some troubles away for the moment. I love cooking with kale and will definitely be making this comforting soup soon. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you Kelly.
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
Mmm.. we make kale soup with quinoa and beans all autumn. So good 🙂
Vicky & Ruth says
And comforting too!
Jen @ Savory Simple says
I love the sound of this!
Pinchecky says
I tried this last night and it was so good and so easy to make. Thank you!
I didn't have any cayenne pepper and used chipotle instead. I also added about 1/4 cup of hunts tomato sauce.
★★★★
Whitney says
I've been meaning to comment & tell you, this has become one of our go-to meals! It's absolutely delicious, and sooo easy! We add more garlic, as well as a little salsa verde & sriracha, but otherwise we pretty much follow the recipe as-written & we love it. Thanks a bunch!
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you so much for your feedback. We love to hear how our readers make our recipes their own. Keep warm!
Kat says
This is the first recipe I tried from May I Have That Recipe and I must say, I will definitely be trying other recipes. This was so easy to make. And it is so delicious. I am sharing it with all my friends and family. Thank you!
I'm a wanna-be vegetarian so I made some substitutions based on what I had on hand. I used chicken broth, fresh baby kale that I chopped myself, and 2 cans of beans as I wanted to make the soup into a dinner, not just an appetizer. I also didn't have any allspice. I just added 1/2 tsp of onion powder for flavoring.
I don't think you could mess up this recipe no matter you did. The ingredients just really work well together. I haven't added up the protein but it must be packed between the kale, the beans and quinoa.
It is really delicious and I will definitely be making this soup on a regular basis every winter.
Thanks so much!
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you very much Kat and thanks for sharing your adaptation to this recipe.
Kelly says
Tried this tonight, used fresh kale since I already had it. Absolutely delicious! One of the best soups I've ever tasted.
★★★★★
Phil says
Options other than quinoa?
Vicky & Ruth says
Hi Phil, you can add couscous, semolina flour, rice or farro.
Dawn says
Just made this soup and it's easy, healthy, savory and delicious. I will be making this again and soon!
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. It's one of our favorites!
Ella Garcia says
Instead of kale can I use spinach? I would put the spinach at the end.
★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Hi Ella, yes you can use spinach instead of kale in this soup or any other green leafy vegetable. Let us know if you have any other questions.
Raquel says
I already made this soup and it’s delicious and filling! If you’re a kale lover then this soup is for you.
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you so much! We are so glad you enjoyed our kale soup!
Cindy says
Love soup this time of year and this was easy and really good!!
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
This kale soup, it is so good and comforting. Thank you for sharing.
Linda hake says
My first time cooking kale even though my grandma used to make it. This soup is tasty and easy and I only needed a few items from the store. My son liked it and I am making it tonight again.
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
This kale soup is one of our favorites, we are happy you and your son agree. Enjoy!
Mary Suncin says
My husband and I enjoyed this delicious recipe. Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
We are so happy to hear. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
Cindy says
Easy to make, tasty and filling, my kind of recipe!!
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you, Enjoy!
Nancy says
I'm making this tonight! It looks amazing, easy and delicious! It has all of the things I love! I'm going back to Vegan after a short stint off, I realize I feel so much better, mentally and physically, with no meat/dairy.
BTW -I LOVE my Tahini and Tumeric cookbook!
★★★★★
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you so much Nancy, we are delighted that you are enjoying Tahini and Turmeric.
Keep Cooking!
Vicky & Ruth says
Thank you! We are delighted that you are enjoying Tahini and Turmeric.
Keep Cooking!