White Bean and Kale Soup

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This hearty white bean and kale soup is chock full of veggies and filling. It’s the kind of soup that warms you up, packed with flavor, and it’s low calories too.

It’s also full of plant-based protein and inexpensive. Like all my bean recipes!

Top view of a white bowl full of white bean and kale soup over a white background.

This is the soup season, although this delicious recipe is one of my favorites all year round. It’s loaded with vegetables and beans with a rich, flavorsome broth, and I seriously could eat it every day!

Plus, each serving comes with less than 200 calories!

Start with onion, carrots and celery sautéed in olive oil, and take your time to build this important flavor base. Then add aromatic garlic, oregano, paprika and the rest of the ingredients.

Cook and let the flavors mingle together, youll be rewarded with a pot of steaming white bean kale soup that is warm, filling, and has a bold flavor that stands up on its own.

It’s absolutely delicious with croutons, crusty bread, easy focaccia or pesto bread for dipping. We usually end up topping it with some parsley pesto (always ready in my freezer!) or grated parmesan.

It’s so good and healthy you won’t feel guilty going back for seconds or thirds.

What ingredients you need

  • White beans (Cannellini, Great Northern beans)
  • Canned tomatoes (I used this brand)
  • Kale (or spinach, collard green or swiss chard)
  • Onion, carrots, celery (soffritto)
  • Green beans (or the same amount of carrots)
  • Tomato paste
  • Oregano & paprika
  • Bay leaves
  • Broth or water
  • Salt & pepper
Top view of the ingredients to make this white bean and kale soup over a white background.

How to make this bean and kale soup

(Note: the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)

  • Sauté diced onion, carrots and celery in olive oil.
  • Stir in garlic, paprika, oregano.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients, except the kale.
  • Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
  • Add the kale and cook for a further 3-4 minutes
  • Taste, adjust the seasoning and serve!
Close-up of a white bowl full of white bean and kale soup over a white background.

Recipe notes

White bean and kale soup variations

This recipe is brilliant to use leftover veggies, you can make your own adjustments if you happen to have some ingredients on hand and need to use them up.

  • Leafy greens: you can swap spinach, collard greens or swiss chard for kale.
  • Green beans: instead of green beans, a handful of mushrooms, one medium-sized zucchini or an extra carrot would too.
  • Legumes: chickpeas and black beans instead of white beans work just fine.
  • Canned tomatoes: diced or crushed tomatoes and tomato passata are all good.
  • Broth: both low sodium vegetable broth or even chicken broth work well in the recipe, however, to keep the calories down you might want to use just hot water.
Top view of a bowl with white bean and kale soup with grated parmesan.
Recipe Update: originally posted in January 2021, the recipe has been updated.

More recipes featuring beans

Beans have been my staples for years, they provide a multitude of health benefits and make me save plenty of money, too. Here are some of my favorite bean recipes:

More low-calorie soups

Healthy and satisfying soups are also the perfect meal if you watch out your calorie intake. Have a look at the following low-calorie delicious soup recipes:

If you make this white bean and kale soup recipe or if you have any questions, let me know! Leave a comment, send me a message, or rate it.
I would love to hear from you!

Top view of a white bowl full of white bean and kale soup.
Print Recipe
5 from 5 votes

White Bean and Kale Soup

This hearty white bean and kale soup is chock full of veggies and filling. It's the kind of soup that warms you up, packed with flavor, health benefits and low calories, too.
Quantities yield: 4 medium-sized servings (about 1 ½ cup each) or 6 smaller servings.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Course: Soup
Cuisine: vegan
Keyword: Bean and kale soup
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 191kcal
Author: Katia

Ingredients

  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium-sized onion, diced
  • 2 (7oz/200 grams) large carrots, diced (chunks or slices are fine)
  • 2 (4 oz/120 grams) large celery sticks, diced (chunks or slices are fine)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon oregano (or Italian herb seasoning)
  • 1 cup (4oz/110 grams) green beans, trimmed and cut into chunks
  • 1 can (14oz) white beans, drained
  • 1 can (14oz) canned tomatoes
  • 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
  • 3 cups (720 ml) water or low-sodium vegetable broth (see notes*)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ½ bunch (3oz/80 grams) lacinato kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
  • fine salt, to taste
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

  • In a large pot or saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook the vegetable slowly until they soften, for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
  • The add garlic, oregano, paprika and cook for about 45-60 secs or until the garlic is fragrant.
  • Stir in beans, canned tomatoes, green beans, tomato paste, bay leaves, broth or water. Bring to the boil, than reduce to medium heat, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
  • Then stir in the kale and continue to simmer until the kale is cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the kale is tender but still bright green. If you stir in spinach or swiss chard instead of kale, the cooking time will be about 2 minutes.
  • Taste and adjust the seasoning according to your taste (I usually add about ⅓ teaspoon of fine salt).
  • Divide into 4 bowls and serve with a drizzle of olive oil, freshly grated black pepper and crusty bread. I like this soup even more the next day. Leftovers keep well, covered and refrigerated, for about 3-4 days. The soup freezes well, too.

Notes

  • Storage instructions: keep in the fridge, stored in an airtight container, for up to 3-4 days.
  • Freezable: divide among airtight containers (leaving 1-inch space at the top), and freeze up to 2 months. 
  • I either make my own vegetable broth cooking vegetable scraps and herbs or I use hot water and vegan low sodium vegetable broth cubes. However, If you mind the calories I would reccomend you to use hot water.
Note: Nutritional values are estimates only and are calculated using water, not broth. Please see my disclosure policies.

Nutrition

Calories: 191kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 238mg | Potassium: 1009mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 10336IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 160mg | Iron: 4mg

10 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    This is the second time I’ve made this soup and it’s so yummy/filling!

    1. Thanks so much for your feedback, Stacey!
      I’m so glad you liked this soup. xx

  2. Kevin Hulse says:

    5 stars
    Hiya Katia,
    Made this tasty vegan soup for two. I subtituded the garlic for onion granules and the chopped tomatoes and white beans for a 200g tin of no added sugar baked beans and a tablespoon of tomato puree instead and garnished with cayanne pepper and sesame oil. Very rich tasting soup Katia.

    1. That’s brilliant, Kevin! I’m so pleased to hear that the recipe turned out nice and tasty with your substitutions.
      Thanks again for sharing your feedback, it’s much appreciated : )

  3. susan sinwan says:

    5 stars
    Absolutely delicious as are all the recipes I have tried so far – thank you so much.

    1. Thanks for your lovely feedback, Susan! I’m so glad to hear you loved this soup and the recipes you’ve tried so far, that makes my day!
      Cheers x

  4. 5 stars
    Made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious 😋
    I didn’t have paprika so I added smoked paprika instead and it worked great! 🔝
    Thank you for this lovely recipe 💕

    1. Thanks for your lovely comment, Sara! 💛 I’m so pleased you liked it! x

    2. 5 stars
      Amazing! Its fantastic and so simple!

    3. Thanks so much for sharing your lovely comment, Lauren! I make this recipe on a regular basis for my family, I’m so glad to hear you loved it too. Cheers!

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