This vegan white bean and kale soup is a comforting meal that features dried beans, fresh rosemary and thyme, and white wine. It’s a satisfying dish with simple flavors, that’s packed with nutrition.
Why I love this vegan white bean and kale soup
First, I love any recipe that makes it easy to use dried beans. I don’t care what anyone says, dried beans can be tricky. But when these cannellini beans cook up into creamy-yummy goodness, they’re so worth it. And so much better than canned if you ask me
Besides, as long as you pre-soak them, they cook in about the same time it takes to fully marry the flavors in this soup.
For more dried bean/chickpea recipes, check out: Best Damn Instant Pot Vegan Chili, Easy Slow Cooker Black Beans, and Instant Pot Chana Masala.
Next, this recipe employs some French cooking basics: fresh herbs, aromatics and white wine (which is, as always, optional here).
These few, high-quality ingredients work together to create simple but memorable flavors—in my book, the very essence of a great home cooked meal.
Finally, this dish is both easy to prepare and packed with nutrition. Beans and greens are foods we should work into our diets every day, and I can’t think of a more satisfying way to do just that.
How to make this recipe
- First, soak your beans overnight.
- Then, saute some aromatic vegetables and fresh rosemary.
- Next, toss in your beans and broth, a splash of white wine or vinegar, more fresh herbs, and simmer.
- When the soup’s almost ready, toss in your chopped kale, cook and serve.
Here’s how we do it, step by step: (please also check out the full recipe at the bottom of the page!)
Saute onion, celery, carrots, garlic and fresh rosemary in a Dutch oven or large pot.
Add soaked white beans to the pot.
Add broth, optional white wine, thyme and bay leaf, and simmer. (Add the kale at the end of cooking.)
Expert tips
Dried beans. Feel free to substitute another white bean of your choice, but make sure to check cooking times. Other beans can take much longer to cook. Also, old beans may take much longer or resist becoming tender. Canned beans are fine as well, but this soup will develop the best flavor by simmering for at least 30 minutes.
Check out this site for tips on cooking different type of dried beans.
Kale. I used lacinato kale, but you could use any hearty green you like here. Just adjust the cooking time accordingly–either by simmering the soup longer or adding your greens to the pot sooner. In general, the thicker/tougher the green, the longer the cooking time.
Vegetable broth. Be sure to use a broth you enjoy the taste of before it goes into the soup. Some packaged broths can be bitter or have strong flavors you may not care for. I like to use soup bases like Protective Diet Plant-Based Broth Mix.
I hope you love this creamy, herb-y, simple soup as much as we do. Let me know what you think!
-Elizabeth xo
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White Bean and Kale Soup
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 carrot 1/4-inch diced
- 2 celery stalks 1/4-inch diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup dried cannellini beans rinsed, sorted and soaked for 8 hours or overnight (Or, sub 2 1/2 cups cooked/canned white beans. See notes)
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary minced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (Or sub 2 tablespoons of champagne vinegar or sherry vinegar)
- 6 cups low sodium vegetable stock
- 1 small bunch fresh thyme tied into a bundle
- bay leaf
- 1 bunch of lacinato kale chopped (about 5 cups. Or sub other kale or spinach)
- Optional: 1-2 tablespoons vegan parm or nutritional yeast for serving
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or large pot, over medium heat, saute the onion, carrots and celery until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and rosemary and saute another 2 minutes.
- Add the soaked dried cannellini beans, vegetable broth and white wine (or vinegar) and bring to a boil.
- Add the thyme bundle and bay leaf, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
- Add the kale and continue to simmer, covered, another 10 minutes, or until both the kale and beans are tender.
Hi, I’m making my broth and was going to use canned beans as they were easier to find. I have frozen kale that I grew and couldn’t eat all so I froze it. Do you think I should just put it in frozen or defrost it first? Luckily the rosemary is in my garden. I’m going to let my stock go all night and make the soup tomorrow, thanks for the recipe and I’d love to hear your thoughts on frozen kale…
Hi, It’s fine to just toss the kale in frozen. It will take a few minutes more to bring the soup back up to simmering temperature, but won’t affect your final result. Enjoy!
“Protective Diet” has been out of stock for a long time. Any other vegan broths that work well with this recipe (besides home made) ?
It can be challenging to find vegan broth mixes that are also oil free, low sodium, sugar free, etc. I sometimes use Better Than Bouillion low sodium vegetable base in a pinch. Good luck!
I love how creamy this is. Perfect (healthy) comfort food!
Hey Kelly, so glad you tried this one. Did you use the barley you mentioned you might try? I’m with you-the creaminess of the beans is my fav part of this recipe. Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
Can you use curly leaf kale in this recipe?
Hi Latischia, Yes indeed, you can substitute any kale or other dark green here. Just adjust the cooking time if needed (some kale is a bit more fibrous and takes longer to cook).
I also have another bean and kale soup, which I got from Canadian Living. However, I am definitely going to try yours, because we love soups.
One of my tricks is, that when I buy bags of dried beans, I cook them all and divide them into 2 or 3 cup portions into ziplock bags. So, I always have cooked beans handy in the freezer. I started also to do the same with whole grains. Not only is this cheaper, but better as well. Happy cooking.
Hi Kiki, I love this idea! I couldn’t agree more–home cooked beans from dried are so much better than canned, and how convenient is it to have frozen beans and grains ready to go! Thanks for sharing <3