• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Primavera Kitchen

Making healthy foods taste delicious!

Search
  • All Recipes
  • By Course
    • Breakfast
    • Appetizers
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Desserts
    • Side dishes
    • Salads
    • Soups
    • Snacks
  • By Dietary
    • Low-Carb
    • Keto
    • Whole30
    • Gluten free
    • Paleo
    • Dairy Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • By Method
    • Air Fryer
    • Slow Cooker
    • Instant Pot
    • Grilling
    • No Cook
    • Baking
    • One-Pan
    • Meal prep
  • By Ingredient
    • Chicken Category
    • Pork
    • Lamb
    • Salmon Category
    • Shrimp
    • beef
    • Browse All Ingredients
  • By Season
    • Spring Recipes
    • Summer Recipes
    • Fall Recipes
    • Winter Recipes
  • Low-Carb
  • Dinner
  • About
Home Soup Recipes

White Bean and Kale Soup

By: Olivia Updated: 6/24/23
Jump to RecipeJump to VideoPrint RecipeLeave a Review
Titled Photo Collage (and shown): White Bean and Kale Soup

Flavor-packed white bean and kale soup is the epitome of healthy comfort food. It’s full of greens, nutritious legumes, and vegetables like onion, celery and butternut squash. Plus, this recipe is hearty and filling with a protein boost that comes from lean ground beef. Best of all, it’s ready in just 35 minutes making it perfect for a busy weeknight.

And, have you noticed that soup always gets better as the ingredients marinate together in the refrigerator? That’s another thing I love about this kale recipe, it’s even better the next day and leftovers make the perfect, easy lunch.

White bean and kale soup in a serving bowl with shredded parmesan cheese topping.
Table of Contents show
Ingredients To Make White Bean And Kale Soup
Instructions
Instructions to Make this Kale Soup
Recipe Tips
How To Store Leftovers
More Ground Beef Recipes
Frequently Asked Questions
Serve This kale soup With
Easy Low-carb Dinner Rolls
Gluten Free Cornbread
Low-Carb Bacon and Cheese Scones
Low-Carb Almond Flour Crackers
White Bean and Kale Soup
Ingredients
Instructions
Tips
Video
Nutrition Information
Similar Recipes:
Did You Make This?

Cozy soups are the best way to survive cold weather because they really heat up the kitchen. Though I’ll absolutely eat them any time of year, I appreciate a hot meal most when I need help warming up.

If you need more comforting soup recipes be sure to check out my Chicken Vegetable Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup, Carrot Leek Soup, Dutch Oven Beef Stew and Zucchini Noodle Soup or this incredible Healthy Meatball Soup!

Ingredients To Make White Bean And Kale Soup

  • Olive oil — Extra virgin. Sub coconut or avocado oil if desired.
  • Ground beef — Lean and grass-fed. I generally use 93/7% beef. If you use fattier meat, I recommend draining the excess fat after browning, before adding other ingredients.
  • Onion (white or yellow onion) — Either yellow or white.
  • Celery — 3-4 stalks, diced.
  • Garlic — This recipe calls for minced, fresh garlic cloves, but you can substitute about ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder in a pinch, if necessary.
  • Butternut squash — Buy a whole squash from the grocery store or look for a pre-cut option in the produce section to save a little time. Sweet potato would be a nice alternative!
  • Chicken broth — Vegetable broth or stock will also work well.
  • Seasonings — I like using dried oregano, salt and black pepper. Feel free to play around with other herbs and spices if desired, this recipe is quite flexible. You can ass red pepper flakes for some extra heat.
  • Beans — I like using cannellini beans, though white navy beans would be a nice substitute.
  • Kale — Be sure to remove stems before adding to soup.
  • Parmesan cheese — Freshly grated parmesan cheese will have the best taste, though pre-shredded or grated will still be yummy.
Ingredients for white bean and kale soup arranged on a countertop.

Instructions

Instructions to Make this Kale Soup

Prep work:

  • Chop onion, dice celery, mince garlic and set to the side.
  • Peel, halve and remove seeds from your squash. Dice it into small, half inch cubes.
  • Remove stems from kale and chop it into bite sized pieces.

Sauté:

  • Measure olive oil into a large soup pot or Dutch oven and place on the stovetop over high heat. Once oil is hot, reduce heat to medium and add the ground beef. Crumble meat with a wooden spoon and allow it to brown completely.
  • Once all of the pink color is gone, add the onion, celery and garlic. Mix it in and sauté with beef for approximately 5 minutes.

Boil the soup:

Subscribe for new recipes & a free e-cookbook

  • Mix in your butternut squash cubes, then add chicken stock and spices.
  • Cover the pot and turn heat to high. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

Serve:

  • Mix white beans and chopped kale into the soup. Once the kale has wilted, do a taste test and add more salt/pepper, if desired.
  • Ladle soup into serving bowls, top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and enjoy.

Recipe Tips

  • The most time-consuming part of making this kale soup is prepping all of the veggies. You can totally chop them up ahead of time and store in the refrigerator for later! This will save you extra time on a busy weeknight.
  • This kale soup recipe is super flexible and versatile. If you’d like to try a different protein, ground turkey or chicken would both work nicely!
  • Be sure to remove the stems from your kale, it takes a few extra minutes but it’s worth the time. They’re tough, chewy and not the tastiest. It’s best to avoid putting them in your soup.
  • Feel free to use a different leafy green in this kale soup. Spinach, Swiss chard, mustard greens and collard greens are all good substitutes for Kale.
  • You can make this kale soup without the ground beef and turn it into a vegan soup.
  • You can also add some herbs such as rosemary, bay leaf and thyme.
  • Before serving you can squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on top of the soup.

How To Store Leftovers

  • To Store: Allow this kale soup to cool and place it in an airtight container. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.
  • To Freeze: Allow leftovers to cool and place them in a freezer-safe food storage container, leave some space at the top as the soup will expand when freezing. Store frozen for up to 3 months.
  • To reheat: You can reheat this soup straight from frozen. Use the microwave or place soup in a pot on the stovetop, over medium heat, until warmed through completely.

More Ground Beef Recipes

Ground beef is the best ingredient when you want to make a healthy, quick and convenient dinner. Be sure to check out these other tasty recipes:

  • Taco Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
  • Ground Beef Taco Salad
  • Ground Beef Veggie Skillet
  • Baked Meatballs Casserole
  • Healthy Meatloaf Recipe

Frequently Asked Questions

What bean is closest to cannellini?

If you can’t find cannellini beans at the store, I’d recommend purchasing great northern beans. White navy beans will also work well as a stand-in.

Are white kidney beans the same as cannellini beans?

Yes. If you’re having trouble finding cannellini beans, note that they are sometimes labeled as white kidney beans, but it’s the same thing!

How can I thicken my kale soup?

If you want to thicken this white bean and kale soup, there are many options. You can use less broth or more beans and veggies. You can also blend up an extra can of beans until smooth and creamy and stir them into the broth as a thickener! Finally, you can create a slurry of cornstarch and cold water and add this to your hot broth (this is a very common way to thicken soups and sauces).

Serve This kale soup With

Easy Low-carb Dinner Rolls

Gluten Free Cornbread

Low-Carb Bacon and Cheese Scones

Low-Carb Almond Flour Crackers

Watch the White Bean and Kale Soup Web Stories.

Did you make a recipe? Tag @primaverakitchen on Instagram so we can find you!

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

White bean and kale soup in a serving bowl with shredded parmesan cheese topping.
3.66 from 112 votes

White Bean and Kale Soup

Flavor-packed white bean and kale soup is the epitome of healthy comfort food. It’s full of protein, greens, nutritious legumes, and vegetables. Plus, this hearty and filling recipe is ready in just 35 minutes making it perfect for a busy weeknight.
Prep: 10 minutes minutes
Cook: 25 minutes minutes
Total: 35 minutes minutes
Servings: 6 people
Print Rate Email

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 lb grass-fed ground beef
  • 1 cup onion finely chopped
  • 3/4 cup celery diced
  • 1 tbsp garlic minced
  • 2 cups butternut squash finely diced
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 (19 ounces) can white cannellini beans drained, and rinsed
  • 1 cup kale stems removed and roughly chopped
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
US CustomaryMetric

Instructions

  • Chop onion and kale, dice celery and mince garlic. Peel and dice butternut squash into half inch cubes and set everything to the side.
  • In a large pot over high heat, add olive oil. When the oil is hot, turn the heat down to medium and add ground beef. Use a wood spoon and break up the ground beef while it cooks.
  • When the ground beef is no longer pink, add onions, celery and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Then, add butternut squash and mix all together. Add chicken broth, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Stir well, cover with a lid, and bring ingredients to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 15 mins.
  • Finally, add cannellini beans and kale. Stir well and cook for about 5 mins or until kale is soft.
  • Taste and add any extra seasonings, if necessary. Then, before serving, top each soup bowl with Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Tips

  • Pre-chop veggies ahead of time to make for quicker weeknight prep.
  • Feel free to swap the ground beef for another ground meat of your choice such as ground turkey or chicken.
  • Kale stems are quite tough so I don’t recommend trying to adding them to your soup. 
  • Don’t have kale? Feel free to swap for any leafy greens such as spinach or collard greens. 
  • To store: Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. 
  • To reheat: Reheat the soup in the microwave or on the stovetop until hot.
  • To freeze: Freeze the soup for up to 3 months. Make sure you leave space when freezing as soup expands as it freezes. 

Video

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1/6 Calories: 246kcal (12%) Carbohydrates: 22g (7%) Protein: 22g (44%) Saturated Fat: 2g (13%) Cholesterol: 53mg (18%) Sodium: 581mg (25%) Fiber: 7g (29%) Sugar: 4g (4%)

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.

© Author: Olivia Ribas

Similar Recipes:

  • close up shop of a turkey soup bowl
    Turkey Vegetable Soup Recipe
  • Titled Photo Collage (and shown): Healthy Soup Recipes
    30 Healthy Soup Recipes
  • Beet and Sweet Potato Soup
    Easy Beet Sweet Potato Soup Recipe
  • Overhead image focusing on one of two bowls of carrot leek soup in white bowls.
    Carrot Leek Soup Recipe

Did You Make This?

Follow @primaverakitchen on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag it #primaverakitchen. We’d love to see your recreation.

Tag Me On Instagram Rate Recipe

If you like this White Bean and Kale Soup recipe, please share with your friends and family. Do you want to taste more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow Primavera Kitchen on Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, and Facebook for all delicious recipes updates. As always, I really appreciate you stopping by.

P

SaveSave

2.4K shares
  • Share
  • Email

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Have a question? Submit your question or comment below.

Rate This Recipe:




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Jaye says

    Posted on 3/11/17 at 8:35 pm

    My family enjoyed this this evening! It was easy and budget-friendly too!

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 3/24/17 at 11:01 am

      Yep! This is one of my favourite recipes! It’s very easy to make and so tasty 😉

      Reply
    • Stacey says

      Posted on 11/23/22 at 6:52 pm

      Can you bring back the original recipe with turkey and turnips? Also — why’d you change it?

      Reply
      • Krystal says

        Posted on 12/15/22 at 6:22 pm

        Yeah so weird the recipe directions is for the old one and the ingredients are all messed up. I Was so confused lol

        Reply
        • Olivia says

          Posted on 1/19/23 at 1:27 pm

          It’s all fixed now. Sorry about that.

          Reply
      • Chrissy says

        Posted on 1/16/23 at 6:48 pm

        Totally agree! The original soup is light and healthy and full of flavor.

        Reply
        • Olivia says

          Posted on 1/19/23 at 1:26 pm

          It’s almost the same recipe. We just replace ground turkey for ground beef and turnip for butternut squash.

          Reply
      • Olivia says

        Posted on 1/19/23 at 1:24 pm

        We retested this recipe because it was so old and needed it. You can still make this recipe with ground turkey instead of ground beef and you can replace butternut squash for turnip.

        Reply
  2. Kristal says

    Posted on 9/24/17 at 2:56 pm

    Do you cook it to a boil and then simmer 10-15 or boil corn 10-15?

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 1/19/23 at 1:25 pm

      I cool it to a boil and then simmer for 10-15 mins.

      Reply
  3. malia says

    Posted on 10/11/17 at 8:28 pm

    This was a delicious soup. Hearty, healthy, and perfect for fall.

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 10/17/17 at 11:35 am

      Yep! It’s perfect for fall 😉

      Reply
  4. Fiona says

    Posted on 2/25/18 at 8:50 am

    I made this for dinner last night as a spur of the moment kind of thing and it was AMAZING! I am not a very good cook by any means. I butchered meatloaf if anyone can believe that. I had to ask someone at the grocery store what turnips are and almost bought turnips leaves as I didn’t know the difference between turnips and turnip leaves… I’m very new at this.
    This is the first recipe that I have put together that I LOVED! One thought though, is it possible to have the nutritional value of the recipes available? If it already is and I am missing it then someone point me in the right direction 🙂

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 2/27/18 at 9:20 pm

      You’re so fun… hahahahaha! I love your comment. So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. I just added the nutritional value on the recipe box for you. Thanks for stopping by 😉

      Reply
  5. Chris says

    Posted on 7/24/18 at 6:47 pm

    Definitely is easy to make and pretty tasty! I would make this again

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 7/25/18 at 10:37 pm

      Awesome!

      Reply
  6. Laura Crosby says

    Posted on 12/11/18 at 7:29 pm

    Second time making this and it’s such an easy meal for a cold night. I don’t change anything except add tons of kale. Good to freeze leftovers and super yummy! Thank you! 

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 12/12/18 at 8:56 pm

      Happy you enjoy this recipe. It’s perfect for this time of the year 😉

      Reply
    • Laura C says

      Posted on 10/18/22 at 9:56 pm

      Still making this soup years later. One of my faves. Not sure why it’s showing 4 stars, definitely 5 in my book!

      Reply
      • Olivia says

        Posted on 10/23/22 at 10:59 am

        Awww you’re so kind! Happy you like it. We love it too!

        Reply
  7. Kira says

    Posted on 1/16/19 at 6:08 pm

    Do you think it’d be good to substitute sausage for the turkey? Just want some additional opinions, but this is one of my favorite recipes!

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 1/23/19 at 2:36 pm

      Yes, you totally can 😉

      Reply
  8. Brenda says

    Posted on 9/22/19 at 5:11 pm

    Is it possible to make this in a crockpot?

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 9/23/19 at 8:28 pm

      I believe so. Just add the kale 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

      Reply
  9. Lauren Osoba says

    Posted on 7/29/21 at 2:19 pm

    I’ve been making this soup for years and it’s fantastic. Imo there isn’t any reason to sub out the kale for a different taste – I love the kale! But I recently made this with turnips from my garden – since the plant also produced turnip greens I subbed those for the kale. If anyone else has the turnip greens left over it’s a nice way to simplify how many ingredients are needed.

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 8/16/21 at 11:19 am

      I’ve never used turnip greens in my cooking. That’s awesome. I will try it next time.

      Reply
  10. JB says

    Posted on 5/26/22 at 7:06 pm

    So very good and I feel I am eating such a healthy soup.

    Reply
    • Olivia says

      Posted on 6/5/22 at 10:10 pm

      Happy you liked it!

      Reply

Primary Sidebar

Get New Recipes by email & a free Dinner Recipes e-cookbook

Looking for Something?

  • Search By Keyword
  • Browse Recipe Index

Fall Recipes!!!

Chicken noodle soup in a large white pot.

Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

Overhead photo of a white bowl of roasted butternut squash.

Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe

Easy Roasted Acorn Squash Recipe

closeup beef stew in a pot

Dutch Oven Beef Stew

Overhead photo of a white serving platter with garlic parmesan roast brussels sprouts.

Garlic Parmesan Roasted Brussel Sprouts

baked dish with broccoli and cauliflower with melted cheese on top

Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole Recipe

Popular Recipes

close of up crispy chicken thighs in a pan topped with fresh parsley

Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Thighs

wild salmon fillet with lemon slices and garlic butter

Garlic Butter Baked Salmon Recipe

A skillet filled with garlic butter chicken breast

Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Breast

Overhead photo of a salmon salad.

Chopped Salmon Salad

Garlic Butter Shrimp Skillet.

Garlic Butter Shrimp Recipe

overhead view of Garlic Butter Baked Pork Chops in a cast iron skillet

Garlic Butter Baked Pork Chops

Explore More

Soup Recipes

Soup Recipes

Ground Turkey Soup With Vegetables

40 minutes minutes
Instant pot chicken noodle soup in a white serving bowl.
Instant Pot Recipes

Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

35 minutes minutes
White bean and kale soup in a serving bowl with shredded parmesan cheese topping.
Soup Recipes

White Bean and Kale Soup

35 minutes minutes
chicken vegetable soup in a bowl
Soup Recipes

Chicken Vegetable Soup

30 minutes minutes
Browse All

Subscribe for new recipes & a free e-cookbook

Join My Free
Facebook Group

Explore

About

Shop

Blog

Subscribe

Work With Me

Life Beyond Cooking

Amazon Storefront

Videos

Recipe Web Stories

Recipes

Low Carb

Dinner

Keto

Lunch

Whole30

Meal Prep

Gluten-free

Browse All

Privacy Policy
Disclaimers
Contact
© 2023 Primavera Kitchen
Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled
Back to Top