If you are looking for more delicious, hearty plant-based soup recipes, check out my Vegan Sweet Potato Soup, Vegan Butternut Squash Soup, or Green Lentil Soup.
Why Should You Make This Soup?
This Tuscan bean soup with kale is one of my go-to soups to prepare during the week because it is so healthy and easy to make. Here are a few other reasons why you should also make it:
- Quick, Hearty Soup: This quick Vegan Kale Cabbage Soup is a heartwarming and heavy stew-like soup that will keep you satisfied and full long after finishing your meal. All you need is 45 minutes from start to finish for this simple kale soup recipe.
- Healthy and Customizable: It is also a healthy, veggie-packed, vegan and gluten-free soup that you can easily customizable and makes many adjustments to fit all the dietary needs of those at the dinner table.
- Meal Prep friendly: It can be made in a large batch and stored for a week of healthy meal planning. Simply store the remaining soup and reheat it throughout the week. You can also freeze leftovers and thaw them for up to a month.
- Pantry Staples: This Italian Bean Soup is made with simple ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry! It is also a great way to use leftover ingredients for an easy, delicious recipe without a long grocery store run.
Ingredient List
Ready to make this Tuscan Kale and White Bean soup recipe? Let’s start with the ingredients.
If so, gather:
- Olive oil
- Onions
- Carrots
- Celery
- Tomato Paste
- Minced Garlic
- White Cabbage
- Canned Diced Tomatoes
- Yukon gold potatoes
- Salt & black pepper
- Vegetable broth
- Tuscan kale (here is how to cut kale for this soup)
- White Cannellini beans
Substitutions and Optional Alternatives
- Hearty Greens: For this recipe, amongst all the different types of kale in the market, I use Tuscan Kale, also known as Lacinato Kale. However, Curly Kale, Swiss Chard, or Baby Spinach are great alternatives for healthy greens.
- Potatoes: I use Yukon gold potatoes in my recipe. However, red potatoes would also work well. For a seasonal touch, during the fall months, feel free to substitute small butternut squash cubes in place of the potatoes.
- White Beans: I use Cannellini beans, also known as White Kidney Beans, but Navy Beans would also work well in this recipe.
- Use Chicken Stock: If you are non-vegetarian, you can substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock. My Chicken Stock recipe is easy to make and is a delicious alternative to soup.
- Parmesan Cheese: For an additional burst of flavor, non-vegetarians can top the soup off with grated parmesan cheese.
- Parmesan Rind: If you are looking to make a true Tuscan Italian soup, add a parmesan rind into the soup as it is cooking. The parmesan rind will give you richer, umami flavors that carry throughout the entire soup. Simply remove the rind before serving.
- Optional last-minute additions: While these are optional, I also like to sprinkle them with some red pepper flakes and a squeeze of lemon juice.
How to Make Kale Soup
This Tuscan Bean Soup with Kale is a simple recipe that takes just a few steps from start to finish.
- Saute Vegetables: Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom large pot or a large dutch oven on medium heat. Add in the onions, carrots, and celery. Saute, stirring frequently, until translucent, 7-8 minutes.
- Add Tomato Paste and Garlic: Add in your tomato paste and cook until dissolved. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds or so.
- Cook Remaining Vegetables: Add in the cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, and salt and pepper. Pour in the vegetable broth and bring it to a boil.
- Cook the Soup: Reduce heat to medium-low and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, 25-30 minutes. Add in the kale and beans and allow to cook for 5-7 more minutes, or until the kale is wilted and the beans are warmed through.
- Finishing Touches: Ladle the cabbage and kale soup into soup bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with warm sourdough bread, if preferred.
Variations
The beauty of this kale vegetable soup recipe is that it can easily be customized to make it work for you and your family. Here are a few variations that I have tried:
- Kale Soup Without Potatoes: If you do not want to use potatoes, thin pasta, such as orzo, is a great substitute. Just add 1 cup of pasta 10 minutes before the soup is done cooking. For a gluten-free alternative, you can substitute 1 cup of quinoa in for the potatoes as I did in the Quinoa Vegetable Stew. Add the quinoa in 10-15 minutes before the soup is finished to allow the quinoa enough time to cook thoroughly.
- Tuscan Kale Sausage Soup: If you love the classic, creamy Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup, you can add sausage to this Tuscan Bean Soup. Saute your choice of sausage prior to adding in your onions, carrot, and celery as outlined in Step 1. Any sausage works for this recipe; some of my favorites are turkey sausage, hot Italian sausage, and Tuscan sausage. You can even use pancetta.
- Pressure Cooker Tuscan Kale White Bean Soup: It is simple and convenient to use a pressure cooker or instant pot to make this soup. Saute your onion, carrot, and celery for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add in your tomato paste, garlic, remaining vegetables, stock, and seasoning, and cook on High Pressure for about 10 minutes, allowing the steam to release naturally. Carefully open the lid and add in the kale and beans and let it soften for 2-3 minutes left, and serve as desired.
How To Serve:
While you can serve this Italian white bean and kale soup recipe as a starter, I usually serve it as the main meal because, with all the vegetables, it is a meal-worthy soup. Especially if you follow in the footsteps of the Italian and serve it with a loaf of crusty bread on the side.
And if you want to continue with the kale theme, be sure to try it with my Harvest Kale Salad.
How to Store, Freeze, and Thaw
In addition to being a veggie-packed and hearty soup, this cabbage kale soup stores well, so it can be a good meal prep recipe you can put on your meal prep rotation. Here’s how I do it.
- Storage: This soup is easy to store and reheat throughout the week for lunch and dinner. Allow the soup to come to room temperature before transferring it into an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and reheat as needed.
- Freeze: You can freeze the leftover soup for up to 1 month and reheat for meals as needed. Allow the soup to come to room temperature before transferring to an airtight container for the freezer.
- Thaw: Prior to reheating frozen soup, transfer to the refrigerator the night before and allow to thaw. To reheat, simply warm on the stove or in the microwave.
FAQs:
Preparing kale for soup is dependent on what type of kale you choose to use. The first step is to wash the kale thoroughly under cold water. For Tuscan Kale, simply rip small pieces of kale off of the stem and add to a salad spinner or a bed of paper towels. Once the kale is destemmed, simply rip the leaves into small pieces and add to a salad spinner or dry on a bed of paper towels.
Because kale is rather thin and delicate, it cooks quite quickly. Add the kale into the soup 5-10 minutes before the soup is finished cooking for best results.
Kale only takes about 5-10 minutes to cook completely. You know kale is done when the leaves are wilted.
Other Meal-Worthy Soup Recipes You Might Like:
- Chicken and Vegetable Soup
- Stuffed Cabbage Soup
- Quinoa Chili
- Turkish Lentil Soup
- Need more inspiration? Check out all our Easy Soup Recipes
This recipe is adapted (with minor changes) from Emilie Raffa’s new cookbook, Artisan Sourdough Made Simple: A Beginner’s Guide to Delicious Handcrafted Bread with Minimal Kneading
. In the book, her version of the recipe is called Tuscan Ribollita Soup.
If you try this Tuscan White Bean Soup recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It is a great help to others who are thinking of making the recipe. And if you took some pictures, be sure to share them on Instagram using #foolproofeats so I can share them on my stories.
Tuscan Kale Soup Recipe
Ingredients
For the Soup:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 stalks of celery, rinsed and chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 cup cabbage, sliced thinly
- 4 small Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled and diced into small cubes
- 1 can 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
- ½ tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 5 cups vegetable broth, or chicken stock for a non vegetarian option
- 1 bunch Tuscan kale, rinsed and leaves torn
- 1 can Cannelini Beans, (15 oz) drained and rinsed
To Serve:
- Italian parsley
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded (optional)
Instructions
- Heat olive in a heavy bottom large pot or a large dutch oven on medium heat. Add in onion, carrot, and celery. Saute, stirring frequently, until translucent, 7-8 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook until dissolved. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds or so.
- Stir in the cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, and salt and pepper.
- Pour in the vegetable stock. Bring it to a boil, turn down the heat to medium-low and let it simmer, until potatoes are cooked, 20-25 minutes.
- Stir in the kale leaves and beans and cook for another 5-7 minutes until kale is wilted and beans are warmed through.
- When ready to serve, ladle into bowls, garnish with chopped parsley, and serve along with crusty bread, if preferred.
Notes
- Storage: This soup is easy to store and reheat throughout the week for lunch and dinner. Allow the soup to come to room temperature before transferring it into an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and reheat as needed.
- Freeze: You can freeze the leftover soup for up to 1 month and reheat it for meals as needed. Allow the soup to come to room temperature before transferring it to an airtight container for the freezer.
- Thaw: Before reheating frozen soup, transfer it to the refrigerator the night before and allow it to thaw. To reheat, simply warm it on the stove or in the microwave.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looking forward to making this! I’m assuming I can use frozen kale?
Hi Michelle.
You sure can. I would use an equal amount of frozen kale and follow the recipe as written. Hope this helps.
In step 3 of this recipe (Tuscan Kale Soup) you say to add potatoes, tomatoes, …. In your list of ingredients for this soup I could not find any mention of tomatoes except for the T of tomato paste that had already been added. How much tomatoes? Canned?
HI Carol,
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. For some reason, an older version of the recipe was showing up.
I just made the change and added it to the recipe.
Please accept my apologies for my mistake.
I just made this soup for my family and it was incredible. I need to check out Emily’s book. It sounds so good.
Can’t wait to try the Tuscan Ribollita soup! Just what we need here for these cold winter days. Easy to make, full of yummy veggies….this seems like the perfect lunch for the whole family.
Can’t agree more with you Larry. I make a big batch and freeze some of it for later. I can’t imagine a better meal for these brutally cold winter days of Vermont. Cheers!