Creamy white bean soup with kale, rosemary, and lemon is irresistibly cozy and soothing. I love that it comes together in 40 minutes. This recipe remains one of the most popular on my site! With its short and nourishing ingredient list and straightforward prep, I completely understand why.
I use one my favorite tricks for a touch of richness here: purée half of the soup to thicken the overall texture. No need for cream of any kind! The end result lightly creamy but still brothy. Kale is added for a touch of green at the end, and fresh lemon lifts everything up.
If you want even more creaminess in this soup, I recommend adding some peeled and diced potatoes to simmer along. I personally do this all the time (especially in the colder months), and it’s a recurring theme in the 5-star recipe review comments.
The simplicity is what makes this soup such a winner. Lemon and rosemary liven up earthy kale and beans instantly. I like to use navy beans because I enjoy their slightly smaller size in a soup like this. Any cooked white bean that you have on hand will work though–this is a pantry-friendly recipe.
With a dish as basic as this white bean kale soup, I like to focus on the quality of the ingredients. I use a particularly rich homemade vegetable stock and I like to cook the beans from their dried state if I have time. The flavor and quality of the stock makes a big difference in my opinion! Of course, I tested versions with boxed stock and canned beans that were definitely still quite tasty.
Hope you love this one! I wouldn’t hesitate to bring this dish to someone that is feeling under the weather.
Free Pantry & Kitchen Equipment Guide
Everything you need for flavourful vegan meals that everyone will love, from my kitchen to yours.
Creamy White Bean Soup with Kale
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
- 1 medium carrot, small dice
- 1 stick celery, small dice
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- red pepper flakes or aleppo pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced
- 4 cups cooked navy beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cups chopped and packed Lacinato kale (roughly 1 small bunch)
- ¼ cup flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
Equipment
- Blender (with a vented lid)
Notes
- Since this soup is so light on ingredients, I do recommend making your own vegetable stock for the best possible flavor.
- I finished my soup with a lemon-infused extra virgin olive oil and it was delicious!
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium-large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pot and stir. Sauté the vegetables until lightly softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- To the pot, add the garlic, chili flakes, and rosemary. Stir and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the navy beans to the pot and stir. Add the vegetable stock to the pot and stir once more. Bring the soup to a boil.
- Once boiling, ladle half of the soup into an upright blender with vented lid. Add the lemon juice to the blender as well. Carefully bring the speed of the blender up to high and blend until this portion of the soup is totally liquefied. Pour this liquefied portion back into the pot. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
- Add the kale to the pot and bring the soup to a boil. Once the kale is slightly wilted and bright green, season the soup once more with salt and pepper, if you find it necessary. Stir in the chopped parsley as well. Serve the soup hot.
Used better than bullion chicken stock, added potatoes, coriander, oregano, and marjoram. So good! The lemon really kicks it up sooooo much.
I love adding potatoes to this soup too! Thanks for this comment and review, Carolyn.
-L
We loved this soup! So simple and quick, so delicious. Served with brown rice to make a hearty meal. Didn’t have broth, but still quite tasty (just used water!) Added a little paprika and coriander, kept the pepper flakes out for individual people to add. Had to use dried rosemary — perfectly fine substitute for fresh. The lemon was bright and nurturing! A total success, will make again! I liked that it was tomato-free, dairy-free , and vegan ! Thank you!
DELICIOUS. and super easy.
I added 1lb of browned ground italian sausage and a rind from parmesan after the immersion blender step.
What if I don’t blend it at all ? Would it still be good. ?
All the same flavors are there, the texture will just be more brothy!
-L
Delicious! I did add a splash of heavy whipping cream to my bowl just try it and it was so yummy!
Delicious! I substituted zucchini for the carrot and used an immersion blender to get it to the consistency I wanted when blending.
I’ve made this soup twice now with some tweaks and it’s really good! I use box broth but then add a bunch of mushrooms to kick up the umami a bit, as well as a bit of low sodium soy sauce and some
Wine vinegar, or wine if I’ve got some in the fridge. I also add a potato to mash in and thicken the broth a bit ( also because I had one lonely potato in the fridge that needed a purpose to its sad wrinkled life), and I added red pepper flakes for some zing, and I used cannellini beans instead of navy because it’s what I had, and no salt, cause that’s how I role. Super good!
What kind of mushrooms did you use! Sounds amazing
Mix of enoki, baby king oysters and cremini I think? It was a mixed pack.
Yummy! I added a diced potato and the zest from the lemon, but otherwise followed it exactly as written. Delicious and super easy! This will go into the rotation over the fall and winter. Thank you!
I also love adding potatoes to this soup! So glad you enjoyed it, Chris.
-L
I’ve made this oup several times and have found it to be easy and delicious.
I put half a pint of cherry tomatoes cut up and about a quarter cup of parmesan cheese.It was perfect.
An immersion or “stick” blender is about $50 and much safer than blending hot liquids in a bowl blender. Please don’t blender hot liquids in a blowl blender, it really blows up the volume and the bowl can explode. Ouch. Otherwise, soupd sounds delicious and I’ll be making it tonight
My blender has a soup setting. Many do. I think you have outdated information.
This was outstanding. Made it last night. Leftovers were even good today, for lunch. I used homemade chicken stock, and 4 cans of great northern beans. Everyone loved it, definitely a repeater!
Holy mother of goodness!! This was phenomenal! Like you, I cooked my own beans and topped with toasted croutons. I used a tsp of Aleppo which gave it a nice little kick. Added to the soup rotation.
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe.
OOOOOOHHHHHH my gosh. Made exactly as directed. Insanely delicious.
I loved how easy, quick and good this soup was. I did use 2 cans of beans and a little more lemon( love lemon in my soups). I also used my immersion blender instead of an upright one. LOVE THIS RECIPE❣️
Soo good! I used an immersion blender instead of scooping some of the soup into a regular blender, but otherwise followed as directed. I’ll definitely be making this again.
loved this soup! It was hearty and comforting. The lemon and rosemary made a subtle flavor appearance. I will make this again , I loved that it was 4 nice serving not a huge pot. highly recommend!
Love this recipe! I swapped out the kale and used collard greens. Making it with spinach today
This was delicious! I cheated with canned beans and store-bought veggie stock but otherwise followed the recipe as instructed.
Made this for the first time and it was so good. I did find it a little blanb but added a cup of dry white wine to it and it enhance the flavor just perfectly. My family loved it!
This recipe is spot on! I added shrimp to get some additional protein in and it was fantastic. I also topped with fresh Parmesan cheese. Highly recommended and will definitely make this again.
Hello, this looks delicious. Just wanted to let you know that the link for the homemade broth actually takes you to a soba with tofu recipe.
Thank you so much for letting me know, Alisha! Just fixed it up :)
-L
I love this recipe and I even made it with your vegetable stock recipe. I added two cooked, sliced mild turkey sausage links. I’ll be making the vegetable stock regularly and this soup as well!