Easy Creamy Kale Soup Recipe
May 02, 2020 • Updated Nov 07, 2023
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A delicious Creamy Kale Soup made with nourishing, pantry-friendly ingredients, cauliflower, white beans, spices, and aromatics. The ultimate healthy comfort food, this soup is perfect for a cozy weeknight or make a big batch to eat all week. Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, nut-free.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Creamy, dreamy, velvety, and smooth–this Creamy Kale Soup is heartwarming, nourishing, and packed with veggies! It’s a wonderful way to sneak some veggies into your diet, and it’s bursting with flavor, too. It makes use of a secret ingredient that makes everything rich and gives it creaminess without any dairy or oil whatsoever.
Many dairy-free recipes call for nuts or seeds to create creaminess, but we’re using neither. Instead, we’re using beans! They’re blended into the base of our soup and are so undetectable even bean haters will love it. The result is a comforting soup that can be enjoyed as a side or as a main course.
Believe it or not, this recipe came to be by accident. It was actually my attempt to repurpose a blended cauliflower concoction in order to curb food waste, and it ended up being the best soup I’ve ever made. Bold statement, I know, but it’s really that good.
Perhaps the best thing about this soup is that it’s made with ingredients that last quite a while in the fridge or pantry. In other words, a great soup to make when you’re low on fresh produce or not in the mood to hit the grocery store. Both kale and cauliflower are long-lasting vegetables (alongside onion and garlic, which you probably already have on hand), and you can use canned beans too!
This Creamy Kale Soup is vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and nut-free.
Ingredient Notes
- Cauliflower → This versatile vegetable adds creaminess when blended and makes for a delicious soup base. Paired with the white bean base, it balances out the texture to create a beautiful, velvety broth!
- Onion and Roasted Garlic → If you’ve made any of my soup recipes before, you know these are a MUST. Onions and garlic make a delicious base for most recipes!
- Kale → A nutrient-dense and surprisingly protein-rich leafy green. I love adding kale to the soup because it makes it more tender. Kale is also a great green that will last well in the fridge, but you can use any leafy green of choice. Spinach would work also.
- White Beans → The secret ingredient and the key to creaminess! Don’t worry; you won’t taste the beans at all, and you can use any canned white bean like navy beans, cannellini beans, and even black-eyed peas.
- Vegetable broth → Instead of using chicken broth or chicken stock, we’re using this veggie broth as our blending liquid because it adds depth of flavour, and you can use your preferred veggie broth of choice!
- Dairy-Free Milk → I like to use neutral, unsweetened dairy-free milk to add just a touch of extra richness, however, you could leave this out if you don’t have any on hand. Make sure you do not use a vanilla variety, as it will definitely ruin the soup! Speaking from experience here.
- Nutritional yeast → Umami, depth of flavour, and cheesiness come from nutritional yeast. Aside from flavour, it also adds a boost of plant protein and B vitamins. This is a great vegan alternative to parmesan cheese in recipes.
- Spices → You can get creative with what spices you’d like to use, but I included my recommended spices in the recipe card below. Spices really make or break the soup, so go with what you like, and use your taste buds to adjust as needed.
How to Make This Creamy Kale Soup Recipe
- Boil cauliflower in a pot until fork tender, then strain and set aside.
- In a large frying pan or skillet over medium heat, caramelize onions with a touch of olive oil or broth until aromatic and fragrant. Add garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes.
- Next, add all remaining ingredients to a blender (except shredded kale) and blend until smooth, adding additional veggie broth or water as needed to achieve the desired texture. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed as well. The texture should be pourable and velvety, like a creamy soup.
- Transfer mixture into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Once the soup is evenly heated, add kale and cook another few minutes until lightly wilted down and tender, stirring occasionally.
- Ladle into a bowl and serve warm with your favorite crusty bread or a side salad. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Secrets to Success
- In this recipe, I used roasted garlic, which I personally love to use as it adds extra flavour. It’s an optional step, so to save time, you can skip and just sauté.
- You can use either home-cooked or canned beans to make this soup. I actually ran out of white beans and ended up using black-eyed peas, which worked wonderfully, so as long as your bean is soft and white, you can use it!
- If you don’t have a blender unit, you can use an immersion blender instead. A food processor may work, but you may need to process it in batches as it is quite a large amount of liquid.
- Spice it up with additional red pepper flakes to taste.
Serving Tips
Serve warm with your favorite crusty bread or a side salad. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Add some spice with red pepper flakes if desired.
Storage Tips
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Reheat over the stovetop or microwave. Stir in additional spices if desired, and serve.
To freeze, let this creamy kale soup cool completely at room temperature. Then, transfer it to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat and serve.
Recipe FAQs
High in fiber, nutrients, and protein, this soup is an excellent choice for a healthy lunch or dinner!
It doesn’t have to be! Choose Lacinato kale, remove the stems, and you’ll find that this soup reduces the bitterness of kale quite a bit.
This soup will last up to a week in the refrigerator.
More Delicious Soup Recipes
Three Mushroom and Quinoa Soup
If you try this recipe out, tag me on Instagram @veggiekins so I can see your delicious re-creations and for a chance to be featured! As always, I love when you share your reviews in the comments below, and if you make any fun substitutions, let me know how it worked out below too!
Easy Creamy Kale Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 medium head cauliflower chopped (roughly 3-4 cups florets)
- 2-3 cups shredded kale
- 10 oz cooked white beans about 2/3 of a 15oz can
- 1/2 medium onion sliced thinly
- 1/2 head of garlic roasted (about 3-4 large cloves)
- 2 cups veggie stock
- 1/2 cup plant milk of choice
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp gluten free soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp spices of choice I used paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, ground thyme and mushroom powder
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil cauliflower until fork tender, then strain and set aside.
- In a large frying pan or skillet over medium heat, caramelize onions with a touch of oil or broth, until aromatic and fragrant. Add garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes.
- Next, add all remaining ingredients to blender (except shredded kale) and blend until smooth, adding additional veggie broth or water as needed to achieve desired texture. Taste, and adjust seasoning as needed as well. The texture should be pourable and velvety, like a creamy soup.
- Transfer mixture into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Once soup is evenly heated, add kale and cook another few minutes, until lightly wilted down and tender, stirring occasionally.
Notes
Secrets to Success
- In this recipe, I used roasted garlic, which I personally love to use as it adds extra flavour. It’s an optional step, so to save time, you can skip and just sauté.
- You can use either home-cooked or canned beans to make this soup. I actually ran out of white beans and ended up using black-eyed peas, which worked wonderfully, so as long as your bean is soft and white, you can use it!
- If you don’t have a blender unit, you can use an immersion blender instead. A food processor may work, but you may need to process it in batches as it is quite a large amount of liquid.
- Spice it up with additional red pepper flakes to taste.
Serving Tips
Serve warm with your favorite crusty bread or a side salad. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Add some spice with red pepper flakes if desired.Storage Tips
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Reheat over the stovetop or microwave. Stir in additional spices if desired, and serve. To freeze, let this creamy kale soup cool completely at room temperature. Then, transfer it to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat and serve.Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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