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Creamy White Bean Soup with Kale, Rosemary & Lemon

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4.98 from 172 votes

This creamy white bean soup with kale is simple and quick to make. It has a little bit of zing and spice, but it’s mellow and down to earth too. I have a simple trick for making it creamy!

An overhead shot of a pot of creamy white bean soup with kale, rosemary and lemon. The pot os off white with bowls and spoons to the side, over a grey linen tablecloth.
An up close overhead shot of creamy white bean soup with kale, rosemary, and lemon. It is in a large pot with a ladle. Red Aleppo pepper is sprinkled on top.
A shot of my kitchen’s open shelving and countertop. On the counter: a container of white beans, vegetable stock, chopped kale, a carrot, celery, and a dish towel.
Chopped prep for making soup. On a white platter with red leaf detail on the edges: chopped celery, onions, carrots, garlic, chili flakes, and a lemon half. To the side, there’s chopped kale and white beans.

This creamy white bean soup with kale, rosemary, and lemon is cozy and vibrant, and just the right thing to turn to for keeping us warm and satisfied. I enjoy this recipe all year though. I also love that it comes together in 40 minutes.

It’s a new year and it feels like a new start. I think a lot of people try to make the switch to plant-based this time of year (yay!), so these first few weeks of January always feel extra critical for making the recipes count and keeping the folks on board.

More Vegan Soup Recipes:

  1. Ginger Sweet Potato & Coconut Milk Stew with Lentils and Kale
  2. Quick, Smoky Red Lentil Stew
  3. Smoky Chickpea, Lentil & Cabbage Stew with Kale
  4. Lemony Chickpea Soup with Spinach & Potatoes

I think almost every soup recipe uses the descriptors of “soothing” and “restorative,” and this one really is both. The descriptor “creamy” is used somewhat loosely. I use one my favourite tricks for a touch of richness here and puree half of the soup. It’s lightly creamy but still broth-y. The base is really simple with a focus on the earthiness of the beans. Kale is added for a touch of green at the end, and lemon lifts everything up.

The simplicity is what makes this soup so stunning to me. I wouldn’t hesitate to bring it to someone that was feeling under the weather, but it’s also great for everyday enjoyment.

With a dish as basic as this creamy white bean soup, I like to really focus on the quality of the ingredients. I had a particularly rich homemade stock on hand and I had cooked the beans from their dried state. I would recommend making your own stock for this recipe! We have a great vegetable stock recipe here. I’m also really interested in trying this one from healthy-ish. If you haven’t made stock before, it’s one of the most relaxing kitchen tasks.

That’s it for this week! I’ll see you on here soon.

An overhead shot of puréed white bean soup being poured back into the pot.
A 3/4 angle shot of a ladle of white bean soup with kale, emerging from an off-white pot.
An overhead shot of 2 bowls of creamy white bean soup, with the big pot of it to the side. There is a beige table linen rumpled nearby and everything is set over a grey linen tablecloth.

Creamy White Bean Soup with Kale

This creamy white bean soup with kale is simple and quick to make. It has a little bit of zing, spice, but it’s mellow and down to earth too
4.98 from 172 votes
Up close, overhead shot of a creamy white bean soup with rosemary and lemon. The soup is in an off-white pot and there is a ladle in the pot as well.
Print Recipe
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 40 mins
Servings 5

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
  • 1 medium carrot, small dice
  • 1 stick celery, small dice
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • chili flakes or aleppo pepper, to taste
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary, minced
  • 4 cups cooked navy beans, drained and rinsed
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • 3 cups packed chopped lacinato kale (roughly 1 small bunch)
  • ¼ cup flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped

Equipment

Notes

  • I try not to be an ingredient snob, but this recipe is quite simple with minimal cooking time, so the quality of the ingredients does make a difference. I made a particularly rich homemade vegetable stock and my beans were cooked from dried beans. I think canned beans would be fine, but I’d really encourage you to make homemade stock for this one. I happen to have a great recipe right here.
  • I finished my soup with a lemon-infused extra virgin olive oil and it was delicious!
  • For freezing this recipe: I recommend leaving the kale out. That way, when you reheat the soup for serving, you can add chopped kale as it comes up to a boil. Not a grey, overcooked leaf of kale in sight! ;)

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. 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 liquified. Pour this liquified 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.
Author: Laura Wright
Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: Dairy-free, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Plant-Based, Special Diets, Vegan, Vegetarian
Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Keyword: fall, fall winter, kale, lemon, quick, rosemary, white beans
A 3/4 angle shot of an individual serving of creamy white bean soup. A beige napkin is nearby.
03/01/2018 (Last Updated: 03/01/2018)
Posted in: autumn, creamy, earthy, gluten free, main course, nut free, quick, refined sugar-free, soup, sour, spring, vegan, winter
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