Stay healthy, warm and satisfied with a generous bowl of this rustic bacon & kale bean soup! Though it’s made with basic ingredients, the end result is a rich and savory tomato broth full of salty bacon pieces, creamy white beans, hearty potato pieces and bite-sized pieces of fresh kale. Easy and delicious!
⭐Bacon Kale Bean Soup⭐
A few things to love about this recipe:
- Simple Ingredients: This soup is made with mostly pantry ingredients + a few basic fresh ingredients.
- Easy to Make: Preparation takes place in one pot in under and hour.
- Hearty & Delicious: Despite its simplicity, this soup packs in loads of flavor! It’s rich, savory and filling!
Ingredients
- Bacon: Bacon lardons are ideal if you can find them easily – they’re fairly accessible here in many grocery stores in the UK, but not so much in the US. If you can’t find lardons, just dice up some thick slices of baking and call it a day. Your soup will still taste great!
- Aromatics: Sauté onion and garlic in the leftover bacon fat to create the base flavors of this soup.
- Tomato: I used whole, peeled tomatoes, but you can absolutely make this using chopped or crushed tomatoes.
- Chicken Stock: Use you favorite chicken broth or stock here. Aim for a low sodium stock if you’re concerned about your salt intake. Feel free to use vegetable broth if you prefer.
- Potato: Choose a high-starch, all-purpose potato like russet or Yukon gold potatoes. These potatoes soak up a ton of moisture and break down easily when cooked. This make them a great choice for thickening soups.
- White Beans: I used cannellini beans, but any variety of white bean will work here. Try great northern beans, navy beans, butter beans or even chickpeas (garbanzo beans).
- Kale: Roughly chop or tear up a large bunch of kale. I used Tuscan kale (aka lacinato kale or dinosaur kale), but curly kale works just as well. Swiss chard is also a great option.
- Kale: Roughly chop or tear up a large bunch of kale. I used Tuscan kale (aka lacinato kale or dinosaur kale), but curly kale is also a great option.
- Tip: Use the stems too! Dice up the leftover stems and add them to the pot alongside the onion and garlic to sauté and tenderise.
- Herbs & Spices: This recipe keeps is sweet and simple in the spice department: paprika, thyme, salt, pepper and bay leaves.
Did You Know?
Many chefs and home cooks prefer to use whole, peeled tomatoes over chopped or crushed tomatoes because of their superior texture and flavor. This is because chopped/crushed tomatoes often contain calcium chloride (a firming agent) to help retain their shape while cooking. Whole, peeled tomatoes own are also technically less processed, meaning they retain more of their original flavor.
Bite-Sized Steps
For the full, details steps check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
For a quick overview:
- In a large pot, fry the bacon until cooked and crispy.
- Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft.
- Add the potato, tomato, herbs and stock.
- Simmer about 20 minutes until the potatoes is tender.
- Add beans and kale. Cook covered another 5-ish minutes.
- Taste, season and enjoy!
Tip: Thicken it Up!
Want a thicker soup?
Use a potato masher to mash up some of the potatoes or use an immersion blender after simmering and before adding the kale and beans.
You don’t need to mash/blend everything – just enough to thicken up the texture a bit.
Leftovers + Store for Later:
Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge up to 5 days OR store in a freezer-safe container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Allow the soup to defrost in the fridge over night. Once defrosted, return to the stove and bring to a boil for a couple of minutes before serving.
Freezer Tips
- Save space: Freeze in freezer-safe bags. Lay the bags out flat a baking sheet until solid in the freezer until solid, then take them off the baking sheet and store as you like.
- Leave room at the top: Don’t fill the bag/container all the way full. Soup expands as it freezes – if you fill your container too full it will break or spill.
- Individual sized portions: Freeze your soup in individual portions to thaw and enjoy as you like. Smaller portions thaw quicker and are great for personal meal prep and planning.
More Delicious Soup Recipes
- Spanish Chorizo And White Bean Soup Recipe
- Spring Pistou Soup
- Curried Tomato Lentil Soup
- Fasolada (Greek Bean Soup)
- Bacon & Chipotle Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
- Italian Sausage and Kale Soup
- Spicy Tomato White Bean Kale Soup
Enjoy!
Top off with fresh herb and served with homemade croutons, Breadsticks, dinner rolls or a piece of crusty bread to dunk into the soup (gluten free bread of course!)
Let me know if you try this Bacon & Kale Bean Soup recipe! I’d love to hear what you made with it and how it turned out! Please leave a comment and review with your thoughts and suggestions for me and future readers.
Bacon & Kale Bean Soup
A simple yet hearty soup made with basic ingredients and cooked in one big pot!
Ingredients
- 300 g bacon lardons or thick cut bacon slices, diced
- 2 onions, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb potato, peeled and diced (460g)
- 1 tsp dried thyme or 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 can peeled tomatoes (15oz | 400g)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (14 oz | 400g)
- 1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves torn into bite-sized pieces
- salt and black pepper to taste
- red pepper flakes, optional
- grated parmesan cheese, optional
Instructions
- Place a large, heavy-bottomed pot (one with a fitted lid) over a medium heat. Add the bacon lardons and fry until crisp and golden. Use a wooden spoon to stir and scrap up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Add the chopped onions and garlic. Cook about 5-7 minutes until the onions are soft.
- Stir in the potatoes, thyme, paprika, stock, tomatoes and bay leaves. Reduce to a medium-low heat, add the lid and cook 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft enough to easily pierce with a fork.
- Stir in the beans and kale and cook another 5 minutes to soften the kale and thoroughly warm the beans.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper and needed and serve. Top each bowl with red pepper flakes and/or grated parmesan if desired
Notes
- Potato type: Look for russet, yukon gold or some sort of all-purpose, starchy potato. Feel free to leave the peel on, but make sure to scrub, wash the skin well.
- Stock/Broth: If you need to keep on eye on sodium, chose a low sodium chicken or veggie broth and make sure to salt your soup to taste.
- Bacon: If you can't find bacon lardons easily, just dice up a few slices. Choose a thick cut bacon if possible.
- Salt: This soup is naturally salty without any added salt thanks to the bacon and broth. Taste and season your soup at the end with salt as you see fit. You may find you don't need any at all.
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