Quick and easy chickpea and kale soup

A bowl of chickpea and kale soup with carrots

I don't even like kale that much.

It's a perfectly okay green, readily available frozen and fresh, which is nice I guess. But in this soup, it does something special. Simmered in the slightly sweet, smoky and peppery broth, the kale's mustardy flavors come out and just... sing.

Anyhoo. Chickpea and kale soup. Better than it sounds, I promise!

This recipe is more of a format than a formula. I went digging through my notes and found several options — meaty and not, different beans, etc. — and they're all pretty great. I make some variant on this soup once every few weeks. Scroll to the end for some ideas on mixing it up.

Ingredients

Tools

  • A medium-sized pot

Steps

First, cook a pot of beans

I figure I can get away calling this recipe “quick and easy” because most of the work is already done. If you've already cooked your chickpeas, you'll have a delicious, garlic-infused broth ready to go. If you're using canned beans (I do it in a pinch), you're gonna want to add some garlic, bay and other good stuff to the pot. More on that at the end.

Chop your veg

When I'm making a pot of soup, I like my veg to be about the same size as the beans, or smaller, for easy spooning. So, dice a half an onion and chop your carrots so that they're about the same size as your beans. Strip the kale from it's tough ribs, chop about the same size, and set aside. (If you're using bagged kale, fresh or frozen, try to get the big chunks of ribs out, but you'll probably just want to simmer it longer to cook those bits through.)

Onions and carrots, sautéed with paprika

Sauté

Put a couple glugs of olive oil (or other flavorful fat!) in a pot over medium heat, and cook the onions and carrots with salt and pepper until they're soft. Add the smoked paprika and sauté a couple minutes longer.

Dump in everything else and simmer

When the veg is looking tasty and everything is reddish from the paprika, add the beans and broth, kale and a splash of vinegar. Bring up to a simmer and cook until the kale is completely tender, a half hour or more. The vinegar will mellow out as it simmers. Does your pot look too crowded to be soup? Add some water, stock, etc.

Taste and adjust

When the kale is done, taste the soup. It should be a little sweet, a tiny bit sour, and pleasantly mustardy and smoky in the background. Does it need more vinegar? Add a little! (But not too much! It won't have time to mellow out like the first glug did.)

Serve

If I'm cooking for my kid, I'll serve this with some spoon-friendly noodles like macaroni. Personally, I prefer a thick slice of crusty bread to sop up the broth. Gluten free? It's nice with rice!

A pot of beans and greens like this screams for hot sauce, but since it's already a little vinegary, I really like to give it a drizzle of Chinese-style chili oil. Chili crisp from the jar is excellent, or, for something a little more mellow, Fuchsia Dunlop's chili oil is the standard in our house. It's not hot, just toasty and fruity and really nice.

Make it with what you've got instead!

Like I said at the top, this is more of a format than a formula. Beans and garlicky broth, sweet veg, mustardy greens, paprika and smoke are the keys.

Meat

I barbecue a lot, so I've always got a hunk of smoked pork shoulder or a few smoked pork ribs in the freezer. Toss them in at the same tims as the kale, and since the meat is bringing it's own smoke, use plain, un-smoked paprika instead. Or if you want a super unctuous pot, start by first cooking your beans, from dry, with a smoked ham hock. (Try this recipe from Garden and Gun for an extra-meaty take.)

I don't generally cook my beans with meat because I like the flexibility of relatively neutral bean broth, but if you like 'em extra rich, a hock is great. But now the recipe isn't “quick and easy” anymore. :)

Canned beans

Use a couple cans of chickpeas, drained. But if you're gonna cook from canned, you don't get the advantage of starting with a tasty broth. So I'd add a few minced cloves of garlic in with the veg, plus a tablespoon of tomato paste when you add the paprika, and a couple bay leaves. And water, or stock. A glug of fish sauce or soy sauce, or a spoonful of bouillon wouldn't hurt either!

Not-chickpeas

This was chickpea week on Bean Tips, so I used chickpeas. But any bean will do. Got some pintos? Navy beans? Go for it! Kidney beans make a wonderful, dark broth and would be tasty too!

Other greens

Kale's mustardy flavor is key here. This recipe would be nice with any sturdy greens you've got on hand (beet tops, chard), but I really like the mustardy ones like radish tops, turnip greens, collards, etc.

What next?

I hope y'all're enjoying bean tips! Please share/forward with nice people. And if you've got any questions, suggestions, or edits, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me a line at brian@beantips.com.

Maybe give me a hand with next week's tips? I haven't decided what to cook next. What kinds of beans are you curious about?