Overflowing with tender pinto beans, chunky hominy corn, golden potatoes and a tangle of leafy greens, this rich vegetable soup practically shouts dinner! With an aromatic Southwestern accent of green chile and cumin, this hearty soup is calling you to the kitchen table!
Click here to PIN Greens and Potato Soup with Hominy and Pinto Beans!
Blessed soup and salad—dinner’s savior. In cooler weather, our evening meal is often a bowl of hearty soup paired with a big tossed salad. I think you’ll agree that this recipe’s texture and flavor variety–greens, potatoes, hominy, and pinto beans–makes for a stellar soup!
Our soup and salad meals are always different because they’re based on what’s on hand. Sometimes inspiration for dinner soups start with beans. Other times, a grain inspires the soup, like in barley and chicory soup, or farro and hearty greens soup. Beans or grains, whatever the base, give soup for a final vitamin bump by stirring in a decent amount of chopped leafy greens.
Greens and Potato Soup ingredient details:
- What kind of greens are we talking about? There are options, that’s for sure. For this incarnation I used beet greens, the tops of yellow beets. Mustard greens and collard greens are good choices too, as well as chard. Greens with tender leaves that don’t take long to cook are best for this recipe. If you want to use a sturdier green like kale for instance, pre-boil the kale in water first.
- Especially in soups with greens, fresh lemon juice or another acid is absolutely essential–because acid magically transforms flavor. Taste a spoonful of the broth before stirring in the lemon juice, and again after, you’ll see what I mean. No lemon juice? Substitute apple cider vinegar –it’s the acid that makes the difference.
- If you find beets with intact, fresh-looking greens, grab them. Let those beet greens be the your soup inspiration. Bonus–you get two vegetables, the beets and their greens, for the price of one.
- Hominy is dried corn kernels, the hull and germ removed. Its toothy distinctive texture is essential to posole, the hearty Mexican stew. It usually comes in large cans–freeze the extra to make this Butternut Squash Posole later.
- Pinto beans. Ditch the can and cook pinto beans from scratch in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
- You can use any variety of potato. Waxy red potatoes keep their chunky shape, in turn keeping this soup brothy, flaky potatoes will break down and actually thicken the broth.
- One small fresh green chile, either serrano or jalapeño, with the fiery hot seeds and veins removed, brings in savory flavor and spice, but not a searing picante, ‘I-need-a-beer’ heat. No chile in the house? Add a pinch or two of cayenne pepper instead.
- At the table, we sometimes crumble in salty Mexican cotija cheese or feta.
#Eat Seasonal
Years ago, Becky of Vintage Mixer blog orchestrated monthly recipe roundups featuring produce listed in her seasonal food guide. This soup was part of February’s roundup back in 2016!! It’s one of those timeless soups, so I’ve brought it forward and updated it for this new decade.
For more seasonal inspiration from a bevy of bloggers, follow the links below. We hope our recipes inspire you into the kitchen to cook something delicious!
Chorizo & Brussels Sprouts Pasta Carbonara by Suitcase Foodist
Citrus, Fennel, and Avocado Salad by Flavor the Moments
Savory Dutch Baby with Roasted Broccoli by Floating Kitchen
Parsnip Hash Browns by Vintage Mixer
Penne Pasta with Cauliflower and Pancetta by Foodie Crush
Rosemary Cheddar Cauliflower Cakes by Food for My Family
Creamed Brussel Sprout Tater Tot Casserole by Climbing Grier Mountain
Mexican Molletes (avocado, bean & cheese melts) by Simple Bites
Honey Mustard Citrus Chicken with Mango Chutney by Kitchen Confidante
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Greens and Potato Soup with Hominy and Pinto Beans
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound red potatoes , well-scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 7 cups vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans, from scratch, or 1 (15-ounce) can, rinsed and drained (see note)
- 1 cup hominy , rinsed and drained
- 2 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- 1 serrano or jalapeno chile , seeds and veins removed, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 7 ounces (about 6 cups) fresh greens (see note)
- 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (see note)
- Crumbled cotija or feta cheese for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- In a non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add potatoes and salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a large soup pot. Add the pinto beans, hominy, garlic, chile pepper and cumin.
- Wash the greens and remove the stems. Coarsely chop them and stir into the broth.
- When the potatoes are golden brown, add them. Simmer the soup until the potatoes are just tender, 10 to 15 more minutes.
- Add the lemon juice, taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.
Notes
- Greens with tender leaves that don’t take long to cook are best for this recipe.
- Apple cider vinegar can be substituted for the lemon juice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. The numbers will vary based on the quantity consumed, brands used and any substitutions.
This soup looks so comforting, Letty, and I love all of those hearty greens! · 8 February, 2016
Hearty greens for the win! Thanks Marcie! · 9 February, 2016
This is such a perfect winter soup. I always have lots of different greens on hand that I like to toss in at the end when I’m making soups. It’s such a great way to get a big dose of veggies! · 8 February, 2016
Thanks Liz. There’s always something leafy and green in our fridge too. · 9 February, 2016
Hominy is like my new thing. This soup proves why. I’ve been experimenting with hominy cakes (to very little success). You’ve inspired me to add taters to the mash. May my structural problems will disappear.GREG · 8 February, 2016
Hominy cakes with mashed potatoes sound like a great idea. Polenta as well? Have you been chopping the hominy for your experiments or leaving it whole? · 9 February, 2016
This soup sounds so hearty and comforting! I love pinto beans, they seem to be so underused and overshadowed by kidney, navy and black beans. And the hominy addition sounds like the perfect idea! Thanks for sharing! · 13 February, 2016
Thanks Lucie–pintos for the win! · 14 February, 2016
Oh Letty, this recipe sounds amazing! I love everything in it and now I have another way to use hominy. Yay! 🙂 · 16 February, 2016
Thank you Nancy. And in your part of the world you can buy hominy that’s vacuum-packed–not canned! · 16 February, 2016
WHEN DO YOU ADD THE HOMINY?iT ISN’T LISTED IN THE DIRECTIONS.DID I OVERLOOK? THANKS. · 26 October, 2020
Wow Dawn, Thanks for catching that. Add with the pinto beans etc. I fixed the recipe so it reads correctly now. · 26 October, 2020
This was SO good! Had to make my tweaks…added kielbasa, used chicken broth, reduced the cumin…delicious and shared your version with my vegetarian friends. · 4 weeks ago
Thank you Pat. I’m happy to hear you love the recipe, and that you felt comfortable making tweaks! · 3 weeks ago