Rich with potato chunks, tender white beans, tomatoes, and dark green shredded kale, this vegan kale and potato soup is hearty and warming. A steaming bowl of this soup makes a complete nutritious meal, and made in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot, it comes together speedy-quick!
With a bag of potatoes in the pantry and a bunch of kale in the fridge, it was one of those what-should-I-make-for-dinner days. This recipe with potatoes and kale came to mind.
Perfect–I’ll reintroduce this delicious warming soup to you, dear readers. And make it tonight’s dinner! Like me, you’ll love this potato and kale soup so much you’ll make it again, for years upon years!
In Europe’s westernmost country, a potato and kale soup like this is known as caldo verde. Like Tuscan minestrone or Russian borscht, this traditional Portuguese soup has numerous variations. One family’s recipe probably uses different ingredients than the next. Some don’t include beans, some puree the potatoes for a creamier soup. You will love this vegetarian version of caldo verde soup!
How to make Vegan Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup:
- Sauté the onions and garlic in the pressure cooker until the onions are translucent, about 10 mintues.
- Add the water, tomatoes, potatoes, and kale. Lock the lid in place and cook on high pressure 5 minutes. Quick release the pressure.
- Traditionally, caldo verde includes mildly spiced chorizo sausage. But a hearty soup like this, loaded with kale, potatoes and beans, certainly doesn’t need meat to be stellar.
- If you decide to flavor your soup with vegan sausage, cook the “soysage” in a wide (preferably non-stick) skillet while the soup is cooking. Use a wooden spoon to smash the pieces of veggie sausage, and cook until nicely browned.
- After you release the pressure, stir in the beans, vinegar, salt and cooked vegan sausage, if using. Generously grind in black pepper, like 30 grinds. Taste, and add more salt, if needed. Cook a few more minutes, until the beans are heated through.
- Serve to your happy dinner mates!
About the ingredients in this soup:
Potatoes: I’ve made this soup with Yukon Golds, starchy russets and red potatoes, all with delicious results. My first choice is red potatoes because they keep their shape, while Yukon Golds and russets break down in the cooking.
Kale: You can make your soup with either curly kale or the dark green Lacinato kale, also known as dinosaur or Tuscan kale. The photo below shows Lacinato kale leaves and the stems, which get discarded. Use organic kale–here’s the reason.
Tomatoes: Use canned diced tomatoes, regular or fire-roasted. Crushed tomatoes are good too, if that’s what you have. Whole peeled tomatoes are another option, just cut them into a smaller size using scissors, right in the can.
White beans: Either cannellini or great northern beans, canned or cooked from scratch. I’ve also used garbanzo beans/chickpeas when that’s all I had on hand. How to cook beans from scratch in the pressure cooker.
Smoked paprika: Smoked paprika is made from dried chili peppers that were dried over an oak fire before being ground into a powder. If you don’t have smoked paprika in your spice pantry, it’s time to get some. Ground smoked paprika adds subtle smoky flavor, and is especially welcome in vegetarian dishes and soups that otherwise might include bacon.
Apple cider vinegar: Just a teaspoon in this recipe balances the bitter green. Taste your soup before and after adding the vinegar and you’ll see what I mean.
Vegan sausage: For spicy flavor and the chewy texture you get with chorizo or sausage, use a vegan plant-based sausage like this one from Litelife, or one of these sausages from plant-based Field Roast.
If you don’t want to include the vegan sausage, just leave it out. Either way, this rendition of the classic Portuguese kale and potato soup gets high marks by meat lovers and vegetarians alike.
Vegan Kale and Potato Soup recipe notes:
- Truth–I make all my soups in a pressure cooker. Really, they are such timesavers. With a pressure cooker, this soup can be on the table in 45 minutes, start to finish, no exaggeration.
- With a pressure cooker, once the pressure is up, the potatoes, tomatoes and kale cook in 5 minutes.
- After the pressure releases, stir in already-cooked white beans and browned soysage crumbles.
- If you don’t have a pressure cooker, I include directions to make this soup stovetop, without a pressure cooker. If you’re cooking on the stovetop, count on 45 minutes of cooking.
- No bones about it ;-), meat alternatives are processed, faux food. It’s worth citing the “everything in moderation” clause, and add vegetarian soysage crumbles to your soup. If you’d prefer to make your own vegan sausage–try these interesting recipes for tofu “chorizo” or vegan “sausage.”
- Inspiration for this interpretation of Portuguese kale and potato soup comes from Twelve Months of Monastery Soups (affiliate link) by Brother Victor D’Avila Latourrette.
- ** This recipe is an update of the soup I posted in October 2009, on my old muffintalk.wordpress.com blog. No photos back then–I added the photos and updated again in November 2015! Almost 10 years later–here you have it. Like me, you’ll love this soup so much you’ll make it for years upon years!
More winning potato and kale soups here on the blog:
- You’ll enjoy this greens and potato soup with pinto beans and hominy. With a Mexican twist.
- One more to try–this soul-satisfying Irish potato and kale soup.
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Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (see note)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 cups water
- 1 can diced tomatoes (15-ounce) (see note)
- 1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut in ½-inch cubes
- 1 bunch bunch kale, stems removed and discarded, coarsely chopped
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, sweet or spicy, your choice
- 1 ¾ cups cooked white beans, one (15-ounce can)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 6 ounces sausage-style meat alternative, (optional)
Instructions
For Instant Pot or pressure cooker:
- Sauté the onions and garlic in the pressure cooker until the onions are translucent, about 10 mintues. In the Instant Pot, use the Saute button.
- Add the water, tomatoes, potatoes, kale and smoked paprika. Lock the lid in place and cook on high pressure 5 minutes. With the Instant Pot, be sure the dial is pointing to Sealing.
- Quick release the pressure by running cold water over the lid. With the Instant Pot, cover the top with a thick towel and change the dial to Venting.
Regular stove top:
- Heat the first tablespoon of oil in a large soup pot. Over medium flame, sauté the onions until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook a few more minutes. Add the water, tomatoes, potatoes, kale and paprika. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes.
For both pressure cooking and regular stovetop cooking:
- While the soup cooks, heat the remaining oil in a wide (preferably non-stick skillet.) Using a wooden spoon to smash the pieces, cook the veggie sausage until nicely browned.
- When the potatoes are done, add the beans, faux sausage, vinegar and salt. Generously grind in black pepper, like 30 grinds. Taste, and add more salt, if you think it's needed. Cook a few more minutes, until the beans are heated through.
Notes
- Use the second tablespoon of olive oil to cook the optional vegan sausage.
- With a pressure cooker, this soup can be on the table in 45 minutes, start to finish.
- The cooked beans and browned “soysage” crumbles go in after the pressure comes down.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is meant to be an estimate only. The numbers will vary based on the brands you use and substitutions you made, and how much you actually eat. Numbers do not include the optional soy sausage.
I knew I should have checked here… I just published a post on Tuscan kale. How was Mexico? Feel fluent again? · 17 November, 2009
Soup is my go-to staple this time of year. Daylight Savings has me kind of grumpy (I don’t like complete darkness at 4:30!) and soups always manage to comfort me and sooth my emotions. Gorgeous dish, friend! · 9 November, 2015
Thanks Liz. Yes there is nothing like soup for comfort food! · 9 November, 2015
I do have to remember that little ditty about spring forward fall backward. I never feel like I gained an hour of sleep either. This soup would be the perfect meal for a cold evening — this is right up my alley! · 9 November, 2015
Thanks Marcie. Daylight savings both spring and fall feel like a miniature case of jet-lag that only soup will cure! · 9 November, 2015
Sausage with kale?! NOW you’re talking! Gorgeous soup and your pictures are just lovely. · 9 November, 2015
Thanks Melissa. You will fall in love with all the flavors together! · 9 November, 2015
I love any soup that includes beans, kale and sausage and the fact that it comes from a Monastery cookbook makes it even more wonderful! I could eat this soup all winter long! · 9 November, 2015
Thanks Becky. I’m also grateful for your Eat Seasonal organizing–lots of fun. · 9 November, 2015
Sounds so good. Thank you. · 9 November, 2015
Thanks Liz! · 11 November, 2015
Looks hearty and perfect for the cold weather we’re having. I’m so checking out the veggie sausage! · 9 November, 2015
I know you’ll love how it feels and behaves a lot like real meat–but is vegan! · 11 November, 2015
This is very similar to a Potato Kale soup you posted with our CSA years ago. It is my son’s favorite soup; the only change we make is substituting kielbasa for the sausage since we eat meat;) · 10 November, 2015
Yes, you got it Patti. This recipe is a direct descendant of the CSA recipe–with photos! · 11 November, 2015
I love these hearty stews! · 11 November, 2015
Glad to hear that Tammy–me too! · 11 November, 2015
you say 30 min. from start to table in your pressure cooker but you recipe is for a stove top soup pot requiring 45 min, then add beans and other ingredients, heating till hot. This is not a pressure cooker recipe. · 11 January, 2017
I’m sorry for the confusion. The recipe is for regular cooking, you are right. But in the notes, I explain that alternatively you can use a pressure cooker to make this soup and how. · 11 January, 2017
This isn’t the traditional caldo verde, That soup is anything nearby the Portuguese caldo verde. For start the caldo verde is a cream with ripped kale and chorizo. Also caldo verde doesn’t get any beans in it. This could be a portuguese vegetables soup but it’s not the Caldo Verde soup by any means.
This is the traditional recipe of Caldo Verde and there’s an image too
https://www.teleculinaria.pt/receitas/sopas/caldo-verde-portuguesa/ · 23 March, 2022
By the way if you want to make the original and traditional Caldo Verde in a pressure cooker here is the recipe adapted for Pressure Cookers
https://whi.sk/IRBpV · 23 March, 2022
Thank you for writing. I agree that traditional Portuguese caldo verdes vary widely. One family’s recipe probably uses different ingredients than the next. Some don’t include beans, some puree the potatoes for a creamier soup. The common ingredients are green kale and potatoes. I hope you try my kale and potato soup inspired by caldo verde. · 23 March, 2022