Chicken Kale Soup 🍗🥬 This chicken soup with white beans, kale, zucchini, and more is easy, hearty, and healthy! Packed with flavor and texture, it’s a full meal in itself! Perfect for quick weeknight dinners and leftovers freeze and reheat great!
Easy Chicken and Kale Soup Recipe
- My family loves soup, and I love making it for them because with soup there are always leftovers. Bonus for the cook and a game-changer on busy days.
- This chicken and kale soup is easy, ready in 30 minutes, hearty, healthy, gluten, and dairy-free. The ultimate comfort food, it’s packed with flavor and texture. Even for those who think that soup can’t make a meal, this one will change your mind.
- There are many recipes for sausage, kale, and white bean soup online, but I opted to go with the ease of using shredded rotisserie chicken. The beans add heartiness and protein, while the kale, cabbage, and zucchini add texture. Even with soup I need texture and love anything green and the veggies are perfect. I love to serve mine topped with a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
- Naturally gluten-free and accidentally healthy, this is a winner of a chicken soup dinner.
- This recipe has been on my website since 2016 and is a fan favorite for great reason!
Chicken Kale Soup Ingredients
- Extra virgin olive oil, Vidalia onion, celery, green cabbage, and garlic: These create the savory vegetable base for the soup. Vidalia onion adds a little natural sweetness, but another onion may be used if needed.
- Chicken broth: I recommend low-sodium chicken broth so the soup does not become too salty. Chicken bone broth or vegetable broth can also be used.
- Shredded cooked chicken: Rotisserie chicken keeps this soup super quick and easy, but leftover shredded chicken breasts, skinless chicken thighs, or turkey also work well.
- Cannellini beans: These make the soup heartier and more filling. Great Northern beans can be used if you cannot find cannellini beans.
- Dried parsley, oregano, salt, and black pepper: These season the soup simply without overpowering it. Fresh herbs can also be used if you have them.
- Kale and zucchini: Curly kale or Lacinato kale both work well. Remove the tough center rib from the kale and use just the leaves. Zucchini adds extra veggies and cooks quickly.
- Fresh lemon juice: Adds brightness and wakes up the flavors before serving.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chicken and Kale Soup
- In a large Dutch oven, sauté the onion and celery until soft.
- Add the cabbage and continue to cook until slightly wilted.
- Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant.
- Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
- Let the mixture boil and then simmer until the chicken is warmed through, the zucchini has softened, and the kale has wilted. Ladle into a bowl and enjoy!
Great soup! Even my non-soup-loving husband says it’s one of the best. We add grated Parmesan. Also, I love you can freeze it; I immediately froze half of it!
Karen
Excellent soup! I loved the addition of lemon for a bit of brightness. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Suzan
Recipe Video Tutorial
Chicken Kale Soup
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, peeled and diced small (about 2 medium/large onions)
- 1 cup celery, sliced thin (about 2 stalks)
- 2 to 3 cups green cabbage, sliced into thin ribbons (about 1/2 small head of cabbage)
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
- 64 ounces 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 to 4 cups shredded cooked chicken, use about 1 whole storebought rotisserie chicken to save time; or roast or cook your own chicken in a skillet
- two 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoons salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
- leaves from 4 large stalks of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces (discard the center thick rib)
- 1 cup zucchini, diced small (from about 1 medium zucchini)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional (brightens up the flavor)
Instructions
- To a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add the oil, onion, celery, and sauté over medium-high heat for about 7 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften. Stir intermittently.
- Add the cabbage and sauté for about 3 minutes, or until cabbage wilts and softens. Stir intermittently.
- Add the agarlic and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, shredded chicken, cannellini beans, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, and boil about 5 minutes, or until chicken is warmed through.
- Add the kale, zucchini, optional lemon juice, and boil 1 to 2 minutes, or until kale has wilted and zucchini has softened.
- Taste soup and add salt or herbs, to taste. Amount of salt will vary based on how salty the brand of chicken broth used is, how salty the rotisserie chicken is, and personal preference. At any time while making the soup, if the overall liquid level is lower than you like and you prefer more broth, adding a cup or two of water is okay because at the end you will adjust the salt level. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What to Serve with Chicken Kale Soup
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Originally posted February 3, 2016 and reposted January 17, 2025 with updated text.
Delicious! Very easy to prepare.
Thanks so much, Michelle! I appreciate that!
Absolutely love this! Sometimes we do ground turkey too!!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Lindsey, and glad you absolutely love this! Ground turkey sounds great here, too!