This hearty and comforting Portuguese Sausage and Kale Soup (Caldo Verde Recipe) is chock full of kale, beans, and other vegetables! This delicious soup is a real crowd-pleaser too! As an added bonus, it’s on the table in just 30 minutes. You might want to make a double batch though because this soup is even better the next day!
So let me ask, did you get a couple of bunches of kale or other vegetables in your grocery delivery box, and you’re looking for some Misfit Market Recipes to use up some fresh veggies you have hanging around in the refrigerator?
I have a great way to use up those two bunches of Kale you have along with some onions, tomatoes, potatoes, and depending on how traditional you want to stay maybe, some celery and carrots too!
Full disclosure: Tomatoes are not a staple used in my family recipe of New Bedford Portuguese Kale Soup I grew up making. The rest of the ingredients are pretty true to the recipe I learned growing up. But as I always say, any recipe is really just a starting point to dress up (or down) the way you please. You do not care for tomatoes, feel free to omit them.
Over the years. I’ve made this dish and added a can of tomatoes to bulk it up and found that we enjoyed it just as much as the original version. We also swap out the beans to use whatever we have in the pantry at the time. Red beans, navy beans, butter beans, and garbanzo beans all work well in this recipe!
The addition of the apple cider vinegar gives the soup a nice acidity and goes well with the greens. I recommend starting with half the amount indicated and adding more to taste. If you do not have Apple Cider vinegar, you can always use white vinegar as a replacement.
Ingredients for Portuguese Sausage and Kale Soup:
Salt: I use fine Sea Salt but fine sea salt or table salt will work just as well. I recommend to add the salt incrementally, to taste. Depending on the sausage you use, you may need less salt than listed in the ingredients.
Sausage: If your grocer does not carry Chourico or linguica sausages, some good substitutes are dried (cured) Spanish Chorizo sausage, smoked kielbasa sausage, or spicy andouille sausage. My favorite is the spicy andouille. It goes perfectly with the kale. As an alternative, you could also substitute the sausage for diced ham, ham hocks, or smoked turkey wings. Turkey or chicken sausages also make a healthy substitute
Beans: We use a white Kidney Bean (Cannellini) but white navy bean, butter bean, red kidney bean, or garbanzo (chickpeas [paid link]) also work well in this recipe.
Potatoes: Any good waxy potato that stands up to boiling will work well in this recipe. The top three are Russet, red, or Yukon Gold.
Tomatoes: The recipe calls for canned fire-roasted tomatoes. If you are using fresh tomatoes, aim for 2 cups of diced fresh tomatoes. To remove the skins before chopping them, blanch them in boiling water for about 10 seconds, the skins will slide right off.
Chicken Stock: Homemade Chicken Stock is always best but if going with boxed variety, select a low sodium variety. This allows you to control the salt in your recipe.
Variations of Portuguese Sausage and Kale Soup [Caldo Verde]:
Vegetarian: You can make this Portuguese Sausage and Kale soup vegetarian by using vegetable stock in place of chicken stock and omitting the sausage. Add carrots. celery, and fennel for a hearty soup.
Mixed Greens: Not a fan of kale? Use a combination of spinach, swiss chard, and green cabbage instead of kale.
Gluten-Free: Many of the ingredients for this recipe are naturally gluten-free. Be sure to read the labels of the chicken stock, sausage, and apple cider vinegar and confirm your selections are all gluten-free.
Portuguese Potato, Sausage and Kale Soup
Equipment
- Stock Pot or Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 1 tsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Large Onion , chopped fine
- 5 cloves Garlic , minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- 1 pound Kale , coarsely chopped, stem removed
- 1 tsp Sea salt , fine. More or less to taste. [See Note 1]
- 1 tsp Ground black pepper
- 1 can White kidney beans 15 oz, drained and rinsed, (also called Cannellini Beans)
- 1 pound Chourico sausage , casing removed, diced [See Note 2]
- 2 medium Potatoes , peeled and diced. Russets, red, or Yukon Gold work best here.
- 2 Bay leaves optional
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes optional
- 1 can Fire Roasted Diced tomatoes 15 oz, do not drain
- 2 quarts Chicken broth low sodium cooking stock
- 2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a deep pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, cover, and cook for 5 minutes or until the onions become translucent. Stir occasionally.
- Add garlic and kale to the pot. Cover pot and wilt greens for about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add beans, chourico, potatoes, bay leaves. red pepper flakes (optional), diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and cider vinegar to the pot. Bring soup to a full rolling boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook 10 to 15 minutes longer or until potatoes are fork-tender.
- Remove from heat. Serve immediately. I recommend some crusty bread to soak up that amazing broth!
Notes
- Add the salt incrementally, to taste. Depending on the sausage you use, you may need less salt than listed in the ingredients.
- If your grocer does not carry Chourico or linguica sausages, some good substitutes are dried (cured) Spanish Chorizo sausage, smoked sausage, or andouille sausage.
- The addition of the apple cider vinegar gives the soup a nice acidity and goes well with the greens. I recommend starting with half the amount indicated and adding more to taste.
Grew up eating this too and this was just like my grandma’s recipe. I really enjoyed it as did my husband who had never had it before.