Hearty Tuscan White Bean and Lentil Soup with Kale

When you live in the Midwest, ‘Soup Season’ is a thing because of the long and cold winters we experience up here. Enjoying a nice big bowl of a delicious soup for dinner on a chilly day is a must to keep you warm and cozy. Spending a decade as a vegetarian in the Midwest means I’ve done a lot of experimenting with classic soup recipes that usually have meat in them so I could also enjoy a comforting meal when it’s cold out.

This Tuscan white bean and lentil soup is one of my all time favorites because of it’s lovely flavor and it’s ability to keep you full thanks to a lot of high-quality plant-based protein! Served up with a slice or two of crusty bread and you’ve got yourself a perfect meal.

While I love a good creamy soup, like our cheesy potato soup and wild rice and mushroom soup recipes, sometimes you don’t want such a heavy meal. Like my slow cooker vegetarian chili, this Tuscan white bean and lentil soup recipe isn’t cream based and heavy, making it a nice meal that feels light too.

Add this hearty and delicious Tuscan white bean soup to your winter rotation today!

Why You’ll Love This Lentil Soup Recipe

Easy to make. Rinse, chop, measure, and cook… you can do it!

Great flavor. Italian spices blend with comforting chicken broth, legumes, and veggies to create a cozy and delicious dish.

Light yet filling. This Tuscan white bean soup with kale and lentils is light but filling thanks to the beans, lentils, and use of bone broth.

Ingredients Needed

Cannellini Beans. Cannellini beans are super nutritious! They’re fat free and an excellent source of fiber, folate, iron and magnesium. 

Brown Lentils. Did you know that lentils are a nutritional powerhouse? They are low in sodium and saturated fat, and high in protein, potassium, fiber, folate, and more. Using lentils is what makes this soup stand out compared to other Tuscan white bean soup recipes.

Yellow Onion. Onions add savory taste to dishes that can boost up meat-based broths and stocks or contribute to depth of flavor with vegetable based broths and stocks. Yellow onions are a great all-purpose onion, that are sweet and have nice texture (and the type I use most often in my cooking). 

Curly Kale, Carrots, Diced Tomatoes. We use lots of veggies in this recipe to add nutritional value, great texture, and deliciousness.

Garlic, Salt, Black Pepper, and Italian Seasoning. We’re using four simple spices to add big flavor to our white bean and lentil soup.

See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

Recipe Variations and Substitutions

Soup recipes are easy to customize to your liking. Give one of these recipe variations a try if you’d like!

• Use green lentils instead of brown lentils. Green lentils and brown lentils are often interchangeable, and both work well in this soup recipe. Green lentils are slightly larger than brown, and have a mildly peppery flavor vs. the more earthy flavor of brown lentils.
• Try different beans. If you’re not finding cannellini beans amongst the cans of beans at your local grocery store, try great northern beans! They have a similar look and texture to cannellinis. You could also try navy beans or red kidney beans (another common substitution for cannellinis, even though they’re not white beans).
• Substitute kale with fresh spinach. If kale isn’t your leafy greens of choice, spinach is a great substitute! Replace the kale 1-to-1 with fresh baby spinach. If you are doing this substitutions, please note that you should not add the spinach to the soup until the very end of cooking. Just before you’re ready to serve, add the fresh spinach to your pot and let it wilt for 1-2 minutes. Spinach has a much more delicate structure than kale, so does not need the extra time sautéing and simmering.
• Option to add celery. If you love adding celery to soups, feel free to do so! Chop 2-3 stocks and add them in at the same time as the carrots and onions to sauté and soften.
• Toss in a bay leaf. Bay leaves are a nice way to season long-cooking dishes like soups, stews, and braises. Adding in one bay leaf to your soup pot of Italian white bean soup with lentils during cooking is an easy way to enhance the soup’s depth of flavor. Just remember to pull the bay leaf out before serving!
• Add a squeeze of fresh lemon before serving. Since lemon juice is an acid, it can be used to activate your taste buds (similar to what salt does). So when you add a little bit to your soup before serving, the other flavors you taste are enhanced, creating an umami effect.
• Top with fresh herbs if desired. Add some fresh parsley or slices of fresh basil are a nice addition on top of this Tuscan soup.

Broth Options for Tuscan White Bean Soup

You have several broth options to choose from when making this soup recipe.

• Chicken Bone Broth. Bone broth is a great choice for this soup recipe if you are not vegetarian. This type of broth adds a lot of additional protein, collagen, and all kinds of nutrients to your meal. I personally like Bare Bones Broth. Using chicken bone broth makes this soup recipe extra hearty, sustaining, and nutritious.
• Chicken Broth. Standard chicken broth easy to find at the store and is a great option for this recipe.
• Chicken Stock. Stock is pretty much the halfway step between regular broth and bone broth. Based on how stock is made, it is generally thicker and has more protein, vitamins, and minerals than standard broth. Chicken stock is another great option if that is what you have on hand.
• Vegetable Broth (or Vegetable Stock). Selecting veggie broth or stock is a great option for this Tuscan white bean soup recipe if you are vegan or vegetarian.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1: Prepare Lentils. Sort through and rinse lentils until the water runs clear. Place lentils and water into a medium-sized saucepan and cook per package directions.

Step 2: Sauté olive oil, onion, carrot, salt, and pepper over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant.

Step 3: Deglaze your pan by adding in the tomatoes, and scrape the bottom of your pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits / residue (this is where the flavor lives!).

Step 4: Add the Italian seasoning and the kale and sauté until the kale is bright green and partially tender.

Step 5: Add the remaining ingredients (the beans, cooked lentils, and broth) and let the soup simmer on medium-low for 20 minutes.

Possible Dietary Restrictions?

This Tuscan kale soup with white beans and lentils can easily be modified to fit a variety of dietary needs (without losing it’s deliciousness!):

• To make this into a vegetarian or vegan Tuscan white bean and kale soup recipe, simply select vegetable broth when making this recipe. Those wanting a vegan soup will also need to omit the shredded parmesan for topping, or substitute it with a vegan alternative.
• To make this into a dairy free soup recipe, do not use the shredded parmesan for topping. Or substitute with a dairy-free cheese alternative that you like.
• This recipe is already written to be a gluten free soup recipe, however, if you are serving this Tuscan white bean soup to someone with gluten intolerance it is wise to ensure the broth you use specifically notes ‘gluten free’ on the package.

Storage

In the fridge: store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

In the freezer: Tuscan kale and white bean soup with lentils is also a great soup to freeze! I recommend placing your soup into individual sized, air-tight containers. You can freeze soup for up to 3 months.

Recipe FAQs

Is there a difference between cannellini beans and great northern beans?

Generally cannellini beans and great northern beans are considered to be interchangeable in many recipes. However, they are different. Cannellini beans are larger in size and shaped like a kidney bean. They have a mild earthiness and slightly nutty flavor. Cannellini beans have a thicker skin which results in a creamy texture after cooking. Great northern beans are slightly smaller than cannellini beans, and have a thinner skin, resulting in a slightly less creamy texture after cooking.

What beans can I substitute for cannellini?

Great northern beans are the best substitute for cannellini beans if you cannot find them. You could also try navy beans or red kidney beans (another common substitution for cannellinis, even though they’re not white beans).