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    Home » Vegan Recipes » Vegan Soup Recipes » Butter Bean Soup with kale and lemon

    Butter Bean Soup with kale and lemon

    Published: Jan 25, 2016 · Modified: May 6, 2022 by Kate Ford · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Butter Bean Soup
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    This creamy butter bean soup with curly kale and lemon is both delicious and nutritious. Hearty and filling, it is quick and easy to make and freezes well.

    🍴Why you will love this recipe

    Butter beans are awesome, aren't they?! Cheap, tasty and packed with goodness (in the form of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals), there's a good reason why you see them popping up in so many of my recipes.

    In this soup, half the beans are blitzed to a velvety smooth purée whilst the other half are left whole to add a chunky texture. The finished soup is so deliciously creamy, you won't believe it doesn't contain half a tub of double cream!

    Lemon juice is the perfect finishing touch - don't be tempted to skip it. It really lifts that 'beany' flavour to something so much more fresh, zingy and memorable!

    Jump to:
    • 🍴Why you will love this recipe
    • 👩🏽‍🍳 How to make your Butter Bean Soup
    • 🔪 Top Tips & FAQs
    • 🍽 If you liked that...
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments and Reviews
    Ingredients for Butter Bean Soup

    👩🏽‍🍳 How to make your Butter Bean Soup

    For a full, printable recipe with ingredients and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this page 👇🏼.

    Slice and fry onion and leek

    Trim and slice the leek and onion. Peel and crush the garlic cloves. Fry all for 3-4 minutes until soft.

    Simmer with butterbeans

    Add one of the tins of butter beans (save the other for later), simmer with vegetable stock, then blitz to a very smooth purée.

    Stir through kale

    Add the second tin of butter beans and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Add curly kale, parsley and lemon juice. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve.

    🔪 Top Tips & FAQs

    Keep blitzing the soup at step 4 until it is velvety-smooth. It can be tempting to stop after 10 seconds when it is just puréed, but the texture will be so much better if you keep going for a minute or two.

    For a totally smooth soup, just blitz the whole lot together at the end.

    If you don't have butter beans handy, this is just as good made with cannellini beans instead.

    Can I freeze my butter bean soup?

    Yes, this soup freezes really well and is ideal for batch-cooking for the freezer in individual portions. You can defrost a portion in the microwave or a saucepan. Adjust the consistency of the soup after defrosting - you may need to add a little more water, and check seasoning before serving.

    How long will the soup keep in the fridge?

    The soup actually gets better after a day in the fridge allowing the flavours to mellow. It will keep for 3-4 days as long as it is in an airtight container in the fridge.

    Loved this recipe? ⭐️ Leave a star rating below! 📸 Snap a photo of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram, tagging me @thevegspace or #thevegspace 📩 And get all my latest recipes in a weekly e-mail by subscribing to my newsletter.

    🍽 If you liked that...

    .... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:

    Broccoli and cauliflower soup
    Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup
    Plaited Bread
    Easy Plaited Bread
    Butter Bean Stew Recipe
    Butter Bean Stew
    Butter Bean Hummus
    Butter Bean Hummus

    📖 Recipe

    Butter Bean Soup

    Butter Bean Soup with kale and lemon

    Kate Ford | The Veg Space
    This creamy butter bean soup with curly kale and lemon is both delicious and nutritious. Hearty and filling, it is quick and easy to make and freezes well.
    5 from 7 votes
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    Prep Time 5 mins
    Cook Time 20 mins
    Total Time 25 mins
    Course Soup
    Cuisine British
    Servings 4 people
    Calories 202 kcal

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 1 leek
    • 1 onion
    • 2 cloves garlic
    • 2 tablespoon olive oil
    • 2 x 400g tins of butterbeans
    • 50 g curly kale tough stalks removed
    • 750 g vegetable stock
    • handful fresh parsley
    • ½ lemon

    Instructions
     

    • Trim and slice the leek and onion, and peel and crush the garlic cloves.
    • Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the leek, onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes until soft.
    • Drain and rinse just one of the tins of butterbeans and add to the pan, along with the vegetable stock. Season well with salt and black pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
    • Use a hand blender to blitz the soup to a thick, creamy consistency (this may take 1-2 minutes, keep going!).
    • Drain and rinse the second tin of butterbeans and add it to the soup. Return to the heat and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
    • Meanwhile, remove any tough stalks from the kale and finely chop the leaves. Finely chop the parsley.
    • Stir the kale and parsley through the soup and add the lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning then serve.

    ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

    Video

    Notes

    Keep blitzing the soup at step 4 until it is velvety-smooth. It can be tempting to stop after 10 seconds when it is just puréed, but the texture will be so much better if you keep going for a minute or two.
    For a totally smooth soup, just blitz the whole lot together at the end.
    If you don't have butter beans handy, this is just as good made with cannellini beans instead.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1portionCalories: 202kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 7gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 1166mgPotassium: 412mgFiber: 8gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 2023IUVitamin C: 24mgCalcium: 83mgIron: 3mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was! Mention @thevegspace or #thevegspace
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    Vegan in 15 by Kate Ford

    For more quick and easy vegan recipes take a look at my latest book Vegan in 15.

    "Brilliant! Chock full of easy recipes and great tips and advice"  Hello! Magazine

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    About Kate Ford

    Hi! I'm Kate, vegan home cook and blogger behind The Veg Space and author of Vegan in 15. I'm passionate about creating easy vegan recipes that even a first-time cook can follow.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Heather Kirby says

      May 08, 2022 at 1:43 pm

      Hi
      This looks like a fabulous recipe especially for bean phobic teenagers! Do you think it would make a good pasta sauce…hoping so!

      Reply
      • Kate Ford says

        May 09, 2022 at 9:53 am

        Ooh that's a nice idea - yes it is quite thick and creamy so imagine it would be lovely with pasta. Enjoy! Xx

        Reply
    2. Andrea says

      May 06, 2022 at 3:41 pm

      Looks so creamy smooth and delicious. Love how easy it is to make too! Perfect for a quick meal.

      Reply
    3. Helen says

      May 06, 2022 at 3:39 pm

      I love butterbeans, and I've been looking for some new soup ideas.... it must be fate! LOL. Bookmarking this to try very soon 🙂

      Reply
    4. Claudia Lamascolo says

      May 06, 2022 at 3:38 pm

      What a great recipe and I have everything here to make it we just love these beans a must try!

      Reply
    5. Suja md says

      May 06, 2022 at 3:07 pm

      We really like this recipe. Never knew it was this easy to make. Will be trying without further delay!

      Reply
    6. Janice (@FarmersgirlCook) says

      March 08, 2016 at 8:37 pm

      So glad to know I'm not the only one with half a bag of limp kale in the bottom of the fridge! This soup looks like a great way to use it up and enjoy a tasty lunch.

      Reply
    7. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says

      February 23, 2016 at 5:43 pm

      A lovely entry for #creditcrunchmunch, I cannot get enough kale!

      Reply
    8. Camilla @FabFood4All says

      January 31, 2016 at 12:12 am

      I love kale soup and love your addition of butterbeans:-) Fabulous photography! Thanks for entering #CreditCrunchMunch!

      Reply
    9. Chris @thinlyspread says

      January 30, 2016 at 3:47 pm

      Oh delicious deliciousness! I am a huge butterbean fan and combined with kale makes this a delicious and nutricious sounding soup!

      Reply
    10. Lisa says

      January 29, 2016 at 11:15 pm

      Thanks so much for sharing with NCR. Such a nourishing soup and a great way to use butter beans.

      Reply
    11. Choclette says

      January 28, 2016 at 9:03 pm

      Ooh I bet this tastes good. Kale has such a nice flavour and I really like butter beans. Annoying CT can't eat them for some reason, so I very rarely get them. That ThermoCook is just great for soups.

      Reply
    12. Jan says

      January 27, 2016 at 5:58 am

      Ooooh I like kale and really love the addition of butterbeans, I have to try this soon. The ThermoCook really does make soups easily; thanks for the link to mine.

      Reply
    13. Lucy @ BakingQueen74 says

      January 26, 2016 at 9:45 pm

      Butterbeans are my favourite in soups, so I'll have to try your kale version ASAP. Wish I had a Thermocook as they look so convenient, great that you have given instructions for those of us only with a pan too 🙂

      Reply
    14. Natalie Tamara says

      January 26, 2016 at 5:23 pm

      This looks delicious and very hearty, ideal for a winter lunch. I rarely cook with butterbeans either but funnily enough, my most recent recipe is also butterbean-based!

      From your Veganuary updates it looks like you've been cooking some amazing vegan food throughout January. How have you found it overall? I've been taking part too and really enjoyed it. I usually only cook vegan food at home anyway but it's meant some changes when I eat out but it's not been as hard as I'd feared 🙂

      Reply
    15. Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says

      January 26, 2016 at 5:19 pm

      What a super green soup! I love adding kale to my soups for a nice veggie boost and this one sounds delicious.

      Reply
    16. Ceri @Natural Kitchen Adventures says

      January 26, 2016 at 4:16 pm

      So many lovely seasonal ingredients in here and love love love butterbeans too. Such a creamy way of adding protein into a soup!

      Reply
    17. Deborah ShireGardener says

      January 26, 2016 at 1:43 pm

      I love kale and butter beans so will make this soon as they are always on hand in my kitchen. Looking at the list of ingredients, I think it will freeze quite well {I'm the only lover of kale in the house!}

      Reply
    18. Shaheen says

      January 26, 2016 at 11:12 am

      I love kale and I like butter beans so this soup is calling to me. Thanks for linking to my recipe too, most appreciated.

      Reply

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