Serves 8
Active cooking time: 20 minutes
Total cooking time: 40 minutes
This is one of my winter staples, especially if I’m having a busy week, have no one to impress and don’t want to use a million dishes (big ups to the disherwasherless!) You get your beans, greens and grains all in one pot; in this case I use white beans, kale and quinoa. You also get about 8 servings out of it so you can either freeze it or keep it in the fridge for 4 days or so, having it for lunch or dinner or… stew for breakfast? Why not!
It’s really versatile so make up your own spice blend, use different beans and grains (although cooking time may vary for the grain) and, you know, just do whatever you want, this stew is your canvas. Prep the herb blend before proceeding with the recipe, that way you just dump everything in at the same time without much fuss.
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups leeks, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1 teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, peeled, diced medium
1 large parsnip, peeled, diced medium
8 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 pounds yukon gold potatoes, diced medium
1 cup dry quinoa
1 15 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch kale (about a pound), rough stems removed, torn into bite sized pieces
Herb blend:
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed (see crushing fennel tip)
1 teaspoon dried majoram
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
Fresh black pepper, to taste
Preheat a 4 quart soup pot over medium high heat. Saute leeks and garlic in oil with salt for about 3 minutes, or however long it takes you to prep your carrot and parsnip. Add carrot and parsnip, along with the herb blend, turn heat up to high and saute for a few seconds.
Add vegetable broth, potatoes and quinoa. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes, until potatoes and quinoa are tender. Add kale and beans, and stir frequently until kale is wilted. Cover and simmer on low for 5 more minutes. Taste for salt
When you serve you may want to add a little lemon juice or a splash of balsamic vinegar or hot sauce – whatever your thing is. Or you may not.
made this, its delicious comfort food that doesnt leave you feeling too full afterwards! a really versatile recipe, i substituted parsnip for cauliflower and was delicious, will definitly make this again!
We just made a huge double batch of this for dinner and it is truly amazing. As someone who has recently had to go gluten free, I truly appreciate these recipes. Thank you so much.
I love this stew so much… It’s just great. Another reason to get a freezer bigger than a shoebox!
I like it with double the carrots, parsnips and beans; and half the potato. =)
My husband just made this for dinner and it was fabulous, just like everything else we’ve tried from your site. Thanks!
Just made this last night, added a bit of chunked tomato I had left over, used garbonzos ’cause I was out of white beans, left out parsnip and potato and fennel (because I didn’t have them on hand) but can’t wait to make the recipe as written — and also to try some of the amazing additions left in the comments. So divinely delicious! And so very versatile! And so naturally nutritious and fabulously filling! Thank you — just found your site from googling kale and white bean soup — can’t wait to see what other savory stews and tantalizing treats await me herein! Thank you so much.
I’ve been on the look out for more quinoa recipes since learning about all the health benefits but this is the first time I’ve seen quinoa used in a stew! I’m intrigued!
I had to move mine to an 8 qt pot, i’m not sure if I did something wrong… it made a billion servings. It’s delicious though, so I’m not too worried 🙂
ive finally made this from my AfR and i am so pleased that I did. the best stew in the world, so fresh and light and yet intensely satisfying and filling. i couldnt get kale so used spring greens, increasing cooking time slightly, but, oh my, how amazing this is
stand by for sense memory story triggered by the stew, sorry if this is oversharing but wanted to let you know the emotions this tapped into
when i was a little girl my mom moved away and I stayed with my dad. she didnt know but he was a terrible dad in many ways, one of which was in malnourishing me. when i would visit her fortnightly i would be spoiled with lovely food, puddings, dinners heaving with fresh and beautifully cooked vegetables, she was the most wonderful cook. this stew tasted like one of her autumnul roast dinners, the occasional bites of parsnip and the rich greens, the broth a light gravy. i was transported back to her kitchen when i would be happy once every 2 weeks.
she passed away a couple of years ago at a tragically young age, and since then i have been craving her food. i cannot cook like she could, no one i know can. I realised that as i dont want to eat meat or dairy that opening Delia Smith and cooking fish pie or lasagne, or making her own recipe cauliflower cheese with cayenne are no longer possible options. however, since finding your books I am cooking food which i enjoy, which i know she would enjoy, which tastes like i know how to cook – and occasionally i find a gem like this stew which tastes like “home”
thanks Isa, sorry for oversharing!! xx
Hi Missbear,
What a loving mother you had! If you are ever in the Calgary, Alberta area pls. let me know, I would love to try my best to make some delicious food for you. I dont imagine anyone can ever cook as good as our mothers, but I would sure love to give it a try 🙂
i would like calories/fats/fiber counts for all recipes posted.
any chance of getting the nutritional value?
Made this again tonight! A huge double batch. It is wonderful as always and we had a friend over that is quite nearly a full time carnivore and he LOVED it. Ate every last drop in his bowl. Thank you Isa, you truly are amazing and keep my Gluten Free, Vegan belly very well fed and happy.
Yummy!!! My 4 and 7 year old daughters were delightfully surprised that they enjoyed soup with kale on it.
This soup is OUTSTANDING!!! I use a product from Quebec called Herbs de Salee (organic herb blend and sea salt) instead of the herb blend. And finish it off with a squeeze of Lime juice. 😀
Whenever I am bored with my current lineup of dinners, I come here. I look in my weekly veggie box, and figure out what will work. Tonight it was this, and HOLY COW is it ever fantastic!! Will be adding this to the Fall/Winter rotation for sure. Thanks!
I made this 2 nights ago and it was awesome. I added some red pepper flakes to give it a little kick.
I made this last night and I think it’s a really good base. I didn’t have any parnips, marjoram and fennel. Instead, I added extra carrots, italian seasoning, red bell pepper flakes and cumin. The cumin gave it a beautiful color and flavor. Turned out great!
Tried this for the first time the other night. Delicious! And hearty 🙂 By any chance, has the nutritional information been worked up on this? I’d love to know. Thanks again for sharing this recipe! We LOVED it!
For everyone looking for nutrition info – there are lots of websites available that allow you to enter the ingredients of a recipe and get the nutrition info. I use http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator but there are plenty of others if you don’t like that one.
Hi,
If I wan to double the recipe, do I double the spice amount? Not sure how this works. Thanks!
Yep!
Kale
What a great recipe, and website and general! Thanks so much for doing it!
Had this soup for dinner tonight and it was great! Super yummy, and pretty too, if you use red quinoa and mini colored potatoes. (-: Thanks for posting.
I didn’t have fennel or marjoram, so I used an Italian seasoning instead (which included thyme, rosemary and marjoram in addition to basil and orgeano). I wasn’t sure how this would come out, but went with all the positive reviews and have to agree, it is FABULOUS! I think it’s fine on it’s own, but it seemed to be missing something (maybe it was that fennel) so I added some red pepper while cooking it and sriracha when I was eating it, and I just love it. I’m not vegan (or even a vegetarian, though I’m trying to eat less and less meat), but I have vegan friends and I will make this for them, and I’ll even make it again for myself. Wonderful on a cold day!!
Hi Isa! Do you think sweet potato could be used as a substitute for the yukon gold or would it throw off the flavor too much?
A new favorite/go-to! Thank you, Isa! We’re not big on “spices” so I just added a pinch of thyme, and a pinch of salt, no pepper. The other big and successful change: we used hulled barley instead of quinoa — fantastic!
I used my flavorful veggies from the greenmarket (parsnip, 2 special heirloom carrots instead of 1 carrot, leeks, garlic, some kind of white potato). White beans from the can. I find if I use greenmarket veggies, the flavors are so powerful, you often don’t need that many herbs/spices but maybe that’s just me. 🙂 Definitely making this again and again, with many variations to come! 😀
I made this for lunch – omitting the fennel and marjoram for lack of – and it is DELICIOUS. I halved the recipe, adding more kale than it called for. My 10-month old daughter loved it (I pulse pureed her portion).
Yum, what can I serve this with at a dinner party so that I’m not just serving stew?
Is there any chance that the book includes nutrition content? I have a pancreas issue and tracking fat grams for the day is a must. Your recipes looks so flavorful! I so hope to purchase the book! Thanks!
ISA, you are the bomb! I love your recipe and your quirky look ! If I met you, we would become best friends. Keep cooking my friend, you rock!
I have a question about this part of the instructions: “Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes”. Do we cover the pot for the 15 minutes after it has reached boiling?
Thanks!