Kale, White Bean and Orzo Soup

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This simple Kale, White Bean and Orzo Soup is made with a cozy lemony-rosemary broth and can be ready to go in just 30 minutes.

Anyone else craving simple, healthy(ish), ultra-cozy soups on repeat right about now?

Well here’s a good one to add to your repertoire. ♡

We often turn to classic white bean and kale soup here in our house when we’re craving a quick bowl of soup, made with whatever extra ingredients happen to be hanging out in the crisper drawer.  But this particular version made with chewy al dente orzo pasta, a slightly-spicy lemon rosemary broth, with lots of fresh Parmesan sprinkled on top has been totally hitting the spot this winter.

It’s an absolute breeze to make and comes together from start to finish in just 30 minutes or so.  It’s naturally vegetarian and also vegan (if you nix the Parmesan), and chock-full of fresh kale and lots of protein.  It’s completely customizable with whatever fresh herbs, beans, or pasta shapes that you happen to have on hand.  And it is just the type of warm and comforting meal that I find myself craving this time of year.

Feel free to add in some extra protein (bacon, chicken, or sausage would be delicious) if you’d like.  And if you happen to have some good crusty bread on hand, I highly recommend using it to mop up that delicious broth.  But otherwise, this is a satisfying vegetarian soup recipe all on its own that I think you’re going to love.

So grab some kale and let’s make some soup together, friends!

Kale, White Bean and Orzo Soup Ingredients:

Before we get to the full recipe below, here are a few notes about the ingredients you’ll need to make this orzo soup:

• Veggies: I kept things simple with a base of onion, celery and garlic, sautéed in olive oil.
• Crushed red chili flakes: We will also sauté a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes in with the veggies, to bring out their best flavor.  This adds some subtle heat and really good flavor to the soup, which I really recommend.  But if you are averse to heat, you can reduce the amount of crushed red chili flakes by half.
• Veggie stock: I recommend using some good-quality vegetable stock, since the ingredient list here is so minimal.  Or if you are not concerned with making this soup vegetarian, you can sub in good-quality chicken stock instead.
• White beans: Cannelini or Great Northern beans would be delicious here, or really, any type of beans you love best.
• Herbs: I added in a few bay leaves and lots of fresh rosemary, which was delicious.  But feel free to use any other fresh herbs that you love, to taste, such as tarragon, thyme, sage, oregano or basil.
• Orzo: I love the texture of orzo in this soup, but feel free to use any other pasta shape that you love best.  Or if you prefer to make the soup gluten-free, you could use gluten-free orzo or rice.
• Kale: The kale really wilts down once you add it to this soup, so we’re going to add in a ton!  Curly or lacinato kale will both work great here.  Or if kale isn’t your thing, you’re welcome to use baby spinach or collards here instead.
• Lemon: We will finish off the soup with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice.  I used the juice of a medium lemon (about 2-3 tablespoons), but feel free to use more or less, to taste.
• Parmesan: Finally, if you aren’t making this soup vegan, I highly recommend serving it up with a generous sprinkle of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese on top.  So delicious!

Possible Recipe Variations:

As I mentioned above, this soup recipe is incredibly flexible.  So please feel free to tweak it however you prefer!  For example, you could…

• Make it gluten-free: Use gf orzo (or any other pasta shape), rice or quinoa in place of semolina orzo.
• Make it creamy: To make the broth more creamy, you could either add in some heavy cream.  Or to thicken the broth and also make it more creamy, simply purée one of the cans of beans along with 1 cup of the veggie stock until smooth, then add it to the soup.
• Add a protein: Bacon, chicken, or Italian sausage would all be delicious options if you would like to add some meat to this soup.
• Add extra veggies: Feel free to toss in any other soup-friendly veggies (such as carrots, leeks, zucchini, potatoes, green beans, artichoke hearts) that sound good.
• Add tomatoes: You could also add in a can of diced tomatoes to the broth.
• Add pepperoncini: I also love adding in some sliced pepperoncini peppers to give this soup some subtle extra heat and tang.
• Use different greens, beans, pasta or herbs: Of course, the main ingredients here are all honestly quite flexible too.  So feel free to use whatever greens, beans, pasta shapes (or rice) or fresh herbs that you have on hand.

More Favorite Vegetarian Soup Recipes:

Looking for more cozy vegetarian soup recipe inspiration?  Here are a few of my faves here on Gimme Some Oven…

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