Lately, I’ve been trying to incorporate a meatless meal at least once a week. I’ve found myself craving more veggies lately and just feel like I get plenty of protein (through meat) throughout the week and since legumes don’t seem to have an effect on my body/inflammation– chickpeas have been heavy on my mind. Don’t ask me why? haha. Just a phase, I guess. But that phase led me to this Easy Chickpea and Kale Tuscan-Style Soup!
I absolutely love Tuscan style bean soups and this soup came about the other day when I scoured my fridge and pantry and put together this Easy Chickpea and Kale Tuscan-Style Soup with things I had in my fridge and pantry. Y’all. It’s absolutely delicious, super easy to make, and very budget-friendly! Not to mention… healthy!
The key to a bowl of good bean soup, in my opinion, is to partially blend the soup. this gives the base that nice, creamy texture you want in a bean soup. You can either use an immersion blender to accomplish this, or transfer a portion of the soup to a blender and add it back to the soup. You just still want to leave plenty of the whole beans and veggies for texture.
SHOP THE POST.
Easy Chickpea and Kale Tuscan-Style Soup

Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup carrot, diced or 1 large carrot
- 1 cup celery, diced or 2 stalks
- 1 cup onion, finely diced or 1 medium onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. kosher salt or more to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper or more to taste
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
- 1 bayleaf
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary or 1/2 tsp dried
- 4 sprigs thyme or 1 tsp dried
- 1 [14.5 ounce] can diced tomatoes (undrained)
- 2 [15 ounce] cans garbanzo beans (or chickpeas) drained and rinsed
- 1 bunch Lacinato Kale ribs removed and loosely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice or 1 lemon
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pot or dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring often, until tender, about 7 minutes.
- Add in the broth, rosemary, thyme, bayleaf, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Stir to combine and increase heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes of cooking, add the kale and stir to combine. Cover and continue cooking until the beans are very tender and the kale has wilted, 10 to 15 more minutes.
- Remove the bayleaf, and the thyme and rosemary stems (if using fresh). Using an immersion blender, partially blend the soup leaving plenty of beans and veggies for texture. (Alternatively, transfer about 1.5 cups of the soup to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Return to the soup and stir to combine).
- Stir in the lemon. Taste the soup and add salt and pepper, if needed. Serve and enjoy!
24 Comments
Virginia
November 24, 2022 at 1:38 amJust outstanding. Great flavor. Added a Aji Rico pepper and the flavor was amazing.
Alex
November 25, 2022 at 7:54 pmGlad you enjoyed this! Thank you for the comment!
Anita
November 5, 2022 at 2:23 pmExactly the recipe I was looking for: easy, wholesome & delicious! Lemon is perfect touch
Noreen
May 20, 2022 at 6:30 amThis soup is perfection! The tomatoes with juices and pepper flakes is key in my opinion. There are other kale, garbanzo bean soup recipes but without tomatoes and chili flakes. The only change I made was the addition of sautéed mushrooms . My husband is a soup person and he LOVED it. I don’t do bland soups and so I was also pleasantly surprised.
Kelsey
March 10, 2022 at 7:47 pmThis was so amazing! I would have never thought to slightly blend it but it totally made the dish.
Denise
November 21, 2021 at 2:34 pmAbsolutely loved this soup and so easy to make, the lemon at the end adds so much brightness and the pepper flakes gave it a the kick i love. Thank you
Rachel Sales
October 25, 2021 at 10:08 pmI love this soup! It’s my favorite. Do you know if it freezes well?
Alex
October 26, 2021 at 10:19 pmyes it does for sure!
Lindy
May 7, 2021 at 5:23 pmI tried this recipe tonight and I’m amazed at how yummy it turned out!
Lateiaha
March 4, 2021 at 12:28 amIs the celery a major ingredient
Alex
March 7, 2021 at 6:20 pmno it doesn’t necessarily have to be in there!
Kim
October 3, 2022 at 6:03 pmThis soup was delicious and so wasy to make! I was looking for something to make with what I had on hand. My kale wasn’t good to use so I threw in some greens from a spring mix for salad. I didn’t have canned tomatoes but an open jar of marina sauce and used that. Still came out great. Thanks for the great recipe, you saved my lunch for the week! 🙂
G
February 13, 2021 at 11:39 pmSo glad I stumbled on this recipe. I have a lot of dried chickpeas I was able to put to good use! I did not blend this soup at all and I still love it. The flavors are great. Love that lemon addition.
Tracy Dalzell-Hill
December 8, 2020 at 4:59 pmThis was delicious! I used a homemade vegetable stock instead of the chicken stock and used some grated parmesan when serving.
Lori
May 15, 2022 at 6:50 pmLove this soup, and so easy to make. I added some fresh green beans that I had on hand as well.
alex
November 29, 2020 at 10:07 pmhow do i adapt this recipe to using fresh and not canned tomatoes?
Alex
November 30, 2020 at 4:24 pmI would seed and finely dice 1.5 cups tomato and throw them in at the same time that you would add the canned
Meg
November 25, 2020 at 2:53 pmThis soup was SO good! We doubled the batch (and snuck in some Italian sausage), and the entire family (kids and grandparents) LOVED it. YUMMMMMY!
Alex
November 25, 2020 at 4:19 pmohhh yummy!
Kat
November 18, 2020 at 7:27 pmWow! This soup is an absolute winner! Even my roast-beef-and-gravy family loved it and are asking for more. I used half-n-half veggie and chicken stock for mine, plus a little extra water, fresh tomato instead of canned, and stewed in 1 anise pod and 1 cinnamon stick. Those last two really amped up the flavour. Garnish with fresh parmesan and parsley, and this is DEFINITELY making a comeback in my house!
Nicole
November 17, 2020 at 2:55 amThis soup is sooo delicious and is making it’s way into my soup rotations! I swapped out kale for spinach, included a parmesan rind when adding the broth, and served with fresh parmesan as well 🙂
Ellen
October 22, 2020 at 5:26 pmThe soup was delicious! It was quite spicy with the 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes so I may reduce that next time I make it. But overall really good! Cooking time was perfect for the chickpeas
Alex
October 23, 2020 at 9:44 pmglad you enjoyed it! I tend to get a little heavy handed on pepper flakes.. so this is good insight! xo
Kat
November 18, 2020 at 7:24 pmWow! This soup is an absolute winner! Even my roast-beef-and-gravy family loved it and are asking for more. I used half-n-half veggie and chicken stock for mine, plus a little extra water, fresh tomato instead of canned, 1 anise pod, and 1 cinnamon stick. Those last two really amped up all the flavours. Garnished with fresh parmesan and parsley, and this is DEFINITELY making a comeback!