This Chicken Kale Soup uses cooked and shredded chicken or turkey, bacon crumbles, and fresh kale greens. It's a healthy and delicious soup, plus easy to make!
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Keyword chicken kale soup, Creamy Chicken Kale Soup, kale chicken soup
Prep: Shred the cooked chicken and set aside. Dice the carrots, celery, onion, and slice the garlic and mushrooms. Finely chop fresh thyme. Remove kale leaves from the stems and roughly chop them. Rinse and set aside to drain.
Cook bacon: Preheat a large dutch oven or a heavy soup pot over medium-high heat, when hot, add the oil and the bacon and cook the bacon until crispy. Remove and set aside. Reserve 2 tbsp bacon fat in the pan.
Sauté aromatics: Reheat the pot with bacon fat over medium heat. Add garlic and onion. Season with a pinch of salt and saute until the onion sweats a bit. Add carrots and celery and another pinch of salt, sauté for, 2 minutes. Add the mushroom and thyme, sauté until fragrant, 1 minute.
Simmer soup: Add chicken stock to just cover the vegetables. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, cover and cook until tender but not mushy.
Set aside thickner: In a bowl, whisk cassava flour and coconut milk until smooth.
Finish: Add shredded chicken and kale. Stir the pot to incorporate the ingredients. Simmer for a few minutes until the kale leaves soften but not mushy. To thicken the soup, stir in coconut milk mixture. Keep stirring until the soup thickens, about 1-2 minutes.
Serve: Turn off the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and crumbled bacon.
Notes
When making soups with kale, I add the greens toward the end of cooking so they keep some texture and vibrant color. If you prefer very soft greens, add the kale after the broth simmers. Simmer the greens longer to make them softer.
Cassava flour provides the most similar taste and thickness as regular wheat flour. You can also use any gluten-free flour blend. Tapioca starch, arrowroot, or potato starch will thicken the soup but alter the flavor.
Vegetables: Try adding broccoli or cauliflower florets for different vegetable options.
For a vegetarian version, blend half a can of white beans and stir into the soup. You can also add potatoes.
Creamer type: Instead of coconut cream, you can use half-and-half or a smaller amount of heavy cream.
Low carb: If you want a low carb soup, simply skip adding any flour or starch thickener entirely. The soup still tastes great without it.