Winter is about soup. The kind of soup that drives away sniffles and sickness like this tasty Pot Roasty Kale Onion Soup. Filled with immune system boosting and nutritious ingredients such winter greens like kale and spinach and topped off with nutrients from beef bone stock, this recipe is made for chilly, overcast days.
This is the soup we’ve had three nights in a row; it’s basically sauteéd onions added to beef stock, with kale and salt thrown in.
The beef bone broth does all the heavy lifting providing both knockout flavor and the nutritional benefits of slow cooked bones – extracting all the minerals, protein, glycine, gelatin, and colegen. All of which have health benefits and are good for your body.
The added onions take the fragrance up another notch while the greens add vitamins like A, B (folate), C, and K and minerals such as iron and calcium.
This is a basic soup. We like to use baby kale, and add in some carrots, potatoes, and celery. And then we top it with additional goodies such as sliced avocado, diced fresh kale, kale chips, homemade tortilla chips or strips, grated cheese, etc.
Feel free to change it up and add or substitute ingredients. Lentils or other legumes and pulses would be a perfect add in. White cannellini beans would be tasty for an Italian-style beans and greens inspiration!
Perhaps tumeric for extra flavor?
This is also a great make-ahead meal. Make a batch to last several days or freeze the base soup or even pressure can it (make sure to follow all USDA recommendations), dump it in a pan, add your fresh ingredients and allow to cook for 20 or 30 minutes, top it with your favorite crunchy bits if desired, and wham-bam “le dîner est servi.”
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Pot Roasty Kale Onion Soup
Description
A magical concoction made with beef bone stock and healthy greens such as kale and/or spinach and with the aroma and taste of onions. Packed with nutrients, vitamins, and flavor to drive away the winter sniffles.
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 cups perpetual beef broth, divided
- 1/2 large white onion, peeled and sliced
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 4 cups (625 g) packed baby kale (or chopped kale, spinach, or chard, etc.)
- Optional: additional chopped vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, celery, etc.
- Optional Toppings: sliced avocado, diced fresh kale, kale chips (!), tortilla strips, grated cheese, etc.
Instructions
- Begin by caramelizing the onions in beef broth: In a large skillet over medium heat, warm a tablespoon of the beef broth, spooned right out of a perpetual pot you’ve got going, if you like (or out of reserved stock). Add sliced onions and salt, and stir everything together.
- Let mixture continue cooking for a few minutes, until the liquids absorb. Add another tablespoon or two of stock and repeat. There will be a lot of sizzling and a wonderful onion aroma flooding the kitchen, and all you have to do at this point is enjoy it and pay attention to the liquids. Any time the liquids have evaporated enough for the onions to start scalding the pan a bit, add more liquids.
- You can add a lot at a time or a little, but either way, let onions keep cooking in broth until liquids have evaporated and repeat. With 15 to 20 minutes, the onions will have taken on the brown color of the broth and be very soft. Remove from heat.
- Place onions in a large saucepan over medium heat and add broth, baby kale, and any other vegetables you’d like. Warm this mixture over medium heat, just until the kale wilts (and any other vegetables are soft). Taste and adjust for salt.
- Serve topped with garnishes like sprouts, avocado, grated cheese, or on its own.
What about you? Did you make this and love it as much as we did? Let us know in the comments below and please rate the recipe!
And if healthy winter soups are your thing, then some of these should be in your recipe file:
Photos by Shanna Mallon, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published on March 26th, 2014. Last updated: February 2, 2020 at 16:57 pm.
Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Shanna Mallon
Shanna Mallon is a freelance writer who holds an MA in writing from DePaul University. Her work has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including The Kitchn, Better Homes & Gardens, Taste of Home, Houzz.com, Foodista, Entrepreneur, and Ragan PR. In 2014, she co-authored The Einkorn Cookbook with her husband, Tim. Today, you can find her digging into food topics and celebrating the everyday grace of eating on her blog, Go Eat Your Bread with Joy. Shanna lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with Tim and their two small kids.
