Tuscan Chickpea Soup with Kale

This Tuscan Chickpea Soup with Kale is savory, hearty and comforting.  It’s the perfect mix of fall flavors with chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, and kale.

How was your Halloween?  Ours was crazy, as always.  As long as I can remember it’s been a wild night for us.  The kids are all so hyper and excited and run ahead of us trick-or-treating.  It always makes me nervous so I’m glad it’s over!

We had a great party at the end of the cul-de-sac with way too much food and the kids came home with too much candy.

My son weighed his pillow case full of treats and it came in at a whopping 12 pounds. Ugh, the thought of him eating all that makes me sick. So we have a trade in policy. I used to call it the Halloween Fairy, but they are on to me. They can keep 10 pieces of candy and we donate the rest to the troops.  In return, give them money. That’s a great deal in my mind.  I save $$ in dental visits!

After consuming too many Baby Ruth’s last night, I know you are ready for a healthy fix from this Tuscan Chickpea Soup with Kale.  It’s creamy, rich and full of so many layers of flavor.  I tried something totally new with this recipe; adding sun-dried tomatoes in place of diced.

The other trick to this soup is pureeing 2 cups of it and adding it back in.  This makes the broth thicker and makes for a much creamier final product.  You can use this trick with any soup.  I popped 2 cups into the Vitamix and blitzed it for a few seconds and tada, instant yumminess.

I love kale added this way towards the end of the cooking process.  It adds so much color to the soup and makes it super healthy.  Feel free to substitute spinach, swiss chard or escarole.  Another neat trick is to put a parmesan cheese rind in while it’s simmering.  I didn’t have any so I couldn’t do it but have done it in the past and it adds a ton of flavor.

As far as chicken broth goes, I am partial to chicken stock.  I use Kitchen Basics and it makes the soup a rich dark color.  When I see that clear chicken broth I know that it lacks flavor.  This makes a big difference when you are making soups and stews.

Looking for more yummy fall soups?  Try these…

• Salsa Verde Chicken Soup
• Easy Skinny Quinoa Chili
• Gluten Free Lasagna Soup

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Tuscan Chickpea Soup

Tuscan Chickpea Soup is a savory, hearty bean soup with chickpeas, rosemary, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Course Dinner

Cuisine America

Servings 6

Calories 453 kcal

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 medium onion diced small
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 3 10 oz bags cooked chickpeas I like Jyoti, or 2 cans of chickpeas
• 3 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes in oil chopped small
• 5 cups chicken stock I like Kitchen Basics,
• 2 cups chopped packed kale
• salt and pepper to taste
• grated parmesan for topping

Instructions

1. Saute garlic and onion in a big pot. Add rosemary.
2. Add chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or so until flavors marry.
4. Take 2 cups of soup and whirl in a blender for a minute or two. Return to pot.
5. Add chopped kale and cook until the kale wilts.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Serve warm with lots of grated parmesan.
8. Keeps well in the fridge for several days.

This recipe was adapted from this one at My Recipes.