Healthy Chicken Soup with Kale Recipe QUICK EASY| Best Recipe Box (2024)

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If there’s any kale recipe that deserves being paired with chicken, it’s this one. The flavor of healthy kale combined with homemade chicken stock and chicken breast makes a soup that’s hard to resist. We’re huge fans of eating kale in almost any form and when there’s left over kale, carrots and chicken, we’ll simmer up a big batch to savor during the week.

Healthy Chicken Soup with Kale

This chicken soup recipe doesn’t get any easier than this. The ground cumin and bit of soy sauce really add a wonderful depth of flavor to this soup. Bland chicken soup sucks that’s why when developing this recipe we decided that the touch of soy sauce and spice of ground cumin would elevate this recipe to big flavor. Readers love this recipe and so do their kids. It’s great to have soup that pleases everyone in the family. This chicken soup with kale recipe uses boneless skinless chicken breast and this makes the soup healthy, with very little fat. But if you’re a fan of chicken thigh meat, then you can certainly use that as well.
What you’ll get is a more flavorful chicken kale soup because brown meat has so much more flavor.To make it a more substantial meal, add come cooked egg noodles or pasta for a chicken noodle kale soup. The possibilities are endless!

{Video} Watch the video for making the Healthy Chicken and Kale Soup

This recipe was originally published in 2013 and re-published in 2020 with updated video.

{Extra Video} How to make Chicken Stock from Left Over Chicken

Chicken Kale Soup

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time: 30 minutes mins

Healthy and soul cleansing. A great easy everyday soup.

4.70 from 49 votes

{click on stars to rate}

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Ingredients

2 Tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
1/2 onion , diced
1 pound (455g) boneless skinless chicken breast (or boneless thigh meat) , cut into small bite sized pieces
1 large carrot , chopped
1- inch (2.5cm) knob ginger, peeled & smashed
1/4 teaspoon (1ml) ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon (1ml) chili powder
1 teaspoon (5ml) soy sauce (Use Tamari for gluten free)
4 cups (2.84l) chicken stock
1 bunch of kale , ribs removed and leaves chopped
salt to taste , depending on how salty your stock is

Instructions

In medium stock pot, heat the pan on medium heat, then add olive oil. Add onion and cook until translucent.
Add chicken and cook for about 3 minutes or until brown on the outside. Add carrots, ginger, ground cumin, chili powder and soy sauce. Stir and cook for about 2 more minutes.
Add chicken stock. Turn heat to high and bring soup to a boil. Once it begins to boil, reduce heat to low.
Simmer soup on low for about 15 minutes. Skim fat from top of soup occasionally, if needed.
Add chopped kale and cook for 2-3 minutes or until kale becomes tender. Serve hot.

Video

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 299kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 31g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 80mg, Sodium: 578mg, Potassium: 810mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 4042IU, Vitamin C: 21mg, Calcium: 42mg, Iron: 1mg

Course: Soup

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posted in: 30 Minute Recipes, 300+ Easy Meals, Chicken | Turkey, Gluten Free, Healthy, Paleo, Side Dishes, Soups | Stews, Vegetables 44 comments

Healthy Chicken Soup with Kale Recipe QUICK EASY| Best Recipe Box (7)

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44 Comments on “Healthy Chicken Soup with Kale”

Joanna — May 7, 2013 @ 4:00 am Reply

Just made this soup and everybody raved about it. Healthy and delicious. Thanks for submitting
@sedruola — May 14, 2013 @ 7:02 am Reply

We love this recipe! I’ve made it twice and it’s just yummy. I know it’s moving out of soup season, but the temps… http://t.co/YbScYEee8B
Terry — May 31, 2013 @ 9:50 am Reply

This was amazing the flavors really came together…… (will try again and again) Thanks 🙂
Svetlana — October 14, 2014 @ 10:16 pm Reply

This soup is incredible! Totally blew my mind! Easy to make, so much flavor, especially from the ginger! Great alternative to regular chicken noodle soup. Thank you!
Mary — March 16, 2015 @ 4:42 pm Reply

I am having dental surgery soon and I was looking for recipes using some of my favorite ingredients with the intentions of freezing it for ease of cooking later. I came across your recipe and even though it is 90 degrees here (Arizona), I made it today. Sadly, the soup never made it to the freezer. One test taste and oh my gosh. My husband, who is not a big fan of Kale, loved it – we ate it all! The only changes were, instead of using chili powder, I used fresh cilantro. I also used a mixture of kale, spinach, and chard and sprinkled some fresh parmesan cheese on top. Delicious!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Lauren — January 20, 2016 @ 4:05 pm Reply

This soup has become my husband and I’s go to recipe. We seriously make it once a week. So amazing!
Sabrina — February 1, 2016 @ 8:35 am Reply

Wow, this soup looks delicious! Would it be possible to make it in the crock pot?
- Best Recipe Box — February 2, 2016 @ 7:14 pm Reply
  
  Yes, it would probably work in a crock pot. But maybe add the kale later so it doesn’t overcook. Let us know how it turns out!
Miriam — November 8, 2016 @ 5:38 pm Reply

Could you tel me how much kale is required in grams please? (In UK supermarkets kale tends to come preshredded by the bag). Looking forward to trying this out it sounds great!
- Best Recipe Box — November 8, 2016 @ 6:56 pm Reply
  
  Hi Miriam,
  For pre-shredded kale, it would probably be around 225g or 1/2 pound, as a best guess. But you can always add more or less to your preference. Enjoy!
  See Also
  3 New Kale Recipes For A Summer Detox
Erin — April 22, 2019 @ 3:55 pm Reply

This was a wonderful way to use our kale that we’re growing in our garden! I had a bunch of frozen chicken wings that I threw in the crockpot, and poured water (maybe 2 cups) over top of that and let it cook all day on high until the everything fell off the bone. Once I pulled all the inedible parts of the chicken out, I added everything else in (with extra water to make 4 cups of stock and put frozen mixed veggies in since I have no other vegetables in my house!) and heated it through. I even got my kids to eat it! Just goes to show what a wonderful recipe this is and how it can be improvised upon when you’re in a bind! Will definitely be making this again! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
- Best Recipe Box — May 1, 2019 @ 4:06 pm Reply
  
  so glad you enjoyed the recipe! thanks for sharing and making it.
Yvette — September 18, 2019 @ 2:58 pm Reply

I use to make this a lot but haven’t for a year . Making it now and I love it. The amount of salt sorta freaks me out so tonight I’m using more water and low sodium broth.
Greg — October 7, 2019 @ 7:20 pm Reply

I’m a huge fan of kale and I give this recipe a huge thumbs up! It’s a light soup that’s very tasty!
Vicky — October 7, 2019 @ 7:21 pm Reply

My kids love eating this whenever they’re feeling sick and when most solids make them feel nauseous. They even request me to make this soup for them when the weather is cooler. Glad they’re able to try kale because of your recipe.
Lorena — February 19, 2020 @ 3:25 pm Reply

This was super delicious and filling!
Brandi — April 2, 2020 @ 4:25 pm Reply

Is it 299 calories per serving or for the whole pot?
- Best Recipe Box — April 2, 2020 @ 6:11 pm Reply
  
  Hi Brandi,
  It is per serving. Thanks for asking & happy cooking!
Kris — November 3, 2020 @ 9:58 am Reply

One the best soup recipe; simple, healthy and full of flavor!
- Best Recipe Box — December 15, 2020 @ 10:30 am Reply
  
  So glad you enjoyed it Kris!
Heidi — December 18, 2020 @ 7:23 pm Reply

Delicious! A little too salty for us, so we ate it with rice to balance it out. Will make it again for sure.
Amber — January 4, 2021 @ 5:52 pm Reply

I love this healthy and delicious soup. It’s the perfect way to end the day.
Lauren S. — January 23, 2021 @ 1:56 pm Reply

This is such a yummy soup and one of the make regularly! I just looked for The first time at the nutritional contents and was surprised it had 13 g of fat though… Other than the oil where does the fat come from between vegetables and chicken breast? I’m on weight watchers so I’m trying to figure out the appropriate points and this just doesn’t make sense to me. Can you let me know please?
- Best Recipe Box — January 24, 2021 @ 11:10 am Reply
  
  Hi Lauren, it’s mostly from the oil and some fat that releases from the chicken. The chicken stock also has some fat. You can certainly try using half the amount of oil.
Stephany Aleshire — March 5, 2021 @ 5:25 pm Reply

I used thinly sliced mushrooms and chicken bouillon instead of carrots and stick since that’s what I had in the house. I added red pepper flakes and cayenne. My son and I both really enjoyed.
Sara Schor — April 5, 2021 @ 11:52 am Reply

I am obsessed with this soup. It’s so so so flavorful from the soy sauce and spices, that the white meat chicken is totally fine. I make it at least 2x/month and keep it on hand for a quick, delicious and flavorful meal. If I were to add anything to make it more ‘hearty’ I think white beans could work.
Highly recommend.
- Best Recipe Box — April 5, 2021 @ 6:47 pm Reply
  
  We’re so happy you enjoy this soup so much Sara! Thanks so much for sharing and love the idea of white beans too. Fantastic.
Ellen Moore — June 25, 2021 @ 5:15 am Reply

I planted kale for the first time and had to find recipes to use it. I came across this one and thought it would be quick in my Instant pot. It was extremely flavorful. I don’t usually use cumin because i am not a fan, but decided to actually follow the recipe! I loved it! And my husband even chose it for lunch the next day!
- Diane — June 28, 2021 @ 5:17 pm Reply
  
  Yay! thanks for sharing Ellen. So glad you and your husband enjoyed the leftovers. 🙂
Abby — September 3, 2021 @ 12:38 am Reply

So flavorful. So delicious ? Made this twice in two weeks! Hubby isn’t a fan of soups but has asked for this one twice. He Even asked me to leave a review. I Didn’t have chili powder so I used paprika and coconut aminos in place of soy sauce. Those were the only changes. Excellent and delicious and even more so delicious when most all ingredients are fresh from the garden!
- Diane — September 18, 2021 @ 3:15 pm Reply
  
  Yay! So glad your husband enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing Abby!
Lynn Shea — January 19, 2022 @ 2:51 pm Reply

The proportion of kale to everything else makes it more like a kale stew and I didn’t even end up using the full typically sized bunch. I would suggest a half bunch along with some noodles. If you add noodles, I would suggest another cup of broth. I also doubled the spice as mine needed some extra flavor.
Brandi — May 4, 2022 @ 2:50 pm Reply

I want to make soup tomorrow but do you think it would work with chicken thigh? My family doesn’t like white meat, and could we omit the ginger?
- Diane — May 8, 2022 @ 4:29 pm Reply
  
  Hi Brandi, yes chicken thigh meat is great! So much more flavor than white meat. And you don’t need the ginger.
Jess — September 6, 2022 @ 11:39 am Reply

Love this recipe but wondering if you have any suggestions if we wanted to try and make it in the instant pot? Thanks!
- Diane — September 24, 2022 @ 10:34 am Reply
  
  Hi Jess, we don’t have any suggestions yet but when we test it in the instant pot and have good results, we’ll let you know!
  Thank you.
Stacy — November 16, 2022 @ 6:36 pm Reply

I don’t usually leave reviews on recipes BUT let me tell you this soup was freaking delicious. I did add some cayenne pepper and celery though. I’ll def make this again. it made 4 servings and for servings 3 & 4 I added some shrimp.
- Diane — November 18, 2022 @ 7:51 am Reply
  
  Love the addition of shrimp to the soup. Thanks Stacy and so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Liz — November 18, 2022 @ 1:02 pm Reply

I’m so glad it’s getting cooler here. This soup really helps keep me warm during the Holidays.
Alexandra — December 29, 2022 @ 11:03 pm Reply

This is just the right soup for my keto diet. I added extra kale just because I love kale so much lol.
Kimi — June 2, 2023 @ 6:56 pm Reply

I just made this and it turned out beautifully. Simple but very tasty. The ginger blends well with the spices. Loved adding greens from my garden into the soup. Thanks!
- Diane — June 3, 2023 @ 2:25 pm Reply
  
  Thanks Kimi! That’s awesome that you have garden greens. YUM!
Cor — September 18, 2023 @ 3:44 pm Reply

Absolutely delicious… I added fresh baby spinach with the Kale and a few chopped up Yukon potatoes, a lot of fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, thinly sliced small onion, no carrots maybe add another time and no added salt as the broth was high in sodium will use unsalted bone broth next time around. Last time I made this I added Italian white beans but for me the broth a tad too starchy so I omitted them. So many variations to this recipe but basically stuck with the original minus any soy sauce too high in salt. All in all extremely pleased how it turned out and yes, used fresh chicken breasts instead of drum sticks or thighs this time. Thank you for sharing a wonderful healthy filling soup recipe!!!!
- Diane — October 22, 2023 @ 8:26 pm Reply
  
  Love all the healthy greens you added to the recipe Cor! So glad you enjoyed the recipe