Slow Food: Praiseworthy Portuguese Kale Soup

This is, without a doubt, one of my ⭐️favorite⭐️ slow cooker dishes. Its flavors meld into a hearty, savory, utterly delightful one-pot meal. Even if you aren’t a big kale fan, you’ll appreciate this soup!

First, a word of warning: even a very large slow cooker (like the 8 quart one I used) will not be large enough to hold all the fresh, chopped kale. Once it cooks down, it’ll fit just fine, but the cook-down method really only works with a large stock pot on the stovetop (which makes sense, since the original recipe is intended for stovetop cooking).

This is just two of the three bunches used

Wondering how to make this work in a slow cooker? Pre-wilt the kale. I washed, chopped (chiffonade), and then briefly sautéed the kale – in batches – in a stock pot. Once wilted, I transferred it to the slow cooker’s crock, where it all fit comfortably. Problem solved.

Everything else then just goes into the crock – no need to sauté the onions/carrots/garlic first because they’ll cook beautifully. I also like to add an extra can of cannellini beans. Fortuitously, I was able to find organic, grass fed beef kielbasa again, too – and four links, sliced, are plenty to impart their rich flavor to the soup.

Just let this cook on low for 6+ hours (or until the potatoes and carrots are tender) and serve with some crusty bread. Leftovers – and there will be plenty – are as tasty as the first bowl, too. You’ll wonder why you didn’t make this sooner!

🥬Make this vegetarian with a meatless sausage like Tofurky kielbasa or Lightlife Italian sausage (or skip the meat analog entirely) and sub vegetable broth for chicken.

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