Caldo Verde
Simply said, this Caldo Verde soup is spectacular. It’s a Portuguese classic for good reason.
Servings 6 people
Calories 338kcal
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 12 ounces smoked sausage cut into ¼-inch rounds, (recipe note #1)
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 12 large garlic cloves coarsely chopped
- 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes diced
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt or more, or 3-4 teaspoons kosher salt
- ⅓ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more
- 1 bunch kale chopped
- extra virgin olive oil to finish
Instructions
- Heat a large soup pot over medium heat until hot. Add the olive oil and the sausage rounds; cook and stir until sausage is browned. Remove sausage from pan.
- Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of olive oil from pan (or add more olive oil if you have particularly lean sausage); add onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion is translucent and the garlic is lightly toasted (taking care not to burn it), about 5 minutes.
- Add 2 quarts water (recipe note #2), potatoes, salt and pepper; bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer until potatoes are soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Mash some of the potatoes to add texture to the soup (recipe note #3).
- Add kale and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Return browned sausage to soup and stir. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil.
Video
Notes
- Linguica (a type of Portuguese sausage) or Spanish Chorizo sausage are both great in this soup. If you can't find one of those, kielbasa is also an option.
- I love the clean flavor of this soup with a water base - it really allows the earthy kale to shine. That said, you can use chicken broth or chicken stock in place of water if you like.
- For extra creaminess, puree some of the potatoes and kale right in the pot with an immersion blender or transfer to a standard blender.
Nutrition
Calories: 338kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 1082mg | Potassium: 912mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 2169IU | Vitamin C: 60mg | Calcium: 72mg | Iron: 2mg