Linguica Kale Soup, also known as Caldo Verde, is a simple, hearty and flavorful soup made with linguica, a Portuguese smoked cured pork sausage flavored with paprika and garlic, and loads of kale. It’s a delicious meal that’s both quick and comforting.
Is it linguisa or linguica? Both are acceptable spellings. Regardless of how you spell it, this soup is delicious and simple to prepare. The broth is made from the garlicky linguica, sautéed onions, lots of garlic, and kale. Potatoes are added and cooked until they start to break down while stirring, thickening the soup and making it hearty.
Some recipes use chicken stock. When I first tried a bowl of this soup at a Portuguese restaurant, it was made with water rather than chicken stock and the flavor was delicious. I also make many of my soups using water and feel you get to taste the flavor of each ingredient. You can make it using stock or half water and half stock if you wish.
The only difficult part of this soup is prepping the kale. I used to slice down along the thick stems which made it time consuming and simply a pain in the neck to do. Then I found a great way to remove the tough stems.
Grip the bottom of the stem with one hand and pinch the leaf along the outer stem with the other. Think of it like this: You want to cut a piece of paper but don’t have any scissors, so you fold the paper in half and press down to tear it in a simple and clean manner.
Same thing goes when removing the stem. Lightly pinch the leaf along the outer stem and you’ll hear it cracking. Then, while you’re still gripping the bottom, slide the leaf away from the bottom stem in one fell swoop. Voila! You have destemmed the kale leaf!
Pile some of the leaves on top of one another creating a stack. Roll those babies up like a cigar then thinly slice them. If the strips are rather long, slice them in half crosswise. You can also chop the leaves in a haphazard way. As long as the job gets done and there are no big pieces that makes it awkward to eat.
The rest is easy. You basically saute the onions and garlic, add the linguica until it renders its fat, add all the kale and stir to make it wilt, then add the remaining ingredients. The potatoes are cooked until they start to fall apart. When they do, mash them with the spoon as you stir to thicken the soup.
Tools you’ll need to make this soup:
You can also enjoy more delicious soup-er soups:
- Peruvian shrimp soup
- French lentil soup with bacon
- Sweet potato vegetable soup
- Silky smooth cauliflower soup
- Simple silky smooth gazpacho
- Chicken and rice soup
- Potato leek soup
- Homemade chicken soup
- Beef barley soup
- Hearty hamburger soup
Life is too short for mediocre food.
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Linguica Kale Soup (Caldo Verde)
PRINT PIN SAVEIngredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 large sweet onion diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic
- 1 pound linguica or chorizo sausage sliced
- 1 pound kale stems removed, rinsed and sliced into thin strips
- 4 cups water
- 4 cups chicken stock*
- 2 pounds russet potatoes peeled and cut into ½” slices
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium high heat, sauté onion in oil until translucent - about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and continue to sauté until fragrant.
- Add linguica and sauté until it starts to render some fat - about 3 - 5 minutes.
- Stir in chopped kale and cook until wilted - 3 - 5 minutes. The kale will fill the pot, but will wilt and shrink. You can add it in batches adding more once it's wilted. Once all the kale is added and wilted, add remaining ingredients.
- Bring to a boil then lower to simmer. Simmer until potatoes are tender and starting to fall apart - about 30 - 40 minutes. Mash some of the potatoes to create a thicker texture. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.
- The longer the soup sits, the better it tastes. When serving, you can drizzle a little olive oil on top.
Notes
Nutritional Information
I don't post the nutritional value because I don't trust the accuracy of the nutritional apps. I’m not a nutritionist and don't want to post misinformation.
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Judi
This soup is so yummy…perfect amount of all ingredients culminate in a perfect Portuguese Kale Soup!
Natalie
Happy you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for commenting! 🙂