This fragrant and bright Mediterranean soup recipe is one of my favorites!

It features kale, tomatoes, lemon juice, and olive oil, with a healthy dose of oregano, which come together in a flavorful and nourishing soup that reminds me of summer. Sometimes I add potatoes to make it heartier.
Feel free to play with ingredients as you go along. This comforting soup is also great if you are feeling a bit under the weather (and the red pepper will clear your sinuses).
Try serving it with this frozen garlic bread in the air fryer for a heartier meal.
Before I started making soup regularly, I was a bit intimidated by it. I thought it was like a chemistry experiment, and if I got the proportions wrong the whole thing would be ruined.
As is happens, the opposite is true. Since the flavors of whatever you throw in all meld together, soups are very forgiving of substitutions and changing up the recipe based on what you have handy.
Even soups made from the last bits of vegetables and scraps of herbs you have left, with some dry lentils or a similar staple from the pantry end up delicious!

Books to inspire your cooking, soup or otherwise
The reason I know that a bare bones soup will still turn out amazing is from trying one of the award-winning food writer Bee Wilson’s recipes with the bare minimum when I really needed to go to the grocery store. It was her “Lentil soup for every season” from This is Not a Diet Book. I was definitely missing the fancier ingredients she recommends as variations, but with a strong foundational recipe to use as a guideline, I did pretty well.
I have bought and read most of her books, and I find her writing very interesting and approachable. She reassures her readers that cooking nourishing food can be both easy and joyful. She also shares a lot of history and politics of food with a keen eye towards human behavior and society in general.
Some other food books out there come across as very technical, which leaves hobby cooks like myself having to do a lot of Googling to find out what a sous vide bath is and how I might accomplish something similar with none of the proper tools.
Wilson’s books are very no-nonsense, incredibly well-researched, and leave you feeling confident and inspired to get in the kitchen and make something amazing. She even has one that may help parents who struggle to get their kids to enjoy (or try) healthy foods. The first book I read by her was The Way We Eat Now, and I was hooked.
You can check out the full collection of Bee Wilson’s books here.

Mediterranean Soup Ingredients
Before you begin, you will need:
- 1 28-ounce can of tomatoes (any are fine, but diced are easiest to work with – try San Marzano for flavor or fire-roasted if you’d like)
- 1 15.5-ounce can of butter beans (aka large lima beans – I’ve used chickpeas as well)
- 1/2 a large onion or 1 small onion
- 2 large or 4 small cloves of fresh garlic
- 1 bunch of kale (I used purple aka red kale, but green or lacinato are good too)
- 3 carrots
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (less if you are sensitive to spice)
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano

- Knife and cutting board
- Large soup pot like a Dutch oven or stock pot
- Can opener
- Spoon
- Measuring spoons



How to Make this Easy Mediterranean Soup
- Firstly, place a large pot over medium heat and peel the onion. Begin chopping the onion.
- Once the stove is hot, add the olive oil to the pot. Start adding the onion as it is chopped.
- After all the onion is chopped and in the pot, chop the carrots into small rounds and add them as well.
- Then, open the can of tomatoes and add them in. Rinse the can by filling it about 3/4 full with water and add that water to the pot as well.
- Once that’s done, pour in the vegetable broth, garlic, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and oregano.
- Then, cover the pot and bring the soup to a boil, and then cook until the carrots and onions are done to your liking, about 30 minutes.
- While the veggies are cooking, wash and chop the kale into bite sized pieces.
- After that, open, drain, and rinse the beans. Set aside.
- Once the carrots are soft, add handfuls of the chopped kale to the soup. As it wilts and there is room in the pot, add the rest.
- After all the kale is wilted, stir in the butter beans so they can start heating up.
- Finally, stir in the lemon juice and serve! You can serve this Mediterranean soup on its own, over rice for a heartier meal, or with bread. If desired, garnish with an extra drizzle of olive oil and/or lemon juice. Enjoy!
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Variations of this Mediterranean Soup
As I mentioned earlier, I often make this soup with potatoes to add some heft. Sweet potatoes would also be tasty here.
To make it easier, you don’t need to start the onions and carrots first. I’ve also just added all the first round of ingredients to the pot and simmered until the carrots were soft. You could use this same approach in a slow cooker overnight if you’d prefer.
In addition, use any kind of greens you like – spinach, green kale, collard greens, etc.
Same with the beans – chickpeas are good, but you could use literally any legume you have on hand.
For a heartier meal, add rice, pasta, or your grain of choice to this Mediterranean soup.
If you don’t need it to be vegan, you can serve this with a sprinkling of cheese on the top.
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Related vegetarian Soup Recipes + a Kale recipe
- Green goddess soup (vegan)
- Irish vegetable soup
- German potato soup
- Butternut squash rosemary soup
- Vegan spicy zucchini soup
If you have any leftover kale after making this soup, you may wish to try my simple stir-fried purple kale and rice! (Any color kale will do just fine.)

Mediterranean Soup - A Delicious Favorite!
This fragrant and bright Mediterranean soup recipe is one of my favorites! It features kale, tomatoes, lemon juice, and olive oil, with a healthy dose of oregano, which come together in a flavorful and nourishing soup that reminds me of summer. Sometimes I add potatoes to make it heartier. Feel free to play with ingredients as you go along. This comforting soup is also great if you are feeling a bit under the weather (and the red pepper will clear your sinuses).
Ingredients
- 1 28 ounce can of tomatoes (diced)
- 1 15.5 ounce can of butter beans (large lima beans - chickpeas would be fine too)
- 1 small onion (or 1/2 large onion), diced
- 2 large (or 4 small) cloves of fresh garlic
- 1 bunch of kale (red, green, or lacinato)
- 3 carrots
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
- To begin, place a large pot over medium heat and peel the onion. Begin chopping the onion.
- Once the stove is hot, add the olive oil to the pot. Start adding the onion as it is chopped.
- After all the onion is chopped and in the pot, chop the carrots into small rounds and add them as well.
- Now, open the can of tomatoes and add them in. Rinse the can by filling it about 3/4 full with water and add that water to the pot as well.
- Pour in the vegetable broth, garlic, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and oregano.
- Then, cover the pot and bring the soup to a boil, and then cook until the carrots and onions are done to your liking, about 30 minutes.
- While the veggies are cooking, wash and chop the kale into bite sized pieces.
- Next, open, drain, and rinse the beans. Set aside.
- Once the carrots are soft, add handfuls of the chopped kale to the soup. As it wilts and there is room in the pot, add the rest.
- After all the kale is wilted, stir in the butter beans so they can start heating up.
- Finally, stir in the lemon juice and serve! You can serve this Mediterranean soup on its own, over rice for a heartier meal, or with bread. If desired, garnish with an extra drizzle of olive oil and/or lemon juice. Enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 160Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 786mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 10gSugar: 8gProtein: 8g
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