Fennel and Carrot Soup with Chicken and Kale

I don’t cook with fennel enough, cause every time I add it to a soup like this carrot soup with chicken and kale, it adds such an amazing flavor! Roasting the fennel and carrot for this soup really concentrated the flavors and added some fantastic caramelization that really brought the flavor! A little bean and pasta along with the kale and chicken was a combination of flavors and textures that I love in soup

The inspiration for this recipe

It’s finally soup time again. You all know I love it! One of my favorite soup combos is sausage with a bean and a green. My friend was coming over for lunch and doesn’t eat pork, so instead of just subbing chicken sausage, I wanted to try and create a twist on the familiar flavors with just plain ground chicken. I used roasted fennel and carrot to give the broth some depth and add a body to the soup, then loaded it up with some kale, beans, and ditalini pasta. There is a lot going on in this recipe but it all comes together in an amazing way.

Roast the carrot and fennel for the chicken soup base

Roasting the veggies instead of just boiling them in the broth gives them much more flavor. Just look at those browned edges!

After they roast, let them simmer for 15 minutes in chicken broth. This will soften them up enough to be perfectly smooth in the broth. Then just blend it up!

Saute the chicken and veggies

Chicken in the pan first with some oil, onion and celery. Then some garlic. This is where we are building and layering the different flavors of the soup.

Add the carrot fennel broth to the chicken

Then the broth goes in, followed by the kale and beans. The pasta is boiled separately and added at the end.

Serve the Fennel and Carrot Soup with Kale

Pour it into a bowl and top with tons of black pepper and parmesan cheese!

This soup is the definition of hearty. The fennel and carrot make the broth sweet and earthy, and the chicken and beans make you want to go in for bite after bite.

All the textures are there from creamy to chewy to silky with just a little bit of bite from the kale.

Twists on this recipe

This was inspired by sausage but I ended up using chicken, so you could do the sausage instead! Italian sausage is always good, but I would try something different, maybe an English sausage or German one. You could also make it vegetarian with a veggie broth and a veggie sausage.

For more hearty soups, check out my butter chicken soup with garlic naan grilled cheese, chorizo squash soup, or this ham and mushroom ramen bowl!

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5 from 3 votes

Fennel and Carrot Soup with Chicken and Kale

A thick fennel and carrot broth is the base for this soup with chicken, kale, beans, and pasta

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Italian

Keyword: pasta, Soup

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 608kcal

Equipment

• hand blender

Ingredients

• 2 pounds carrots chopped
• 2 large fennel bulbs chopped
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 small onion diced
• 3 ribs celery diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 bunch kale stems removed and leaved ripped into small pieces
• 1 can small red beans strained and rinsed
• 1 pound ditalini pasta
• parmesan for garnish

Instructions

• Put the carrot and fennel on a pan and toss with salt and olive oil. Roast at 450 for about 25 minutes, stirring once to help brown evenly.
• Add the roasted veggies to the chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend until smooth.
• Cook the chicken onion and celery in some olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot. Cook about 20 minutes to really break up the chicken and brown things up a bit.
• Add in the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add in the blended broth and stir.
• Add all the spices and herbs, and the kale and beans. Bring to a simmer.
• Meanwhile bring heavily salted water to a simmer and cook the pasta. Cook a little less than you normally would, leaving the pasta with a bit of a bite. Strain and reserve 2 cups of the pasta cooking water.
• Add the pasta to the pot with the soup along with as much pasta water as needed to thin it out to your desired soup texture. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and serve! top with parm.

Nutrition

Calories: 608kcal | Carbohydrates: 92g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.05g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 669mg | Potassium: 1843mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 26710IU | Vitamin C: 30mg | Calcium: 167mg | Iron: 4mg