Portuguese Kale Soup

Recipe from Anthony Bourdain with Laurie Woolever

Adapted by Pete Wells

Updated July 31, 2026

  • An overhead shot of soup filled with kale and slices of sausage.
    Andrew Bui for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
Media 1 of 1
Ready In
5hr 45 min
Rating
5(84)
Comments
Read comments

In the summers in the 1970s when Anthony Bourdain worked in restaurants in Provincetown, Mass., the town’s Portuguese fishing community was robust. It has shrunk considerably since then, but many local restaurants still brew up cauldrons of Portuguese kale soup, thick with smoked linguiça sausage and its spicier cousin, chouriço. This version is adapted from a recipe in “Appetites: A Cookbook” (Ecco, 2016), by Mr. Bourdain and Laurie Woolever, which was itself adapted from one by Howard Mitcham, whose “Provincetown Seafood Cookbook” Mr. Bourdain called “a true classic, one of the most influential of my life.” — Pete Wells

Featured in: Anthony Bourdain’s Wild Summers Still Echo in Provincetown

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

    or to print this recipe.

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings

  • 1½ cups dried red kidney beans

  • 8 cups water, divided

  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 large smoked ham hock 

  • 3 to 4 quarts beef stock, preferably low sodium

  • 1 pound linguiça sausage, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices (see Tip)

  • ½ pound Portuguese chouriço sausage, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices (see Tip) 

  • 2 bunches curly kale, tough stems removed and leaves washed and roughly chopped (8 to 10 cups)

  • 4 large or 5 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into a large dice

  • 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

  • Crushed red pepper

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 to 10 servings)

40 grams carbs; 82 milligrams cholesterol; 512 calories; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 23 grams fat; 7 grams fiber; 1827 milligrams sodium; 37 grams protein; 4 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Add beans to a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot or Dutch oven with a lid. Cover beans with 4 cups water, add a large pinch of salt and bring to a rapid boil. Cover the pot and remove from the heat. Let beans sit, undisturbed, for 90 minutes until semi-plumped and slightly softened. Drain off cooking liquid. 

  2. Step 2

    Add the ham hock, stock and 4 cups water to the pot with the drained beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour, using a slotted spoon to skim off and discard any scum that surfaces.

  3. Step 3

    Add the linguiça, chouriço and kale and continue simmering for another hour. 

  4. Step 4

    Add the potatoes, vinegar and a generous pinch of red pepper and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Simmer for at least another hour, adding stock or water as needed to keep all the elements submerged. The longer the soup simmers, the better the flavor becomes; aim for a minimum of 5 hours.

Tip

  • Chouriço and linguiça can be hard to find outside Portuguese neighborhoods. Cured Spanish chorizo and smoked kielbasa will yield similar results.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
84 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Karl S.

For what it's worth, for sausages from traditional regional makers in southeastern Massachusetts, linguiça uses a thinner hog casing with finer ground pork, while chouriço uses a thicker beef or large-intestine casing with more coarsely cut or ground meat, but they are not typically spiced significantly differently. The larger sausage may merely seem spicier because it tends to be chopped into larger pieces.

GC

Hi! For any Portuguese meats (chorizo, linguica, etc.), try Portugalia Marketplace in Fall River. Or, for a much smaller but very friendly, very nice, down-home-y place, try the Continental Market on Sawyer Street in New Bedford. The Continental Market has a Portuguese butcher counter in the back with both fresh and cured meats. For seafood, try Kyler's Catch seafood market in New Bedford. (It is near the Continental Market, you can visit both on same day, bring a cooler with ice!). Enjoy!

Krabgrl

@Pedantic Twit it’s soup. I couldn’t think of a food that is more variable to regional preferences and individual cooks’ taste. As many immigrants cooks before us, we use what we have access to, and if it’s kielbasa instead of chirico, we make do. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from reading NYT Cooking and perusing thousands of comments, there is no ONE WAY of making anything. 🤓

Rob Anderson (ptowntours)

This is the variation I love. When I am in Provincetown, there are two variations, one is the red version sometimes with tomatoes added (this recipe, which I love and is served at the Lobster Pot and Tim Pan Alley) and the other is the chicken stock kind (a far saltier version, and personally least favourite version, served at other restaurants). So happy to see this version of the recipe. Will have to try and make it myself. After a walking tour this is the soup I want to replenish my soul.

Patricia

Marylander here. Any MidAtlantic peeps know where to find these Portuguese sausages in our region? I may have to mail order them, and appreciate the sources suggested.

Delmar

Where/when does the 4 qt. of beef stock go?

JERF

@Delmar step 2: “Add the ham hock, stock, and 4 cups water…”

Private comments are only visible to you.

Credits

Adapted from “Appetites” by Anthony Bourdain with Laurie Woolever (Ecco, 2016)

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.