Portuguese Soup
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Apr 10, 2025 
Caldo Verde Recipe (Portuguese Soup) – A rustic sausage potato and kale soup with bold flavor and chunky texture. This slightly creamy version is so enticing you’ll want to make it again and again!
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Our Favorite Portuguese Soup Variation
Today’s Caldo Verde soup is the ultimate winter soup, in my opinion. It’s rich and hearty with lots of chunks and a robust sausage essence.
Caldo Verde, meaning green broth, is the Portuguese counterpart to the Italian Zuppa Toscana. It involves Portugal’s regional sausage, greens, and potatoes with slight alterations that offer a unique flavor.
Since Portuguese Caldo Verde Soup is a rustic comfort food historically made in homes all over the country, there isn’t just one way to make it.
Many variations of this Portuguese Sausage-Greens-Potato Soup combination exist. It is sometimes called Portuguese Bean Soup, Kale Soup, or Green Soup.
Some use kale, while others use collard greens. Some include beans; others do not. Most call for a Portuguese hard sausage with a strong garlic flavor called Chouriço. Other recipes use Linguiça sausage.
Please Note: This Caldo Verde Recipe (Portuguese Soup) is not a strictly authentic version… It’s more of a Portuguese-American variation introduced to me by a Portuguese immigrant. This is how her family makes this soup here in the United States.
However, it offers a bold comforting flavor that is reminiscent of traditional Portuguese soup. In fact, I would dare to say my new Portuguese friend improved on the original recipe.
Ingredients You Need
- Oil – use a good quality extra virgin olive oil
- Onions
- Garlic
- Potatoes – yukon gold or russet potatoes
- Kale – chopped
- Chicken broth
- Sherry – cooking sherry is fine
- Lemon zest
- Smoked paprika
- Portuguese sausage – spicy pork sausages
- White beans
- Heavy cream
How To Make Portuguese Soup
Find the full Portuguese Soup recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Tips & Tricks
- Finely chop the kale so there are no large chunks in the soup, and they will get super tender that way!
- For a bit of extra spice, add a dash of red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper!
- If you don’t want to cook with alcohol, skip the sherry and replace it with more broth!
Frequently Asked Questions
Caldo Verde means “green broth,” and it gets its green color from leafy greens like kale or collard greens. This recipe is inspired by the traditional Portuguese soup, Caldo Verde, made with a few adjustments.
This soup will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container. You can warm it back up on the stovetop to make it taste like it did the first day you made it!
This Caldo Verde recipe can be frozen and kept in the freezer for up to 6 months! When you are ready to reheat it, place it in the fridge the night before you want to make it, to thaw, and then warm it up on the stovetop when you are ready to eat it.
Yes! This is a great recipe to double and freeze half for later. Our “Servings Slider” tool on the recipe card can help you determine how much of each ingredient you need for the amount you want to make.
You can make Portuguese Green Soup without the sausage, although it loses its unique flavor. If you want to omit the sausage for dietary reasons, you could use vegan chorizo.
More Amazing Soup Recipes
- Classic Sausage and Kale Soup
- Chicken Barley Soup with Kale
- Tuscan Lentil Soup Recipe
- Healthy Chicken White Bean Soup
- Cozy Beef Barley Soup
- Ham Bone Navy Bean Soup
- Nana’s Creamy Potato Soup
- Buffalo Chicken Chili Recipe
- Pozole Verde de Pollo (Chicken Pozole)
- Instant Pot Green Chicken Chili
- Hungarian Mushroom Soup (Vegan and Gluten Free)
- 15 Bean Soup
- Chicken Pot Pie Soup (With Biscuits)
- Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
Caldo Verde Recipe (Portuguese Soup)
Video
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onions, peeled and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes peeled, quartered, and sliced thin
- 4 cups finely chopped kale, collard or mustard greens
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
- Zest of one lemon
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 12 ounces hard Portuguese Chouriço sausage, Linguiça, or Spanish Chorizo
- 15 ounces white beans, drained (1 can)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Place a 6-quart heavy bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the oil, onions, and garlic. Sauté for 3 minutes.
- Next add the potatoes, chopped kale, chicken broth, sherry, lemon zest, smoked paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes to soften the potatoes and kale.
- Peel the casing off the sausage. Cut the sausage links into quarters lengthwise. Then slice into thin wedges. Stir in the sausage, white beans, and heavy cream. Simmer another 5 minutes. Taste, then salt and pepper as needed.
This was an easy soup to make. Best Portaguese kale soup I ever made.. Yummy
Really a delicious soup recipe I found here best for winter.
Thank You For Sharing This.
Winter is here and finally something I want to have at night…yummy soup. Thanks for sharing amazing recipe.
Just finished eating two bowls, but Zappa Tuscana is better. I could not find Portuguese chorizo so I used Mexican chorizo which may have reduced the taste. Sweet Italian sausage may have been a better substitute.
Thanks for the recipe, I have shared it with my sister. She’ll love it!!
A delicious hearty soup. I used only 7 cups of chicken broth and added a teaspoon of Aleppo pepper to the mix. The cream was an excellent idea and brought everything together. Oh, I added the lemon zest after the heat was off and stirred it into the soup so its flavor wouldn’t be cooked out. Highly recommended
I love this soup. I’ve made this at least 30 times in the last year. No modifications other than sometimes I make it without the cream if I don’t have any.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful soup recipe. I was looking for it all over the internet and I’m so happy I reached your blog article.
I grew up in a very Portuguese family, unfortunately, I never learned the family recipe. I did not use lemon zest, extra chourico, one extra clove of garlic, a touch more heavy cream, and a touch more dry sherry. It was delicious! I have already shared this recipe to my friends. I can not recommend this soup enough!
The sausage looks like Pepperoni. Would chunks of Pepperoni be a good substitute? Thank you.
This soup may be and looks very tasty, however it should NOT be called ‘Caldo Verde’ since it way off and doesn’t even come close. A different name would be more appropriate. I am Portuguese and agree they may be slight variations to ‘Caldo Verde’ but this particular recipe should be called something different.
This is by far the best variation of this classic tradition. Although I love the original recipe, this version takes this gem of a soup to another level. Yes I am from Portugal and still love this memory from the homeland. I make this as often as I am able.