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Green vegetable soup with bone broth — Classic Lisbon caldo verde
Featured · Batch 022

Caldo verde with bone broth
— the Lisbon version.

Soup Grass-fed beef broth Batch 022
35 minutes Serves 4 Grass-fed beef bone broth

Caldo verde is Portugal's most beloved soup — a simple, verdant bowl of kale, potato, and chorizo. Made with bone broth instead of water, it becomes something altogether different: richer, more mineral, more sustaining. This is our version.

Sinead McInerney pouring broth into paper cups in the RIPE Lifestyle Europe Lisbon kitchen
Method
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook gently for 5–6 minutes until soft and translucent.
  2. Add the potatoes and pour in the bone broth and water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 15–18 minutes until the potatoes are completely tender.
  3. Blend about half the soup with a hand blender — or blend it all for a smoother result.
  4. Add the shredded kale and sliced chouriço. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
  5. Season generously with sea salt and black pepper. Finish with a drizzle of good olive oil.
  6. Serve hot, with crusty bread on the side.
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"The beef bone broth carries this dish. Eighteen hours of simmering gives it a depth you'd never get from a stock cube."
— from the kitchen, on this recipe
Common questions

A few things people ask.

Ideally, yes. Portuguese chouriço is smoked and seasoned differently from Spanish chorizo, and it's what gives caldo verde its quiet smokiness. Spanish chorizo will work in a pinch, though it tends to be sweeter and oilier; if that's what you have, use a little less and skim the fat before serving.
You can, and it will still be a good soup, but it won't be caldo verde in the way Portuguese cooks know it. Beef broth carries more iron and a darker savoury note that holds up against the chouriço. Liquid Gold makes a lighter, gentler version if that's what you prefer.
Three days in the fridge, in a covered container. The kale loses some of its colour by day two, but the flavour deepens. Reheat gently on the stove rather than the microwave; a hard boil will turn the potatoes chalky.
Yes, though we'd freeze the soup before adding the kale. Blended potato and broth freeze well for up to three months. When you reheat, bring it back to a simmer and stir in fresh shredded kale and chouriço. Frozen kale tends to go limp and dull.
The recipe as written is gluten-free, provided your chouriço is. Some Portuguese sausages contain wheat or barley as a binder, so check the label. Our broth is gluten-free.
Floury. The whole point of caldo verde is that the potato breaks down and thickens the broth. Waxy potatoes hold their shape and leave you with chunks in liquid, which is a different soup. Maris Piper, King Edward, or any baking potato will do the job.

Cooked, tested and written by Sinead McInerney in our Lisbon kitchen. Last reviewed: June 2026.