Caldo Verde Brasileiro — Print Recipe

A hearty, creamy soup of potatoes and thinly shredded collard greens, enriched with smoked beef sausage and garlic, served piping hot with crusty bread — comfort in a bowl on cool Brazilian nights.

Ingredients

6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
200g smoked beef sausage (linguiça de carne bovina), sliced
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bunch collard greens (couve), stems removed, leaves rolled and very thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1.5L water or chicken stock
Salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Instructions

1 Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil in a large pot until softened, about 4 minutes.
2 Add potato cubes and water or stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes until potatoes are very soft.
3 Use an immersion blender to partially purée the soup — leave some potato chunks for texture.
4 In a separate skillet, brown the smoked beef sausage slices until crispy on both sides. Set aside.
5 Add the thinly sliced collard greens to the soup and cook for 5 minutes until just tender but still bright green.
6 Add the browned sausage to the soup. Season with salt and pepper.
7 Serve hot with a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and crusty bread.

Did You Know?

Caldo verde is the official soup of festas juninas, Brazil's beloved June harvest festivals, where it is served in small cups alongside quentão (spiced cachaça) and pé-de-moleque.