This sausage vegetable soup is filling, comforting, and packed with healthy ingredients, with a spicy kick.
If you read my post for ham and bean soup, you’d know I absolutely LOVE soup. It’s comforting, warming, and delicious, and it can also be extremely healthy if you use the right ingredients! I figured I’d share one last soup recipe before the weather gets too warm and soup is basically forgotten about until fall. My mom and I have made a sausage and kale soup just like Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana for years and we just love it, so I decided to change it up a little to make a sausage vegetable soup that is not only delicious, but healthy too!
To make this soup healthier, I took out the heavy cream and cheese and added a lot more vegetables! Previously it was just potatoes and kale, but I added carrots, green beans, mushrooms, and tomatoes, and you can add others if you wish!
The sausage and crushed red pepper add a nice amount of spice, but not too much. Make sure to always look at the ingredients in the products you buy—the less ingredients the better! Sometimes companies sneak random additives and flavorings in packaged products like meats. I’ve found that looking for the healthiest products can sometimes take a little time (and people may awkwardly stare at you for reading the back of every single package of sausage in the store), but it is well worth it.
The only problem with this soup is that it’s so good and comforting that it just makes me want to curl up in a ball and read a book the rest of the day. While sometimes this is okay, this soup really is very filling with good nutrients to help you be productive!
Rather than going out to eat and paying a lot of money for soup at a restaurant, make this healthy sausage vegetable soup at home!
Sausage Vegetable Soup
https://www.thesmalltownfoodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Vegetable-Sausage-Soup-3small.png
| Prep: | Cook: | Yield: Serves 5-6 people | Total: |
This sausage vegetable soup is filling, comforting, and packed with healthy ingredients, with a spicy kick.
You'll Need...
- 1 cup diced onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
- 1 cup sliced carrots (about 2-3 medium carrots)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 pound ground sausage (pork or turkey)
- 5 cups sliced poatoes (about 6 small potatoes)
- 3 cups chopped kale
- 1 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cup mushrooms, cut into pieces
- ½ cup diced tomatoes, fresh or from a can (drained)
- 9 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat.
- Add the sausage and brown it, breaking it into small pieces.
- Drain excess grease.*
- Add onions and carrots. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
- Add garlic and saute another 1-2 minutes, until it starts to brown.
- Add the potatoes, kale, green beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, chicken broth, and crushed red pepper.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until potatoes and all vegetables are cooked.
- When ready to serve, taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
Additional Notes
*If too much grease is left in the pan, the soup will end up oily. I usually put the meat on a paper towel covered plate, add another paper towel on top and blot out more grease, then return the meat to the pan.
[…] vegetables to freeze, especially because they require no blanching. They’re perfect for adding to soups, eggs, casseroles, stewed tomatoes, salsa—really anything—throughout the whole […]