Smoked Sausage and Vegetable Soup

An easy & comforting smoked sausage soup packed full of healthy vegetables like carrot, celery, potatoes, sweet potatoes & greens. Fix it on the stovetop in 90 minutes and serve with crusty bread for dunking into the slightly spicy & tomatoey broth (it's the best part). It tastes even better the next day and freezes well, so it's good for make-ahead lunches or dinners. {gluten-free, grain-free & dairy-free}

Do you have a favorite recipe that you fix only for yourself? Maybe it's a dish the rest of your family hates but you could care less because it sings to your soul every time you eat it.

Bring on the liver and onions! Just kidding. 

For me, it's this kielbasa sausage & vegetable soup. I fix it every few weeks during the winter & spring months when I need a warm meal that's packed with more veggies than Zuppa Toscana (my other favorite sausage soup). Another good option is Hamburger Vegetable Soup if you prefer ground beef or Chicken Tortilla Soup if you have leftover chicken on hand.

This sausage soup is hearty, comforting, and makes my body feel nourished. I'd happily eat the whole pot all by my lonesome (it's excellent as a light lunch), but everyone I fix it for gobbles it down so I don't get the chance. 

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I've been making this soup for 10 years now (it's an oldie but goodie from my college days), so it's one of my tried-and-true recipes, right up there with this smoked sausage & potatoes sheet pan dinner. If you stick around here long enough, you'll notice I love recipes with pork. My favorite right now is this one-pot spaghetti with Italian sausage.

At a glance, the ingredients list for this soup looks deceptively simple, but it's far from bland. It develops tons of flavor from the smoked sausage (browning it first is 100% worth it), tomato paste (this is a key ingredient), diced fire-roasted tomatoes, and a combo of dry + fresh spices.

All of this infuses the broth with slightly spicy (depending on how much crushed red pepper you add), porky, savory & tomatoey flavors that make it super addicting. It's my favorite part!

But it doesn't stop there. (That sounded very infomercial-esque.)

Here's how the other ingredients contribute to the overall flavor: 

• the carrot & sweet potato chunks add sweetness to balance out the acidity of the canned tomatoes & tomato paste 
• the regular potatoes thicken up the broth a bit
• the celery, onion, and garlic add nutrients and aromatics
• the greens contribute some bitterness to balance everything out 
• the beans (chickpeas or white beans like great northern) bump up the protein + fiber and make the soup more filling
• the sliced & browned sausage adds some fat + protein (both help us stay full longer)
• the finishing garnish of parmesan cheese adds saltiness   

Have I convinced you to make it yet? Maybe I'm biased, but it's SO good! 

If you still need convincing, here's a collage picture I made from an Instagram story video that shows the simple steps. It's mostly chopping and sauteeing. Easy right?

Tips & Swaps For This Smoked Sausage Soup

I recently shared step by step video clips of this soup on Instagram stories (it's saved in my highlights if you want to watch it) and I got some messages about swapping out different ingredients, so I thought I'd address that here along with some tips:

• If you don't have pork sausage, then beef, chicken or turkey sausage works fine. Look for "smoked sausage", "kielbasa sausage" or "polish sausage" on the label. Keep in mind that it will have a slightly different flavor (and less fat), but it should still be yummy.
• Cubed butternut squash is a good substitute for the sweet potato if you have some on hand
• The beans are totally optional so if you don't like them or are following a paleo lifestyle, simply omit them.
• Use fire-roasted diced tomatoes if you can find them. They taste less acidic & a bit sweeter than regular canned tomatoes. 
• Any leafy greens work in this recipe, just be sure to adjust the cooking time near the end if you use more mature greens (like full-grown chard, kale, or collards) since they'll take longer to wilt & soften
• The tomato paste is a key ingredient so please don't skip it! If you have any leftovers, portion them into tablespoon mounds and flash freeze them for later. You can also use leftover tomato paste in an easy recipe like this Gigi Hadid pasta. 
• Don't remove any of the fat after browning the sausage! Keep it in the pot to cook the veggies. Trust me. Fat = flavor. It's also good for our hormones & brain. :) 
• To save time, prep the veggies as you're browning the sausage and keep going from there. Make sure to check on the sausage & veggies every few minutes so they don't burn while you work on other things.  
• This soup tastes EVEN better the next day, but the potatoes will soak up a lot of the broth. So, when you reheat it on the stove, add a bit of water or extra broth (adjust salt if necessary) to make it more liquidy.

Craving more soup? Check out my other favorite recipes:

• Cabbage Roll Soup
• Creamy Tomato Basil Soup (Panera Copycat)
• Thick Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

easy soup, winter soup, smoked sausage, kielbasa, vegetables

soup

American

Yield: 6 servings

Author: Elaina - The Rising Spoon

Smoked Sausage & Vegetable Soup

prep time: 20 Mcook time: 1 H & 10 Mtotal time: 1 H & 30 M

An easy & comforting smoked sausage soup packed with healthy vegetables. Fix it on the stovetop in about 90 minutes and serve with crusty bread to soak up the slightly spicy & tomatoey broth. It tastes even better the next day and freezes well, so it's good for make-ahead lunches or dinners. {gluten-free, grain-free & dairy-free}

ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil (like avocado oil or olive oil)
• 12-16 ounces of smoked sausage OR kielbasa sausage, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 large celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 6 cups of low-sodium beef broth (or homemade chicken broth)
• 1 large Yukon gold or red potato, peeled & diced
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled & diced
• 1 (15-ounce) can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) OR great northern beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper (adjust this up or down based on your spiciness preference)
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt (like Celtic or Himalayan)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper
• 3 ounces of leafy greens (like lacinato kale, rainbow chard, or spinach), stems removed and torn into small pieces

For Serving (Optional):

• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Crusty buttered bread
• Extra cracked black pepper

instructions:

How to cook Smoked Sausage & Vegetable Soup

1. Measure the cooking oil into a large stockpot or Dutch oven set to medium-high heat. When it's hot (but not smoking), add the sausage and cook for 5-7 minutes.
2. Use a spoon to remove the sausage and all but a tablespoon or so of grease (do not discard the extra pork fat) and place both in a bowl. Set this aside for now, as we'll add it back to the soup at the end.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, carrot & celery. Measure in 1 teaspoon of sea salt + 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper (you'll add the remaining amounts before you bring the soup to a simmer). Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the veggies start to soften.
4. Stir in the tomato paste and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the beef broth, purified water, potato, sweet potato, diced tomatoes, beans, rosemary, crushed red pepper, and the remaining 1 teaspoon of sea salt & 1 teaspoon of black pepper.
6. Stir, cover, and bring the soup to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are fork-tender.
7. Uncover and add the browned sausage + grease back into the soup. Bring to a simmer again, stir in the baby greens and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the greens are wilted.
8. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper & crushed red pepper if needed. Ladle into bowls and top with grated parmesan cheese and extra black pepper. Serve with crusty buttered bread or crackers for dunking.
9. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days OR freeze for up to 3 months.

NOTES:

You can prep all the veggies at the beginning OR start the sausage first and do the prep work as you go. The latter saves time, but you have to remember to stir the sausage and veggies (onions/carrots/celery) every few minutes so they don't burn while you're working on the potatoes & other ingredients.

https://www.therisingspoon.com/2015/10/kielbasa-sausage-and-vegetable-soup.html

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UPDATE (January 2020): This recipe was originally published in October 2015, but I've recently rephotographed it, updated the recipe, and re-written the post to include more helpful information.

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