Cozy up to a bowl of Creamy Sausage Potato Soup with Kale! This easy one-pot soup comes together on the stovetop with hearty potatoes, white beans, garlic, herbs and a touch of cream!
- A Comforting Winter Soup! - Sausage Potato Soup is comfort food in a bowl! A hearty filling meal made with lots of chunky potatoes, sausage, white beans, and a silky herb broth with cream, rather than a thick and creamy broth!
- Weeknight Favorite! - Starting soup with ground Italian sausage is sure to give you an intensely flavorful pot! We love throwing it together on a weeknight with great leftovers for lunches.
- If you Love this Soup, try my Italian Sausage White Bean Soup with Pasta, this Sausage Gnocchi Soup and this Pasta Fagioli Soup!
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Ingredients & Substitutions
Very simple ingredients make up this rustic country Sausage Potato Soup, served with plenty of crusty bread!
- Italian Sausage - Starting this soup off with bulk Italian sausage not only gives you a delicious flavor, but the veggies cook in the rendered fat, so no extra oil or butter are needed. You can use mild or sweet sausage, or cut open raw sausage links and remove the meat.
- Onion, Potatoes, Garlic - The base layers of flavor, veggies add nourishing substance to the pot! You can use any kind of potatoes you have. Yukon gold are great because the tender skins don't even need to be peeled.
- Kale - Healthy kale is really nice to balance the richness from the sausage and cream. It adds some texture but cooks up tender. If you aren't a kale fan, it really doesn't have a strong taste when simmered in soup, but you could also substitute spinach. Try these 14 Ways to Use Garden Kale!
- White Beans - A couple cans of beans add protein and make this soup super satisfying! Always drain and rinse canned beans, and great Northern, navy, or cannellini beans are all fine.
- Chicken Stock - We love making Homemade Chicken Stock from Bones and Veggie Scraps and keep it in the freezer for soup making. Store-bought stock is fine too.
- Cream - Notice that the soup doesn't contain a thickener like flour. So when the cream is added to the soup at the end, it isn't thick and creamy, but rather broth-y with cream. It's rich, silky and flavorful, are just really delicious! However, when reheating leftovers, all that starch from the potatoes and beans is going to really thicken your soup! You can add a bit of water or broth to thin it out, but it tastes great either way! Try my similar broth-based cream soup, Tuscan Chicken Gnocchi Soup!
- Fresh Herbs - I love finishing the soup with any combination of fresh savory herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano or parsley. It adds a vibrant "pop," but you can also substitute 1 teaspoon of dried thyme or Italian seasoning when adding the garlic.
- Salt and Pepper - How much salt and pepper you need is really going to depend on the sausage. Sausage is usually really salty and heavily seasoned, so you don't need much more. I like to add a pinch to the potatoes when you add them, then taste the soup at the end and decide if you need a bit more.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Real ingredients are built a layer at a time, this soup comes together on the stovetop in just about 50 minutes.
Step 1 - Prep your vegetables. Chop the onion, mince the garlic, pull the kale leaves off the stems and roughly chop.
Cut the potatoes in quarters or a grid lengthwise, and then thinly slice them, rather than cube them, so they cook up quick.
Step 2 - In a large soup pot over medium heat, begin to brown the sausage.
Break it up with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes.
Step 3 - When the sausage is almost browned, a little pink is ok, move it to one side of the pot and add the onion and potato to the other with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Continue to saute both, try to keep them separate, and give each side an occasional stir. This will crisp up the sausage even more while beginning to soften the veggies. About 10 minutes.
Step 4 - When the sausage is fully browned and caramelized, add the kale and garlic and stir everything together.
It's ok if the potatoes aren't fully cooked, they will finish simmering in the broth.
Step 5 - Add the white beans and chicken stock and allow to simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
You can adjust the heat lower to keep it at a gentle bubble.
Step 6 - Stir often, it's ready when the potatoes are tender, taste one!
Step 7 - Add the cream and fresh herbs and simmer for another few minutes. Serve with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread!
Recipe Notes and Tips
- Keep the Sausage and Vegetables Separate - Keeping the vegetables and the sausage separate will keep the natural liquid in the vegetables away from the sausage. The hot contact with the pot will let the sausage get crispy and caramelized, while mixing with the vegetables can cause it to steam instead of brown. Give the sausage and the separate vegetables each an occasional stir, but not too often so they can each caramelize.
- Draining the Fat - Depending on the sausage you use, it may give off a lot of fat, or not much. Some is good to saute the onion and potatoes without needing additional oil. If there is excess pooling grease when the sausage has fully browned, you can spoon some of it out. Cool it in a bowl and toss it in the trash, not down the drain!
- Adjustable and Customizable - Soup is always forgiving and doesn't need to be exact. A little light or heavy on the potatoes or kale is fine. One can instead of two cans of beans will totally work. Add in some celery if it's hanging out in the fridge!
- What to Serve it With - This Sausage Potato Soup is a complete meal on its own with plenty of meat, vegetables, and beans! We love topping it with fresh Parmesan cheese and crusty bread to dip. A baguette, grilled cheese sandwiches, or my Overnight Dutch Oven Bread are all great additions!
- Storage and Freezing - This soup can be made a day in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. It will be a lot thicker when reheating because the potatoes will have released their starch. This is fine as is, or you can add a touch of water, stock or milk and reheat gently on the stovetop. Soups with potatoes usually aren't the best for freezing because their texture can be altered, but in a pinch, this soup could be frozen for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQs
Use bulk Italian pork sausage that is labeled mild or sweet. If you like spicy, go with the hot or add a pinch of red pepper flakes while it browns. You could also slice open raw sausage links and use the meat, or use turkey sausage. The sausage adds big flavor to this soup, so use your favorite! You'll need to adjust the salt and pepper in this recipe based on the saltiness of your sausage.
Just a half cup of heavy cream gives this soup its color and richness, but you can easily substitute half & half or whole milk, or even just leave it out.
This soup is Gluten-Free and contains no flour as a thickener. It is meant to be a broth-based soup with cream, rather than a thick and creamy soup. It is naturally thick from all the hearty ingredients like sausage, beans and potatoes. The soup will thicken the longer it simmers, and even more when it is cooled and reheated as the potatoes and beans release starch. You can always thin the soup by adding a bit of water or stock.
More Cozy Soups!
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Creamy Sausage Potato Soup with Kale
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Print Pin RateIngredients
- 1 pound bulk mild Italian sausage
- 1 onion (1½ cups chopped)
- 4 to 5 small Yukon gold potatoes (1½ pounds or 4 cups quartered and sliced)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 to 4 leaves kale (1 cup roughly chopped)
- 2 cans white beans drained and rinsed
- 4 cups chicken stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon fresh herbs such as thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano and parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep the vegetables. Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Pull the kale leaves from the stems and roughly chop them. Cut the potatoes in quarters or a grid lengthwise. Then, instead of chopping into cubes, slice them thinly so they cook up quicker.
- In a large soup pot over medium heat, begin to brown the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes.
- When the sausage is almost done, a little pink is ok, move it to one side and add the onions and potatoes to saute on the other side in the rendered fat from the sausage. Season the potatoes with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir each side occasionally, but not too often so each can caramelize in the hot pot. A little mixing is fine but try to keep them separate, about 10 more minutes.
- When the sausage is fully cooked through and browned a bit, add the kale and garlic and stir everything together.
- Add the white beans and chicken stock and simmer about 20 to 25 minutes until the potatoes are tender. You can adjust the heat down to keep it at a gently bubble, stir occasionally. Taste a potato to see if it's done!
- Add the cream and herbs, simmer a few more minutes and it's ready to eat!
- Serve with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread.
Notes
- Potatoes - Yukon gold potatoes have tender skin that doesn't need to be peeled. You can use 1.5 pounds of any kind of potato for this soup, wash well, you can peel if you like.
- Adjusting Thickness - If your soup becomes too thick, you can always add a bit of water or broth. The soup will not be "thick and creamy" since there is no thickener, but rather broth-y with cream.
- Salt - Add a pinch of salt and pepper when adding the potatoes. Depending on how salty the sausage is, you may not need any more. Taste the finished soup and season more if you like. Salt and pepper are not included in the nutrition info.
John says
This is simmering on the stove top now. It smells delicious. I’m heading to church at 5 o’clock, so I’m just going to add the cream and herbs when I return. I substituted red kidney beans because that’s what I had in my pantry. Probably won’t be quite so pretty and the kidney beans may have a little different taste, but it’s still a symphony of flavor.
Meryl Downing says
Thanks John, hope you enjoyed it!