Tuscan Sausage and White Bean Soup is cozy and so flavorful, made with Italian sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh spinach, pasta shells, and a bit of cream. An easy one-pot soup the whole family will love, ready in 40 minutes!
- Hearty and Delicious! - This cold weather soup is sure to warm you up, hearty and nourishing with white beans, bold flavored Italian-inspired sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh spinach and herbs!
- Quick and Easy! - Made all in one-pot on the stovetop, this soup allows you to chop and drop, with everything simmered together in just 40 minutes! A few simple ingredients bring that rustic Tuscan flavor! You'll also love my Tuscan Chicken Gnocchi Soup!
- If you Love this Soup, try my Sausage Gnocchi Soup, Pasta Fagioli Soup, and this Italian Sausage White Bean Soup with Pasta!
Jump to:
Ingredients & Substitutions
A pantry-friendly dinner, this soup is a complete meal, packed with protein, veggies, and yummy pasta in each bite!
- Italian Sausage - Use mild or sweet, bulk Italian sausage as the base for your soup. It flavors and seasons everything, you may not even need more salt and pepper. Be sure to break it up well into small bits with a wooden spoon, and cook it brown and crispy!
- Onion and Garlic - The base layers of flavor, they cook together with the browning sausage.
- Sun-dried Tomato - This is where this soup gets its Tuscan Italian flavor! Use sun-dried tomatoes from a jar packed in oil. The little red bits in the soup are gorgeous and the coating of oil adds nice extra flavor. The dried ones from a package are ok too.
- White Beans - Use two cans of white beans such as Great Northern, cannellini, or navy beans, to give your soup that filling hearty substance! Try my Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup too, also with white beans!
- Chicken Stock - We make Homemade Chicken Stock from Bones and Veggie Scraps to keep it in the freezer for soup making. Vegetable stock is fine too. I've added 2 cups of water to give the soup enough liquid, but that could also be 2 cups of additional stock.
- Pasta - We love soup in pasta, it's so delicious! The key is not too much! Medium shells worked beautifully, but you could use any small pasta shape such as ditalini, bowtie, orecchiette or orzo.
- Cream - There is just a half cup of cream in this soup, but notice there is no flour or thickener. This gives you a silky broth-y soup with cream, instead of a thick and creamy soup.
- Spinach - Use lots of fresh spinach, it wilts right into the soup giving you those beautiful healthy green swirls. You could substitute a few leaves of kale, stems removed and chopped small. Kale needs a bit longer to cook, so add it earlier with the beans and pasta.
- Fresh Herbs - Fresh Italian herbs, like any combination of rosemary, thyme, sage, or parsley are really worth the extra effort here! You could substitute a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs, but add them earlier when you add the garlic.
- Salt and Pepper - This is really going to depend on your sausage. I didn't end up adding any salt or pepper to this soup, because the sausage was so strongly seasoned. Make your soup without salt or pepper, then taste and decide if you need a pinch or not!
See recipe card below for quantities.
Instructions
This one-pot Tuscan white bean soup is built in layers, starting with browning the sausage and ending with simmering the pasta just until al dente. It's on the table in 40 minutes!
Step 1 - Prep your ingredients, chop the onion, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes.
Step 2 - Start browning the sausage on its own for a few minutes. Then push it to one side and cook the onions in the rendered fat.
Step 3 - Really get your sausage brown and crispy, breaking it up as much as you can with a wooden spoon.
Everything can be stirred together and then add the garlic. You can drain the sausage fat if you like, mine didn't have much.
Step 4 - Add the white beans, sun-dried tomatoes, dry pasta, stock and water.
Simmer about 20 minutes, reducing the temperature to keep it at a gentle bubble.
Step 5 - When the pasta is al-dente (taste one) add the cream, fresh spinach and herbs.
Simmer a few more minutes as the spinach wilts.
Step 6 - Serve your soup with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread!
Helpful Tips
- You don't need to cook the sausage or pasta separately - I've seen a lot of recipes that have you pull out the sausage and drain it on a plate. This is just not necessary! This soup can be made a layer at a time, all in the same pot. The cooked sausage adds flavor and fat to cook the onions, then simmers in the stock with the pasta, marrying the flavors and finishing all together!
- Really Break up the Sausage - I like the sausage really broken up into small bits with a wooden spoon, as small as you can get them. This gives a nicer texture, and you can really cook the sausage crispy and caramelized.
- How to Make Crostini (baked baguette slices) - Delicious with white bean sausage soup, I toasted sliced baguette on a sheet pan in the oven, tossed with olive oil, garlic powder and fresh or dried herbs, at 400°F for about 10 minutes.
- What to Serve it With - We love bread for dunking, like my Overnight Dutch Oven Bread, or grilled cheese sandwiches or paninis made with white cheese. Make it a Tuscan soup and salad night with this Spinach Arugula Salad or this Italian Mixed Greens Salad with Crispy Prosciutto.
- Storage and Freezing - This soup can be made a day in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. It's not the best soup to freeze because the pasta doesn't hold up that well, but in a pinch, it could be frozen.
Recipe FAQs
The sausage you use will really be the star flavor of your soup, so choose your favorite! Look for a bulk Italian pork sausage, usually 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. Remember the finished soup may need more or less salt (or none) depending on the saltiness of your sausage.
This soup does not contain a thickener like flour, so it's actually a broth-based soup with a bit of cream, rather than a thick and creamy style soup. It does feel pretty thick and creamy, because there are so many hearty ingredients like the meat, beans and pasta! If your soup gets too thick, just add a bit more stock or water to thin it out. You may need to do this when reheating.
Yes, again, this is a broth-based soup with cream, and the cream could totally be left out! You could also substitute half & half or whole milk if you want the creamy color but less richness.
This will depend on the sausage, mine gave off very little fat so I didn't drain it at all. If you see pooling fat rendered from the sausage after adding the garlic, lift one side of the pot, pushing the sausage and onion to that side, and spoon out the excess fat. Remember, a bit of natural fat from the sausage is not a bad thing and adds delicious flavor!
Try These Soups Next!
If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it! Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!
Follow Sungrown Kitchen on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for loads of garden recipes! Be sure to Subscribe Here for new recipes delivered straight to your inbox!
Tuscan Sausage and White Bean Soup
Hit the stars to rate this recipe!
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
- 1 small onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomato sliced
- 2 cans white beans drained and rinsed
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup medium pasta shells (dry)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 5 ounces fresh spinach
- 2 Tablespoons fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, parsley and sage chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large soup pot over medium heat, begin to brown the sausage, about 3 minutes, breaking it up really small with a wooden spoon.
- When the sausage is about half cooked through, move it to one side of the pot and saute the onion on the other side, about 8 more minutes.
- When the sausage is fully cooked, browned and crisp, you can drain any fat if you like. Add the garlic and stir everything together.
- Add the sun-dried tomatoes, beans, stock, water, and dry pasta. Stir well so the pasta is submerged. Simmer about 20 minutes until the pasta is al dente, stir occasionally. Reduce the heat as needed to keep the soup at a gentle bubble while the pasta cooks.
- Add the cream, spinach, herbs and season to taste with salt and pepper (depending on how salty your sausage is, I didn't use any). Simmer a few more minutes as the spinach wilts. Serve with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread.
Notes
- Draining the Sausage Fat - This will depend on the sausage, mine gave off very little fat so I didn't drain it at all. If you see pooling fat rendered from the cooked sausage, lift one side of the pot, pushing the sausage and onion to that side, and spoon out the excess fat. The sausage does not need to be drained on a paper towel or separate plate, a little natural fat is a good thing!
- Sausage - Use your favorite bulk Italian pork sausage, mild or sweet, or hot if you like. You could also slice open raw sausage links, or use turkey sausage. The finished soup may need more or less salt (or none) depending on the saltiness of your sausage.
- Spinach - can be substituted with stemmed and chopped kale, but add it earlier when adding the stock and beans.
- White Beans - Use 2 cans of drained and rinsed Great Northern, cannellini, or navy beans.
- Pasta - I used medium shells, measured dry. You could use any short pasta shape such as ditalini, bowtie, orecchiette or orzo.
- Cream - This is a broth-based soup with cream in it. There is not flour or thickener, so therefore is thin and creamy rather than thick and creamy. The cream could be left out, or subbed with half & half or whole milk.
Leave a Reply