This smoked sausage potato soup is loaded with white beans, vegetables, and kale for a hearty and creamy soup with Cajun-inspired flavor. You'll never know it's intentionally lightened-up with certain ingredients and steps!
This smoked sausage potato soup is modeled after one I'd get for lunch near my old workplace, often acting as a major bright spot in a day full of spreadsheets.
It had sausage, potatoes, white beans, and greens of some sort with a Cajun-like flavor, all of which inspired my experimentation 8+ years later until I landed on this creamy, flavorful soup recipe that even manages to be lightened-up without seeming lightened-up at all!
Packed with meat, beans, vegetables, and greens, you will love how filling this smoked sausage soup ends up being all the while tasting like total comfort food.
How is This Soup Lightened Up?
I often try to avoid heavy cream or evaporated milk in soups (see Bisquick chicken and dumplings and shrimp corn chowder) and lean on a roux-ish situation to thicken things up instead. I say "-ish" because I really tinkered with the classic 1:1 ratio of flour to butter here, adding double the amount of flour to thicken things up while requiring less fat - just three tablespoons.
On top of that I used all olive oil as the fat instead of butter for a reduction of saturated fat. Pair that with choosing turkey smoked sausage in place of pork and these swaps result in a better-for-you option that truly doesn't lack in flavor. Promise!
Recipe Ingredients
- Smoked Sausage: Fully cooked so it just needs to be sliced and then browned. I'm partial to using smoked turkey sausage here (and in smoked sausage pasta - yum), but go ahead and use pork if you prefer.
- Flour & Olive Oil: This combination results in an oil-based roux that thickens this soup up beautifully.
- Broth & Milk: These make up the liquid. Because flour and oil are responsible for the thick and creamy texture, a higher-fat milk or cream isn't necessary - 1-2% is fine. Pictured is chicken bouillon paste which I add water to.
- Carrots, Bell Pepper & Onion: Swapping in green bell pepper for the more classic soffritto green vegetable of celery adds to the slight Cajun flair here.
- Spices: These include bay leaves and a blend of thyme, sage, smoked paprika, garlic, cayenne, and of course, salt and pepper for a slightly Cajun flavor. This quantity of cayenne brings flavor rather than heat, but do add more if you'd like a spicier soup.
- White Beans: Such as cannellini or Great Northern beans. This recipe calls for draining and rinsing canned beans, as that removes a considerable amount of residual sodium.
- Potatoes: Gold or yellow potatoes are great to use in soup as they retain their shapes and don't mush up like russets can. You can chop up a full-sized potato or use whole or halved baby potatoes for convenience - they often require no peeling.
- Kale: Lacinato kale (also called dinosaur or Tuscan kale) is my pick for this sausage potato soup. Kale takes several minutes longer than spinach to wilt and soften into soups, but it retains a hardy chewiness and doesn't get "slimy" like spinach can. Curly kale can be used.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Step 1: Slice smoked sausage into rounds and brown both sides in your soup pot. Transfer to a plate for now.
- Step 2: Sauté onion, carrots, and bell pepper in olive oil in the now-empty pot, then add garlic at the end.
- Step 3: Add back the sausage, then sprinkle in flour and the dried spices. Stir and cook for 5 minutes to cook off that raw flour flavor. It's okay that it's clumped up.
- Step 4: Deglaze with broth, then add the rest of broth, milk, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, beans, and potatoes. Simmer partially-covered for 20 minutes before stirring in the chopped kale and cooking for an additional 10-15 minutes. Serve.
Tips and Tricks
- Don't Lose Those Bay Leaves! Try and remember to remove the bay leaves before adding the chopped kale. They become much harder to find once the pot is crowded with leafy greens.
- Storage Instructions - Store leftover soup in air-tight container(s) in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days, reheating thoroughly before serving.
- Reheating - As with many creamy soup recipes, leftover portions will thicken up even further. If it becomes too thick once chilled, stir in a little extra broth or water before reheating to thin it out again.
- Can You Freeze It? Dairy-based soups aren't usually good options for freezing as they can turn grainy/off-putting in texture and separate once reheated. While I haven't tried it myself with this smoked sausage potato soup to know for sure, I wouldn't recommend it.
More Cozy Soup Recipes
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Smoked Sausage Potato Soup with Kale
Ingredients
- 1 12- or 13-ounce package fully-cooked smoked sausage turkey recommended, or pork
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 medium onion diced (about 1 cup)
- 2 medium-large carrots diced (about ¾ cup)
- 1 large green bell pepper seeded and diced (about ¾ cup)
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- ¾ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ¾ teaspoon rubbed sage
- ¾ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper increase if you like spicy
- 6 (47g) Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 4 cups milk 1-2% fine to use
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 16 ounces baby gold potatoes halved (or regular, in ¾-1 inch cubes)
- 1 15.5-ounce can cannellini beans rinsed and drained
- 2 very well packed cups Lacinato kale cut into bite-sized pieces
Instructions
- Slice the smoked sausage link(s) into ¼-inch thick rounds. Heat 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-low heat, then brown the sausage rounds for several minutes, flipping halfway, until both sides are golden-brown. Work in batches if your pot isn't wide enough to brown everything in a single layer. Transfer browned sausage to a plate and set aside for now.
- Add the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil to the pot and adjust the heat to medium. Once heated, add the onion, carrots, and green pepper and sauté for 7 minutes. Then add the garlic and sauté for an additional minute.
- Add the sausage rounds back to the pot. Season everything with thyme, sage, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper, then give it all a big stir. Sprinkle the flour over top and stir to coat everything as evenly as you can. Cook for 5 minutes while stirring occasionally. The flour will clump up on things but this is expected and fine.
- After 5 minutes pour in a small amount of the broth. Let it bubble up briefly then use a wooden utensil to deglaze the pan, scraping up the stuck-on bits from the bottom of the pot until it's clean and stirring them into the mixture. Slowly pour in the remainder of the broth and the milk while whisking.
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and add the potatoes and beans. Partially cover the pot with the lid to prevent splatter (leave it open a big crack for steam to escape), adjust the heat to a simmer, then simmer the soup for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- After 20 minutes, find and remove the bay leaves, then stir in the chopped kale. Let the soup continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes as the kale cooks down before serving.
Notes
- Storage: Store leftover portions in air-tight containers in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
- Reheating Instructions: Leftover portions will thicken up even further once chilled, so stir in a little extra broth or water before reheating if you'd like it to become thinner.
- Can You Freeze It? Dairy-based soups often become grainy/off-putting in texture once frozen and separate, so I wouldn't recommend freezing leftover portions of this one.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
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