This Sausage Kale White Bean Soup is creamy without being overly heavy and absolutely packed with amazing texture and flavors.

General
Ingredients
How to make
Get the recipe
Frequently Asked Questions
Canned or dried beans
Variations
Pairing suggestions
How to store
Nutrition information

Ingredients

This soup has such a rich depth of flavor, but is surprisingly light!

Bacon – cooked until crispy, yet chewy. Use thick-cut bacon for the best results. The textures and flavors are great and it’s easier to slice before cooking than “regular”. Bacon adds an amazing smoky flavor and crispy, yet chewy texture. Replace the bacon with 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or unsalted butter, if desired.
Sausage – fully cooked Kielbasa sliced into rounds provides a meaty texture and smoky flavor. Any cooked sausage, such as chicken or turkey sausage will work as well.
Onion, Carrots, and Celery – aka “mirepoix”. This is a very common base for soups that provides flavor, texture, and nutrients. Any variety of onion (white, red, yellow or shallots) may be used.
Garlic – adds a nutty flavor that really makes this broth shine. Use fresh cloves or even pre-minced jarred garlic. If using fresh, I love my garlic press to quickly “mince” the garlic.
Spices: Italian Seasoning, Rosemary, Thyme, Salt, and Pepper – this five ingredient semi-homemade spice blend adds a fresh, earthy flavor that beautifully compliments the flavor of the sausage and keeps the broth from becoming too rich and heavy.
Potatoes – Yukon Gold potatoes are the best potatoes for soup, because they’re firm enough to hold their shape, but still get perfectly fluffy and fork tender. Potatoes such as red skin potatoes may be used, but they’ll take longer to cook and won’t be as fluffy. Russet potatoes may be used in a pinch, but they’ll likely fall apart.
Chicken Broth – the base for the soup. Broth is used to simmer the potatoes until tender. Using broth instead of water allows the potatoes to soak up extra flavor!
Heavy Cream – provides a rich, creaminess to the soup. Because it’s mixed with chicken broth, the broth of this soup is not heavy. Feel free to use half-and-half instead.
White Beans – 1 (15 oz) can white beans, drained and rinsed. There are 4 varieties of white beans: navy, great northern, cannellini, and baby lima beans. Use your favorite! They all have slightly different flavors and sizes, but are often used interchangeably in recipes.
Kale – tough stems removed and discarded, then chopped into bite sized pieces. You’ll typically find tuscan (aka lacinato or dinosaur kale), curly, and baby kale at the grocery store. I tried using baby kale and found it to be too stringy, so I recommend chopped tuscan or chopped curly kale.
Cheese: Romano, Asiago, and Parmesan – found in the fresh cheese aisle or in the pasta aisle. Romano has a strong, salty flavor. Asiago is nutty and creamy and parmesan is a bit fruity. Feel free to use this pre-made blend, make your own, or pick and choose between the three!

Pro tip

We love to garnish this soup with red pepper flakes for some spice and homemade croutons for crunch!

How to make

This soup is full of veggies, protein, fat, and carbs! It’s a one pot comfort food that everyone loves.

Cook bacon in large stockpot over medium heat, then remove and set aside.
Add in sausage, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, Italian seasoning, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook until the carrots are tender.
Whisk in chicken broth, stir in potatoes, then bring to a simmer and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
Stir in heavy cream, white beans, kale, cheese blend, and cooked bacon, then taste and re-season, if necessary.

Pro tip

Cook the bacon until crispy. This adds a nice contrasting texture to the chewy sausage and fluffy potatoes!

Do you use canned or dried beans?

Canned white beans are used in this recipe. If you’d like to use dried beans:

Rinse a heaping 1/2 cup white beans (this should be enough to replace the 1 (15 oz) can cooked white beans), cover with water, then soak for at least 6 hours. Drain and set aside.
Cook bacon in large stockpot over medium heat, then remove and set aside.
Add in sausage, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, Italian seasoning, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook until the carrots are tender.
Whisk in chicken broth and soaked beans, then bring to a simmer.
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, adding more broth, if necessary.
Stir in potatoes, re-cover, and simmer for an additional 15 minutes, or until the potatoes and beans have been cooked to your liking.
Stir in heavy cream, white beans, kale, cheese blend, and cooked bacon, then taste and re-season, if necessary.

Variations

Use another meat. Sliced chicken or turkey sausage would be great. 1 (16 oz) roll sausage may also be used, cook and crumble it when cooking the carrots, onions, etc.
Lighten it up. Use half-and-half or whole milk to replace the heavy cream.
Make it low-carb. Replace the potatoes with cauliflower florets.
Make it spicy. Use hot sausage and add red pepper flakes for garnish!

What to serve with sausage kale white bean soup

Soups are best served next to a salad and bread for dunking!

Pear, Blue Cheese, Candied Pecan Salad
Green Salad with Italian Dressing or Greek Dressing
Parmesan Drop Biscuits
Garlic Bread
Homemade Croutons (pictured on top of the soup)

How to store

Leftover soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. To enjoy again, heat on the stove or in the microwave until warm.

I don’t recommend freezing soups that contain a lot of dairy and/or potatoes, because the dairy will likely separate and the potatoes will become grainy when thawed.

– Jennifer