My family loves this sausage potato soup made with Italian sausage, potatoes, and kale. Think of this as a lighter version of Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana soup. It’s incredibly delicious!
This sausage and potato soup recipe is a dream to make on busy nights. Thanks to flavorful Italian sausage, you only need a short list of ingredients, and it comes together quickly.
This simple sausage potato soup is hearty, comforting, and keeps well in the fridge for dinner tomorrow! For more potato soup recipes, see our potato leek soup or this creamy potato soup.
Key Ingredients
- Italian Sausage: You can use sweet Italian sausage or hot (spicy) Italian sausage. I usually use sweet Italian sausage and then adjust the spice level with crushed red pepper flakes.
- Potatoes: I highly recommend using Yukon Gold potatoes for this soup. They are ideal for their buttery texture and hold up well in the soup, but baby red or white potatoes work, too.
- Onion and Garlic: These add to our soup base. I don’t add other root veggies to keep the ingredient list short.
- Spices: The Italian sausage already adds flavor with spices like fennel, but I like to add to that with oregano, red pepper flakes (optional), a bay leaf, and fresh thyme.
- Broth: I use good-quality chicken stock from the store or homemade stock. For store-bought, look for low sodium and one that’s darker in color (usually means more flavor). Since bone broth usually has more flavor, I like to buy boxed bone broth (I use homemade bone broth sometimes, too).
- Kale: To add color and texture, we stir in chopped kale towards the end. To prepare kale, strip the leaves from the stalks. Then, chop or tear the leaves into bite-size pieces. Baby kale leaves work, too, and don’t require any chopping. You can substitute the kale for spinach, Swiss chard, or other hearty greens.
- Cream and Parmesan Cheese: To make our soup a bit creamy, I add a splash of cream towards the end and stir in grated parmesan cheese. Both are optional but delicious!
How to Make Sausage Potato Soup
I love how simple this soup with sausage and potatoes is to make. It’s perfect for busier days! You’ll brown the sausage first, which adds a lovely base of flavor, then toss in onions and cook until they are sweet and soft.
From there, stir in the spices, broth, and potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Lastly, stir in the kale so it softens, and finish with the cream and parmesan cheese. Easy!
Easy Sausage Potato Soup
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
You will love this easy sausage and potato soup recipe, made with Italian sausage, potatoes, garlic, and kale. It is comforting and ultra-flavorful. For the best soup, use Yukon Gold potatoes. They have thin skins, so you don’t need to peel them. The red pepper flakes are optional and add a bit of spice to the soup. If you use hot Italian sausage (spicy), you may not need them.
You Will Need
8 ounces (226g) bulk Italian sausage or links with the casings removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced, 1 tablespoon
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
1 ½ pounds (680g) potatoes, cubed, 2 to 3 medium
5 cups (1182ml) chicken stock
1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream or half-and-half, or more to taste
4 cups chopped kale leaves with ribs removed or use baby kale
1/2 cup (28g) shredded parmesan cheese, optional, 1 ounce
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Directions
1Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage. Cook, breaking up the sausage with a wooden spoon until crispy, about 10 minutes.
2Add the onions and cook, stirring every few minutes, until they soften, 5 to 6 minutes.
3Stir in the garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Cook, stirring the garlic and spices around the pan for about 1 minute.
4Add the bay leaf, thyme, and potatoes. Pour in the stock.
5Increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the broth reaches a simmer, but before it begins to boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover the pot with a lid, and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, about 15 minutes. As the soup cooks, stir every once in a while. If the soup simmers more aggressively, turn down the heat a bit.
6Uncover the soup and remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs.
7Stir in the cream, kale, and parmesan cheese. Add a small pinch of nutmeg, and then taste the soup for seasoning. Adjust with more salt and pepper as needed.
8Reduce the heat to low, cover with the lid, and cook until the kale is wilted and soft, about 5 minutes more.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight and reheat gently on the stovetop. Potatoes may soften slightly after freezing. The cream may separate when reheating, so do it over low heat or leave it out when freezing and add fresh after it has reheated.
- Thick and creamy soup: For a creamier and thicker soup, grab a potato masher and mash some of the potatoes in the pot just before adding the kale.
- Kale: The kale softens in the soup over time. If you like extra soft and tender kale, leave the lid on the pot and keep warm for 10 to 15 minutes more.
- Lighter soup: For a lightened-up version, replace the pork sausage with chicken or turkey sausage and substitute the cream/milk for additional stock.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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This soup is delicious! I omitted the red pepper (at least this time) because my son is still coming around to spicy foods. I panicked when I realized my Parmesan went bad, but it ended up being so delicious without the cheese. Thank you for the recipe!!
this is a great recipe. i’ve printed it for the book!
This was amazing! Best of all, it’s one of those recipes that is very easy to make your own. I added carrots and celery and used homemade seasoned ground pork along with homemade broth and it was DEVINE! Thank you for this recipe! It’s definitely a KEEPER for many years to come. Love your blog. So many tasty recipes.
Seen this recipe and it looked so yummy. I made it this weekend and my family and I love it. I am going to keep this one for soup making season for years to come. You can bet on that.
Just made this for 2 extremely picky eaters, along with your soft flat bread and they loved it. I followed the recipe exactly. So delicious!
i used this recipe as cited. it was easy to make, delicious and filling. my family loved it!
Just found this site keen to try these soups
I had some breakfast sausage in the refrigerator that I needed to use up, and also some potatoes, so I went searching on Google for a recipe that combined sausage and potatoes in a soup and lo and behold I stumbled upon your recipe. It sounded so good I got out in the snowy weather just to buy kale! The only addition I made was adding smoked paprika to the spices. For some reason it just sounded good to me so I threw it in there. This soup is so delicious I will be making it again for sure! Thanks!!
I just wanted to thank you both for the great spare rib recipe, we just love it. Always turns out. Thanks so much
Linda, Bill
I had some potatoes on hand and was craving soup! This was so easy to put together, love one pot meals. I try to be dairy free so I swapped out 3/4c lite coconut milk with .5 c water for the milk. Came out perfect !
I just made this soup yesterday for dinner. We loved it! I used everything in recipe as written. It’s going to be my new “keeper”soup. Thanks again for another great recipe. Your recipes have never ever failed me. Always delish.
Hi. I love your recipes!! I’m not a big food blog person but I stumbled upon you guys a year or so ago and just found everything you make to be delicious, simple and just what the doctor ordered haha. I’ve made several of your dishes and made this soup last night and it was KILLER. So delicious and so flavorful. The only thing I added was a little bit more sausage (one more link). This is such a fantastic recipe and seems well suited for having guests over. The women will be satisfied with the kale and the men with the sausage haha. Thank you for the recipes! Keep ‘me coming!
I love easy recipes that are nutritious! I will be making this tonight. I plan to use Louisiana Andouille uncured All Natural Smoked Sausage, and all the ingredients as noted in the recipe. This is a similar recipe from “Recipes for A Small Planet”- ‘Luscious Potato Soup’; which my daughter Holly adored, it was a Vegan recipe made with Non-Instant, Instant Milk, Brewer’s Yeast, Spring Onions, & Celery; all other ingredients remain the same, minus the Kale. Thank you for this perfect Fall recipe.