This hearty Kale, Sausage, and Cannellini Soup uses Italian-inspired ingredients such as sweet Italian sausages, olive oil, garlic, and red wine vinegar. It’s a comforting, everyday recipe, perfect for colder weather.
Kale, Sausage, and Cannellini Soup
Course: DinnerCuisine: Italian8-10
servings30
minutes1
hour20
minutesIngredients
3 Tbs olive oil, divided
1 lb. sweet Italian sausages (casings removed, optionally), sliced into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, diced
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
Salt
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 cups homemade chicken or turkey stock
1 lb kale, washed, stemmed and chopped into bitesize pieces
2 small red potatoed, (peeled and) cut into bitesize cubes (optional)
1 Tbs red wine vinegar, plus more to taste
2 bay leaves optional
2 tsp thyme optional
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
- Heat 1 Tbs of the oil in a large, soup pot over medium heat (setting 4). Brown the sausage undisturbed for 3 minutes, then stir to move the pieces around. (They may stick; loosen them.) Continue cooking for 3 more minutes, stirring once per minute, until the sausage pieces are fully browned. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Add remaining 2 Tbs oil to the pot, and cook the onion, carrot, and celery with two pinches of salt (to taste), stirring and deglazing frequently, until softened, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
- Pour stock into pot. Raise heat to high (setting 6), cover, and bring just to a low boil. Add kale, (potatoes), vinegar, bay leaves, thyme, and (plenty of) pepper. Push the kale down into the liquid. Cover and return to a boil. Add the sausage. Add salt, to taste (perhaps 2 tsp if our stock was unsalted). Reduce to a simmer (gradually working your way to setting 1). Cover and cook until the (potatoes are tender and) the sausage is cooked through, 3 minutes.
- Add the beans. Heat through. Taste one last time. Serve hot.
Notes
- Substitutions: any white beans for the cannellini, (fresh) kielbasa for the Italian sausage
This soup has a clean taste, by which I mean that the broth is light and flavorful, and, with the exception of the onion, you can taste all the individual ingredients individually. I especially love the way the sausage acts like a meat dumpling and its flavor is lovely contrast to the rest of the soup.
Social Learning
When leftover, the sausage blends more than contrasts. Still, though, it’s delicious.
Others of the Make It Like a Man! posse suggested that the sausage be cut into smaller pieces, so that you could get some in every bite. I like this idea, but I also like the way I did it.
I didn’t remove the sausage casings, and I don’t really mind the result. But I can imagine most people wanting them removed. If you do, still try to keep the sausage in chunks, rather than scrambling it. Why? Because that’s how I’d like it. I suppose you can do what you want, though, if you’re not inviting me over. Anyway, if you’re going to remove the casings, you could just use bulk Italian sausage and separate it into chunks.
Kale, Kale, Fire and Snow…
I used curly kale for the soup I photographed for this post, but I’d use Tuscan kale.
Kale is a pain in the ass, but I do think it’s worth it in this soup. You have to divorce the leaves from the stems. You have to wash it because even though it might look clean, once you get your hands into it, you’ll inevitably find grit. What’s really a pain, though, is slicing the leaves into pieces. Even if you know what you’re doing, there’s a lot of kale to go through. You can’t rush this, though, or be lax about it, because you absolutely want it to be bitesize or smaller in the finished soup.
But what I love about the kale, though, is that it maintains some texture in the finished soup.
The Backstory
Look at me, abandoning my Instant Pot! This doesn’t feel like a set-it-and-forget-it kind of soup. I wanted the components cooked to varying degrees, and didn’t want to work out how to do that in a pressure cooker. There’s also something nice about smelling and tasting the food as you go.
The IP did sit up there, though, on the cupboard, looking down at me disapprovingly as I was cooking this soup. I eventually had to turn it around and make it face the wall.
Kale, Sausage, and Cannellini Soup
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, ⌘+C. References: Sheilds, John. “Cape Cod Portuguese Kale Soup.” The Best American Recipes, 2005-2006, ed. by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens. Houghton Mifflin (Boston) 2005, pp. 36-37. Helen Back Cafe, Love and Lemons. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #13 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.
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Hahahahahaha! Love that IP. I don’t own one, and I am fine with that. Love this soup.
Thanks, Mimi!
A soup fit for heading into winter…
That’s how it feels at the moment as the last remnants of summer linger
I hope you had a wonderful summer, Gary!
Looks good and on this damp, rainy day it sounds good.
Thanks, Judy!
We’ve got a super rainy and gloomy day today – prefer for this hearty and warming soup!
Oh, here too! I woke up to thunderstorms. I actually love morning thunderstorms. I’ve loved them since I was a kid.
All I can think is crusty bread and a salad would pair up nicely with kale and sausage soup. Yum.
Condolences to your instant pot sometimes you need the stove top for the experience (smile).
Oh, I think the bread and salad are a given. The IP and I aren’t over, but I agree, sometimes you need the stovetop experience.
Molto ricca e gustosa la tua zuppa, bravissimo!!!
Thank you!
I love that you abandoned your instapot. This way, I don’t need to figure out the stovetop version for myself. (Lazy.) My favorite part if the post (aside form the delicious soup) was this line: “Because that’s how I’d like it. I suppose you can do what you want, though, if you’re not inviting me over.” I agree. I like the bigger chunks of sausage rather than small. I think I would get rid of the casings unless I knew for shore what they were made of. But that is just me. (Picky.) So now you know… I am picky and lazy.
Have you been talking to my Instant Pot? I did not abandon her, no matter what she says! I just had a little fling with my old flame, the soup pot. And it meant nothing to me! Anyway, I would guess that you are probably “discerning” rather than picky, and from the incredible food you’re always making, you must be far from lazy!
I feel like the IP judged you in this situation, Jeff. But I’m personally ok with this because it led to this soup which sounds amazing. And for the record, I think the sausage is perfect as it is!
Yeah, she’ll probably leave me for the ice cream machine if I do it again.
This soup sounds like the perfect balance of flavors and textures, love that the sausage plays double duty as both a contrast and a “meat dumpling”! And I totally get the kale struggle (worth it, but man, those stems…). Your Instant Pot side-eye had me laughing, sometimes you just need the slow, hands-on cooking magic. Now I’m craving a bowl, casings and all! 🍲😄
Thanks, Raymund!
Hi Jeff, sorry about my absence but we have been in Spain for two months. This soup looks perfect for the weather we are currently having. At least it’s above zero Celsius so I won’t complain, yet! I like the size of your sausage bites, I would do them the same way. Plus I also love the casing left on, the texture is wonderful.
Oh! I thought maybe I was way out there on a limb with the casings. Good to know! And yes, it snowed yesterday! In April!