We love this easy sausage potato soup recipe with Italian sausage, potatoes, garlic, and kale. If you’ve ever had Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana soup, this potato and sausage soup is similar (although I’d wager it’s better). We’ve been making a version of it for years.
⭐️ Try this extra easy soup with chicken sausage and kale.
Why we love this soup with sausage and potatoes
Our sausage and potato soup is a dream to make on busy nights. Thanks to flavorful sausage, you can make this soup in three easy steps and a short list of ingredients. This simple 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
We highly recommend using Yukon Gold potatoes for soup. There’s no need to peel them, and when cooked, they are buttery and almost melt in your mouth.
We use Yukon Gold potatoes to make mashed potatoes, potato salad, and this creamy soup, too. If you cannot find them, baby red or white potatoes are great substitutes.
You can use sweet Italian sausage or hot (spicy) Italian sausage. We use sweet Italian sausage and then adjust the soup spice level with crushed red pepper flakes.
For the most flavor, use a good quality chicken stock from the store or use homemade. When reaching for store-bought broth, we go for low-sodium. We also look for a store-bought broth that’s darker in color (usually means more flavor) and since it usually has more of a backbone, we like to buy boxed bone broth (we use homemade bone broth sometimes, too).
This sausage and potato soup is brothy, but we love adding a splash of milk or cream before serving. We prefer to use cream when making soups, but if milk is all you have, read through our tips on using milk to prevent curdling.
⭐️ If you’re dairy-free, leave the cream/milk out. The soup will still taste great.
For color and texture, we stir in chopped kale towards to end of cooking. To prepare kale, strip the leaves from the stalks (the stalks are too tough for this soup). Then chop or tear into bite-size pieces. Baby kale leaves work, too and don’t require any chopping.
⭐️ Substitute the kale for spinach, Swiss chard, or other hearty greens.
Recipe overview. How to make sausage and potato soup in 3 easy steps
- Brown the sausage, add the onions, and cook until soft.
- Stir spices, broth, and potatoes. Simmer until tender.
- Stir in the kale and parmesan cheese, then serve!
More easy soup recipes
Easy Sausage Potato Soup
-
PREP
-
COOK
-
TOTAL
You will love this easy sausage and potato soup recipe with Italian sausage, potatoes, garlic, and kale. The soup is comforting and ultra-flavorful.
For the best potato soup, use Yukon Gold potatoes. They have thin skins, so it is not necessary to peel them. They also become buttery and soft when cooked. The red pepper flakes add heat to the soup. You may want to eliminate the red pepper flakes if you use hot (spicy) Italian sausage to make the soup.
Makes about 8 cups of soup or 4 to 6 servings
You Will Need
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound fresh Italian sausage links, casings removed
2 cups chopped onion, 1 medium onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic, 3 cloves
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, depending on spice preference
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
1 ½ pounds potatoes, cubed, 2 to 3 medium
5 cups chicken stock or broth, see our chicken stock recipe
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup heavy cream or use half and half
4 cups chopped kale leaves with ribs removed or use baby kale
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, optional (2 ounces)
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 begin to soften; 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Cook the garlic and spices around the pan while stirring for about 1 minute.
3Add the bay leaf, thyme, and potatoes. Pour in the stock. Increase 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 cooked through, 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.
4Uncover the soup and remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Stir 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.
5Reduce 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
- Cream is best, but if milk is all you have, here are our tips for using milk in soup while preventing it from curdling: Use warm milk and don’t boil the soup. Before adding the milk, warm it slightly in the microwave or on the stove. Adding the milk warm prevents it from curdling when hitting the hot pan. It’s also important to not let the soup boil aggressively. You want it to cook at a low simmer, which also prevents the milk from curdling.
- For a creamier and thicker soup, grab a potato masher and just before adding the kale, mash some of the potatoes in the pot.
- 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.
- For a lightened up version, replace the pork sausage with chicken or turkey sausage and substitute the cream/milk for additional stock.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1 cup of soup
/
Calories
268
/
Total Fat
11.5g
/
Saturated Fat
3.9g
/
Cholesterol
33.9mg
/
Sodium
639.4mg
/
Carbohydrate
26.2g
/
Dietary Fiber
2.9g
/
Sugars
9g
/
Protein
15.2g
