Description
Hearty Italian sausage soup delivers robust flavors from Tuscany’s countryside, blending rustic ingredients with comfort. Spicy sausage, tender vegetables, and aromatic herbs create a satisfying meal you’ll savor with crusty bread and warm memories.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound (450 grams) Italian sausage (mild or spicy, casings removed)
- 6 cups chicken or beef broth
- 1 can (15 oz or 425 grams) white beans or chickpeas (drained and rinsed, optional for protein boost)
- 2 cups fresh spinach or kale (chopped)
- 1 can (14.5 oz or 411 grams) diced tomatoes (with juice)
- 1 small onion (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 carrots (sliced)
- 2 celery stalks (chopped)
- 1 zucchini (diced, optional for extra veggies)
- 1 tbsp olive oil (if needed)
- 1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional, for a kick)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup small pasta (ditalini, orzo, or small shells) (optional)
- Grated Parmesan cheese (optional but recommended)
- Fresh parsley or basil (chopped, for garnish)
- Crusty Italian bread (for dipping, optional but delicious!)
Instructions
- Sausage Preparation: Deeply brown Italian sausage in a large pot, methodically crumbling meat while developing rich caramelization. Strategically drain excess fat, maintaining a thin layer for robust flavor enhancement.
- Vegetable Infusion: Incorporate aromatic vegetables into sausage foundation, gently sautéing onions, carrots, and celery until translucent. Rapidly introduce garlic and dried herbs, allowing their intense essences to bloom and permeate the mixture.
- Liquid Transformation: Pour diced tomatoes and hearty broth into the pot, integrating beans and seasoning with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and allow ingredients to meld through a gentle, deliberate simmer that harmonizes complex flavor profiles.
- Texture Development: Add pasta and zucchini, carefully monitoring cooking process to achieve ideal tenderness. Delicately fold leafy greens into the simmering soup, watching them gracefully wilt and contribute vibrant nutritional elements.
- Final Presentation: Discard bay leaf and ladle steaming soup into warm bowls. Garnish generously with freshly grated Parmesan and aromatic herbs. Serve alongside crusty Italian bread for a complete, soul-warming dining experience.
Notes
- Select Quality Sausage: Choose fresh, high-quality Italian sausage with balanced fat content for deeper, richer flavor profile.
- Control Liquid Consistency: Adjust broth quantity during simmering to achieve desired soup thickness, preventing overly watery or dense textures.
- Manage Pasta Cooking: Add pasta late in cooking process to prevent overcooking and maintain ideal al dente texture, absorbing soup’s robust flavors without becoming mushy.
- Customize Dietary Needs: Easily adapt recipe by substituting gluten-free pasta, using plant-based sausage alternatives, or removing meat for vegetarian version while preserving essential flavor foundations.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dinner, Lunch, Appetizer
- Method: Simmering
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 7
- Calories: 210
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 800 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 12 g
- Cholesterol: 40 mg