Kale White Bean and Sausage Soup

This Kale White Bean and Sausage Soup is one of my favorite soup recipes for a hearty dinner or easy entertaining. Pair it with my parmesan-encrusted grilled cheese sandwiches, and you’ll have one winner of a comfort food combination!

You can also make the soup base ahead of time and reheat it when ready to serve. At the last minute, add the sausage and kale and whip up the sandwiches. 

Why You’ll Love This Soup:

• Italian Sausage is a flavorful and inexpensive protein. But we often default to serving it as Sausage and Peppers.
• This white bean soup recipe is another great way to use up sausage you may have sitting in the fridge!
• In fact, I like to serve this meal as a self-serve soup and sandwich buffet.
• Place your Dutch oven on a large cutting board, pile the sandwiches on top, set out bowls and spoons, and let everyone dive in!

Can I Make this in a Slow Cooker?

Yes! Just pop the ingredients in the unit in the morning and simmer away on low. Moments before serving, sauté the sausage and add the kale. 

Step#1: Make the White Bean Soup Base

• To begin, you’ll add olive oil to a Dutch oven and sauté the white onion and celery until fragrant and translucent.
• Sautéing the vegetables first will give your soup much more flavor while sweetening the onions. 

Be Sure to Rinse The Beans

• You don’t want to pop them into your soup with all that liquid.
• It’s a storage solution that should be discarded and rinsed.
• This will remove the excess sodium and starchiness left in the liquid.
• It will also help remove any metallic taste canned beans can have.

Which Beans are White Beans?

White beans are a category of beans that includes varieties like Boston beans, navy beans, Great Northern beans, or cannellini beans. Any of these white beans will work with this soup recipe. 

Adding the Rosemary

• Then you’ll add the chicken broth and rosemary sprigs, this will infuse the broth with a wonderful rosemary flavor while it simmers.
• Just remember to remove the sprigs before blending.

Step#2: Blend the Soup

Blending the soup will create the most beautiful and creamy texture. This is the benefit of bean-based soups: they add so much creaminess without adding dairy. 

Make-Ahead Tip:

• At this stage, you can allow the soup to cool, place the lid on the Dutch oven, and store it in your refrigerator until ready to serve.
• Then reheat the soup just before serving, and then add the sausage and kale.
• I think it’s best to add the sausage and kale just before serving. That way, the sausage will remain crispy on the outside, and the kale will not be too wilted.

Thinning the Soup

Sometimes, soup in the refrigerator thickens. You can thin it to the desired consistency with chicken broth or water.

Step#3: Cook the Sausage

I like to use sweet Italian sausage for this recipe, but you could also use the hot Italian sausage for a white bean soup with a kick. 

Getting Nice Browning on The Sausage

• Sautéing the sausage in a non-stick pan creates better color and browning than a stainless steel.
• It will also make it easier to clean the pan! 

Using Up the Leftover Sausage

• Often, sausage comes in packages of 5-6 links, which is a bit too much for this soup.
• But not to worry—if you have any leftovers, you can freeze them and defrost them later in the week to make my Orecchiette Pasta, Sausage, and Baby Broccoli.
• This is another fantastic weeknight meal that comes together in a flash!

Step#4: Add the Kale

Strip the leaves of the stalk and give them a rough chop. The stalk or “spine” of the kale leaf is really fibrous and tough to eat, so you’ll want to remove it. 

It typically takes about 2 large leaves to get about 2 cups worth of kale.

Step#5: Prepare the Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

I really like using sourdough bread for grilled sandwiches because it is very heavy, which makes it hold up well if you are inclined to dip the sandwich in white bean soup.

Which Cheese is Best for a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?

• If you want to make an amazing grilled cheese sandwich, then make sure you have a few different cheese varieties represented.
• The perfect combination is to add Parmesan cheese to the outside of the sandwich and mild, gooey cheese on the inside.
• Mozzarella, fontina, or provolone cheese would all be good choices.

Sandwich Tips:

• Add a little more cheese than you think you need. Some of the cheese will slide off in the grilling process but that’s OK the results are well worth the effort!
• Grill sandwiches in a non-stick pan; this prevents the parmesan from sticking.
• Keep the sandwiches warm in a 250°F oven until ready to serve.

The Parmesan cheese creates a flavorful and crispy exterior with a fantastic crunch!

This white bean soup is a fantastic fall soup recipe for when you want to stay in and be cozy! It would make an excellent meal for a game night with friends or if you want to binge-watch your favorite series on Netflix!

 

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