Italian Sausage Soup

Crumbled sausage mixes with beans, veggies, & pasta to make my Italian Sausage Soup, a nod to our favorite Olive Garden appetizer! Load up on crusty bread!

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Italian

Keyword italian sausage recipes, Italian soup recipes

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 1 35

Servings -18 people

Calories 480kcal

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds Italian sausage mild
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
6 carrots chopped
6 large garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (28-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
10-12 cups chicken stock
4 cups tomato juice
parmesan rind or chunk
1 (15-ounce) canned kidney beans rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) canned garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) canned cannellini beans rinsed and drained
2 zucchini, diced
1 cup small pasta (ditalini, mini bows or elbow)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

Topping:

1 cup parmesan, shaved
fresh Basil, thinly sliced

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Remove casing from sausage. In an extra-large soup pot, brown the sausage (2 1/2 pounds), breaking it up into medium pieces, as it cooks. Cook until there is no longer any pink in the sausage. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
Add olive oil (2 tablespoons) to the pan then add onion (1), celery (2 stalks), and carrots (6). Cook for about 10-12 minutes or until the veggies are soft. Add garlic (6) and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add salt (1 teaspoon), pepper (1/4 teaspoon), oregano (2 teaspoons), bay leaves (4), and sugar (1 teaspoon). Add tomatoes with their liquid (1 can), chicken stock (10-12 cups), tomato juice (4 cups), Parmesan rind, kidney beans (1 can), garbanzo beans (1 can), cannellini beans (1 can), and cooked sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for 45-60 minutes.
Add zucchini (2) and pasta (1 cup) and cook until zucchini is tender and pasta is firm to the bite. Add more stock if the soup has become too thick. Remove bay leaves. Stir in the basil (1/4 cup). Taste for seasoning.
Top individual soup bowls with shaved Parmesan and some fresh basil and serve.

Notes

Pasta – I found farfalline at my local Italian grocery store. If you can find it, small elbows are a great substitute.
Parmesan Rind – Rinds are preferable to the body of the cheese due to the delectable ripening and flavor that are concentrated in them. Rinds also remain firm through the cooking process, meaning you can easily remove them from the broth before serving.
- You can also break them up into smaller bits for your diners to enjoy! My family loves when they get these little bits of delicious flavor bombs, so I always leave them in the soup, cut up.
- Most rinds (Parmesan included) are completely safe to eat; it’s just a matter of preference whether to fish them out or consume them. You’ll find that this old Italian secret does wonders for the complexity of your soup’s flavor profile.
De-casing Sausage – Some recipes use sliced sausage instead of removing the skin, but I prefer the crumbled texture and enhanced flavor of the fully browned meat. Just make a thin cut down the length of the sausage, and peel the skin back in one movement.
Beans – An unsung hero of this soup is the beans! I use three types: kidney, garbanzo, and cannellini, to get a fully rounded experience as you might find in pasta Fagioli soup. Kidney brings a distinct flavor, garbanzo a chewy texture, and cannellini a creamy finish. But feel free to experiment with your own favorite bean types!
Thinning the Soup – As with any soup that has pasta in it, this soup will thicken as it sits. You likely will need to thin it with either chicken broth or water.
Make it creamy – For a creamier take on this classic, supplement your broth with 2-3 cups of heavy cream. Add this when you add the pasta and zucchini. After the cream is added, make sure to moderate the heat so that the soup doesn’t boil, it only simmers.
Add heat – Some of you like your dishes with a little more kick. I suggest you use hot Italian sausage instead of the mild one listed here. You can also heat up the soup by adding a teaspoon (or more as you like) of red pepper flakes when you sauté the aromatics (onion and other veggies).
Add spinach – For an even more veggie-rich soup, you can add fresh or frozen spinach in the last stage of cooking, along with the zucchini. I recommend using about 2 cups of fresh or 10 ounces frozen.

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