Kale Potato And Sausage Soup With Cheese Toasts (25 Min)
Whip up a comforting hearty bowl of kale potato and sausage soup in about 25 minutes. Make it even better by nestling cheese toasts in the broth to soak up the smoky flavors and add texture.
The simple soup contains no cream or milk and offers several variations to suit your tastes.
What to Expect
This is not a rich creamy soup made with heavy cream like most similar soups you will find online. However, it is still super tasty and comforting, and the cheese toasts elevate the dish into something special. The big flavors come from the spicy or smoky sausage.
The bottom line is a quick and easy flavorful, nutritious, and hearty soup that can be served all year long and tastes even better the next day. Just 6 ingredients plus an optional seasoning or two.
Check out the variations to create your own delicious version.
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
Kale: Lacinato kale, also called Dinosaur kale or Tuscan kale, is mild and sweet which makes it great in a soup. The curly, more peppery kale will work fine too. Buy a large bunch or buy the kale leaves in a bag (no destemming!). You can also swap the kale with baby spinach or swiss chard.
Potatoes: I prefer Yukon gold or yellow potatoes because they have a creamy texture and hold their shape. Red potatoes are great too, and add a little color. Russet potatoes can become mushy if overcooked.
Sausage: This is a matter of personal preference. I buy cooked sausages to save a step. See the recipe notes if you prefer to cook the sausage yourself. If you don’t eat pork, you can buy many varieties of turkey sausage.
- bold and spicy: Andouille, Mexican Chorizo or Hot Italian Sausage
- smoky: Kielbasa sausage, Spanish Chorizo or smoked Andouille
- mild: Bratwurst (or even a hotdog!).
Broth: Any good chicken broth or vegetable broth will work. I use Better than Bouillon base with water and add a bit extra for a deeper flavor.
Cheese toasts: You will need a baguette or French bread and cheese. Provolone, white cheddar, Havarti, Muenster or stronger cheeses like Gruyère, Asiago, Pecorino or Parmesan are all good choices.
Variations and Substitutions
- Vegetarian version: use a vegetarian sausage (or sautéed mushrooms) and vegetable broth.
- Puréed potato version: Instead of potato chunks, you can purée the potato with the broth as you would in a slightly thicker potato soup. Instructions are in the recipe notes.
- Add vegetables: Sauté onions, mushrooms or thinly sliced carrots before adding the broth and potatoes.
- Seasoning variations: If your sausage has bold flavors, you don’t need a lot of extra seasoning. I sometimes add a bit of black pepper and sprinkle thyme on the cheese toasts. For more heat, add red pepper flakes.
- Garnish: Instead of cheese toasts, try homemade croutons, crusty bread, grated fresh Parmesan cheese, a squeeze of lemon juice or a little bit of apple cider vinegar.
Step-by-step instructions
Add grated cheese to slices of baguette.
Tips to step it up a notch
Try one or more of these options if you like:
1. Sauté onions before cooking the broth and potatoes to add flavor.
2. Sauté an uncased fresh sausage for extra richness.
3. Add 1/4 cup white wine after sauteeing veggies or sausage, then cook it off.
5. Add a can of rinsed white beans such as cannellini beans to boost protein, fiber and texture.
6. Add a Parmesan rind while cooking the soup for extra flavor.
Shortcuts
- Use thin-skinned yellow or Yukon gold potatoes – no need to peel them.
- Buy a package of fresh kale with the stems removed. Or substitute the kale with pre-washed baby spinach.
- Buy grated cheese (grating fresh cheese is better though!)
Make Ahead
This soup is delicious the next day as the flavors have time to meld. Note that the kale does turn a darker greenish brown and the potatoes get softer over time but the soup tastes the same. It is best to add the cheese toasts just before serving the next day or they will become overly soggy in the fridge (unless you like that). The soup will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days.
You can freeze the soup up to 3 months if you don’t mind the potatoes breaking down a bit. I am not a fan of freezing this soup.
What to serve with this recipe
As a soup-based meal, try serving the soup with a Caesar salad, fig salad or any other salad. A tropical fruit salad is another way to balance the bold flavors.
As a starter, it’s great with stuffed portobello mushrooms, vegetable strudel or a meatball marinara sub.
Recipe FAQs
Remove the tough stems from the kale before chopping. You can do this quickly by holding the stem with one hand and stripping the leaves away with the other.
You can blanch kale leaves in boiling salted water for 2 minutes then transfer it with a slotted spoon to an ice bath for 5 minutes to shock it. This will make it a vibrant green. But you will lose some of that vibrance after sitting in the soup broth for a while.
More clear broth soups
- homemade chicken soup with vegetables
- pastina soup with vegetables
- chicken meatball soup (wedding soup)
- vegetable wonton soup
- instant pot turkey soup
Or check out all our delicious soup recipes.
If you have leftover kale, try our angel hair pasta with squash and kale.
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Kale Potato And Sausage Soup With Cheese Toasts
Ingredients
- 6 cups kale leaves, finely chopped, Note 1, about 6 ounces (6 cups will make 4 cups finely chopped)
- 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, about 3-4 (or yellow or red potatoes)
- 5 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
- 8 ounces cooked sausage, Note 2
- optional: black pepper or red pepper flakes to taste
Cheese Toasts
- 1/2 baguette or firm crusty bread (I make 3 small slices per soup bowl)
- 2 ounces cheese, grated, Note 3
- optional: 1/2 tsp dried thyme or Italian seasoning
Instructions
- PREPARE INGREDIENTS: Strip kale off stems (or buy package of no-stem kale leaves). Rinse well. Chop fairly finely on cutting board. Dice potatoes into 1 inch/2.5 cm pieces (no need to peel). Slice cooked sausage into thin disks.
- COOK POTATOES IN BROTH: Place diced potatoes and broth in medium soup pot. Bring to boil, then lower to medium heat and cook potatoes, covered, until almost tender, about 6-8 minutes. Potatoes should easily pierce with a knife. Add kale and sausage. Cook another 5 minutes. Taste and add a pinch of pepper or red pepper flakes if you like.
- MAKE CHEESE TOASTS: While soup is cooking, heat oven or toaster oven to broil and place oven rack a few inches from the top heat source. Slice baguette into thin slices, about 1/3 inch (1cm). Grate cheese. Pile cheese on sliced bread, dividing evenly. Broil for 3-4 minutes until cheese is bubbly and bread is slightly browned.
- SERVE: Ladle soup into bowls. Nestle a few cheese toasts on top of soup. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
- Kale options: You can use Lacinato kale, also called Dinosaur kale or Tuscan kale (milder, sweeter) or curly kale (peppery, slightly bitter). Buy a large bunch or buy the destemmed kale leaves in a bag (shortcut). Sub: You can also swap the kale with baby spinach or swiss chard.
- Cooked sausage options:
- bold and spicy: Andouille, Mexican Chorizo or Hot Italian Sausage
- smoky: Kielbasa sausage, Spanish Chorizo or smoked Andouille
- mild: Bratwurst, sweet Italian sausage (or even a hotdog!).
- Feel free to use turkey sausage instead of pork sausage.
- Cheese options: Provolone, white cheddar, Havarti, Muenster or stronger cheese like Gruyère, Asiago, Pecorino or Parmesan are all good choices.Â
- Variations and substitutions
- Vegetarian version: use a vegetarian sausage (or sautéed mushrooms) and vegetable broth.
- Add protein and fiber by adding a can or rinsed white beans such as cannellini.Â
- Puréed potato version: Instead of potato chunks, you can purée the soft tender potatoes and broth with an immersion stick before adding the kale and sausage. This will make a thicker soup with a slightly creamy broth.Â
- To use fresh sausage: Remove casing, sauté sausage until no longer pink in a little bit of olive oil.Â
- Add more flavor: Before simmering potatoes and broth, sauté 1 cup diced onion until translucent (if cooking the sausage, you can do this at the same time). You can also add a Parmesan rind while cooking the broth with potatoes. Or a splash of wine (1/4 cup/59ml) after sautéing onions and/or sausage. Let it mostly cook off before adding the broth and potatoes.Â
- Garnish: Instead of cheese toasts, try homemade croutons, crusty bread, grated fresh Parmesan cheese, a squeeze of lemon juice, or a splash of apple cider vinegar.
- Make ahead
- This soup is delicious the next day as the flavors have time to meld. Note that the kale does turn a darker greenish brown and the potatoes get softer over time but the soup tastes the same. It is best to add the cheese toasts just before serving the next day or they will become overly soggy in the fridge (unless you like that).
- Leftover soup will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- You can freeze the soup up to 3 months if you don’t mind the potatoes breaking down a bit. I am not a fan of freezing this soup.
- Nutrient information is estimated using chorizo sausage, baguette, and gruyere cheese.
Really enjoyed this recipe, the cheese toasts were delicious.