Hearty & Healthy: The Ultimate One-Pot Potato Kale Sausage Soup (Easy & Delicious!)
Welcome back to Kitchen Gone Rogue, where we believe healthy eating should never sacrifice an ounce of flavor! Today, we’re revisiting one of our all-time favorites, a recipe that embodies everything we stand for: our incredibly flavorful, easy, and nutritious **Potato Kale Sausage Soup**. This isn’t just a meal; it’s a comforting hug in a bowl, perfect for any day of the week, designed to soothe and satisfy.
This updated version of an original Kitchen Gone Rogue staple is designed to be accessible to everyone. It’s naturally dairy-free, and with a simple swap for a gluten-free sausage, it transforms into a completely gluten-free delight. We’re talking about a versatile soup that caters to various dietary preferences without compromising on taste or quality. Whether you’re a seasoned home chef or just starting your culinary journey, this soup promises a delicious and rewarding experience.
What makes this **Potato Kale Sausage Soup** so special? Well, I have at least five compelling reasons why it consistently ranks as a top favorite in my kitchen and, I’m sure, will soon in yours too:
- Effortless & Quick: It’s a truly simple recipe that won’t tie you down in the kitchen for hours. Perfect for busy weeknights when you need a wholesome meal on the table fast.
- Seriously Soothing & Scrumptious: The rich, savory broth combined with tender potatoes, earthy kale, and flavorful sausage creates an irresistible taste and deeply comforting texture that warms you from the inside out.
- Elevated with Poached Eggs: A perfectly poached egg takes this soup from great to absolutely divine. The runny yolk adds a luxurious creaminess and extra protein that is simply unmatched. (If you’re vegan, rest assured, the soup is fantastic even without the eggs!)
- Budget-Friendly: Like many hearty soups, this recipe is remarkably economical to prepare, using simple, wholesome ingredients that are readily available. It’s a smart choice for feeding the family without breaking the bank.
- Genuinely Good for You: This isn’t just ‘diet food.’ This soup is packed with essential nutrients, making it a meal you can feel genuinely good about eating, without feeling like you’re missing out on flavor or satisfaction.
When I say ‘good for you,’ I mean genuinely delicious and nourishing. There’s no compromise here. If a dish isn’t both nutritious and incredibly tasty, it simply doesn’t make it onto the Kitchen Gone Rogue blog. We believe that healthy food should excite your palate, not require you to hold your nose to swallow it down. This **Potato Kale Sausage Soup** delivers on both fronts, making it a guilt-free pleasure you’ll crave again and again.
Kale: A Nutritional Powerhouse & Perfect Soup Ingredient
Let’s delve into one of the star ingredients of this soup: kale. Kale, often hailed as a superfood, has a fascinating reputation. Some people are fervent admirers, while others tend to give it a wide berth. My own journey with kale began with a bit of skepticism. Growing up, it was often relegated to decorative garnishes on salad bars, rather than taking center stage as a main ingredient. Despite embracing a healthy lifestyle throughout my adult years, it took me a considerable amount of time – I’ll admit, a long while – to truly warm up to the idea of incorporating kale into my cooking. But once I did, there was no turning back. I was instantly smitten.
For this particular **Potato Kale Sausage Soup**, I find that cooked kale truly shines. While raw kale can be quite robust, cooking it softens its texture and mellows its slightly bitter notes, transforming it into a tender, flavorful addition to the broth. There are several varieties of kale, such as curly kale (the most common), Lacinato (also known as dinosaur kale for its bumpy texture), and Red Russian kale. Any of these will work beautifully in this soup, each lending a slightly different character to the dish. I personally prefer to use only the leafy parts of the kale, as the stems can be a bit fibrous and chewy, especially if not cooked long enough. However, if you enjoy the stems, feel free to chop them finely and add them to the soup as well – don’t let my preference stop you from experimenting! Just ensure they are chopped small enough to become tender during the cooking process.
Knowing the immense health benefits that kale offers makes every spoonful of this soup feel like a victory. This leafy green powerhouse is bursting with vitamins K, A, and C, as well as essential minerals like manganese, calcium, and potent antioxidants. It’s a fantastic way to boost your nutrient intake effortlessly, supporting bone health, vision, and immune function. Pair that with the comforting warmth of a rich, savory broth, and you’ve got a meal that feels like a nourishing hug for your insides. So, yes – high-fives and hugs all around for this incredible **Potato Kale Sausage Soup**! It’s a testament to how truly delicious and satisfying healthy eating can be. For those curious about the specifics of kale’s nutritional profile, a quick search for its ‘health benefits’ will provide a wealth of insightful information, reinforcing why it’s such a valuable addition to your diet. Incorporating more greens like kale into your diet is a simple yet effective step towards better health, and this soup makes it incredibly enjoyable.
Potato Kale Sausage Soup – Quick, Easy, and Customizable
One of the best features of this **Quick and Easy Potato Kale Sausage Soup** is its versatility, especially when it comes to meal prep. On days when I know the week ahead will be particularly hectic, I often double or even triple this recipe. This allows us to enjoy delicious leftovers for a few days, or I can portion and freeze some of the soup for an even faster meal solution later on. Having a homemade, healthy option ready to go in the freezer is an absolute lifesaver! If you’re planning to freeze, I recommend freezing the soup without the poached eggs, adding them freshly when you reheat a serving.
A crucial tip regarding the poached eggs: only poach as many eggs as you plan to eat immediately. Poached eggs are best enjoyed fresh, with their runny yolks adding that perfect burst of flavor and texture to each spoonful. They don’t freeze or refrigerate well once poached, as their delicate structure and creamy yolk will change. So, save the egg poaching for right before you’re ready to serve and savor each bowl.
For our vegan friends, this soup is easily adaptable. Simply choose your favorite vegan sausage and omit the poached eggs. Rest assured, the soup remains incredibly flavorful and satisfying even without them. The combination of tender vegetables, rich broth, and savory vegan sausage still delivers a truly delicious experience, making it a hearty plant-based meal.
When you embark on making this soup for the first time, I recommend sticking to the base recipe as provided below, unless you’re explicitly cooking for a large gathering. The reason? You’ll be pleasantly surprised by just how quickly and effortlessly this delightful meal comes together. It’s genuinely a testament to simple, wholesome cooking that yields impressive results.
Another fantastic time-saving hint that makes this recipe even easier: opt for a sausage that doesn’t have a casing. Many sausages, especially some chicken or turkey varieties, come without casings, saving you the extra step of having to peel them off. If your chosen sausage does have a casing, simply take a moment to remove it before cooking. This small step can make the sautéing process much smoother and faster. From savory organic chicken sausage to spicy chorizo, or even a robust plant-based option, the choice of sausage allows for endless customization. The one pictured below, by Bilinski’s, is an organic, nitrate-free, gluten-free chicken bell pepper sausage that adds wonderful flavor.
The beauty of **Potato Kale Sausage Soup** lies in its simplicity and adaptability. You can adjust the ingredients based on what you have on hand or your personal preferences. For potatoes, varieties like Yukon Gold or Red Bliss work wonderfully as they hold their shape well, but even a Russet potato, chopped into small pieces, will be delicious. Don’t be afraid to adjust the amount of potatoes or kale to your liking. If you love a thicker, heartier soup, add an extra potato. If you’re a kale enthusiast, a bit more won’t hurt! This recipe is a guideline, designed to inspire your culinary creativity and ensure a perfect bowl of comfort every time.
We absolutely love hearing from you! If you have any questions or comments about this **Potato Kale Sausage Soup**, please don’t hesitate to leave them below. Your feedback and experiences are incredibly valuable to us. And if you make this recipe, we’d be thrilled to know about it! You can easily share your culinary creation by leaving a comment with your thoughts or tagging @KitchenGoneRogue in your social media posts. Don’t forget to pin this recipe to your favorite boards on Pinterest or save it to your recipe collection for later inspiration!
Craving more delicious recipes featuring kale? You’ll definitely want to try our Chorizo Sweet Potato Kale Hash. It’s a fantastic paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free dish that can easily be made vegan – another one of my absolute favorites from Kitchen Gone Rogue, perfect for breakfast, brunch, or a light dinner!
Potato Kale Sausage Soup
Kelly Kirkendoll
Pin Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb chicken sausage (or sausage of your choice, based on diet, allergies or intolerances; like Bilinski’s) peel off casing (if there is one); slice it up and then chop each piece half
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 potato peeled and chopped – use 2 if potatoes or small or you want more potato
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 cups gluten-free organic chick broth or vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 2 1/2 cups fresh chopped kale
- salt and pepper to taste note: the sausage gives the soup a lot of flavor; taste before you add any salt
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Saute the sliced/chopped sausage, onion and garlic in a pot (add 1 tsp olive oil if it’s a lean sausage). If you’re using a pre-cooked sausage, saute the onions and garlic in 1-2 tsp olive oil for a few minutes alone and then add the sausage.
- Add chicken broth and water.
- Add the chopped potatoes to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer.
- Chop the kale while the potatoes cook (if you haven’t already). To chop the kale, remove the middle stem by peeling off the kale on either side of it; discard the stem and chop the kale leaves.
- Add another 1/2 cup+ of water if you prefer more broth.
- Cover and let cook for 8-10 minutes, until potatoes are tender (but not mushy) and kale is wilted.
- Taste and season to your taste with salt and pepper. Depending on the sausage you use (which can add a lot of flavor to this dish), you may not need much salt and/or pepper.
- When you’re ready to eat, crack 1-2 eggs into a bowl first; then gently slide into the soup. Ladle soup broth gently on top of the eggs.
- Place the lid back on the pot and simmer for 4-5 minutes (until the whites are cooked, but the yolk is still soft).
- Right before you eat, break the yolk in your bowl … Enjoy!