The combination of slightly sweet and spicy Italian sausage with mild white beans and spinach in a rich garlic-parmesan stock creates an incredibly delicious and satisfying soup. Serve with fresh baked crusty sourdough or your favorite GF rolls/biscuits with heaps of cultured butter. So good!
Italian Sausage & White Bean Soup (GF)
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 8-10oz. sweet Italian sausage (we like sweet Italian chicken or turkey sausage)
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup diced organic celery
- 4 cups homemade chicken stock
- 3 cups of soaked & cooked Great Northern white beans (equivalent to two 15oz. cans, rinsed)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp dried Italian seasoning
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cups of tightly packed baby spinach leaves, stems
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup shaved Parmesan, plus 1 piece of rind (optional)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add 1/3 cup of the beans and mash with a fork to form a paste; set aside. (Bean paste is used to create a heartier stock.)
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and the sausage links. Cook covered, turning occasionally, until sausage links are browned and cooked through (about 10 minutes). Turn off heat; remove sausage links from stockpot and transfer to a plate to cool.
- Reheat stockpot over medium heat, add the remaining olive oil, garlic, onion and celery. Sauté until veggies are tender (about 4-5 minutes). Meanwhile, cut sausage links in half and then slice about 1/2-inch thick. Add the sausage pieces (and any juices on the plate) back to the stockpot, along with the bean paste, two cups of water, the chicken stock, beans, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and a two-inch piece of Parmesan rind (if you don't have, add 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan). Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 8-10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Using tongs, remove the Parmesan rind. Stir in the spinach and lemon juice. Cover to allow spinach to wilt a few minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and top with shaved Parmesan.
Made this with frozen spinach and ground pork sausage from a local farm. I just made sure to keep it in bite-size chunks when i fried it up. Mmm…turned out perfect!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Hope! It’s one of my personal favorites! 🙂
I made this soup again last night…MMMMMMMM…it is truly one of my favorites. It is so freakin’ good!!! I accidentally bought pinto beans instead of white and didn’t realize it until I opened the can. OOPS! Oh well…it tasted good anyway. This is a fantastic recipe and is one of my favorite soups!!! I’ve passed it along to so many other people too!
So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
This is a awesome recipe. My boys (who do not think soup is a meal) tried it and really liked it! Thanks.
Thanks, Cindi, for taking the time to leave a kind note. So funny, because my hubby feels the same way about soup and really likes this one too because of the big chunks of sausage. Happy New Year! 🙂
My husband for some is turned off by homemade chicken broth, but will eat it creamy. So I made this soup and added a rouge. I also added cauliflowerand zuchini just because my kids eat their veggies so much better in soup:) it was a huge hit! We ate it with sourdough bread, yum! I can’t say enough great things about your site it truly is a ministry to me when I’m at a loss and find myself making the same nourishing recipes I hop on here for something new! Thank you!
Thank you so much, Sarah! Wow, what great ideas – the more veggies the better and it’s so funny because my husband is EXACTLY the same way about chicken broth (although he’ll eat it if there’s meat in it), so I will definitely have to try your ideas! Thanks so much for sharing! Lots of blessings, Kelly 🙂
Love this recipe! I made it with kale because we didn’t have any spinach and it turned out great. It’s hard to believe that it comes together so quickly and tastes as amazing as it does. It’s a perfect week-night meal.
Thanks so much, Jenny! I couldn’t agree more. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a kind note! Blessings to you, Kelly 🙂
Sorry for all the questions but feeling very inspired by your website. I have a collection of dried beans I’ve gathered over time and never used them all. How long can they be kept for and still expected to cook up okay?
Hi, Sonja. No worries. I think this site may be helpful to you: http://www.usdrybeans.com/recipes/recipe-facts/ Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Hi Kelly, I have all the ingredients ready to make this tomorrow, except for the “Italian seasoning”. I have lots of dried seasoning, however. Assuming oregano is one of the spices, which others would you suggest? Thanks!
Hi, Gail. You can certainly make your own homemade Italian seasoning. Here’s one recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/italian-seasoning-82770 But even if you don’t have all these ingredients, yes, primarily you’ll want to add some oregano, thyme and garlic powder. If you’ve got dried basil and some of the others to make your own Italian seasoning, that’s even better, but don’t worry too much about it since if you’re using Italian sweet sausage, it will have a lot of flavor. Hope this helps! Enjoy! 🙂 Kelly
Great response! Thanks, Kelly.
My pleasure to help! 🙂
Hi, was going to try to make this tomorrow for my daughter who just had a new baby and needs some nutritious meals cooked for her family – note that 10oz is about 280 gms – from an on-line conversion formula – that doesn’t sound like a lot of sausages – is this dish light on meat? And what do you mean by sausage links – does that mean keep the sausages linked and not cut initially then cut later? Maybe an Aussie mis-understanding – hoping you can help,
Sonja
Hi, Sonja. I use Sweet Italian Sausage Links that are available here in the US and slice them into rounds. But you could substitute with ground italian sausage or whatever sausage links are available to you. Feel free to include as little or much sausage as you think will work, but keep in mind, the spicer the sausage, the better to use less. Hope this helps! I love having Aussie friends! 🙂
Oh my gosh. This is one of the best soups that I have ever made. I followed the recipe except I used plain old pork sausage and didn’t add any water to the broth. The broth was so rich and flavorful! This is definitely going into the regular rotation, and I will definitely be following your blog from now on!
Welcome to The Nourishing Home, Katherine. So glad you enjoyed this soup. It’s one of our favorites as well. Thank you for taking the time to leave a kind note. I’m so happy to hear you’ll be sticking around with us! 🙂
I’m a few years late to this party but I came across your soup recipe after looking for a soup to use my Italian sausage and beans for dinner tomorrow. I loved the sound of your recipe (funny to say it that way but every cook gets it) I could tell by reading it that we would like it. I just whipped it up and it’s resting overnight in my husband’s “beer” fridge in the garage. To me soup is always better the 2nd day! I (of course) taste tested it before I put it up for it’s overnight rest. YUM! I will add the spinach to the rest tomorrow as I just tossed a handful into my test bowl. Really great recipe! I love using my leftover rind parts in soup too.
Hi, Trish! Thanks for your kind note! I couldn’t agree more that soup always tastes better the next day! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Blessings, Kelly 🙂