Kale & Potato Soup with Meatless Sausages

Years ago, we enjoyed “zuppa toscana” soup at Olive Garden, and decided to make our own meatless version with plant-based sausage. This is such a delicious recipe that is easy to make, is packed with healthy kale, and is the perfect winter comfort soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 (or more) cloves minced garlic
• 6 cups vegetarian broth (we use Better than Bullion) 
• 1 package vegetarian Italian sausage, sliced and browned in a pan
• 4 large russet potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch pieces (I keep the skins on)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 bunch kale (a couple of handfuls) de-stemmed and torn or chopped into bite sized pieces (although sometimes I use the entire whole bunch)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Optional – Red pepper flakes to taste

* Note – you could make this vegan by leaving out the heavy cream, or using a vegan substitute.

Directions:

Soak the kale and potatoes, to help remove any residue, sand, etc. These two veggies are notorious for sand, so I soak and then spray and scrub as much as possible

I keep the skins on the potatoes for this recipe, so I recommend looking for organic potatoes. Potatoes are generally in the “dirty dozen” of produce, so I choose organic for this one when possible.

Mince the garlic.

Chop and saute the onions until they begin to turn translucent.

Add in the garlic to the onions as the onions are almost done. You can go heavy on the garlic if you would like!

Slice and brown the meatless sausages in a separate pan.

This is one of our favorite vegetarian sausages, which you can find at Trader Joes.

Prepare your broth.  We usually use vegetarian Better Than Boullion.

Start cooking the diced potatoes in your broth.  I try to make sure the potatoes don’t get overcooked, as I prefer that they have some texture and hold up.

When the potatoes are just about done, add in the onions, garlic, sausages, and kale, and cook for a few more minutes.

Add in salt and pepper to taste. You can also add red pepper flakes if desired.