Sausage, Kale, and White Bean Soup

I am generously giving this recipe 3 stars. I had to sub kielbasa, but I can't imagine the recommended sausage could really boost the flavor so significantly improve the flavor of this soup to the 5 stars that the others have suggested. After prepping the soup as the recipe stated I realized I couldn't serve it to my family "as is" (BLAND. BORING), so I scrambled to make adjustments last minute. Here's the 5 star revised version: I added a bay leaf and a 3 inch piece of the rind from some parmigiano-reggiano cheese (I saw this in another recipe -- it's awesome!) to the simmering soup. I also added 1/2 tsp. white pepper, 2 tsp. salt, and a couple good shakes of garlic powder. (In the future I would use fresh garlic sauteed with the shallots.) I don't see why in the original recipe the kale was blanched before the rest and feel like many of the beneficial nutrients were washed right down the drain. It seems to simply be a time-wasting extra step. If I make this again I will likely cook the kale right in the soup pot...not worrying about the green color that might result. I simmered the soup with these additions for about 45 minutes which allowed the soup to thicken up perfectly. Finally, to each serving I gave the option of a splash of cream...which I would HIGHLY recommend. There's the 5 stars I was hoping for. :)

I loved this recipe. It was quite easy to make and was very tasty. I don't own a pressure cooker but used the package directions for the white beans and it turned out perfect. Thanks!!

Sooooooo yummy! Linguica is hard to come by in the South, so I used turkey kielbasa instead (Trader J's). I used canned beans (with liquid) and added more chicken broth (3 cans).

I was looking for a recipe to use up my kale, and this one was perfect. I used a mixed bag of beans and followed its package cooking directions (bring to a boil and simmer beans with the meat for 2hours and 30 mins) because I do not have a pressure cooker. Used a regular med onion, 1/2 pound smoked sausage and half of a bunch of Kale, and left out the hot sauce. This dish was amazing with very earthy flavors even my 6 year old loved it (when given goldfish crackers to eat with it :P).

Amazingly easy and delicious! My husband and I love this recipe, and have made it more than once... Tonight, however, my husband suggested that we try slicing/ dicing some radish into it. Before letting the soup simmer the final 20 minutes (15, then 4 with kale), we tossed in radishes cut into assorted sizes. The thinner slices became softer and translucent, while the diced chunks remained crispy. It added a wonderful flavor and texture variation to an already-wonderful soup.

Instead of linguica, I used chourico (spicy Portuguese sausage) which gives the soup the added kick and enhances the flavor without adding hot sauce. You will need to remove the casing before slicing the chourico.

This was outstanding! A truly Portuguese dish. I added one sliced zucchini and a can of diced roasted garlic tomatoes, also used one can of black beans and one can of Cannellini beans instead. I will try to make this every week. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!The kale really does the trick.

For speed and ease of what was on hand...I used canned beans, both white and black, beef broth and hot and spicy turkey italian sausage. The soup was very good and very filling. A do over for sure.---------------------- Revisited: Made this soup again...as suggested I did precook the Kale, but I didn't cool it as I was making the soup and allowing it to cook longer then stated. Again I used Spicy Turkey Italian Sausage. I took it out of the casings and broke it into small pieces as it was cooking. as a matter of preference I placed the cooked sausage on paper towel to absorb whatever grease there was (Very little tho) I then sauteed the shallots in the same pan I did the meat in. As the directions said, I added a small amount of chicken broth to get the lil bits off the bottom of the pan. I then added the meat, shallots, kale and about 6 cups of chicken broth with 2 cans of Great Northern Beans (drained one and drained and rinsed one) in a 4 quart kettle. My soup cooked about 4 hours and was very tasty again. With the spicy sausage I needed very little in the way of pepper or salt (I did however add some salt to the Kale as it cooked)

Simple and great recipe! I didn't have time to soak beans so I used a can of white bean and poured the liquid from the can into the soup. This is a keeper.

I couldn't find the linguica sausage in my area so I just used beef smoked sausage and some extra hot sauce. Simple but very good and packed full of flavor. I grew up on bean soups and this one brought back great memories. Thank you for sharing!

I had white beans in my freezer and wanted the space and I settled on using them in soup. They were already cooked so I just took the recipe from there. My only change was to use fresh beet greens for the kale. I had just brought them from the Farmers MArket and hated to waste them. This was hearty, soothing and very tasty and made a quick dinner. Thanks Always!

What a "wonderful" and healthy dish!! I made this with polish sausage as suggested by other reviewers and my family just loved it. My husband requested that I make this at least once a week. The only thing I would change is to add more beans since we are bean lovers. Great recipe and thank you for posting it.

Yummy! This may be the best way I have ever prepared kale. I used one 15 oz. can of navy beans and the liquid instead of the dry beans and it turned out just fine. I had a little difficulty slicing raw sausage, but I don't care - it tastes awesome!

Liked the base recipe, but as written is a bit bland (so I add garlic) and pre-cooking the kale seems unnecessary. Couln't find linguica sausage..so I used Italian and crumbled it. I also used a parmesean rind when cooking the beans (advice from another review..good idea!) and sprinkle with parmesean when done. Use French bread for dipping and eat up..it's really a pretty healthy soup (I cut the sausage to ~12 onces). Thanks for sharing!

I found it just okay. I much prefer the Zuppa Toscana on this site.

This soup has great flavor! I didn't have sausage links so I used ground italian sausage and used the suggested hot sauce. I don't have a pressure cooker either so I used the fast boil method written on the bean bag. I didn't reserve the bean water and just used the chicken broth. I can't wait to make it again.

This was a very tasty and nutritious soup. I used kielbasa instead of linguica; and instead of cooking the kale separately, I copied a similar kale-soup recipe and simmered it for 25 mins. in the soup, adding chicken broth as needed until I had the consistency I wanted (I used less than 4 cups broth). Very delicious and I will definitely make this one again!

Delicious. I didn't have a full cup of shallots so I filled in with yellow onion and leek. It turned out great.

This was a great starter recipe! I put carrots, celery, garlic and onion in the food processor and sweated them in the dutch oven with EVOO and 2 bay leaves. Then I followed the recipe but I did use canned beans instead of dry. I simmered my soup on the stove for about 4 hours, it turned out great!! I served with homeade biscuts and parmesan cheese on top of the soup.

This soup is wonderful! I don't like spicy food so I omitted the hot sauce and used smoked turkey sausage in place of the linquica. I can't wait to eat leftovers for lunch!

I've made this before as written and it was a bit ho hum. While it is a good basis for a better soup. I just chopped my kale and added it in to simmer with the rest. I also used 3 cans ( drained ) of white beans. I added 2 T. of garlic paste, 1 T. of Marjoram and 1 T. of rosemary along with salt and pepper. I used Italian sausages in casings, cut into chunks. This was the easiest for us to find and works quite well in the soup. A good hearty cold and rainy day soup.. make adjustments to suit your tastes.

so very good. used turkey kielbasa and just threw the kale in with everything else instead of precooking it separately. I took other's advice and sauteed the sausage with garlic and onions- I should have browned the sausage before adding the onions and garlic though. All in all, found this really easy and delicious. Loved that I could make it more healthy and will absolutely be making this again. Oh- added some soy, Worcestershire and hot sauce for flavor.

I found this recipe on another website and checked here because I trust the readers here to be both helpful and honest. My recipe includes a 10 or 14oz can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes with juice and adding those certainly gave it some zip. I sauteed a chopped onion with the sausage and then added chopped garlic as well as a cut up zuccini and some freeze dried shallots. Two cans of drained, rinsed canellini beans and two cans of chicken stock gave us a very tasty meal. I hadn't thought of that cheese rind tucked away in the freezer so thanks for that tip - I'll be using that the next time.

I used white beans and spicy italian sausage browned without the casing and spinach. In the bottom of the bowl I added parmasian cheese and garlic croutons.It was excellent!! I was asked to make it again from all who had it

The soup is really good but most of these directions are really unnecessary. I bought the dry beans not knowing I had to let them sit in water for 8 hours, so I just boiled them on the stove until they were as soft as I wanted. It took a while, but not 8 hours!! Also with the kale, I just added it in raw at the end while the soup was simmering. It gets the same effect; I do the same thing when I make zuppa toscana, another great kale soup. I also used kielbasa as the sausage which was fine. Great tasting soup, but yeah, I really don't know why all of that extra stuff is listed. It could be simplified way more.

It didn't taste like much. I had to do a lot of doctoring up to make it flavorful.

This soup is very Portuguese in style. If linguica is not available just substitute any smoked sausage for a similar result. Finely shredded couve, the typical Portuguese kale, would make this a very authentic Portuguese soup. Use piri piri hot sauce to finish it off.

I used turkey sausage and canned beans, and my husband and I loved it.

What a great soup. This is one of our winter favs. LOVE IT

I made a half recipe. used can of creamed navy beans, and yellow onion instead of shallots though. very nice

Went with two types of sausage, and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Magnificent. I'm missing the "something" to give it memorable flavor, but it's savory, warm (winter snowstorm delight), and filling.

Good winter soup. A spicer sausage might be better. Or maybe a bit more hot pepper

We liked it! I got as close to the recipe with what I had. I've never cooked with kale before and I'm glad I did. We will make this again.

Went with two types of sausage, and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Magnificent. I'm missing the "something" to give it memorable flavor, but it's savory, warm (winter snowstorm delight), and filling.

One of the best soups I've ever made. The first time I made it I used a recipe that was in my pressure cooker manual. This recipe is nearly identical. These days I precook the beans and sausage and then cook the soup all day in a slow cooker. If you don't like Kale, you can use spinach, but it won't taste the same at all. The Kale is what really makes this soup. It also freezes well.

I have cooked this soup several times in the last four months. It always is a hit. I followed one of the reviewers suggestions and add a can of diced tomatoes and also sauté onions and garlic with the sliced sausage. I've used a couple kinds of sausage - smoked turkey sausage or andouille~ since I haven't been able to find the variety called for in the recipe. Very good and filling, too.

I added a lot of celery. This recipe is amazing!

Strangely, I found a similar recipe to this in Allrecipes magazine but I couldn't find it on this website. This one is very similar. I used "ring bologna" that we had in the freezer - like a kielbasa. My recipe called for fresh thyme and garlic but did not call for hot sauce. It called for wedging the onions, which we liked as some of my family likes to pick around onions. All in all, an AWESOME cold weather recipe! Very satisfying yet healthy. Next time I may try adding hot sauce!

I couldnt find the spicy turkey sausage so I used italian sausage instead. We loved it! I ate at TGI Friday's last night and had the soup again and I noticed that the sausage was not a kielbasa type sausage or even the kind that was suggested in the recipe. It was a ground turkey meat and probably was sausage. The flavor was due to the spices in the sausage I believe. I will continue to try to find the spicy turkey sausage. We will have again and again!

Hit the spot. I was craving something brothy but hearty and elegant. This recipe did it. Added lentils and used ground Italian sausage instead of cased sausage. Needed no additional seasonings. Delicious!

A delightful blend of flavors and textures. I substituted a spicy turkey sausage and turkey broth. My husband devoured the soup - and he’s hard to please.

really yummy, my kids even ate it and they are quite suspicious of kale!

This soup is soo good! It reminded me of a soup we have in Brazil, called "Caldo Verde", which came from our Portuguese heritage. I don't like to have to clean a lot of pans, so I did not follow the instructions exactly. First, I substituted the linguiça for Kielbasa Sausage, because I can't find it where I live. Then, I used the sautée mode in my Instant Pot to brown the sausage and than added the shallots and cooked until soft. I added some chicken broth and scraped up any browned bits of sausage. I added the rest of the chicken broth and the beans and pressure cooked for 25 minutes. After the natural release, I turned sautée mode on again. I had to add more chicken broth, so next time I'll start with 6 instead of 4 cups. I added the kale, uncooked, salt and pepper and cooked for about 4 - 5 minutes. I tasted and it was really good already! I decided to add the hot sauce , but I did not find it necessary. Next time, I will start with 6 cups of chicken broth and I will add more beans. This is a really tasty and easy to make soup! I totally recommend!

Yum! I used some spicy sausage made by a local butcher, which was fabulous - no extra hot sauce needed. I also added 1 teaspoon smoked paprika.

Kale flavor came through really, really strongly in this recipe. Some may really like that, but it wasn't such a winner with my family.

Even better the next day for lunch!

I needed a recipe to use up the rest of the smoked turkey sausage i had from another recipe. I used 2 cans of beans with the juice instead of soaking overnight. I also added a can of Rotel for some added some heat. Sooooo good

I made this but with lots of changes. I don't own a pressure cooker so I put the beans in my crock pot with other ingredients. We don't like leafy vegetables in soup so I used carrots and celery. Essentially I made bean soup with sausage, I used Polish because that is what I had, instead of ham. It was great.

I substituted Trinity (onion, celery, bell pepper) for the shallots and used homemade chicken stock. I'd only rate this a 3 star at best if you use canned chicken stock. You need the depth of flavor from a really flavorful chicken stock. I pressure cook beans and freeze them in 2 c portions for later use. I also keep 1 c packages of trinity and 4 cup containers of homemade chicken stock in the freezer. It's easy to grab the beans, trinity, and stock and then add the other ingredients. Makes for some delicious soup options with very little effort at meal time.

Fantastic. Add a bit of salt to your liking. So good.

This is one of my go-to recipes. I usually don't boil the kale first, I like it to keep it's texture. The spicy sausage is key to flavor the broth.

I thought this was very good - healthy (used chicken sausage) and hearty. Perfect for a cold day's lunch. One thing I did do a bit differently was puree about half of the beans with some broth to make the soup seem more creamy. Also, I don't have a pressure cooker so just made the beans as directed. Finally, took a shortcut by using frozen chopped kale I found at Costco recently.

Awesome recipe! I used 1/2 mild & 1/2 hot sausage with casing removed. A can of diced tomatoes w/green chilies and a can of zesty jalapenos instead of the plum tomatoes & in addition to onions added celery & garlic. I did the quick cook on the beans in 3 cups of water adding the bean water to the soup and also 1 can of navy beans to make the broth thicker (probably did not need to). I cooked it about 4 hrs before adding the kale. It seemed a bit spicy to me while it was cooking but after I added the kale was perfect! My husband said this is the best soup I've made.

This was very easy to make and tasted delicious. I added onion powder to give it a slightly more buttery flavor.

I used the chorizo sausage (for a bit of spice) as well as 1 can of the Navy beans. the taste of the soup was absolutely amazing, but WAY too salty for my taste. next time I will try the low sodium chicken broth and hopefully it will be better for me. great recipe!

Delicious! I like spicy so I used a smokey Jalepeno sausage! I also added potatoes and carrots. I will make this again!

I’ve made this several times. 2 cans of white beans any type work. I like andouille sausage best. Any greens will do. I like chard or kale.

Made this tonight for dinner and it was so so tasty. I used spicy Italian sausage, added fresh garlic, used onion instead of shallot, and added a bay leaf. I doubled the recipe. A total keeper. My picky eaters gobbled it up.

Love this soup. I used swiss chard because I have a ton in my garden. We have a local market that makes in-house linguica and it's so delicious in this soup. Freezes great and wonderful to pull out for a last minute meal. Thank you for sharing!

I used 6c chicken broth - added 28 oz diced italiam tomatoes, 1T hot sauce and 1t cayanne pepper....topped with 1T parm per serving - yummo good! THANK YOU for a great way to use up my CSA kale!

Substituted navy beans for canned white kidney beans, added diced tomatoes with with jalapeños and added sliced baby carrots. Super tasty!

My family and I really enjoyed this soup, really easy and quite inexpensive and my kids ate kale! Yep this has become a regular in our house but I would also make it for company. I have also made it using homemade sausage filling which I had in the freezer from Chef John's breakfast sausage patty recipe which was just amazing in this soup, it has quite a bit of fennel and orange zest. Of course as sausage is typically a heavily seasoned meat, the type of sausage you use will have a big impact on how this soup turns out, as will the flavor of your broth. If you substitute the sausage for a milder one like keilbasa you might add italian seasoning and a pinch of red pepper flakes or such. Also I am a lazy cook and so I just sauteed the shallots and sausage first and added kale last instead of all the extra taking things out and in.

Necessity is the motherhood of invention right? I only had ground chorizo In the freezer but it made a great soup!!! Actually more like I pot of greens, beans and sausage - deliciousness!

I tried this recipe becasue I just got a pressure cooker and wanted to try it out. I used it to cook the navy beans as the recipe suggests. I used Andouille sausage as my small grocery did not have the requested sausage. I also used my own chicken stock which is very rich so I actually added a total of 8 cups of broth and 2 more cups of water. Because the sausage is spicy I did not add any hot sauce. This soup is very good and high in nutrition. You don't have to have a pressure cooker to cook your Navy beans. But like I said I was excited to try mine out.

I am a novice and will not use the pressure cooker to cook the beans. Also, being in Texas, I added jalapeño. A very popular dish at my house!

It was awesome. Don't over salt while cooking as the meat releases alot of salt. I also added a second can of beans just to thicken it up and give it more nutrients.

Great recipe. I did change up the ingredients a bit. I used white beans and hot Italian sausage. I also added celery, carrots and garlic. The kale I dropped directly into the pot. It turned out great. I will definitely make again.

This soup is amazing. I did not put the hot sauce in it, but I did put spicy smoked sausage. I highly recommend it.

I embarrassed to be one of those who rewrites a recipe but I'm guilty. I did not want soup. It's summer in Texas but I have to give the writer credit for this combination that I love. I cooked the kale as suggested and drained. I sauted 1/2 onion chpd, 4 cloves of chopped garlic and 3 slices of bacon cooked and chopped. I added the kale into the sauted mixture and then added 2 T of lemon juice, 1 T thyme and 1 tsp of garlic salt. I added 2 can of drained navy beans and simmered. This was really good!

This was delicious!! I used hot turkey sausage, browned in a soup pot, then added onion, carrots and celery. When the veggies were soft I added chicken broth and the kale and cooked the kale in the pot, then added 2 cans of white beans, some italian seasoning, salt and pepper. It was delicious and very easy to make, definitely will make this again!

I used what I had, left over Navy beans, chicken broth, garlic, fresh kale, and smoked sausage. Simmered for about 45min to an hour. Huge hit with the whole family. Will certainly add to our regular menu of soups.

Excellent! I don't have a pressure cooker so I soaked and cooked beans per package direction. Only other change was to use turkey linguica to save some fat and calories, but there's still enough flavor in there to make a lovely broth. Very flavorful and satisfying soup!