This Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup is a hearty, veggie-filled comfort food option for cold days – just dump it all in the crockpot then set it and forget it!
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Say hello to another new cozy soup recipe to help you get through the rest of March! Hang in there, we're SO CLOSE TO SPRING!
Here in Canada anyways lol!
But in the meantime of course, this Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup will have to get us through. It's filled with hearty vegetables like carrots, celery, onions, red pepper and kale, and has a delicious tomato-based broth that feels so appropriate for cozy nights in on the couch.
All that's missing is a thick, crusty loaf of bread to make this a complete meal!
Sausage and Kale Soup: Stovetop Directions
This is such a simple and delicious recipe that I've actually made a few times on the stovetop when the weather first started to get cold. The first time I made it was with some chopped up butternut squash and it was to DIE for. But for the sake of keeping the ingredient list a bit shorter, I changed things up a bit for the blog.
But we've still got some great flavours going on and that's not to say you can't change things up if you'd like!
To make this Sausage and Kale soup on the stovetop, you will basically saute the sausage, onions and garlic for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients and simmering for 30-40 minutes on a lower temperature. It's so easy and a delicious one pot recipe you'll turn to over and over!
I also usually use turkey sausages for this Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup but when I went to Longo's to shoot it they were all out of my favourite ones, so I swapped in some ground turkey and made my own. If you have a Longo's near you their sausages are also bomb in my Sheet Pan Sausage & Root Vegetable Scramble.
I don't eat pork so most turkey sausages at the grocery store are still made with pork casings – like what is the point?! Why provide an alternative to pork sausages when they still contain the same products? Oh well!
Anyways, my point is that it's hard to find actual turkey sausages that fit my dietary restrictions. And don't ask about the pork thing, it's a long story haha.
What I'm really getting to is that you can make your own sausage at home with just about any type of ground meat. It'll be without the casing of course but the flavours will still be there!
Making Your Own Turkey Sausage
To season a pound of ground turkey and turn it into sausage, all you need are some fennel seeds, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and if you're feeling fancy, some paprika! That's all there is to it! Add in a bit of each, mix together well, and you've got yourself faux-sausage!
I sometimes like to mix mine all together and then freeze it into little balls to use when I'm craving other recipes like this Turkey Sausage Pasta Arrabiata. Sooooooo good.
Once you get the sausage together (whether you're using homemade or storebought, make sure to remove the casings), you just add it to the slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients.
It's THAT EASY.
Italian Sausage and Kale Soup Ingredients
This Sausage Kale soup is a rustic, Italian-inspired recipe that uses some pretty simple ingredients, most of which you should already have on hand at home.
Most soup recipes use carrots, celery, onions and garlic in some form, and this recipe adds in Italian seasoning, chicken broth and crushed tomatoes for a soup base that's similar to the Tuscan Minestrone Soup.
Sausage Kale Soup Variations
Chickpeas add some extra fibre and protein, and then any type of greens can be added in place for the kale. If you want to make this soup vegetarian, just leave out the sausage and double the amount of chickpeas or add in some white kidney beans.
If you don't have any kale on hand, you can add in some Swiss chard or spinach at the last minute once everything has cooked through, and you can also use any colour bell pepper too.
Like all my recipes, this Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup is super easy to customize – just how I like it!
Freezing This Sausage Kale Soup
You can freeze this Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup!
Make sure to freeze in a glass container – leftovers will keep up to 3 months. To reheat, microwave for 6-7 minutes or bring to a boil on the stove. I love freezer meals, they make sure great meal prep!
Will you be making this Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup?
I am so in love with these giant bowls of comfort food. Get this cooking all day, fill up the house with the aroma of delicious food, light a few candles and cozy up on the couch with some blankets while you still can! I'll be hiding out until the last snow storm passes in April (but hopefully that's not the case this year…)
If you try any of my recipes be sure to let me know on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or in the comments – I’d love to see what you come up with!
Get your square glass meal prep bowls here – they're so great for packing up your leftovers!
And of course I get all my free-range poultry from Butcher Box!
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Slow Cooker Tuscan Sausage and Kale Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 yellow onions, diced
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 (796mL) jar crushed/strained tomatoes (passata)
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 2 cups kale, chopped
Turkey sausage
- 1 lb ground turkey (or use 4 turkey sausages instead of making your own, casings removed)
- 1 tbsp fennel
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- If using storebought sausages, remove casings and break up meat. If making your own, mix together sausage ingredients and break up. Add to slow cooker, along with rest of ingredients except for red pepper and kale.
- Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8 hours. When ready to serve, stir in red pepper and kale, then let sit for 3-4 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
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Nutrition
Kim says
For the homemade sausage: is it more like how you would make a meatball? Mix up all the ingredients and then shape? If so, is there a particular size I should aim for? Just want to make sure I’m not missing a step here. This sounds great!
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Kim! Yes you would mix it up just like you would a meatball and then just do your best to break it all apart or you can form little meatballs (about 1/2 inch in size) Hope that makes sense!
Kim says
Yes it does thanks! When I hear sausage I immediately think of that meat in a casing.. then I saw for a sausage you said to take it out of the casing , so I just wanted to make sure I was understanding it correctly. Can’t wait to make this!
Mike says
Have you ever made this not in a slow cooker? Wondering how long it would take to make on the stove.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Mike! You can definitely make this on the stovetop – brown the meat for 3-4 minutes first and then add in the rest of the ingredients (besides red pepper and kale), then bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes. I’ve made it on the stovetop before and it turns out great!
Andrea says
I made this on the weekend and it was so good! I doubled the recipe and used a jar of passata and a can of crushed tomatoes as well as spinach since it’s what I had on hand. Delicious and all the kids liked it too. Would be great with butternut squash and even part spicy sausage too. Will make again, thanks!
Lena says
I stumbled upon this recipe and I can’t wait to try it out tomorrow! I also don’t eat pork due to a long story haha. Thanks again for sharing!
Sara says
How long would you put this in the instant pot for? I’m going to use ground turkey. I assume like slow cooking, you’d recommend not cooking it first? Thanks!
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Sara – you should just be able to dump it all in and then cook on high pressure for 3-4 minutes. I haven’t tried it myself so can’t guarantee results, but based on my knowledge of the Instant Pot it should work 🙂
Sara says
It turned out great. One of my new favorite recipes. I actually had a moment of panic earlier today because I couldn’t find this recipe to make again. Thankfully I follow you on Instagram and found it. Whew!
Jackie says
So good, recommending it to all of my clients
Barbara says
An incredibly good recipe. Thank you!!
Michelle O’Shea says
Love this soup!!! I substituted sliced mushrooms for the chickpeas to cut down on the carbs because I still wanted substance. I will definitely make this again!
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you enjoyed, thanks Michelle! 🙂
April says
Looks great! Any reason why I couldn’t use pork sausage for this instead of turkey?
Thanks!
Taylor Stinson says
You can if you’d like 🙂
Lisa Tatonetti says
LOVED this. I doubled the meat and more than doubled the kale. Though I cooked in slow cooker for 6 hours, I also sautéed onion and turkey first. Was simply phenomenal.