Say hello to your new favorite winter soup! This Italian Minestrone with Sausage, White Beans, and Kale is hearty, flavorful, and so easy to make. I have been making some version of this soup for decades and it remains one of my family's favorite meals. The combination of earthy veggies, creamy beans, Italian sausage and pancetta, and rich, slightly spicy parmesan broth make this soup both irresistible and unforgettable.
Recipe Background
This Minestrone with Sausage is great all year long but to me it is more of a fall and winter meal. The process of making it on a cold winter day brings me so much happiness and of course digging into a piping hot bowl of it is the best part!
Some of our other favorite winter soups are Hearty Beef and Barley Soup, Moldovan Borscht, and Brothy Beans with Fennel and Parmesan. Serve them up alongside a loaf of Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread or Honey White Bread (or be a hero and make grilled cheese!)
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Ingredients
A simple list of ingredients transforms into the most flavorful soup. The ingredients are customizable, but this is my favorite combination of ingredients and flavors and to me this makes the best minestrone soup.
Minestrone with Sausage, White Beans, and Kale Ingredients:
- Olive Oil: for cooking and also for drizzling the finished soup for serving.
- Pancetta: I almost always start soups and sauces with some type of fatty pork. It adds flavor and gives some fat to cook the rest of the ingredients in.
- Italian Sausage: I love making my minestrone with sausage as it adds a meatiness and flavor that my family loves and really makes this soup a meal. I prefer mild sausage because I add my own spiciness with red pepper flakes, but if you love spice feel free to use a spicy sausage.
- Onion: All good soups start with an onion and this one is no different.
- Carrot: Another soup classic, hearty and familiar and almost always in the fridge.
- Celery: One of the stealthiest flavor weapons, celery is one of my favorite ingredients and an essential part of the French mirepoix or Italian soffritto.
- Garlic: A classic that adds tons of flavor to this soup.
- Bay Leaves: You won't find a soup or a sauce made in my kitchen without a few dried bay leaves hanging around. I am my father's child, what can I say?
- Potatoes: The diced potatoes are one of my favorite parts of this soup. I feel like they are kind of unexpected with the beans and I just love the tender, creamy, starchy bites. I prefer a waxy potato such as yukon gold but I have made this with russets too.
- Rosemary: Essential to the overall flavor of this minestrone broth and what makes this a winter minestrone in my opinion. Rosemary is such a hearty, winter flavor to me and a must in this soup recipe.
- Chicken Broth: homemade is great but I have made this with store bought more times than I can count.
- Diced Tomatoes: These don't make the broth too tomatoey, they just add a bit of juicy tomato flavor that is just so good with the parmesan flavor.
- White Beans: Cannellini beans are my top favorite bean for soups. I love how soft and creamy they are and how thin the skins are.
- Kale: A hearty green that stands up to the strong flavors of this soup. Use any kind you enjoy - tuscan kale is especially good.
- Parmesan Cheese Rinds: Always stashed away in my freezer, parm rinds add the most delicious flavor to broths and sauces.
- Salt: I start with ½ teaspoon of kosher and then adjust at the end. There are some pretty salty ingredients going in, so be careful of over-salting too early on.
- Pepper: Ground black pepper is a favorite in our household. Add it to taste or leave it out if you're not a fan.
- Dried Oregano: It just adds that Italian flavor especially when combined with the tomato, garlic, and parmesan - just so good!
- Red Pepper Flakes: I never used to add these but now I can't make this soup without them. I love the little kick they give on a cold winter day.
- Parmesan Cheese and Extra Virgin Olive Oil for topping
See substitution options below and recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
How to make Minestrone with Sausage, White Beans, and Kale
The reason this soup is so delicious is because of the layering of ingredients and flavors. Each step and each ingredient contributes a layer and when they all come together it is magical.
First, the pancetta is cooked with a drizzle of olive oil until crispy before adding the Italian sausage and cooking until no longer pink.
I like to remove the meats at this stage and add them back at the end of cooking because I don't enjoy the texture of them after they cook in the broth. In the same pan, saute the veggies, herbs, and seasonings and scrape up all those yummy, meaty bits.
After about 5 minutes, add potatoes, tomatoes, broth, and parmesan cheese rinds. Simmer until potatoes are soft before adding kale and beans. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until kale is wilted.
Add reserved sausage and pancetta mixture and cook for another minute or two until heated through. Ladle into bowls, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Substitutions and Variations
As I said above, I have made a version of this minestrone with sausage for years. In general, soups are very customizable but minestrone in particular is like the ultimate use what you have soup. If I don't have pancetta, I leave it out or I add chopped bacon or prosciutto in its place. I have used mild and spicy sausage and also used turkey sausage instead of pork. Use the veggies you have and get creative. Don't have cannellini beans? Use chickpeas, kidney beans, or whatever bean you have. Here are some substitution suggestions:
- Pancetta - instead of pancetta you can use guanciale, prosciutto, or bacon, just know that bacon will give a bit of a smoky flavor.
- Italian sausage - use mild or hot sausage or use turkey or chicken sausage in place of the pork sausage. You can even use a mild breakfast sausage - I would not recommend a sweet sausage such as maple for this recipe.
- Beans - Replace the cannellini beans with navy beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, lima beans, or any bean you have. If you are not a bean fan, simply leave them out.
- Vegetables - other veggies I love to use are fennel, parsnips, turnips, swiss chard, spinach, or green beans.
- Pasta or grains - many minestrone recipes include a small pasta or a grain. This is a great way to bulk up the soup. I recommend adding the cooked pasta or grain just before serving and storing leftovers separately from the soup to prevent it from becoming mushy.
- Broth: I usually use chicken broth, but a lighter beef broth or a veggie broth would work well.
- Vegetarian: To make this vegetarian or vegan minestrone, leave out the meats and use veggie broth. Be aware that almost all parmesan cheese is made with animal rennet so if you want a true vegetarian soup you will need to find a parm made with vegetable rennet. And of course to keep it vegan, leave the cheese out completely or use a vegan parmesan if that exists.
FAQ
Minestrone or minestra translates to a vegetable soup often with beans and/or pasta. There are countless variations of this soup and many of them do contain meat. These soups are often made with whatever vegetables, meats, or leftovers are kicking around in the kitchen.
Minestrone is a hearty vegetable-based soup with a light tomato broth. It often includes pasta or beans and sometimes meat. It always begins with a traditional Italian soffritto which includes celery, carrot, and onion cooked in olive oil. To this flavor foundation, garlic and herbs are added as well as tomato and sometimes parmesan cheese rind to create the signature minestrone broth.
Some varieties of kale are more bitter than others. I prefer Tuscan kale for soups but common curly kale is very good too. Wash it very well in hot water to remove some of the bitter compounds, remove and discard ribs, and chop or tear leaves into small pieces before adding to soup. It becomes less bitter after cooking in the soup broth.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
- Crockpot White Chicken Chili Recipe
- Slow Cooker White Bean and Sausage Soup
- Hearty Beef and Barley Soup
- Moldovan Borscht Soup
Minestrone Soup with Sausage, White Beans, and Kale
My Italian Minestrone with Sausage and White Beans features a rich parmesan broth packed with veggies, sausage, and pancetta.
- Total Time: 90 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 4 ounces diced pancetta
- 1 pound mild Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 large celery stalks, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
- 2 dry bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (more or less to taste)
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
- 2 large waxy potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1-2 Parmesan Cheese Rinds
- 8 ounces kale, ribs removed and leaves torn into bite sized pieces
- 2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- Parmesan Cheese and Extra Virgin Olive Oil for topping
Instructions
- In a large, heavy pot over medium heat, cook pancetta with a drizzle of olive oil until it has crisped and released some of its fat. Add Italian sausage to the pot and cook, breaking up with wooden spoon and stirring often, until no longer pink. This will take about 10 minutes.
- Remove meats with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- If needed, add another drizzle of oil and add onion, carrot, celery, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, oregano, and bay leaves to pot. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often and scraping up the meaty bits from the bottom of the pan, until vegetables are beginning to soften.
- Add potatoes, broth, tomatoes, and parmesan cheese rinds. Stir well and cook slightly covered for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are tender. Add kale and beans and cook for 5-10 minutes until kale is tender and wilted but not mushy. Finally, add reserved sausage and pancetta mixture, stir and heat through.
- Serve soup topped with good olive oil and plenty of grated parmesan cheese. A tiny splash of red wine vinegar is delicious too.
Notes
If you feel your soup needs more liquid, add more broth or water to top it off.
To add a bit of acidity, you can add ½ cup wine at the end of step 3.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: soups and stews
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
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