This delicious Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup was a hit at my house last Sunday night, and I’ve saved the leftovers for lunch for me all week. It hits the spot on a cold winter day!
I love having something easy to reheat for myself for lunch all week. I don’t mind eating the same thing, and think it helps me so much to have lunch planned ahead of time so I don’t end up staring into the cabinets and picking chips for lunch.
This soup is made up of a variety of vegetables and sweet Italian sausage. The sausage is filling and the vegetables so nutritious-the Parmesan though, is my favorite part and although it can be omitted, for me cheese is the savory topping I just love. Served with garlic bread or a crusty roll on the side makes this soup even hardier. A flourless side option I use is tortilla chips.
Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 2 pounds Italian sweet sausage, removed from casings
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 2 cups red bell pepper, diced (about one large pepper)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 pounds zucchini, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 5 plum tomatoes, diced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth (2 boxes)
- 1 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 TBS fresh or dried basil
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add Italian sausage and cook, breaking up meat as the sausage browns.
- Once the sausage has browned add onion and bell pepper and saute for 4 minutes.
- Add garlic, pepper flakes and tomato paste and stir.
- Add zucchini, tomatoes, salt, pepper, chicken broth and Parmesan cheese along with basil and stir well to combine.
- Cook on low for 3-4 hours until vegetables are soft.
- Garnish with Parmesan.
Notes
I serve Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup with my garlic bread, but added some mozzarella cheese on top of the bread before cooking. This garlic bread is a huge hit at my house, and I make it so often I have the easy recipe memorized. My kids beg for it!
To crumble ground beef and sausage, or to smash avocados for guacamole, I use this meat chopper tool-I keep my kitchen tools at the bare minimum but LOVE this thing:
YUM!!
It is SO good!
I make a similar soup. Adding lots of carrots, too, is delicious.
That would be a great addition!
This was delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks Kim!