Sausage Kale and White Bean Soup
Posted Aug 30, 2026
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This hearty sausage, kale, and white bean soup is healthy, flavorful, and so easy to make. This one-pot soup is packed with protein, fiber, and leafy greens and is ready in under 30 minutes!
This sausage, kale, and white bean soup is one of the easiest, most flavorful soups you’ll ever make!
This sausage, kale, and white bean soup is made with Italian sausage, fresh vegetables, and white beans, all cooked in a flavorful, savory broth. It’s an easy, one-pot, cozy weeknight dinner your whole family will love.
We love topping it with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and serving it with no knead bread or homemade french bread for dipping.
Kale and White Bean Sausage Soup: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Italian sausage. Use ground sausage and choose your heat level. We use mild.
- Celery and Carrots. You can put any vegetables you’d like in this soup. Zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms, etc.
- Chicken broth. Vegetable broth is also a good choice.
- Kale. Fresh kale is best, but frozen also works in a pinch. You can also use fresh spinach.
- White beans. Use great northern or cannellini beans .
How to Make Kale and White Bean Sausage Soup
This is a fairly simple recipe, but we’ll walk through it together step-by-step. As always, you can watch the video for additional guidance.
Begin by cooking the Italian sausage, garlic, onion, celery, and carrots (along with any additional vegetables you’d like to add) in olive oil until the sausage is browned and no longer pink. Make sure to break up the sausage as you cook it so it’s in small, bite-sized pieces.
Then, add the chicken broth, lemon juice, paprika, salt, pepper, white beans, kale, and parsley and bring the soup to a boil with the lid slightly ajar.
Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer until the kale is soft and dark green.
Serve
Serve topped with a generous sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese. I also suggest making some no knead bread or homemade french bread for dipping!
Store/Freeze
Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. I like storing it in individual portions so it’s easy to reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
More Delicious Soup Recipes
If you love this recipe, you’ll love all of my from-scratch soups!
- The best tomato soup ever
- Everyone raves about my potato soup – it’s the best.
- Sausage tortellini soup or vegetarian tortellini soup
- Hamburger soup is a go-to for me!
- Chicken pot pie soup is hearty & comforting
- Minestrone soup has so many veggies!
Sausage, Kale, and White Bean Soup Recipe FAQS
Yes, you can use chicken sausage or Andouille sausage if you prefer this to Italian sausage.
The two white beans I suggest are cannellini beans and great northern beans.
Yes, you can make the soup and store it in the fridge to serve the next day. I think it tastes even better the next day as the flavors blend.
Yes, spinach is a great substitute for kale.
This isn’t a super thick soup, but if you’d like to thicken it you can mash some of the beans and then simmer the soup uncovered and you’ll see it thicken.
Yes. Brown the sausage with the onion and garlic, then add all ingredients except kale to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3–4 hours, then stir in the kale in the last 30-60 minutes of cooking.
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Sausage Kale and White Bean Soup
Video
Equipment
- chef's knife
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 yellow onion (finely diced)
- 2 stalks celery (1 cup, diced)
- 2 large carrots (1 cup, diced)
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cups chicken broth (1 quart)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 15 ounces white beans (drained and rinsed, great northern or cannellini beans)
- 3 ounces kale 84g – (about 4 cups, finely chopped)
- 1 Tablespoon parsley (chopped)
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese (for serving)
Instructions
- Cook the sausage, garlic, onion, celery, and carrots in 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large pot with a lid over medium heat, until the vegetables are soft and sausage is lightly browned. Stir often to break the sausage into small pieces.
- Then, add the chicken broth, lemon juice, paprika, salt, pepper, beans, kale and parsley and bring to a boil with the lid slightly ajar.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer until the kale is soft and dark green.
- Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Notes
- Italian sausage. Use ground sausage and choose your heat level. We use mild.
- Celery and Carrots. You can put any vegetables you’d like in this soup. Zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms etc.
- Chicken broth. Vegetable broth is also a good choice.
- Kale. Fresh kale is best, but frozen also works in a pinch. You can also use fresh spinach.
- White beans. use great northern or cannellini beans.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
