Welcome back to Sunday Scratchups, your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales and affordable ingredients! This week’s recipe provides a nice balance between ingredients I needed to use up and ingredients you can find on sale this week — and, unlike many sausage & kale soups, it is also dairy free.

I used Eckrich Polska Kielbasa here, and from what I can find, this brand is currently gluten free, but always check current ingredient lists to ensure the kind you are using is appropriate for your family.

I had sausage already in my fridge nearing its expiration date, some red potatoes that really needed some attention, and a nice cheap bunch of organic in-season kale, so scratched up this Kale & Polska Kielbasa soup earlier this week. (It turned out somewhat similar to this easy smoked sausage & spinach soup, but that was completely inadvertent — They’re each good, in their own way!)

Kale & Polska Kielbasa Soup

Ingredients

14 oz Polska Kielbasa
2 small onions, chopped
3 small red potatoes, diced
10 baby carrots, sliced into coins
1 rib of celery, diced
4 oz fresh mushrooms, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
32 oz box chicken broth
1 can cannellini beans
1 can Rotel
1 cup water
1 bunch fresh kale
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp thyme
black pepper (to taste)
1/2 tsp cayenne

Directions

Chop sausage and brown in Dutch oven over medium heat. Remove and set aside. Brown onions, celery, garlic, potatoes, and carrots in the sausage grease over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms, stir, and cook another 3 minutes. Wash kale, strip off leaves and tear into coarse pieces, discarding stems. Add kale and cook another 3-4 minutes or until bright green. Add sausage back in and reduce heat to low. Add Rotel, chicken broth, beans (undrained), spices, and water. Stir, then simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Easy and hearty

Although this is similar to the spinach-sausage soup, the heartier kale stands up better to reheating — it made great leftovers for dinner the next day, and the perfect comfort food for a cold winter night. Mr. 7 was of course convinced that I was trying to kill him as he now HATES kale (who knew?), but ate the rest and left the kale in the bottom of the bowl. No one else had any complaints, however. 🙂

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Kale & Polska Kielbasa Soup

An easy comfort food soup recipe for a cold winter's evening.

Course dinner

Total Time 1

Servings

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

14 oz Polska Kielbasa
2 small onions chopped
3 small red potatoes diced
10 baby carrots sliced into coins
1 rib of celery diced
4 oz fresh mushrooms chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
32 oz box chicken broth
1 can cannellini beans
1 can Rotel
1 cup water
1 bunch fresh kale
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp thyme
black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cayenne

Instructions

Chop sausage and brown in Dutch oven over medium heat.
Remove and set aside.
Brown onions, celery, garlic, potatoes, and carrots in the sausage grease over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally.
Add mushrooms, stir, and cook another 3 minutes.
Wash kale, strip off leaves, and tear into coarse pieces, discarding stems.
Add kale and cook another 3-4 minutes or until bright green.
Add sausage back in and reduce heat to low.
Add Rotel, chicken broth, beans (undrained), spices, and water.
Stir, then simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes.
Remove bay leaf and serve.