Creamy Bean Soup with Sausage

This comforting and hearty creamy bean soup with kielbasa sausage goes from cutting board to soup bowl in about a half an hour.

When I was little and still finding my way around the kitchen with a can opener, my favorite soups to make were from the red and white striped Campbell’s cans, especially the creamy bean soups with bacon or ham. Even when the directions suggested adding water, I always went the extra mile and used milk instead. Yep, even as a 10-year-old I was a recipe tweaker to make a recipe my own.

Creamy Bean Soup with Sausage | foodiecrush.com

Fast forward to this creamy bean soup recipe that comes from my forever friend Krista, whose tastebuds and cravings are very much like my own. Of all my friends, Krista is the one who most often makes my FoodieCrush recipes, and reports back with her opinions—thankfully, all good so far! So when she texted me her own family favorite recipe, and told me I needed to give it a try, I was 100% ready to start cooking.

This soup isn’t one of those all day simmering affairs. It’s quick, it’s easy, and with fresh carrots, onion, green bell pepper, and kielbasa sausage, plus two different types of beans that blend perfectly in the creamy broth (without any cream!), it’s way better than soup from the can.

What’s In This Creamy Bean Soup with Sausage

Like so many family classics, the original recipe Krista texted me looks to have been cut from the side of a box from years gone by. Along with the photo of the original, Krista texted a list of her own additions and tweaks to the soup: More veggies, doubling the sauce, and serving it as a one pot meal instead of as originally suggested as a casserole.

Here’s what’s in this bean and sausage soup:

Kielbasa sausage
Carrot
Onion
Green bell pepper (Krista uses red bell pepper in her version)
Garlic
All-purpose flour
Milk
Worcestershire sauce — the ingredient that gives the creamy broth so much flavor
Ground sage
White beans and kidney beans, or one or the other
Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt
Canola or vegetable oil

How to Make Creamy Bean and Sausage Soup

When there’s nothing in mind for dinner, this is the type of recipe I turn to. With long-lasting ingredients like kielbasa, onions, bell peppers, and carrots stocked in the fridge and pantry staples like canned beans, Worcestershire sauce, flour, and ground sage always in the pantry, this soup is ready to salvage meal time plans in just about 30 minutes. And even better, the recipe is so easy that any cooks of any skill level can master it.

Step 1: Develop Flavor

First, brown the sausage for flavor. Tasting like a hybrid of ham and hot dogs, kielbasa sausage can be found made with pork, or made healthier with turkey. Slice the kielbasa into coins, and if you prefer, halve the coins to get more sausage with every bite. Kielbasa sausage doesn’t put off much fat, so a drizzle of canola oil in the hot stock pot browns the sausage and develops flavor as it keeps it from sticking.

Add the chopped vegetables to the sausage. Sautéing the vegetables with the sausage adds a sweet caramelization as the vegetables soften and steam. Krista’s recipe didn’t include garlic, but I added it in because I pretty much add garlic to everything. However, I’m 99% sure this soup would be just as good without. Add flavor as you go by seasoning with the kosher salt and black pepper.

Step 2: Create the Creamy Soup Base (Without Any Cream!)

Step 1 of thickening: Add the flour. Sprinkle the sausage and veggie mixture with the flour, stirring to coat for 1-2 minutes as the heat cooks off the flour’s raw taste. Be watchful that the flour doesn’t begin to burn, but browns and smells toasty instead.

Step 2 of thickening: Add the milk. There’s no cream in this soup, where instead, a simple roux of flour and milk creates the creamy base. Slowly pour the milk into the pot and continue cooking and stirring, as the mixture thickens. I use 1% milk-fat milk, but full-fat or even non-fat will work equally well.

Step 3: Season and Flavor, and Get Yo’ Beans

Add the Worcestershire sauce and ground sage. In my kitchen, Worcestershire sauce gets used most often in bloody Mary’s and my famous clam dip, and that’s about it. I tell you, it’s underserved! But not anymore because it’s the main umami flavor builder in this soup, adding a bit of saltiness and earthiness that brings flashbacks of my bean with ham soup I loved as a kid. And while the amount of sage used in this recipe seems negligible, don’t skip it! The herb rounds out the flavors in a really lovely, but mellow way.

Rinse and drain those beans and dump them in. Krista suggests using two different types of canned beans: Dark kidney beans and white kidney beans, aka cannellini beans. The dark kidney beans are firmer and hold their shape better than the more delicate cannellini beans which break up just enough to add to the creaminess of the soup. If you choose to use only white cannellini beans in this soup, be careful not to cook the beans too long or they’ll break apart in the soup and disappear.

Step 4: Marry the Flavors

Simmer for 15 minutes for flavors to mingle. While longer cooking times are often interpreted to mean more flavor, with this soup there’s no need. Cooking the sausage, beans, vegetables, and creamy broth for a mere 15 minutes brings all of the flavors together, and ready to be served.

Make the broth thinner or thicker. If the soup broth is too thick, add more milk to thin as desired. Alternately, if it is too thin, make a slurry of 1 tablespoon of flour with 4 tablespoons of the broth (whisk well in a bowl) and add to the soup, cooking to thicken.

Ingredient Substitutions and Additions

This type of soup is one you can easily adapt and change to fit your taste or make with ingredients you have on hand. Here are a few ideas to make it your own:

Use a different type of bean, such as Great Northern beans, pinto beans, or regular kidney beans
Switch up the meaty protein and use ground pork sausage (drain off the extra fat), all beef hot dogs, ham, or bacon
Sub in or add other vegetables like mushrooms, kale, celery, potatoes, corn, or green beans.

This hearty bean soup with sausage skips the cream and is thickened with flour and milk instead.

Servings6

Calories417kcal

Ingredients

1 tablespooncanola or vegetable oil
2pounds kielbasa sausage , cut into 1-inch slices
1cup chopped onion
1cup chopped green bell pepper
1cup chopped carrot
2cloves garlic , pressed or minced
1/2teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
1/4cup all-purpose flour
4cups milk
6tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2teaspoon ground sage
115-ounce can Great Northern white beans , or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
115-ounce can dark kidney beans , rinsed and drained
chopped parsley

Instructions

In a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the sausage and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned. Add the onion, green bell pepper, carrot, and garlic. Season with the kosher salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion and pepper softens, about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour over the sausage and veggie mixture and stir to coat, stirring and cooking for 1-2 minutes or until it loses its raw floury taste and begins to smell toasty. Slowly add the milk and stir until smooth. Cook until the the mixture begins to thicken and bubble, stirring often, then add Worcestershire sauce, sage and beans. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes or until the flavors come together, stirring occasionally. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with a few sprinkles of fresh parsley and french bread for dipping or crackers on the side.

Nutrition

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Creamy Bean Soup with Sausage

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Step 1: Develop Flavor

Ingredient Substitutions and Additions