Sausage and Lentil Soup with Kale
Description
A cozy and comforting lentil and sausage stew packed with vegetables. This recipe makes a lot—but it keeps well all week and can even be frozen.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound bulk spicy Italian sausage
- 1 medium onion, diced (2 cups)
- 2 large carrots, diced, (1 ½–2 cups)
- 3 stalks celery, thinly sliced (1 ½ cups)
- 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
- Kosher salt & black pepper
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste, optional
- 1 ½ cups dried green or brown lentils, picked over and rinsed
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, optional
- 10 cups chopped kale (one 10-ounce bag)
- 1 cup chopped parsley
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook sausage over medium-high heat until crumbled and browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer meat to a bowl; drain all but 1 tablespoon drippings.
- Add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic to pot with drippings; season with 1 teaspoon salt and cook over medium until softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute.
- Rinse lentils in a fine-mesh strainer then add to pot along with 7 cups water, tomatoes, and Worcestershire, if using. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce a simmer over medium and cook, partially covered, until lentils are tender, 30–35 minutes.
- Stir in kale by handful and simmer until wilted. Stir in sausage, parsley and 1–2 more cups of water as needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
Storage: this stew will keep for up to 1 week stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. For longer storage, freeze the stew in zipper-lock bags.
Tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce are both listed as optional, no need to run out for them if you don’t have them. But this soup is best when made with at least one of them.
Vegetarian: you can totally make this vegetarian by skipping the sausage! To cook the vegetables, swap out the drippings for 1 tablespoon olive oil. Without the sausage you'll have a delicious Lentil Kale Soup!
Slow-cooker instructions: cook the onions, carrots, celery and garlic on the stove top for a few minutes prior to adding them to the slow cooker with the lentils, tomatoes, water and Worcestershire. Cover and cook the soup on high for 3–4 hours or low for 6–8 hours until lentils are tender.
Nutrition
Serving: 2cupsCalories: 425kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 28gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 1267mgFiber: 19gSugar: 10g
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