Chicken Sausage, Butternut Squash and Kale Soup

A naturally gluten free soup with Italian chicken sausage, seasonal butternut squash and kale. A light vegetable broth, some aromatics and plenty of parmesan cheese at the end to finish it off. This is comfort in a bowl!

A few nights ago, I stopped by my parents house for a quick visit and my mom lamented that she didn’t have anything to make for dinner. I had just made this soup the day before and told her how good it was. She had everything on hand so I recited the recipe and off I went. As I enjoyed the soup for the second night in a row, I texted her to see how she liked it. I got a quick response back: it was only ok.

Really? I thought. Only ok? Here I was thinking this soup was great. Hmph. So yesterday she and my dad stopped by for dinner and to carve pumpkins. As I’m photographing my soup, she commented that mine looked different. It got me thinking so I asked her what it was about the soup she didn’t like. Well for starters, she said she didn’t have any celery. Or kale. She used pork sausage instead of chicken, chicken stock instead of vegetable and leeks instead of onions. Oh yeah, she didn’t have fresh thyme either. And after tasting mine, realized she hadn’t seasoned hers enough. I hid behind my camera with a little smirk as I couldn’t help but think she’d made up an entirely new soup on her own. But not wanting to ruffle any feathers we moved on.

I give her credit for adapting to use what she hand on hand but in the end, I didn’t take it personal that she didn’t like my soup because well, frankly, she didn’t make it. I literally just reheated a bowl of this to make my third meal out of it and I can testify that this soup is superb as written. And like all soups gets better each day after it’s made. This really highlights the fall produce with butternut squash, onions and kale.

Moral of the story? I’m not responsible for the way your soup turns out unless you make it as written. 🙂

Chicken Sausage, Butternut Squash and Kale Soup

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• Yield: 4-6 1x

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Description

A hearty fall soup with chicken sausage, butternut squash and kale.

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Ingredients

• 1 lb mild chicken Italian sausage
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 9 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 12 oz butternut squash, cubed into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 cups chopped kale
• salt and pepper
• parmesan cheese for garnish

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Instructions

1. Brown the chicken sausage in a medium stock pot over medium heat, breaking apart any large pieces as it cooks. Add olive oil, onion, celery and carrot. Cook about 5 minutes until vegetables are starting to get soft and caramelized. Add thyme, garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper. Give a good stir and cook 30 seconds and then add vegetable stock.
2. Bring stock a boil and add butternut squash. Turn heat to medium low and let simmer about 30 minutes until squash is cooked through and soft. Add chopped kale and adjust the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Serve soup in large bowls sprinkled with plenty of parmesan cheese.