Cauliflower Sausage Kale Soup
Creamy cauliflower soup with sausage, bacon, and kale. Made with less than 10 ingredients. It’s so easy, simple, and completely irresistible.
If you love creamy soups, this Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup is out of this world good or this No Cream Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup.
Cauliflower Sausage Soup
This cauliflower sausage soup is my new favorite. Even my kids go crazy for it! It’s creamy, thick, and loaded with incredible flavor, and pairs great with heirloom tomato sandwiches. Not to mention it’s made with less than 10 ingredients. The ingredients are simple and the steps are easy.
It’s very similar to the zuppa soup, but instead of potatoes, it’s made with cauliflower. The cauliflower is cooked with onions and garlic and then puréed with cream. The result is luxuriously creamy soup.
The rest of the soup is made up of sausage, bacon, and kale. The sausage and bacon balance out the sweetness of the soup, while kale adds a delicious texture. It’s so simple. Plus it’s ready in about 30 minutes.
What You Need to Make Creamy Cauliflower Soup
You only need 8 ingredients for this cauliflower kale soup and the rest are pantry staples.
- Italian sausage
- Bacon
- Onion
- Garlic
- Cauliflower
- Chicken broth
- Half and half
- Kale
How to Make Creamy Cauliflower Soup
Step 1: First, heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or a heavy-duty soup pot over medium heat. When hot, add sausage and bacon and cook until sausage is browned while breaking up the meat and bacon is crisp.
About 8-10 minutes. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of grease.
Step 2: Add onions to the same dutch oven and cook until soft. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, while stirring constantly.
Step 3: Add cauliflower and chicken broth. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.
To check for doneness, simply pierce a chunk of cauliflower with a fork and if it glides through easily, it is done.
Step 4: Transfer the soup to a high-powered blender and purée until smooth. Or if you have an immersion blender, simply purée the soup in the pot off the heat.
The secret to thickening this soup is simply the perfect ratio of cauliflower to liquid. It basically thickens itself without any flour or heavy cream.
Step 5: Add half and half, and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir in sausage, bacon, and kale. Simmer until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Taste the soup for salt. Serve with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.
Leftover soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 3-4 days. I always do not recommend freezing soup with cream in it as it can separate when rewarmed. Plus certain greens, such as kale, tend to turn brown when frozen.
Easy Cauliflower Sausage Soup Variations
Here are some easy swaps you can make to either suit your taste or use the ingredients you have on hand:
- I personally love to use mild sausage and serve the soup with red pepper flakes. That way everyone can add as much heat as they want. But if you love spicy and want spicy, feel free to use hot sausage. Also, this soup can be made with leaner protein, such as turkey Italian sausage.
- For dairy-free, swap out the half and half for a can of full-fat coconut milk. You won’t even taste it! It’ll make the soup extra creamy.
- Not a fan of kale? No problem. Use baby spinach. Slightly tender but just as good.
Video: How to Make Cauliflower Sausage Kale Soup
More Soup Recipes
- Sicilian Chicken Soup
- Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
- Sausage and Kale Soup
- White Bean Soup
- Sausage Zucchini Soup
Cauliflower Sausage Kale Soup
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 35 min
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: American
Description
Creamy cauliflower soup with sausage, bacon, and kale. Made with less than 10 ingredients. This soup is so creamy, sweet, and little spicy!
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 12 oz. mild Italian sausage, removed from casing
- 3 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups cauliflower florets, about 1 1/4 pounds
- 1 (32 oz.) carton chicken broth
- 1 cup half and half
- 4 cups chopped curly kale
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
- Red pepper flakes, for serving, optional
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven or heavy duty soup pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausage and bacon. Cook until sausage is browned and bacon is crisp, breaking up the meat as you go, about 8-10 minutes. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of grease.
- Add onions and cook until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
- Add cauliflower and chicken broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.
- Puree the soup until smooth in either a high-powered blender or with an immersion blender.
- Add half and half and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir in sausage, bacon, and kale. Simmer until kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Taste the soup for salt. Serve with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.
Notes
- Sausage: I personally love to use mild sausage and serve the soup with red pepper flakes. That way everyone can add as much heat as they want. But if you want it extra spicy, feel free to use hot sausage. Also this soup can be made with leaner protein, such as turkey Italian sausage.
- Cream: Milk or full-fat coconut milk can be substituted for the half and half.
- Leftovers: Leftover soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 3-4 days. I do not recommend freezing the soup since it has cream in it.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 334
- Sugar: 5.8 g
- Sodium: 601.7 mg
- Fat: 25.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.1 g
- Protein: 15 g
- Cholesterol: 50.8 mg
I’m always a smidge skeptical when trying a recipe I’ve found on Pinterest. In one word: AMAZING! It’s easy, simple, fairly quick, and completely delicious! The entire family loved it. It will be in regular rotation from now on each cauliflower season. I think I’ll even try making clam chowder with this cauliflower base!
That’s so great! So happy to hear you all enjoyed it.
Just made this today. It is so delicious and was not hard work at all. Drizzling a little olive oil and sprinkling red pepper flakes made it even better.
Yum! yes…red chili flakes is a must. So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Katya! Could I substitute half and half for heavy cream for a heavier soup? Looks delish. Thank you!
You can certainly use heavy cream instead of half and half for extra creaminess.
My new favorite. Easy to make, healthy and so tasty. Thank you so much!
SO SO good. Easy to make, healthy and so tasty. Thank you so much!
Thank you!
This is really good and was pretty easy. Thank you for the recipe!
My 9 year old picky eater begs for this soup! My keto husband can eat it too and I find it delicious. Still trying to convert my daughter but we will get there eventually. Amazing soup. Super yummy.
that’s so great! So happy to hear you all loved it. Thank you so much for the feedback.
What is the serving size?
Approximately 1-1 1/2 cups
I’m making the soup this week. I’d like to add diced sweet potato. When should I add it and should I alter the amount of cook time and liquid? I’m so looking forward to it! Thanks!
I would add it in step 3. The amount of liquid would depend on how much sweet potato you’re adding. Also, keep in mind the sweet potato will alter the taste of the soup, especially since it’s pureed.
I made this with sweet Italian turkey sausage and it was SO GOOD! It has officially been added to my winter soup rotation. Thank you so much for sharing!
That’s so awesome! Thank you Kathy.
The fiber is not listed for this recipe. That is an important number for me. Can’t make any of your recipes unless that is listed. Sounds delicious.
The cauliflower, sausage, kale soup was delicious. I skipped the bacon because I didn’t feel like cooking it, but I am sure it would have added a nice flavor as well. I threw in some corn. Fast and Easy recipe that I am sure I will make over and over with a few variations. Thank you for the inspiration.
Love that! Thank you.
Do you know how much fiber is in this soup? I’m wondering about net carbs. It looks delicious!
Hi Merry: the nutrition information is all listed below the recipe.
I’m curious how this soup could have so many carbs? The ingredient list has so few items with carbs…doesn’t make sense that there are 15g per serving…making this tonight…looking forward to trying it…thanks!
Hi Teisha: I’m not a nutritionist so I can’t answer with certainty. I use a third party database to calculate nutrition. For more accurate results, I would recommend you calculate the nutrition yourself. I hope you enjoy the soup though.
Could you use frozen cauliflower and kale?
I’ve never tried it with frozen but I don’t see why it can’t work. I would simply add frozen cauliflower and kale.
This recipe redeemed cauliflower for my husband and I! In the past, we tried dieting and in one of our diets, we ate way too much cauliflower. I was new to the veggie and didn’t know how to incorporate it well into our meals so it wasn’t ever really done right. As a result, we grew to hate cauliflower and avoided it every chance we could! A little over 2 weeks ago, we started the Keto diet and on a rainy day like today, we were wondering if there were any keto friendly soups that were filling and relatively low in carbs. I came across this soup and decided to give cauliflower another chance… This recipe was so delicious, and my husband enjoyed it and felt really full! (He never feels full with soup and doesn’t really enjoy soups as much as I do) This will be a new must have in our home now! Thank you!!!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for your wonderful review.
Love this recipe. Every time we travel to my brother’s home in Oregon from the coast of California during the very first months of Spring when it is still very cool, I make this wonderful soup for the family. It is “Magical” because it disappears in front of our eyes. Yummy stuff.
That makes me so happy to hear! Thank you Bill.
I made this tonight and it was amazing! I used mild Italian chicken sausage because that’s all I could find.
It was a huge hit for my family of 6, loved by all.
Thank you Abby! Appreciate your feedback. So happy to hear you loved the soup.
This was amazing! Thank you:) I really love all your recipes!
Thank you! So happy to hear you enjoyed this soup.