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
Absolutely loved this soup! Will make again.
Made this for dinner last night because it sounded delicious and it was cold (brrr). Was not disappointed! My husband and I loved it! I did not add any salt, wasn’t necessary. I’ll be making this all winter long…
Thank you Laurie! I’m so happy to hear that.
I used veg stock and the soup came out so yellow compared to your pictures, definitely doesn’t look as appealing but we thought it was pretty good!!
Super good! It’s my son’s most favorite. He’s 10 so that is a big compliment. We use spinach because my kids like it better than kale but other than that I don’t change anything. I’ve frozen it and it was good. The texture does change a little but it was still very good.
Highly recommend it! A great way of adding veggies to the diet. Both my low carb hubby and us can have this meal w/o a problem. Love it!
This soup was so good! I’m trying to eat healthy so I just used turkey sausage, turkey bacon, low sodium chicken broth, and fat free half and half. I also halved the garlic and onion for my families aversion to too much onion and garlic. It was delicious and we will be making it often!
This was so yummy! My husband generally doesn’t like soup but he had two servings! I used regular smoked sausage instead of Italian since I don’t like the Italian sausage flavor and it turned out amazing. Thanks for creating this!
I love this soup and make it often using chicken italian sausage and uncured turkey bacon. Thanks for sharing!
That sounds delish! So happy to hear you’re enjoying it. Thanks for your feedback.
Delicious! I replaced the half and half with coconut cream, added a bit of butter, and left out the sausage, just bacon. I was tempted to add corn, but kept it simple. Thanks for sharing!
So glad the soup worked for you! Thank you for the feedback.
Curious as to whether you have ever tried adding corn, that sounds delicious!
Easy and so delicious. I make it in Sunday’s and reheat for dinners throughout the week. Made for my extended family at Christmas and they it loved it too.
Thank you. I appreciate the feedback.
Any suggestions for ways to make this recipe in an instant pot?
I’m sure there’s a way to make this recipe work in an instant pot but to be honest, I haven’t tried it so I can’t answer with certainty.
So delicious! I’m a big foodie, but it’s hard to get my bf to try new things. I’ve made this twice now and it is a huge hit! We eat it all throughout the week for lunch. I’m not one to usually write reviews but it is so good and easy to make and I’m one that looks at reviews a lot, so I just had to share! Thanks 🙂
That’s so great to hear! So happy to hear he approved it 🙂
Our family loves this soup! So good, sometimes I add potatoes and sometimes I skip the bacon. Always use a can of unsweetened coconut milk instead of half and half. Thank you!
Just made this for my very skeptical boyfriend, and we both LOVED it! I substituted 16 oz turkey sausage, omitted the bacon, and used almond milk instead of the cream and it was still so good! Thank you for sharing!
That’s awesome! Thank you.
Soooooo good!!!!!!!!!
Do u think I could use beef broth instead of chicken?
I think it’ll work. The taste will probably be slightly different but it should taste fine.
Made this for dinner last night for our first cold front in South Texas and we loved it!! Boyfriend said 10 out of 10 and requested it once a week! Thanks so much for this easy recipe! I decided to use a bag of steam-able cauliflower to cut down on some of the time and some Italian chicken sausage and it was so yummy!
That’s awesome! Thank you.
This is delicious and perfect to warm your soul on a cold night. My whole family loved it. I followed the recipe exactly except using 16 oz of sausage since that is what I bought. Added red pepper flakes at the end for the adults.
Thank you!
Made this with spicy chorizo and otherwise as written. I was skeptical, but totally converted. Delicious and I will pass on to my family and friends.
Thank you! I appreciate that.
Just made this for my wife. Delicious !! Thanks for this recipe
That’s great! Thank you.