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
Wow! I added mushrooms, four blend (Mexican) cheese and a yellow bell pepper because our family loves vegetables and cheese. I did use almond milk as a substitute. It was so delicious and filled us up. Great recipe!
Just finished making this soup & it’s so, sooooo delicious! (: Normally, I would have used half & half but I didn’t have any on hand. So, I used full fat coconut milk (as per your suggestion) & you’re right! You can’t even tell! God willing, I’ll make it again in the (near) future! (:
Delicious
First of all I want to say thank you so much for this wonderful delicious recipe. A few days ago I decided to stay away from meats for a little while due to health issues. But when I found this recipe I decided to do it with out the meat and I have to say it came out so good!!!! Sense I wasn’t going to add meat I added some smoked paprika to the recipe and it turn out so so good!!! After I garnished it with some croutons for extra crunch and a drizzle of chili crunch. Best soup I’ve had in a long time it also hit the comfort spot. This soup will be in constant rotation in my house from now on. Thank you so very much!!!! 😊
Fabulous soup! Perfect on a winter night. Came together quickly and really wonderful. I didn’t have bacon on hand and it’s still so yummy!
Thank you for this nourishing and delicious recipe! It was super easy to make and came together quickly. I also appreciate you including the various dietary substitutions so that we can customize it for our specific needs.
I see it says it has 15 carbs, but not what the serving size is. Do you know? Wondering if I can lessen the carbs a bit.
Hi Courtney…I do not have a specific serving amount. I’ll be approximately 1/6 of the recipe if that helps at all!
This was very easy and delicious. Hard to imagine it packs so much flavor with minimal ingredients.
Is this keto? Seems like it would be
It’s low carb but I can’t answer with certainty whether it’s keto or not.
My husband and I really enjoyed this soup! We did substitute chorizo for the Italian sausage and it was amazing. Highly recommend. We will make it again.
My son’s favorite! I’ve frozen it no problem. Not exact the same texture but still very good! Day after it tastes even better!!
I have been using this recipe for years and it’s an amazing healthy option that still feels rich and cozy. To make it even healthier I usually skip the half and half all together, or just drip in a little whole milk to get it to the right consistency, and it’s still incredible.
To take it to the next level, drizzle some olive oil on top when serving. I promise it will totally elevate it!
Thank you for the tip! So glad you’re enjoying this soup.
Made this for the first time . Rather than mild sausage I used hot and didn’t have bacon on hand so used the real precooked bacon in bag. This soup is so delicious I can’t even tell you. Will definitely be making again ! Yum yum 😋
I love this recipe, my husband has no idea he’s eating cauliflower! Can this be made in a pressure cooker?
Can’t wait to enjoy! The serving size for the nutritional info wasn’t noted…can you please let me know? Thanks!
Hi Selena: It’s approx 1.5 cups
This recipe was so yummy. My family loved it. Frankly, it’s so creamy that you don’t even realize puréed cauliflower.
I love this recipe-thanks for sharing. It is easy enough for a weeknight and it’s so good. I use plant based sausage and it’s great. A three season favorite around here.
Thank you for adding the nutrition amounts per serving. Any chance you have the fiber nutrition data per serving to add?
Hi Tracy: At this time, we only have nutrition information for what’s already included. There are many online calculators that you can plug in the ingredients and it’ll give you an estimate. Hope that helps!
I absolutely love this recipe. I could not find my immersion blender so I ended up. Just really cooking down the cauliflower. This taste better to me than olive gardens zuppa Tuscana. I did end up using 48 ounces of chicken broth due to cooking down the cauliflower. It was delicious and I can’t wait to reheat it tomorrow for lunch.