Let your Slow Cooker or Instant Pot do all the work for you in this flavorful soup packed with veggies and sausage! So easy with very little prep time.
I absolutely love my Instant Pot. Do you have one yet? I use it often on super busy days when I don’t have time to even start and prep my slow cooker. Recently my girlfriend was telling me she loves her slow cooker, but she doesn’t even think about dinner until like 6:00. By then it’s too late to start dinner in the slow cooker! I told her the Instant Pot is the answer to that First World Problem. Take, for example, this soup. From start to finish it took less than 30 minutes. It also properly cooked the vegetables, something that would take at least an hour on the stovetop. Best of all, LOW MAINTENANCE!!!!!
No worries if you only have a Slow Cooker, I’ve given you directions for that too. But perhaps the Instant Pot makes it’s way on to your Christmas list or birthday list?? Here is the one that I use and LOVE. Now let’s talk about this super easy and yummy soup……
I have another variation of this soup in the Slow Cooker that I also love: Slow Cooker Sausage and Tortellini Soup with Kale. It’s one of my most popular recipes, but I often get people to ask me how to adapt the recipe to certain dietary restrictions. So I’ve replaced the tortellini with sweet potatoes and mushrooms, and this soup is white wine based without tomatoes. It’s ridiculously yummy. The fresh herbs and white wine provide a ton of flavor. I also have to talk a bit about the kale. You may know that I don’t love kale, but I love to mix up my nutrients and throw it in soup. Even if you’re a kale hater, TRY IT HERE!!! It’s yummy mixed in this soup. Fresh kale works best, and add it toward the end of cooking so it doesn’t get too mushy.
You can top with parmesan cheese if that’s not restricted for you; my kids go nuts in the cheese department. We actually had plenty of leftovers for lunch for a few days which is an added bonus!!
I hope you enjoy!!
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Slow Cooker (or Instant Pot) Sausage, Kale, and Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground turkey or pork sausage
- 1 medium white onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large sweet potatoes skinned and chopped
- 10 oz sliced mushrooms
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup dry white wine*
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1 tsp sea salt plus extra to taste
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 3 cups roughly chopped kale
- 2 tbsp freshly chopped thyme optional
Instructions
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For the Instant Pot:
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Select the saute function on your instant pot. Let it heat up (about 2 minutes). Add olive oil to coat the pot, and toss in ground sausage. Cook until almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic. Cook for another 3-4 minutes.
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Add sweet potatoes, mushrooms, chicken broth, wine, vinegar, dried basil, salt, and pepper. Secure the lid.
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Select manual and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes. Select cancel and use a quick release.
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Open lid and add kale. Let cook with lid open for another 3-4 minutes, or until kale is softened but not wilted. Add additional salt if needed. Garnish with fresh thyme and serve.
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For the Slow Cooker:
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Heat up a large skillet to medium high heat. Coat your pan with olive oil and add sausage. Cook for 5 minutes, then add in onion and garlic and cook another 3-4 minutes.
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Place sausage mixture in your slow cooker. Add sweet potatoes, mushrooms, chicken broth, white wine, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper.
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Set your slow cooker to low and cook for 4 hours.
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At the end of 4 hours, add kale and stir. Let cook for another 10-15 minutes, or until kale has softened.
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Serve hot with fresh thyme.
Recipe Notes
*For a Whole30 approved soup, use 3/4 cup additional chicken stock with 1/4 cup white wine vinegar in place of the white wine.
Hi I was wondering what kind of wine you used?
Hi Liz, I used a dry chardonnay.
I just made this as my first instant pot meal and it turned out delicious!! It was so easy to make and I appreciate it being healthy too. Thank you for sharing your recipe with the world, which includes people like myself who not only was intimidated by the instant pot, but dislikes cooking in general. Yay!
What size Instant Pot is used with this recipe?
6 qt
Which Instant Pot setting should I select after adding the kale?
I don’t hit any button because the soup is already really hot. You could select saute, if you want to continue to cook the kale. But it’s not necessary!
Have you tried freezing this once cooked?
I haven’t, but think it would freeze well!
Can you double this recipe in a 6qt?
Yes
I tried in my 6 qt and had to do two batches. It wasn’t even close to fitting. Soup is excellent, though. Eating some now!
I made this as one of my first IP meals and it was delicious. Maybe a little too much Apple Cider Vinegar for my taste, but I will adjust it down next time and I think it’ll be perfect. I also added some garlic in for my own preferences 🙂 It made so much soup we had leftovers for several meals – so this will definitely go into our winter rotation.
Thanks for the recipe!
This Sausage, Kale, and Seeet Potato recipe for the Instant Pot is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! I had 2 sweet potatoes and some kale in my refrigerator from another meal. Had Italian sausage in freezer. Since I am not on the Whole30 I used the white wine.
This may be because I cut the potatoes too small, but I should have not cooked for the 8 mins. So for anyone else that tries it I would make bigger pieces or cut down. My potatoes were way too soft. But it won’t stop us from eating!
So happy to hear this! Thanks for stopping by, Angie 🙂
Excellent soup. I made a few changes though. Instead of sweet potatoes, I used half white potatoes and half butternut squash. I also added fresh ground nutmeg at the end instead of thyme. This soup is a good staple because it’s so easy to make adaptations to it. Will keep in in my recipe file.
Can you clarify if it is 1 lb of ground turkey or 1 lb or pork sausage? Or is it 1 lb of turkey sausage or pork sausage? I have some ground turkey on hand, but if the recipe calls for turkey sausage, I’m afraid using just the ground turkey will be too bland for the soup.
It is turkey sausage or pork sausage. It does make the flavors taste better, although ground turkey could work.
Awesome recipe. Thanks.
AMAZING! Definitely making this again!!
I chose to use shiitake mushrooms and they were absolutely perfect. Next time I make it, I am going to cut my sweet potato into larger chunks because it did get kind of mushy. This recipe is fantastic though and thank you for sharing. I cant wait to make this again!
We love this soup! I’m trying to keep an eye on my calorie intake right now. How much is a serving size? 1 cup? How many calories per serving? Thanks!
This soup is so tasty! My only suggestion: I use 3 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups water instead of the 5 cups broth. I’ve found that using only broth adds a too-strong flavor that dominates the soup. The water mellows out the chicken flavor and allows the vinegar, wine and sausage flavors to stand out.
the soup was amazing in my instapot. I am watching my calories as well and would like to get nutritional info on the soup. thank you.
I just updated the recipe with the calories and nutrition facts. You can find them at the bottom of the recipe.
It was not as good as anticipated. I have made this from a much better recipe and could not find it, so tried this. It was ok
This soup is so easy to throw together and tastes like 4-star restaurant quality (or at least the overpriced $10 quart of soup you shell out for at Whole Foods!) I used homemade veggie broth instead of chicken, threw in a couple of spears of chopped celery I needed to use up and a bay leaf, used fresh basil and added the fresh thyme right into the pot. My vegetarian husband remarked how good it smelled and looked a wee bit jealous while I was eating it and my 9 year old gave it a big thumbs up. Definitely going into regular rotation! Makes a nice large portion enough to freeze for later.
This is one of the best soups I’ve ever made. So flavorful and delicious.
A sweet potato. I learned that true yams are from Africa and not at all like sweet potatoes. We have used the names interchangeably for many years here in the States. Just finished making this. What a gem! So much flavor with just a few ingredients. Thanks for sharing!!