Slow Cooker (or Instant Pot) Sausage, Kale, and Sweet Potato Soup

Let your Slow Cooker or Instant Pot do all the work for you in this flavorful soup packed with veggies, fresh herbs, sausage, and a flavorful broth with white wine! So easy with less than 15 minutes of prep time!

A cozy and hearty soup loaded with veggies and flavor is exactly the recipe to make to revitalize your spirits. Feeling run down? This soup will lift your spirits! Feeling all the nostalgia on a chilly night by the fire? This soup is here to make you happy. If you’re somewhere in between, this Sausage, Sweet Potato, and Kale Soup is here to tip the scale in your favor.

As a nutritionist, I love nothing more than soup recipes. Soups provide us with that feeling of fullness without being heavy, and are generally loaded with nutrients from vegetables and protein. I particularly love this soup and the addition of fresh herbs to boost those extra minerals!

The additional flavor boosters in here (white wine and sausage), are also perfect to elevate this soup to a more sophisticated restaurant level. The best part? It’s breezy 15 minute prep time and hands off approach with the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker allows us to spend more time doing things we love!

How to make Sausage, Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

Here are the ingredients you will need:

• Cooking oil
• Yellow onion
• Sliced mushrooms
• Ground sausage (turkey or pork)
• Garlic cloves
• Sweet Potatoes
• Chicken broth
• White wine
• Apple cider vinegar
• Dried basil
• Chopped kale
• Fresh thyme

I love the hands off approach with the Instant Pot and Slow Cooker. We do start off by sauteeing the onion and mushrooms. We’ll then toss in the sausage and cook until mostly cooked through. At this point, let your appliance do the work!

We’ll toss in the remaining ingredients (with the exception of the kale) into your Instant Pot. Or if using the slow cooker, transfer the sausage, onion, and mushrooms to the slow cooker. Toss in remaining ingredients (no kale), and cover with the lid.

Once cook time is complete, add the kale and let sit for about 10 minutes before serving with fresh thyme.

Adaptations and Ingredient swaps:

• Tortellini version: 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 and that’s why I created this version.
• White wine: The wine provides a ton of flavor! It is probably my favorite ingredient. But, you can omit and just add in additional broth along with some white wine vinegar.
• Kale: 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. Otherwise, you can omit altogether or use spinach it it’s place.
• Sweet Potatoes: the sweet potatoes can be replaced with regular white potatoes, or for a low carb and Keto variation use cauliflower.
• Sausage: It’s definitely okay to use turkey or pork sausage in this soup
• Parmesan cheese: You can top with parmesan cheese if that’s not restricted for you; my kids go nuts in the cheese department. 

Serving, Storing and re-heating

• Serving: serve hot with additional fresh herbs, crushed red pepper for a spicy variation, and maybe even parmesan cheese! I love this soup with one of my favorite salads: Easy House Salad or a fall salad like my Apple Slaw with Toasted Pecan Vinaigrette.
• Storing: store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Please note, the kale and sweet potatoes will tend to get mushy after re-heating. I would not recommend freezing because of this!
• Re-heat: on the stove over medium low heat.

If you make this soup, I would love to have you leave a review below! Or feel free to tag me on Instagram @wholesomelicious with your creation!

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Slow Cooker (or Instant Pot) Sausage, Kale, and Sweet Potato Soup

Let your Slow Cooker or Instant Pot do all the work for you in this flavorful Sausage, Kale and Sweet Potato Soup packed with veggies, fresh herbs, sausage, and a flavorful broth with white wine! So easy with very little prep time.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 278 kcal

Author Amy Rains

4.95 from 17 votes

Print

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

1. For the Instant Pot:
2. 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.
3. Add sweet potatoes, mushrooms, chicken broth, wine, vinegar, dried basil, salt, and pepper. Secure the lid.
4. Select manual and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes. Select cancel and use a quick release.
5. 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.
6. For the Slow Cooker:
7. 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.
8. Place sausage mixture in your slow cooker. Add sweet potatoes, mushrooms, chicken broth, white wine, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper.
9. Set your slow cooker to low and cook for 4 hours.
10. At the end of 4 hours, add kale and stir. Let cook for another 10-15 minutes, or until kale has softened.
11. 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.

Calories 278kcal

Fat 11g

Saturated fat 2g

Cholesterol 56mg

Sodium 1595mg

Potassium 900mg

Carbohydrates 18g

Fiber 2g

Sugar 3g

Protein 19g

Vitamin A 9660%

Vitamin C 63.3%

Calcium 117%

Iron 3.1%