Potato Leek Soup with Italian Sausage
Warm up with this super cozy and satisfying potato leek soup with Italian sausage.
While I never cared for soup when I was young, I’m doing my best to make up for it now. And luckily, my kids aren’t following in my footsteps— they love soup!
Soup season has begun (hooray!) and we’re all welcoming it with open arms. When it’s rainy, snowy or chilly outside, few things are more warming than a bowl of soup. And this hearty soup packed with winter veggies like potatoes, carrots, and leeks with Italian sausage is just the thing!
Not only is it flavorful, delicious, and filled with healthy ingredients, but like most soups it’s also easy to make. Add this potato, leek and sausage soup for your meal plan this week I know you’ll love it as much as we do!
Table of Contents
- Ingredients you’ll need
- Make it your own
- How to make this potato, leek and sausage soup
- Slow cooker instructions
- Serving suggestions
- Get the recipe
- More soup recipes
Ingredients you’ll need
Make it your own
I love this recipe as written, but feel free to play around and customize it however you like. This soup very adaptable!
Variation suggestions:
- You can use sweet/mild or spicy Italian sausage, breakfast/country sausage, or even a sliced kielbasa sausage.
- Add whatever veggies you already have or prefer. Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli or kale would also be delicious in this soup.
- If you’re in the mood for something creamier, swap some of the broth for more cream or milk and add some parmesan cheese.
- This recipe calls for white wine, but you can easily leave it out.
Just be sure you have some crusty bread on the side for dunking, that part is non-negotiable.
How to make this potato, leek and sausage soup
- Brown the Italian sausage. Cook sausage in a large pot over medium high heat until cooked all the way through. Let it brown and caramelize before stirring, as those brown bits add big flavor. Transfer browned sausage to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Sauté the veggies. Add chopped leeks and carrots to the pan along with a little olive oil or butter and cook until slightly softened and lightly browned. Stir in minced garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
- Add broth, wine and cook potatoes. Add the chicken broth and wine to the pot, along with chopped potatoes, bay leaf, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are tender.
- Finish with cream and thyme. When potatoes are ready, stir in milk or heavy cream, return the sausage back to the pot and add thyme.
- Keep warm until ready to serve. Serve immediately, or keep warm over low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf before serving.
Slow cooker instructions
If you’d prefer to cook this soup in the slow cooker, you definitely can! I still recommend browning sausage and vegetables as it will produce the best flavor, but once you’ve done that, add all ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours, until potatoes are fork tender.
Serving suggestions
This soup is a complete meal-in-one, but if you’re interested in adding a side dish or garnish, here are a few suggestions:
- Pick up a store-bought loaf of artisan or sourdough bread.
- Make a batch of easy biscuits or white dinner rolls.
- Serve a salad on the side.
- Top the soup with croutons, more fresh herbs, or a scoop of plain Greek yogurt for an added flair and flavor.
Get the recipe
This recipe was originally published December 2016.
Potato Leek Soup with Italian Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian sausage , spicy or mild
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 stalks leeks , white and light green parts only, chopped
- 2 medium carrots , chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 4-5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 cup dry white wine , see Notes
- 1 lb potatoes , chopped (3-4 medium)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme , stems removed
- Salt and pepper , to taste
- ½ cup milk or cream
Instructions
- In a large pot brown sausage over medium high heat until cooked all the way through, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer sausage to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.
- Add olive oil, leeks, and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
- Add the broth, wine, potatoes, bay leaf, thyme, and more salt and pepper. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes. Return the sausage to the pot and stir in the milk or cream.
- Serve with crusty bread, or as desired.
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days. The soup is even better the next day!
Notes
- Any dry (not sweet) white wine ,such as Sauvingnon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, will be fine in this recipe. If you prefer to not cook with wine, simply leave it out and increase broth to 5-6 cups.
- Gold/Yukon potatoes are my favorite for this recipe because of their buttery flavor and creamy texture. If using russet potatoes, peel them before chopping.
- I prefer the flavor of fresh thyme in this recipe, but 1 teaspoon of dried thyme can be used instead.
I could eat soup 24/7 almost all the time, but especially now that it’s so cold! This soup looks so hearty and has so many ingredients that I love…it’s the perfect comfort food!
Annalise,
Definitely wine. Or beer, since we always have some in the fridge. Me too on the soup–always an easy dinner!
Oooh, beer would be wonderful in this soup too. Thanks Letty!
We’re still enjoying a mild winter here, but I’ve definitely broken out the blankets and soup! I love how hearty this soup is! I used to hate soup because I felt it wasn’t very filling but this soup has so many great ingredients in it and is very meal worthy!
I used to be the same way! Now I just think my former self was crazy. Soup is the best winter meal! Thanks for the comment, Izzy. 🙂
I’m all about soup these days. We’ve had a similar weather thing going on here. It had been pretty nice and then like 3 days ago – BAM – it got cold and we had our first snow. I wasn’t emotionally ready for that. Lol. I definitely need this hearty soup!
I love potato and leek soup!! Why have I never thought to add sausage?!!! Love it
Soup is the BEST this time of year! I know what you mean about the weather! We traveled for 2 weeks for Thanksgiving and when we came back it was like winter had hit with fury! I love it though…it means Christmas is here! 😉
This looks so yummy and cozy! And I love that it’s sort of a template for all sorts of delicious winter soups. I bet sweet potatoes would be super great thrown in there – especially with some spicy sausage!
Love the idea of adding sweet potato! Thanks Hannah! 🙂
As usual, you knocked it out of the park with this one! So delicious and perfect for the cold weather we’re getting in SLC. 😉 Thanks Annalise!!
This soup is delicious! I’ve made potato leek soup before but the addition of the Italian sausage and more veggies really makes it a hit. Thank you!
I made this soup tonight and it was fantastic. Because of the quarantine, I wasn’t able to get my favorite brand of chicken broth so I added a bouillon cube to give more chicken flavor. Otherwise it was perfect and I will make it again.
Just must this. So good. Didn’t have Yukon but we did have red potatoes on hand. Wanted something a bit thicker so we blended most of the potatoes and some broth. Will make this dozens of times I can be sure.
I love the idea of blending some potatoes with broth to make it creamier, BRILLIANT! I’m going to try that next time. Thanks for the feedback, and I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe.
So Deliciously Warming.
Love this soup. Nice change with the carrots and Italian sausage added to Potato leek soup. I also added kale because I wanted color and I had a few leaves left over.
This soup is delicious! I added a little celery, because why not? Also, do yourself a favor and put half of it in a blender before you add the sausage…it makes it delectably creamy!
Thanks for the feedback, Jordyn! Love the suggestions.
The soup was delicious. I used less than a pound of sweet sausage. Followed the suggestion to purée some of the soup. I wish the recipe had a measurement for the leeks. As they come in so many sizes. Also next time I will cut the potatoes smaller. I used dried thyme & it was very good. Didn’t use wine because I didn’t have any on hand so I bumped up the broth. Next time I will use a bit more broth as soup was very thick before I added the cream. But as said it was so yummy!!
Wonderful thou I did not add milk or cream but tossed in some parm reg pieces, & used hot Italian sausage (minus most of the fat pieces). This is a solid recipe that permits customization to your own preferences in terms of the amount of preferred vegetables, wine, broth, & even some water! I also added turmeric.