Nothing fancy here, just an easy satisfying soup for a cold winter night. It’s hearty and healthy as well. You can swap out ingredients to suit your own taste. Spicy sausage for the chicken, spinach for kale, cannelini beans for the chickpeas etc. I added the red lentils because they cook quickly and give body to the soup.Make this a day ahead because we all know soups like this taste better the second day. Shred a little Parmesan on top and pair with an arugula and radicchio salad, some crusty bread for a quick satisfying meal.
Sausage, Kale and Chickpea Soup
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
- ½ t smoked paprika
- 1 t ground cumin
- ½ t ground coriander
- ¼ t sumac
- 4 c low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1/3 c red lentils
- ½ t dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 8 ounces of fully cooked chicken sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4-5 cups chopped kale
Directions
- In a Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and spices and cook, stirring occasionally so the garlic doesn’t get brown, about 2 minutes more.
- Add broth, diced tomatoes, lentils, thyme, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chickpeas and cook for 10 more minutes.
- Remove the bay leaves and pour 2-3 cups of the soup, depending how thick you want it, into a bowl and purée with a hand blender until smooth. Return the puréed soup to the pot and stir.
- Add sausage and kale and simmer until the kale is wilted and the soup is hot.
- Ladle soup into bowls and serve.
