Vegan Zuppa Toscano-Style Potato, Kale & Sausage Soup for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

My niece had a beautiful baby girl last week and my sister mentioned that she made a crock pot full of Zuppa Toscano soup to take over to the new little family. That sounded really good because although I stopped buying and cooking meat at home a few years ago, sausage is the meat I miss the most. Also we have had rainy day after rainy day, this week with many areas of the islands flooding, and the wet weather seemed like the perfect time to make a vegan version of the Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscano Soup.

I had a coupon for a couple of dollars off Beyond Sausage and had yet to try their links. I bought the Sweet Italian one (see link in the recipe below) and at first assumed I would need to have sausage slices in my soup, but thawing and slicing the frozen links made it easy to break apart into crumbles that got slightly crispy when cooked. The other thing I did instead of making a roux to thicken the soup was use some dehydrated potato flakes (I used Bob's Red Mill brand but any one will do). Quicker and gives the soup some extra potato flavor. I used non-chicken soup base and coconut milk--although any veggie stock and non-dairy milk will work. 

Vegan Zuppa Toscano-Style Potato, Kale & Sausage Soup

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about 6 Large Servings)

2 Tbsp olive oil

14-16 oz package of vegan sausage (I used this Beyond Sausage Sweet Italian one), links sliced

2 large onions, diced

4-5 large cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp celery seeds

1/2 tsp smoked paprika + more for topping

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste

6 cups non-chicken stock

1 can coconut milk or 1 1/2 cups other non-dairy milk

3/4 cup - 1 cup dried potato flakes

5-6 small Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into 1 1/2-inch cubes

2 heaping cups kale leaves , stems removed & chopped

sea salt to taste

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the sliced vegan sausage links and break them apart with a wooden spoon or spatula. Allow the sausage to brown, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes, or until it gets a little crispy. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the same stock pot and add the onions over medium heat. cook until onions are soft and translucent and starting to brown, about 7-9 minutes. Add the garlic, fennel seeds, celery seed, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper flakes and black pepper and cook for an additional minute.

Pour in the stock and coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice) and bring to a boil. Stir in the potato flakes and whisk until smooth and soup starts to thicken. Stir in the potatoes, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook about 15-20 minutes until potatoes are fork-tender. 

Add the kale and almost all of the cooked vegan sausage (you can leave out a little to top the soup with) and return soup to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes, until kale is softened and flavors are blended. Taste and add salt and additional pepper as desired.

Ladle into bowls and serve topped with remaining vegan sausage, black pepper and smoked paprika as desired. Enjoy!

Notes/Results: Rich, thick, creamy and delicious with great sausage-y flavor. I find this soup is pretty close to the original with much less saturated fat of course, and I think carnivores wouldn't suspect it is vegan. If you want it spicier, you can add additional crushed red pepper flakes or use a spicy vegan sausage, but I found this one just right for me. It hit the spot on a rainy weekend and will work great for lunches next week. I would happily make it again. 

Let's see who is here in the Souper Sundays kitchen this week: 

Crafty Gardener is here with Onion Soup saying, "Onion soup is one that I rarely make as onions and my digestive system aren’t the best of friends. I had purchased a veggie box/basket which included a 3 lb bag of onions as well as all sorts of other veggies. Others in my family love onion soup so that was what I made. ... This soup is traditionally made with beef stock, however I chose to use two kinds of broth, beef and vegetable so both the meat eaters and vegetarians in the family would be able to enjoy this soup."

Thank you to Crafty Gardener for joining me this week!

 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy, healthy week!