This amazing Italian Sausage and Pasta soup recipe is just the right meal for these chilly autumn days! And it makes more than enough to feed a crowd!!
The best part of lake life are the lake friends you meet! This recipe was served and shared by a lake neighbor, and I’m so happy to be able to share it with you. We were hooked from the first bite!
Serve it with a side of crusty garlic bread and maybe a salad and you’ll have the perfect meal!
Not only is this soup savory and scrumptious, it all cooks up in just one pot, making clean up easy!!! It’s a “One Pot Wonder!”
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Ingredients in the Italian Sausage and Pasta Soup
The sausage in this soup is the kind of sausages you’ll find next to the brats in your grocery’s meat section. It’s not the ground Italian sausage that some recipes call for. Instead it’s the sausages that come 5-6 to a pack or pound.
You can use mild, medium, or hot Italian sausages depending on the zip you want to add to this easy soup recipe! I like to mix and match!!
You’ll also need ½ of a large onion, about 10 cups low sodium chicken broth, ½ pound (1/2 box) uncooked Rigatoni pasta (you’ll cook it later!), 1 pint half & half dairy creamer, 1-2 bags of spinach leaves, and at least a cup of shredded or grated parmesan cheese.
Making the Italian Sausage and Pasta Soup
Did I mention that the absolute best part about making this Italian Sausage and Pasta Soup is that it all cooks up in the same soup pot! There’s no clean up other than a few utensils and a cutting board!
Step 1
Use a sharp knife or kitchen shears and cut the Italian sausages into about ½ inch slices. You don’t need to measure the slices, just eyeball it!
In a large, uncovered soup pot cook the sausage slices for about 7-8 minutes over medium/high heat until they’re nicely browned on all sides. Stir frequently as the sausage browns. I like it nice and brown, even with some of it seared! Maybe it’s just me but I think a little dark brown adds to the flavor of the soup, lol!
While the sausage is browning chop up about ½ of a large onion. You can add more onion if you’d like, it’s up to your taste!
Add the chopped onion to the browned sausage and continue to cook uncovered over medium/high heat for about 2 more minutes. Stir frequently to combine the onion and the sausage.
The entire step 1 process takes about 10 minutes. When the onions start to become a bit translucent carefully drain off the fat.
Step 2
To the browned sausage slices and cooked onions add in the chicken broth. Continue to cook over medium/high heat to bring the broth to a boil.
You can put the cover on the pot to get to the boiling point a bit faster, but be careful to watch so the soup doesn’t boil over the sides of the pot. I just leave the cover off and enjoy the process so I don’t have to worry about a potential mess to clean off the stove. Patience is a virtue, live and learn, lol!
Add in the pasta to the boiling broth. Stir frequently and continue to cook over medium/high heat until the pasta is al dente! That’s a fancy word for the pasta still being a bit firm when you’d bite into it.
This step 2 takes about 12-13 minutes all together, depending how long it takes for the broth to boil!
Step 3
As the pasta cooks you can chop up the spinach and remove the stems if you choose. Honestly, I skip this part and add the spinach right out of the bag. I love spinach!! But if you’d like to eat little pieces of it in the soup then chop it up.
Reduce the heat to low and add in the 1-2 bags of spinach. Cover and let it wilt for about 2 minutes. Stir it all together!
Still on low, add the half & half and then add in the parmesan cheese. Stir it up!
Continue to stir occasionally while allowing the soup to simmer about 10 more minutes.
You can also simmer and keep the soup warm in your slow cooker!
Serve it up!
You don’t need to add any other spices to the Italian Sausage and Pasta soup, the sausage provides such great flavor. But you can certainly sprinkle pepper, parsley or more parmesan cheese when you serve up the soup if you’d like.
I like to serve this soup with some crusty garlic bread.
You can also add a salad for a full soup and salad meal. Honestly, this soup gets even more tasty on day 2, if you have any leftover! But it also gets thicker too so be prepared to thin it with a little milk or additional chicken broth if needed.
Godere (enjoy)!!!
Italian Sausage and Pasta Soup
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds Italian Sausage (mild, medium and/or hot) cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/2 large onion chopped
- 10 cups low sodium chicken broth can add extra if desired
- 1/2 pound Rigatoni pasta can add more if desired, the pasta expands in the overnight leftovers
- 1-2 bags spinach chopped and stems removed, if desired
- 1 pint half & half dairy creamer
- 1+ cup parmesan cheese grated or shredded
Instructions
- Heat sausage a few minutes to brown, stirring.
- Add onion and cook a few more minutes, stirring together.
- It takes about 10 minutes to cook the sausage and onions. Drain off fat.
- Add chicken broth, bring it to a boil.
- Add pasta and cook al dente, about 8 minutes more. Stir occasionally.
- Add spinach. Cover and wait about 2 minutes. Spinach will wilt down in volume!
- Add half & half and parmesan cheese. Stir together and simmer over low heat until the soup is thickened a bit, about 10 more minutes.
- The soup will be really thick on day 2. Add more chicken broth or milk to thin it if desired, or eat it like a pasta dish.
- Enjoy!!!
