This flavorful Italian Sausage and Black Bean Soup is the perfect soup for a cold day, best served with a side of crusty bread and butter. It’s so easy to make, requires everyday ingredients, and can be made and frozen ahead if desired!
If you’re looking for a new soup recipe that the whole family can enjoy, this one is definitely a family favorite around here. I hope yours will enjoy it as much as mine!
The inspiration for this recipe
When I was a kid, I remember my mom making something similar to this with a ham bone, white beans, and tomatoes. It was warm, comforting, and packed with tons of flavor– definitely one of my favourite meals in the winter time! In the creation of this recipe, it was those fond memories that inspired me to take what I had (pork sausage and black beans) and come out with this delicious variation. I am pleased with the results. This soup has a flavorful broth, hearty composition, and comforting outcome.
Is this Italian sausage soup easy to make?
Very much so! This is one of those “Super simple” recipes that I whip out of my back pocket when I need a quick meal. There aren’t a lot of ingredients, and those it does have don’t require a lot of work. For best results, make this recipe with quality ingredients, and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes before eating it.
The best kind of sausage to use
As you might have guessed, I use my favorite Italian sausage to get the best flavor. I often opt for mild Italian sausage, since I want to keep it not-too-hot for the kids, but a yummy spicy Italian sausage would work well for this as well. Just maybe omit the red pepper flakes if you go for the heat up front.
If you are wanting to make your soup gluten-free, just check the ingredients of your meat to make sure that it is gluten-free sausage (some types do contain gluten).
Cooking your own beans
Side note, black beans are one of my favourite legumes, and I like to keep a bag of them (dry) in the cupboard for meals like this one. The best thing about them is that so long as they’re dry, they pretty much never go bad, and they don’t take up too much space in the cupboard.
If you’ve never cooked your own beans before, you can check out This Tutorial to see my quick-cook method for dry beans!
Of course, if you prefer, you can always use canned beans with great results. Just make sure to drain and rinse the beans before adding them to the broth.
How to freeze this soup
This easy Italian sausage soup recipe can be easily made ahead and frozen in an airtight container. Make sure to leave a little extra room (about an inch from the top) for the ice to expand in the container, and I recommend choosing one with straight sides so that you can loosen the frozen soup from the container with hot water when you’re ready to eat it, place it into a large pot or dutch oven, and defrost it on the stovetop on low heat.
I like to sometimes freeze leftover soup in smaller containers (for an individual-sized serving) as an option for my husband to take to work on days when I haven’t managed to get his lunch ready ahead of time.
Ingredients:
One thing I love about this soup is that you can get so much flavor from so few simple ingredients. Here’s all that goes into this easy recipe! (Scroll down to the recipe card for specific amounts and directions.)
- Italian sausages (hot or mild, whichever you prefer)
- water
- onion (I usually use yellow onion)
- salt
- potatoes
- medium carrots
- black beans, cooked
- diced tomatoes
- fresh parsley
- bay leaves
- black pepper
- chili flakes (red pepper flakes), optional
Recipe substitutes:
Broth: This recipe uses homemade broth made from boiling the sausage in water before you make the soup. If you prefer, you can substitute the sausage broth for chicken broth (chicken stock), pork broth, beef broth, or vegetable broth. Just be aware that the rich sausage flavor will be lessened if you choose to use a different type of broth.
Sausage: It’s true, if you omit Italian sausage and use another type, this soup will no longer be “Italian sausage soup;” however, most other types of sausage will work for this recipe and still turn out delicious. Try polish sausage, salt and pepper sausages, turkey sausage, or any other type of savory sausage option. I would not recommend hot dogs or any other similar type of sausage for this recipe.
Beans: You could just as easily make this a white bean soup, navy bean soup, or nearly any other type of bean soup. Just substitute for the black beans 1:1 for your preferred bean type.
Diced tomatoes: These can be substituted for just about any other type of unseasoned tomato product. Try using tomato juice, tomato sauce, or tomato puree. If you want to use tomato paste in this recipe, mix it with water in a ratio of 3 to 1 (3 cans water, 1 can tomato paste).
Great additions:
There are a number of things you can add to this easy soup recipe to make it even more of a complete meal. Here are a few ideas, from additional seasonings to vegetables, to pasta and cheese:
- More fresh herbs (such as basil or oregano)
- Italian seasoning
- Kale
- Celery
- Leeks
- Spinach
- Green peppers
- Cabbage
- Pasta
- Cheese (such as parmesan cheese)
…I’m sure there are many more things than I can think of! Let me know in the comments what you want to add to this recipe; I’d love to hear about it!
How to serve this soup
My Italian sausage and black bean soup is the best with a fresh Homemade Roll, Mock Sourdough Bread, or Easy French Bread. Any type of crusty bread, homemade bread, or cornbread are all great sides for this cozy Italian sausage soup.
​If you want to make your soup more hearty, you can serve this homemade soup over small pasta and top it with parmesan cheese.
You will need:
- Ingredients (see recipe above)
- Medium/large heavy bottomed pot
- Cutting board
- Vegetable peeler
- Quality chef’s knife
- Paring knife
- Can opener
Italian Sausage and Black Bean Soup
I created this recipe during the quarantine days of covid-19. It's been a delicious, simple, comforting recipe to make for those long, cold days.
Ingredients
- 2 Italian sausages hot or mild, whichever you prefer
- 5 cups water
- 1 medium onion
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 sm-med potatoes washed, peeled and chopped
- 2 med carrots washed, peeled and chopped
- 2 cups black beans cooked
- 1 can diced tomatoes (1 can = 796mL or 28oz)
- 1 handful fresh parsley* washed and chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1-1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
- 1/4 tsp chili flakes optional
Instructions
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In a med-large sized pot, combine the sausages and water with about 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 of the onion. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and cook until the sausages are cooked through (about 30 minutes).
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Remove the sausages from the broth, discard the onion, and cut the sausages into small pieces. Pour the broth into a separate container.
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Chop up the remaining 3/4 of the onion and fry in a bit of oil in the base of the pot till transparent or just starting to brown. Add the broth back in, and bring it to a boil.
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Add the potatoes and carrots to the broth, and cook until just starting to soften. Now add the sausage pieces, black beans, and diced tomatoes, and the remaining ingredients. Bring the soup back to a gentle boil.
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Reduce the heat to a simmer, season to taste with salt and pepper, and allow the soup to cook 30 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Serve.
Recipe Notes
Tip: Unless I really plan how I’m going to use it, one bunch of fresh parsley is the kind of thing that’s likely to go bad in my fridge before I can use it all up. So, I just wash whatever I don’t think I’ll get a chance to use up fresh, and then I freeze it for soup! If you have a lot, just divide the washed parsley into “Handful portions,” and put it in ziplock bags for an easy addition to whatever soup you happen to make.
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I hope you enjoy this recipe! As always, if you make it please tag me on Facebook @naomicakes or Instagram @naomicakesofficial… I would love to see how yours came out!
–Naomi
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