Sausage and Spinach Soup with Pasta

Simple Sausage Spinach Soup – Perfect Comfort Food

This hearty sausage, bean, conchiglie pasta, and spinach soup is the perfect comfort food for chilly days. Packed with rich flavors and satisfying textures, it’s an ideal recipe for family dinners or meal prep for the week.

The base of this soup starts with savory sausage, which adds a bold, smoky flavor that pairs beautifully with tender white beans and earthy spinach. The conchiglie, or shell pasta, brings a unique shape that holds the broth, ensuring every spoonful is delicious.

Not only is this soup incredibly flavorful, but it’s also packed with nutrients. The beans provide plant-based protein and fiber, the spinach brings an array of vitamins and minerals, and the sausage gives it that extra heartiness we crave during the cooler months.

This soup is easy to make, coming together in just one pot for minimal cleanup. Whether new to cooking or a seasoned chef, this recipe will become a staple in your kitchen. Serve it with crusty bread, and you have a soul-warming meal that’s sure to please. Enjoy this cozy, nourishing soup that’s as delightful as it is wholesome.

I Grew Up On Canned Soups

I grew up on canned soups and have nothing wrong to say about them. My kids love the new “Sponge Bob” Campbell varieties, but homemade soup is not comparable to any commercial brand on the market.

Once you taste a homemade soup like the one I will show you how to make, all the commercial brands start to taste the same. Funny how that is.

This weekend, we invited our new neighbors over for a short-notice get-together to introduce them to another local couple. After a long week, we wanted to keep it simple and serve something casual, and I couldn’t wait to try making this soup. With some simple appetizers to start, green salad, a baguette of French bread, and this soup, the dinner party was a hit.

Conchiglie Pasta

Conchiglie, also known as "shell pasta," is a type of pasta shaped like small seashells. Its unique, rounded shape with a hollow center makes it perfect for holding onto sauces, broths, and ingredients in soups, casseroles, and pasta dishes.

Conchiglie comes in various sizes, from small (ideal for soups) to large (often stuffed and baked). The shell-like form and ridges help it capture the flavors of any sauce or broth, making each bite full of taste and texture. It's commonly used in Italian cooking and pairs well with rich, hearty dishes like sausage and bean soups or creamy cheese sauces.

If you don't have conchiglie on hand, several other pasta shapes can work well as substitutes, especially those that can capture sauces or blend well in soups. Here are a few good alternatives:

1. Orecchiette – Similar in shape, orecchiette has a "little ear" shape that can also hold onto sauces and small ingredients.
2. Farfalle (Bow-Tie Pasta) – While not hollow, its wide surface and creases make it a good option for thicker soups or casseroles.
3. Ditalini – Small, tube-shaped pasta perfect for soups and mimics conchiglie’s ability to hold broth and ingredients.
4. Elbow Macaroni – A classic substitute, macaroni works well in most soups and holds sauces nicely.
5. Cavatappi – Spiral-shaped pasta that captures sauces and is hearty enough for soups and casseroles.

Al Dente

"Al dente" is an Italian term that translates to "to the tooth" or "to the bite" in English. It refers to the ideal texture of cooked pasta, rice, or vegetables, cooked just enough to retain firmness and slight resistance when bitten.

When pasta, for example, is cooked al dente, it should be tender but firm to the bite, with a slight resistance in the center. Overcooking pasta can lead to a mushy texture while undercooking can produce a complex and chewy consistency. Achieving the al dente texture is optimal in Italian cuisine, as it enhances the mouthfeel and overall enjoyment of the dish.

Al dente is a crucial concept in cooking, especially when preparing dishes like pasta, risotto, and vegetables, where texture plays a significant role in the culinary experience.

📖 Recipe

Print Recipe

Sausage and Spinach Soup with Pasta

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10 servings

Ingredients

• 2½ pounds Italian sausage I prefer mild or sometimes called sweet
• 1 large yellow onion
• 4 large carrots
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 quarts chicken stock homemade or your favorite low salt commercial brand
• 30 ounces fresh tomatoes diced although I prefer to use canned tomatoes this time of year
• 30 ounces cannellini beans cooked or great northern, black, pinto or a combination. - For this recipe, I suggest using canned beans. Really shortens the prep time down.
• 14 ounce bag spinach triple washed
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil chopped or 1 tablespoon dried
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
• 12 ounces Conchiglie pasta also called shell pasta – go with the medium sized
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• I like to have the ingredients prepped before I start. You need to remove the sausage from the sausage casings. You can do this before you start or just as you begin to prepare this soup. It’s easy. I asked my youngest daughter to help me remove the sausage and she had a blast.
• Peel and chop the onion, carrots and garlic. This is a soup with a lot of texture so you don’t have to chop it too fine. Really depends on your own preferences.
• If you are using dried beans, you won’t be making this soup until tomorrow. You have to soak dried beans overnight and then cook them. If you are using canned beans, open them up and rinse them off in a colander.
• If you are using fresh spinach, wash and dry it in a salad spinner and remove any tough stems.
• Grate the cheese and chop the fresh basil and put on a pot of water to cook the pasta.
• Start with the sausage. Heat a large soup or stockpot over medium high heat and brown the sausage until it is cooked through. Using a wooden spoon, break up any large chunks of sausage. This should take about 10 minutes.
• At the same time you are cooking the sausage, start heating up the water for pasta. The trick is to have the pasta cooked and ready to go just as the soup is ready to serve. Depending on your stove and where you live the water takes 5 to 10 minutes to boil and then another 8 to 10 minutes to cook the pasta al dente.
• A lot of fat will come from the sausage so I like to pour off most of it before adding the onions, carrots and garlic. Be sure to stir this combination while it is cooking so the ingredients don’t burn and stick to the bottom of the pan. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for five minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes, beans and dried basil if you are not using fresh. Otherwise, wait until the end to add the fresh basil.
• Simmer the soup for another 10 minutes and then add the spinach and fresh basil. Cook for about a minute until the spinach wilts.
• Take a spoonful of soup and taste for seasoning. Be sure to let the soup cool in the spoon before you taste otherwise it will be too hot for your taste buds to figure out what it needs. Season with salt and pepper.
• Spoon some pasta into your serving bowls, ladle in some soup and top with the grated Parmesan cheese. I like to serve some extra cheese in a separate bowl on the side for those who want more.
• Serve with some French or Italian bread and you have yourself an incredible meal.

Some of My Favorite Soup Recipes