Is anyone throwing fresh tomatoes, zucchini, or carrots at you? Or are produce prices great at the local grocery right now?
Make this soup from late summer’s bounty; people will think it took forever and that you are gooood. There’s several versions of this recipe, but this one is idiot-proof, quick to prepare and tastes superb, hence, my kind of cooking.
Crockpot Italian Sausage Soup:
Prep time: About 20 minutes
Cooking time: 6-8 hours in crockpot on High
Servings: About 8
Ingredients
Use a Crockpot Liner! You’ll love the outcome!
• 1 pound Italian sausage (I love HOT SPICY kind), casings removed
• 2 cups chopped onion any kind
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 5-6 cups beef broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup red wine (optional, but I think it adds nice flavor)
• 4 large tomatoes – normal people skin, seed, and do all that stuff. No way. Tomato skins don’t bug me. I just hack them up as God made them.
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves if you can get them (or 1/2 tablespoon dried basil)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
Optional: sometimes I add tortellini pasta to crockpot during the last time. That’s good, too, and makes a heavier meal.
Directions
1. In electric skillet, brown the sausage, smashing it into small chunks.
2. Remove sausage and drain on paper towel: leave about 1 tablespoon of drippings in skillet
3. Throw drained sausage in crockpot.
4. Sauté onions and garlic in electric skillet until clear (don’t burn!)
5. Stir in beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Throw entire mixture in crockpot.
6. Cook in Crockpot for 5-7 hours on low (but high’s fine, too)
7. Skim fat from the soup.
8. Stir in zucchini.
*Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes if you like.
Serve with fresh garden salad, great loaf of bread, and a bottle of wine, if you’re so inclined.
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese on each serving.
Happy tales, enjoy the last few days of summer, and let me know what you think about this soup. I LOVE this stuff!
Patti
Patti F.
Hi Ellie, I’m so glad your soup turned out well…so did mine! I threw rice in,instead of pasta. You can really play with this; you’ll eventually end up with your own recipe. And it is perfect for the winter ahead, as you pointed out.
Happy tales,
Patti
Ellie
Hi again Patti,
I made the soup last night and it turned out great! We used spicy sausage and put the zucchini in about an hour before it was done. We also added the noodles. This will be a great soup for the cold months. Great recipe! 🙂
Patti F.
Hi Ellie, so funny you should write! I am making this exact same thing tomorrow! Regarding the zucchini: I love my zucchini crunchy, but just a little soft. I throw my zucchini in about an hour or two before I want to serve dinner. My friend likes her zucchini so soft you’d never know it was once a solid, so she adds her zucchini at the beginning, along with everything else (tomatoes, carrots, etc.).
I’l love to hear how it turns out for you!
Happy tales, Patti
Ellie
I want to try making this over the weekend but I don’t know how long to cook the zucchini. When do you throw them in?