BACK TO ALL RECIPES

Tuscan Sausage, Bean, and Kale Soup

Eric Wolfinger

BY The Editors

PUBLISHED December 17, 2025

A traditional zuppa Toscana is already hearty, meant to fortify the peasants who first made it. This is a supercharged version with a ton of sausage in it. I make this around twelve times a year. I love it. My kid loves it. It hits every note you want it to hit. The pork fat renders, imbuing the soup with flavor, while the beans add a creamy texture and the kale adds loads of nutritional content. But this soup is more about the liquid-to-solid ratio than it is about any specific ingredients. So I officially give you agency to fuck with this recipe. Don’t have kale? Use escarole or spinach or Swiss chard or whatever you can. Want less lemon? OK! It took me three or four times making this soup to get the balance I like. Bring it to a friend. Take it to a grandparent. It’s an instant friendship soup. – David Nayfeld

 

The following may contain affiliate links for which we earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting us in this way!
Print

Tuscan Sausage, Bean, and Kale Soup

Prevent your screen from going dark

Makes 3 quarts (2.8L); serves 8 to 10 1x

Time 40 minutes

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (120ml) extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound (450g) Italian sausages, casings removed
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 medium carrots, diced (Try to get carrots with their greens attached. The tops make great handles for little hands to hold while peeling.)
  • 4 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 1 bunch lacinato (Tuscan) kale (10 ounces/285g), thick stems removed, leaves roughly chopped
  • 2 (12.7-ounce/360g) jars Italian corona beans, undrained
  • 1 (28-ounce/794g) can whole peeled tomatoes
  • 2 quarts (1.9L) chicken stock, store-bought or homemade
  • 1 tightly packed cup (75g) chopped Italian parsley
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves picked
  • 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes
  • Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
  • 2 heaping tablespoons (25g) kosher salt

For serving:

  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over high heat until it shimmers. Add the Italian sausage and cook until almost browned.
  2. Stir in the garlic, carrots, celery, and onion and cook until they are fragrant and start to slightly soften, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the kale and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the corona beans and their liquid and stir. Add the canned tomatoes, crushing them by hand as you add them to the pot. Stir in the chicken stock and cook at a lively simmer for 20 minutes.
  3. Stir in the parsley, rosemary, chile flakes, and lemon zest. Add the salt and lemon juice.
  4. To serve, finish with olive oil, parmesan, and black pepper. To store, allow the soup to cool, then put it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

– From Dad, What’s For Dinner? © 2025 by David Nayfeld. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Log in, or become a member today.

Join in: enjoy 7 days free, plus 40% off your first year with access to 1,000+ highly vetted recipes from the How To Cook Everything series and beyond, essays from Mark, and original pieces from our contributors.

Join annually and save 40%
Log in to your account

GetBetterFasterHealthierSmarterTastier

in the Kitchen

Through our (more than a thousand, and growing) highly vetted recipes from the How to Cook Everything series, original food essays and reporting, thoughtful podcast conversations and introductions to new and responsible food products, we aim to showcase what’s possible, from farm to fork, and power a growing movement that encourages people to think about food not as a commodity, but as central to our health and happiness.

Start your free trial

We hope you join us on this journey. We’d love to have you as a part of the Bittman community. As a member, you'll have access to:

  • New recipes every week
  • 1000s of recipes from How to Cook Everything and beyond
  • First access to in-person events with Mark and Kate
  • Exclusive discounts from our favorite brands
  • Q&As with Mark and the team

 

Subscribe to our free newsletter

Join over 105,000 passionate individuals who receive our weekly emails. It’s 100% free and you can unsubscribe anytime. Plus, we’ll email you a sampling of what premium members receive on a weekly basis.