Creamy Italian Sausage Soup with Pasta
This Creamy Italian Sausage and Pasta Soup is loaded with Italian sausage, macaroni, basil, tomatoes, cheese and more. So hearty and delicious!
Servings: 8 people
Ingredients
- 19 oz. mild Italian sausage
- 2 cups macaroni, uncooked
- 5 tbsp. butter
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cups diced carrots
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ cups flour
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes- do not drain
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. chicken bouillon
- 1 tsp. dried parsley
- ½ tsp. dried oregano
- ½ tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 1/8 tsp. red pepper
- ¼ cup loosely packed fresh basil, chopped (see Notes below)
- 2 cups milk
- ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese (jarred Parmesan is fine!)
- mozzarella cheese (fresh grated is best)
Instructions
- Cook pasta in 2 qts. water and 1 tsp. salt until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, cut sausage into bite sized pieces. (I love using kitchen sheers to make this super easy). Brown the sausage in a large soup pot until cooked through. Drain, then remove to a plate.
- Melt butter in soup pot; add onions, carrots, and garlic cloves and cook for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are slightly soft, stirring frequently.
- Sprinkle in flour and cook, while stirring, for 3 minutes. Gradually add chicken broth, followed by tomatoes, sugar, and all the herbs and seasonings.
- Reduce heat and gently simmer for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Stir in Parmesan cheese until smooth, then add the milk, cooked sausage and cooked pasta. Stir well and heat through.
- Garnish individual servings with grated mozzarella cheese.
Notes
If you don't have fresh basil, you can substitute dried basil. The rule of thumb seems to be that when using dried herbs instead of fresh, you use 1/3 the amount. Which would mean you'd need to add about 1 ½ tbsp. of dried basil. That seems like kind of a lot though, so you could always start with less and then add more to taste.