Loaded Country Sausage & Potato Soup

Some of the best meals aren't planned -- basically all the food I cook -- they happen because you open the refrigerator, look around, and think, “Okay, what can I make with what I've got?”

That's exactly how this soup happened.

I had two pounds of country sausage, four potatoes left, a handful of baby carrots, some celery, and chicken bone broth. Nothing was carefully measured. I just started cooking and it turned into a hearty, creamy potato soup that was absolutely worth making again.

So, for those of you who NEED a recipe, I've given you measurements. But please don't feel married to them. Have an extra potato? Throw it in. Only have half an onion? That's fine. This is a make-with-what-you've-got kind of meal.

Prep Time: About 15 minutes

Cook Time: About 40 minutes

Servings: 6–8

Ingredients

• 2 lbs country sausage

• 6–8 slices bacon, or about ½ cup real bacon bits

• 4 medium potatoes, washed and diced, skins left on (unless you don't want them)

• 1 cup baby carrots, roughly chopped

• 2–3 celery stalks, chopped

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• ¼ cup gluten-free all-purpose flour

• 4 cups chicken bone broth, plus more as needed

• 1½–2 cups heavy cream

• Salt and pepper, to taste

For Topping

• Rough-chopped crispy bacon

• Shredded cheddar cheese

• Chopped chives or green onions

• Greek yogurt

• Or whatever makes your heart happy

Directions

1. Fry the bacon.

In a large cast-iron Dutch oven, fry the bacon until crispy. Remove it from the Dutch oven and set it aside. Once it's cool enough to handle, give it a rough chop and save it for topping the finished soup.

Short on time? Grab real bacon bits from the store and skip this step completely.

2. Brown the country sausage.

Add the country sausage to the same Dutch oven and brown it, breaking it apart as it cooks. Once it's cooked through, remove the sausage and set it aside.

3. Sauté the vegetables.

Add the celery, carrots, and onion to the Dutch oven. Sauté them in all that goodness left behind from the bacon and sausage until the vegetables begin to soften.

4. Add the gluten-free flour.

Sprinkle the gluten-free flour over the vegetables and stir until they're evenly coated. Let everything cook together for a minute or two to cook off the raw flour taste.

5. Add the broth and potatoes.

Slowly pour in the chicken bone broth, stirring as you go and scraping up all those flavorful browned bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven.

Add the diced potatoes. And nope -- I don't peel mine. Give everything a good stir.

6. Simmer.

Bring the soup to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20–30 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender and the broth has thickened.

If your soup gets thicker than you want it, just add a little more chicken bone broth.

7. Bring back the sausage and make it creamy.

Add the browned country sausage back into the Dutch oven and stir.

Pour in about 1½ cups of heavy cream. If you want it a little creamier, add the rest. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then let everything warm together over low heat for another few minutes.

8. Top it with whatever makes your heart happy.

Ladle that creamy goodness into bowls and load them up.

I like shredded cheddar, rough-chopped crispy bacon, fresh chives or green onions, and a big dollop of Greek yogurt.

But this is your bowl. You do you.

Jody's Note

Now, did I actually stand at my counter and measure one cup of carrots and precisely ¼ cup of flour when I made this?

Absolutely not. 😂

I had four potatoes left, a handful of baby carrots, some celery, two pounds of country sausage, and dinner needed to happen.

The measurements are here to give you a starting point, but this soup isn't fussy. Add a little more of this or a little less of that. Taste it. Adjust it. Use what you have.

Sometimes the best recipes aren't really recipes at all --

they're just really good food made with what you've got.