When beautiful comfort food is on the menu, this soup will blanket you with great taste! Butter-Me-Up Soup is packed with so much goodness. Oh goodness, it is so, so good! Full of Italian sausage, butternut squash, kale, and cheese tortellini… what more can we say?! This seasoned-to-perfection Butter-Me-Up Soup will flatter everyone’s pallet. That bowl of yumminess looks oh, so good. Grab a spoon and dig in!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more, to taste
- 1 pound ground mild Italian sausage
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 1 Granny Smith apple, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 4 cups chicken stock, plus more, to taste
- 1 pound butternut squash, diced
- 1 sprig fresh sage
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk or half-and-half
- 1 (16-18-ounce) package fresh cheese tortellini
- 2 cups kale, finely chopped, tough stems discarded
- fine sea salt, to taste
- ground black pepper, to taste
- parmesan cheese, to taste, grated, for garnish
Directions
Step 1 –In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
Step 2 –Add the sausage to the heated olive oil and cook, while crumbling, until it is no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes.
Step 3 –Reserve 1 tablespoon of the drippings in the stockpot and drain the rest. If there isn’t enough of the drippings, add the extra olive oil, as needed.
Step 4 –Add the onion, the carrot, and the apple to the sausage and sauté, stirring occasionally, until they have softened, about 7 minutes.
Step 5 –Add the garlic and the crushed red pepper flakes to the sausage mixture and sauté, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes.
Step 6 –Add 4 cups of the chicken stock, the butternut squash, and the sage to the sausage mixture, and stir to combine. Use the extra stock if you prefer a brothier soup. Bring to a simmer.
Step 7 –Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover the stockpot and simmer the soup until the squash and the carrots are soft, about 20 minutes.
Step 8 –Remove and discard the sage from the soup, then add the coconut milk.
Step 9 –Use an immersion blender to purée the soup until it is smooth.
Step 10 –Add the cooked sausage, the tortellini, and the kale to the soup and stir to combine. Simmer until the tortellini are al dente, about 3-4 minutes.
Step 11 –Taste the soup and season with the salt and the black pepper, as needed. Stir to combine.
Step 12 –Serve the soup garnished with the parmesan cheese.
