This Sausage Potato Soup is deliciously creamy, packed with Italian sausage, tender potatoes, and fresh veggies!
The Best Sausage Potato Soup
If you love cheeseburger soup, you’re going to be obsessed with this Sausage Potato Soup! Instead of ground beef and Velveeta®, I use sharp Cheddar and flavorful Italian sausage.
It’s perfect for cold weather and a family favorite!
To speed up prep, you can grab pre-chopped mirepoix (onions, celery, and carrots) from the store, use pre-minced garlic, and leave the potato skins on. These simple shortcuts will save you time!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make Sausage Potato Soup:
- Italian Sausage: Hot or mild, based on your spice preference.
- Butter: Unsalted lets you control the salt.
- Mirepoix: This is a blend of onion, celery, and carrot. You can make your own or buy it already chopped from the store!
- Garlic: Pre-minced works just as well.
- Baby Gold Potatoes: Keep the skins on! Less work for you!
- Dried Basil & Parsley: Use fresh herbs for more flavor, if you’d prefer.
- Chicken Stock: Stock gives more flavor, but broth works too.
- Flour: Helps thicken the soup; whisk well to avoid lumps.
- Milk: Use whole milk for a creamier soup.
- Heavy Cream: Adds richness; don’t skip it!
- Cheddar Cheese: Extra-sharp gives the best cheesy flavor.
- Sour Cream: Fat-free works, but full-fat makes the soup richer.
Quick Tip
Spice Levels: For a mild soup, use mild sausage. If you like the heat, use spicy sausage and throw in some red pepper flakes.
How To Make Sausage Potato Soup
- Cook the Sausage: Brown the sausage, then set it aside.
- Cook the Veggies: In the same pot, cook the mirepoix in butter until soft, then add garlic.
- Add Potatoes and Seasoning: Stir in the potatoes, herbs, salt, and pepper. Add the stock, bring to a boil, then simmer until the potatoes are tender.
- Make the Cream Sauce: In a separate pan, melt butter, whisk in flour, and slowly add milk. Cook until thickened, then stir in the cream.
- Combine Everything: Pour the cream sauce into the soup, then add the cheese and sour cream. Stir until melted and smooth.
- Finish and Serve: Add the sausage back to the soup, adjust seasoning, and serve warm.
Sausage Potato Soup Tips
- Cheddar Cheese: Extra-sharp cheddar gives the best flavor. Pre-shredded cheese may not melt as smoothly, so it’s better to shred your own.
- Sausage: Let the sausage sear before crumbling. Avoid over-stirring or crumbling too much — you want a nice deep browning to build rich flavor.
- Potatoes: Cut the potatoes into even pieces so they cook at the same rate, ensuring a consistent texture throughout the soup.
What To Serve With Sausage Potato Soup
- No-Knead Bread: Great for soaking up the soup! Dinner rolls or crackers are also great for dunking.
- Salad: A fresh garden salad to lighten things up.
- Roasted Veggies: Simple roasted carrots or broccoli work well.
- Grilled Cheese: The perfect sandwich to dip in soup!
Storage
Leftover Soup?
- Let the soup cool to room temperature, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Reheat on low, stirring often. If needed, add a splash of chicken stock to thin. Avoid boiling.
- For freezing, place in a freezer-safe bag laid flat. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
More Soup Recipes:
- Tuscan Sausage and Potato Soup with sun-dried tomatoes
- Chicken and Potato Soup with lots of veggies
- Chicken Noodle Soup with egg noodles
- Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with only 5 ingredients
- Creamy Artichoke Soup with mushrooms
Sausage Potato Soup
Sausage Potato Soup is rich, cheesy, and comforting, with Italian sausage, baby potatoes, and veggies in a creamy broth.
Equipment
- Large pot 6-quart
- Medium pot
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage mild or hot
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2-1/4 cups mirepoix or 3/4 cup each: diced carrots, celery, and yellow onion, see note 1
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 4 cups chopped baby gold potatoes no need to peel
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 4 cups chicken stock or broth
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups milk 1%, 2%, or whole
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese see note 2
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- Hearty buttered bread for serving, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage and let it sear for 1 minute, then use a wooden spoon to crumble it. Cook until sausage is deeply browned. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels, leaving about 1 tablespoon grease in the pot. If there’s not enough grease, add 1 tablespoon olive oil.
- In the same pot, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Add diced carrots, celery, and onion. Sauté for 5–7 minutes (or 7–10 minutes if the veggies are larger). Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds more.
- Stir in chopped potatoes, dried basil, dried parsley, salt, and pepper. Pour in chicken stock, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover pot and cook for 15–20 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender.
- While potatoes cook, melt 4 tablespoons butter in a separate medium pot over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly pour in milk, whisking constantly until smooth. Cook, continuing to whisk, until the mixture thickens and gently boils. Stir in heavy cream, then remove from heat.
- Once veggies are tender, stir in the milk/cream mixture. Turn off heat and add shredded cheese, a handful at a time, stirring gently until melted. Stir in sour cream, then return the sausage to the soup. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the soup warm with hearty buttered bread, if desired.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Cut the veggies and potatoes into even pieces so they cook at the same rate, ensuring a consistent texture throughout the soup.
Note 2: Extra-sharp cheddar gives the best flavor. Pre-shredded cheese may not melt as smoothly, so it’s better to shred your own.
Storage: Let soup cool to room temperature, then store in the fridge in an airtight container for 3–4 days. To freeze, place in a freezer-safe bag laid flat. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 533kcal | Carbohydrates: 23.8g | Protein: 18.6g | Fat: 41g | Cholesterol: 110.6mg | Sodium: 635mg | Fiber: 2.3g | Sugar: 6.8g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Your sense of quality and style not only goes with the recipes but with your excellent use of the camera! Appreciate your hard work 😉
You are so kind! Thanks so much for your comment! 🙂
Made this soup this afternoon for my granddaughters and it is excellent. Didn’t change a thing!!
I am so happy you guys loved this Sausage Potato Soup! Thanks for your comment! 🙂
Do you think I could use a white bean instead of potato ?
Our new favorite soup I made some bacon to crumble on top and served with crusty bread.
Yay! I’m so excited to hear that! Thanks for your comment Tim! 🙂
Hi Chelsea!
This is one of my FAVORITE soup recipes! Seriously, so delicious. I wanted to make this for a vegetarian friend.. so do you think I could use Beyond Meat for this recipe?
Yay!! So thrilled to hear that! 🙂 Thank you Tracy! I haven’t actually ever tried beyond meat, so I’m not really not sure what it tastes like, but I do think this soup is very forgiving so it should work. Wish I could be of more help!
I made four piece of bacon and put the Cheese and bacon at the end. It was absolutely fantastic one of the best recipes of made in awhile.
Yay! Love hearing that! Thanks Tim 🙂
I made this tonight with a minor changes based on what I had. I had red potatoes that I needed to use up, mild cheddar and sweet Italian sausage. I love the results! This is definitely on the make again list and I can tell it would be even better with sharp cheddar.
So happy you were able to make it work with what you had 🙂 Thanks so much for the comment and review!
Made this last night and it was really really good!!!My butcher was out of Italian sausage so used there house made chorizo sausage and added some broccoli cause I had some and white cheddar.Winner Winner..Thank you so much!!!
So thrilled this soup was a hit! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Loved the soup! It’s just the 2 of us, so I was wondering if you could freeze leftovers.
Glad you enjoyed it! Unfortunately, this soup doesn’t freeze very well because of all the dairy in it; it will separate and become grainy.
I never knew that. I want to be a good cook so I’ll make a note NOT to freeze soups with dairy.
Thank you
Oh man, this soup is absolutely delicious. I have made it numerous times. This is my husband’s favorite recipe for soup. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s definitely a must !! This is what’s for dinner tonight !! Thank you for sharing Chelsea
I am so happy you guys love this so much! Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂