Pressure Cooker Sausage and Kale Soup

Have I mentioned that I really like my electric pressure cooker?  While there are some things that a long slow cook is to be preferred, some meals are just as good when using this quick method.  Dried beans come to mind as something that is just as good when pressure cooked.  Soups turn out very well also.  To that end, I've been thinking about soups to try in the pressure cooker.

Sausage and Kale Soup ready to serve

I was searching soups recipes and came across a list of soups that had pasta and one of them was sausage and kale.  The picture looked good so I started looking at sausage and kale soup recipes.  Seems most of them call for potatoes rather than pasta but I wanted to include pasta.  That was as much for the pasta as it was the chance to cook pasta in the pressure cooker.  Another change from other recipes was the use of dried beans instead of opening a can or two.  I also noticed that most recipes called for sweet Italian sausage and the rest for some sort of smoked sausage.  I used some of my home made hot Italian sausage.


The soup was cooked in two sessions with the two sessions totaling only 25 minutes.  Making the meat balls was the longest bit of prep work for this meal.  I used my small portion scoop, a #70 scoop,  to make the meat balls a consistent size.  After the meat balls were made they were lightly browned using the sear function on the pressure cooker.  Nothing like only having one pot to clean up after supper.


 Sausage and Kale Soup (Changes listed after the instructions)


1 lb hot Italian sausage
8 oz Rigatoni
1.5 cups dried great northern beans
4 - 6 cups chopped Kale, stems removed
2 quarts chicken broth
2 Tbs Italian seasoning
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt


Make meat balls out of the sausage, approximately 1/2 oz each.  Lightly brown in the pressure cooker.  Pour in the chicken broth, dried beans, and pasta.  Add the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and stir to mix.  Put the lid on, making sure the valve is set to pressure cook, and set timer for 15 minutes.  After timer goes off, release the steam.  Add the kale to the cooker and stir to fully incorporate.  Put lid back on and pressure cook for another 10 minutes.  When done, manually release steam again and serve.

A bowl full of goodness

Changes I'll make next time I make this include upping the amount of chicken broth to 3 quarts, waiting to put in the pasta, and just letting the hot soup wilt the kale rather than pressure cooking it.  It needs more chicken broth because I underestimated how much would be soaked up by the beans and pasta as they cooked.  I would do the meat, broth, and beans for 15 minutes, then add the pasta for the final 10 minutes.


Doing the dried beans this way yielded beans that were fully cooked but were still firm.  For something like this you don't want them cooked to mush like you would if you were just cooking a pot of white beans to eat with sausage and cornbread.


If you have the time to make it, some fresh hot crusty bread would go good with this soup.  It is not necessary though.