Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Kale Soup

Colorful as well as flavorful, this soup recipe combines sweet potatoes and kale with chicken and . . . maple breakfast sausage? Yes. Just try it. It's yummy!

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When the weather cools off I'm ready to make up a pot of soup. Seeing folks' soups simmering on Instagram compels me to head into the kitchen and make some soup for my family. Usually I open the fridge and see what farm share produce needs to be used up. I think all great soups started out that way--with whatever was on hand--and it remains my go-to method for soup making.  Using flavorful ingredients (stock instead of water, sausage instead of unseasoned meat) are a couple of shortcuts to a warming, filling, and enjoyable soup experience.

In the past I've shared several soup recipes. My Spicy Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder remains perennially popular on Pinterest. (No charge for alliteration). The Six Ingredient Spicy Mustard Greens and Chorizo Soup was my first time using sausage for double duty--as both a seasoning and a protein--a short cut I now use often while cooking for my family. When we're feeling under the weather, my Thai Turkey Cold-Busting Hot & Sour Soup is just the ticket. And underpinning all of these soups--stock. Doesn't matter if it's chicken stock or vegetable stock, using the scraps left from the farm share and turning them into soup stock is just plain Frugal, Eco, Farm Fresh Feasting. Or so I coined it 4 years ago.

I keep a bag in the freezer and each time I chop carrots, onions, or celery--the tops, tips, peels and or skins go into the bag. Mushroom stems if I'm making beef or vegetable stock. Then I add some bones (for beef, turkey, chicken or ham stock) and I've got the beginnings of a great soup.  In fact, I picked up chicken necks and backs at the farmer's market recently and my next 'day off project' will be to simmer a big ol' pot of chicken stock.

Now, I've shared several of my own recipes thus far. I'd like to highlight a few from around the web that I've enjoyed or that have caught my eye for future meals.  This Stuffed Artichoke and Brown Rice soup from Meghan of Clean Eats Fast Feets calls to me.  Before I discovered sautéed beet greens, I only ate them as Alanna's Greens 'n All Beet Soup from A Veggie Venture. Aimée of Simple Bites writes poetically of making soup stock and new love. Karen of Soup Addict never fails to deliver innovative recipes like this Ricotta Meatball soup. And Lydia, who wrote Soup Chick for four years, has a treasure trove of soup recipes in her Alphabetical list of Soup Chick Recipes. If you're not facing down a big 'ol pile of kale, with sweet potatoes spilling out of your Strategic Winter Squash Reserve, look to the above links for more ideas for your soup!

For more recipes using kale, please see my Kale Recipes Collection. For more recipes using sweet potatoes, please see my Sweet Potato Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

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Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Kale Soup (makes about 2 quarts)

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 large onion (1½ to 2 cups when chopped small)
• 1 large bunch kale
• 2 to 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• about ½ teaspoon salt (I use kosher) plus more to taste
• about ½ teaspoon pepper (I'm grinding and estimating) plus more to taste
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken pieces
• 1 cup chopped cooked breakfast sausage (the maple kind goes really well in this soup)
• 5 to 6 cups chicken stock

Instructions

1. Put a 3 quart saucepan on medium high heat and add oil. Add onions when the oil is hot, and stir until softened and beginning to brown. 
2. Rip kale stems off and discard (to a composting Robert Barker or your compost bucket). Chop leaves into small pieces and set aside.
3. Stir in sweet potato cubes, salt and pepper.
4. Add chicken and sausage. Pour stock into pot and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer 20 to 25 minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender.
6. Stir in kale and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Taste and see if you need to add more salt or pepper.  Serve.