Slow Cooker Italian Sausage Soup

TL/DR – Slow Cooker Italian Sausage Soup. Browned sausage, thinly sliced fennel, onions, kale, garlic, and tomatoes melt together in this delicious soup. Add a Parmesan rind if you have it. Heavy cream at the end is optional but worth the calories. –

This is so simple that there is not much to say. Slow Cooker Italian Sausage Soup is exactly what it sounds like. It is perfect for a winter day when you leave the house in the morning knowing that when you come home, all you’ll want to do is watch TV and eat hot soup.

The only preparation is chopping veggies and browning sausage.

When time is short, chop the veggies the night before, stick them in the slow cooker insert and put that in the refrigerator with the lid on, then brown the meat in the morning and add the remaining ingredients.

A note on Italian sausage: if possible, spring for the quality stuff. Locally where I live, Kroger carries Boulder Sausage, which is all natural, no gross stuff and delicious.

I like to find opportunities to use fennel (a.k.a. anise) in my cooking. It goes wonderfully with Italian sausage. Add mushrooms, onion, garlic, tomatoes and anything else you’ve got laying around. To boost nutritious content, I sometimes add leftover steamed broccoli when plating. Heavy cream is optional, but makes it perfect.