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This kielbasa soup recipe is loaded with plenty of sausage, vegetables, and potatoes. It’s a great option when you want something that is hearty and filling but a little bit healthier!
You may also enjoy my Cabbage Soup with Bacon and Potatoes next.
Here in Canada/USA, kielbasa is often sold in grocery stores labeled as “smoked Polish sausage” or just “kielbasa”. “Kielbasa” actually means “sausage” in Polish. Did you know that? If you want to try another Polish-inspired soup recipe, check out my dill pickle soup.
I just love soups with sausage and potatoes. This is a broth-based soup without any cream, and although everyone knows I love my creamy recipes, this soup (and soups like this) really hit the spot for me as the weather gets cooler. And as air-conditioned offices stay cold. It’s also a tasty way to pack in some veggies. I added some cabbage in here too – it goes wonderfully in soup (like my cabbage roll soup or Instant Pot cabbage soup). I have a sautéed cabbage and kielbasa recipe you may like if that flavor combo appeals to you (it is surprisingly good if you’re not much of a cabbage eater).
Pro tip: I like to mash some of the potatoes right in the pot to give this kielbasa cabbage soup a little more texture. I like to use this quick trick in all sorts of soups that have potatoes.
This kielbasa potato soup is one of those “tastes better the next day” kinda soups, so it makes great leftovers. I gave some to my mom, and she was texting me saying how much she liked this soup. And she’s an honest kinda lady. She would tell me if it wasn’t good. 😀
Recipe notes:
- Smoked Ukrainian or Hungarian sausage would work in this soup if you can’t find kielbasa.
- You could definitely make this soup without adding the spinach at the end if you’re not a fan.
- You can use a different variety of potatoes if you wish. I didn’t bother peeling the potatoes – it’s up to you if you want to.
Other cozy soup recipes you may like:
- Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup
- Zuppa Toscana (Sausage, Bacon, Potato, and Kale Soup)
- Sausage and Vegetable Soup
- Instant Pot Ham and Potato Soup Recipe
- Crockpot Cabbage Soup with Beans, Sausage, and Potatoes
- Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
- Sausage, Kale, and Gnocchi Soup
- Crockpot Italian Sausage Soup
Will you make this cabbage and kielbasa soup?
Questions? Ask away in the comments below. 🙂
Kielbasa Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 13 ounces kielbasa (smoked Polish sausage) see note
- 2 sticks celery chopped small
- 2 cups green cabbage chopped small
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 Russet potatoes scrubbed & diced (peel if you want to)
- 2 medium carrots peeled & sliced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups (packed) fresh baby spinach
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Melt the butter and oil in a soup pot/Dutch oven, then add in the onion, sausage, celery, and cabbage. Sauté over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or so.
- Stir in the garlic, smoked paprika, and Italian seasoning, then add the potatoes and carrots to the pot.
- Add the chicken broth and water. Increase the heat to high and bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat so it's simmering. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots can easily be pierced with a knife.
- I like to take a potato masher and quickly mash some of the potatoes to give the soup a slightly thicker texture (I just do this right in the pot). This step is optional.
- Add in the spinach and season the soup with salt & pepper as needed.
Notes
- I bought a coil of kielbasa sausage that weighed 13 oz./375 g. Feel free to use anything similar weight-wise.
- Kielbasa sausage shouldn’t be too greasy, so you shouldn’t have to drain any fat. If you use a different kind of sausage, however, you may need to use your discretion and drain some of the fat if needed.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Hello,
I will be making this delicious looking recipe soon. But, I live alone…do you know if it freezes well so I can enjoy it over and over??
Thanks so much for your time!
Nancy 😊
Hi Nancy! Yes, this one freezes fine. 🙂
I made this soup tonight for supper. It was delicious. The only thing I did different was to take the fresh kielbasa out of its casing
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent soup. I made this for dinner tonight and served it with a nice rustic bread. Delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
You’re very welcome!!
My favorite soup now! Making it again tonight!
Wonderful! 😀
Nice, straightforward soup recipe! I followed pretty much exactly as written with no major substitutions. I’m not sure what kind of potatoes I used but they were a mixed bag of small red and white from Aldi. I bought smoked paprika after waffling on whether to get it or just use regular, and I’m glad I did. That little bit of smokiness was really good! I alllllmost skipped the spinach but actually went back and added more! Would absolutely make again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Kelly!! Good call on the smoked paprika… it’s been a game changer for me! Thanks for taking the time to write me a comment! XO
Hi!! How can we make this soup vegetarian. Will taking the sasage out simply be bland? Looks so yum minus the sausage !
Thanks,
Hena
Hi! Hmmm… yeah, the sausage really is the star of this soup. I mean, you could try it without… it’ll obviously be a different soup, but I think as long as you season it well, it could still be tasty. You’d just take out the sausage and use veggie broth instead of chicken broth. I do have some vegetarian recipes on here, including soups, so if you don’t want to try altering this recipe, there’s plenty more here: https://www.saltandlavender.com/category/vegetarian/
Hi Natasha. Made this last week… both husband and myself love soup(s). Since we keep kielbasa sausage on hand I thought I give this soup a try as it looked so good. Well, it didn’t disappoint… sooo good! So good in fact I passed your blog/site along with the recipe to a friend. She looked at the recipe… made it and sent me a photo of it with “Delicious!” above the photo. I told her that I knew she would love it!!
Thank you Natasha… keep the recipes coming. Now if it would ONLY get cooler weather here in Texas…more soup please! 😉
I am so happy you two enjoyed it! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe with your friend… I am glad she liked it as well! I’ll trade ya… it’s starting to get cooler here and I am not impressed haha.
Ha… no thanks, I live in Texas for a reason – weather! 😁
Good choice! 😀
I LOOOOOVE your recipes and look forward to trying at least one new recipe a week from you! I’m sure it’s a pain, but I kinda wish you would include calorie, fat, sodium, etc. per serving.
It won’t deter me from making your meals, but it sure would come in handy for health conscious folk 🙂
Aww that’s so nice to hear, Jill! I’ll tell you why I don’t include nutrition info (this may be a long explanation haha). I’ve tested some of the nutrition calculators out there, and I’ve found them to be very inaccurate, unfortunately. A lot of the nutrition info on online recipes in general is way off, and I don’t want to add to the problem. I am not a trained nutritionist (they do a ton of schooling), so I don’t feel comfortable calculating anything beyond calories myself. If in a recipe the other values (fats, carbs, etc.) were way off, I’d have no idea. And as far as sodium goes, since all my recipes add salt “to taste”, it would also vary a lot. Take this recipe, for example… every brand of kielbasa varies, so nutrition info would just be an estimate that could be waaay off, which is fairly useless if someone needs accurate info for health reasons. I do have calories posted on the odd recipe (usually healthier ones), but yeah, I am not very consistent doing it always since it takes quite some time doing it manually. I always advise people that if they are truly concerned with calorie counts, you need to weigh the exact ingredients you use (since ingredients themselves can vary so much, especially brand-to-brand), and that will be closer to whatever the actual calorie value is. I’m always keeping an eye out to see if they finally improve nutrition calculators to the point that I can easily use them to get accurate info, so who knows… maybe someday soon I’ll include it on more recipes. Hope this explanation helps a bit!
try adding a small can of drained but not rinsed sauerkraut….turns 4 stars into 5
Good idea! Love sauerkraut!
Love all your recipes! Thank you
You’re very welcome, Ana! 🙂