This simple but flavorful Tuscan white bean soup with sausage doesn’t require any pre-cooking or searing, making it a true slow-cooker meal.
Slow Cooker Tuscan White Bean Soup
“Okay mom, let’s play the smell game.”
I sort of cringed at the idea. Sweaty feet. Burnt toast. The 4th hole at the golf course that sits next to the water treatment plant and man does it reek when the wind blows. Why do I immediately go to the dark side?
“Okay. What’s the smell game?” But of course I already know.
“It’s where we say the things we think smell the best. You go first.”
I thought for a minute. More like seconds. Immediately those gross smells vanished to make way for the good.
The smell of burnt pumpkins after being lit too closely to their lids on Halloween night. Summer rain on black top. The smell of Gardenias and tuberose. Puppy breath. Only to be outdone by the nuzzle spot right below the ear in the crook of the neck of a newborn baby that’s a mixed perfume of milky baby lotion.
And of course, the obvious at our house. Food cooking in the kitchen.
From steaks grilling to cookies baking, food that’s cooking in the kitchen just might possibly be the most universally loved smell of all. It’s one reason I love cooking in the slow cooker. Its perfume lingers on low for eight hours or on high for four.
The other reason I love the slow cooker is for sheer ease. And this Crockpot bean soup recipe is really one of the easiest. And deceptively so.
What’s in Tuscan White Bean Soup?
This slow cooker bean and sausage soup has a fairly minimal ingredients list. Because of that, I made sure to choose a few key ingredients that pack in lots of flavor. Here’s what I used in this Tuscan white bean and sausage soup recipe:
- Dried Great Northern beans
- Chicken broth
- Carrots
- Celery
- Butternut squash
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Bay leaves
- Fresh thyme
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Ground Italian sausage
- Kale
- Tomato paste
- Parmesan
How to Make Tuscan White Bean Soup
This is a true slow cooker meal with no need for frying or pre-cooking. It’s cooked in two stages to ensure freshness. First, the dried beans are cooked with the veggies on low for 8 hours for a perfectly cooked bean.
While the veggies and beans cook, you form the sausage meatballs. The meatballs are simply made from Italian sausage that’s rolled into mini meatballs.
After 8 hours, add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker along with the mini meatballs. Cook the Tuscan white bean soup for another 30 to 45 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.
Is There a Sausage Substitute I Can Use?
If you don’t eat pork, you could also use hamburger, ground turkey, or chicken with 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds and a pinch of red pepper flakes mixed in. This combination will provide a similar flavor to ground Italian sausage.
Can I Freeze Tuscan White Bean Soup?
Yes, this Tuscan white bean and kale soup freezes very well. I recommend freezing the soup in individual jars or baggies so you can reheat one portion at a time for quick lunches and dinners.
Tips for Making Tuscan White Bean Soup
With this sausage, kale, and white bean soup recipe, there’s no need for soaking your beans beforehand, but if you really need to, go ahead and soak the beans overnight in water. This article explains more about slow cooking beans.
The fat in the sausage balls keeps them from needing a sear before cooking as it acts as the glue holding the meat together. For presentation’s sake, if you want a browner meatball, you could sear them before, but seriously, they’ll taste the same.
I used baby kale leaves in this recipe but curly kale or swiss chard would be tempting alternatives. I also added butternut squash simply because I had it in my fridge and figured, why not? Add other vegetables as you see fit, or as you need to empty your refrigerator’s crisper drawer.
More Slow Cooker Soup Recipes to Make
- Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup
- Slow Cooker Corn Chowder
- Slow Cooker Turkey Chili with Quinoa
- Slow Cooker Hatch Green Chili Verde
- Slow Cooker Tortellini Soup with Sausage and Kale
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Bookmark this recipe and leave a comment below, or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
Slow Cooker Tuscan White Bean Soup with Sausage
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dried Great Northern beans
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 2 carrots , diced
- 2 stalks celery , diced
- 2 cups diced butternut squash
- 1 medium yellow onion , diced
- 4 large cloves garlic , pressed or minced
- 4 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 4 cups baby kale leaves
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- Shaved Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Pour the dry beans into the base of a 6 quart slow cooker with the chicken broth, carrots, celery, onion, butternut squash, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook on low for 8 hours. Meanwhile, form the sausage into small meatballs and refrigerate until ready to cook.
- Take ½ cup of the soup broth and pour into a small bowl. Whisk in the tomato paste until smooth and then add back to the slow cooker. Add the baby kale and then the sausage meatballs and cook for 30-45 minutes or until the sausage is cooked through and the beans are tender. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Serve with shaved parmesan cheese scattered on top.
Nutrition
More Easy Italian Dinner Recipes to Master
- Mom’s Homemade Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
- 30-Minute Homemade Chicken Parmesan
- Vegetarian Crockpot Lasagna Soup
- Creamy Pasta with Salmon and Asparagus
- Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
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This recipe is so delish! I made it just as it is except I used spinach instead of kale and it turned out great! Definitely adding this recipe to my collection.
Happy to hear you enjoyed it Dianne!
It looks delicious. I will try it myself. Thanks for your step by step suggestion.
As a food lover, i always try to find new recipes, today i landed your blog and found a nice and simple recipe, i personally like spicy food, can i make this Soup more spicy?
Thanks so much! You absolutely could add spices to heat it up!
Can this be made without a slow cooker?
You could definitely make it stove top!
Made this recipe yesterday and everyone loved it. It did take a long time for the sausage to cook. Next time I would brown the sausage in a pan before adding. My soup thickened up a lot… might be that I added higher amounts of veggies. I will definitely make this again!!
Sounds so good! Thanks for sharing
You should definitely precook the dry beans! Eating undercooked beans can cause food poisoning. This is a lovely recipe but for sure pre cook the beans or use canned.
I am so much pleased to read your article. I just love this post. Here all information seems to me very resourceful and knowledgeable for everyone.
awesome! This is a most important blog and it’s very helpful for us . Thanks for sharing .
Thank you!
The Tuscan White Bean and Sausage Soup is one of the best soups I’ve ever eaten, more less made. The only change I made in the recipe was using spinach instead of kale…. I will be making another BIG pot soon…..
Very informative post. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I really love it.
Soup is my favorite food but i can’t cooked delicious soup, I hope your recipes will give me delicious soup.
Thanks for shearing.
I sure hope so too! Enjoy!
Thank you for this recipe, i will try it today.
Enjoy!
Your soup is one of my favorites!! Thanks for sharing! I’ve made it lots of times in the slow cooker but wonder if you have ever done it in an Instant Pot?
Great. This recipe seems to be awesome with taste and way of cooking. I will add to my cooking list and try at this weekend. Will be back with reviews and ideas soon.
I tried this recipe yesterday Heidi. A new taste and I like this food.
Can’t wait to try this out for my friends and husband. Look delicious. Thanks for your sharing this recipe. Will be back with reviews.
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Currently I’m craving for soup and was searching for a tasty soup. I think this is what that I want to try. Thanks a lot!
good food is good for health so this post is helpful for us
I actually made my mom to do this for, i loved the smell! Great recipe, thank you!
I made this soup yesterday and it was delicious! Since it’s only the two of us, I had plenty leftover to freeze.
Why do people make an entirely DIFFERENT recipe and then review it as if it were the one posted???? Get a grip! If you change it completely from a bean soup and then don’t even put the beans in it, it isn’t the same soup, it’s your variation and therefore should not be reviewed as the one posted. I really find that frustrating and down right insulting to the person who posted the original recipe.
Thanks for the nice recipe. Good pictures with easy to follow step.
Awesome!!! Thank you for sharing!!
I made this today on the stove instead of crock pot. I used canned beans and just browned sausage (did not form into balls), it is delicious. I really enjoyed it and will definitely be making it again. I have a similar recipe where you use sweet potatoes instead of squash which is also very good.
I loved reading this article.
This looks amazing. I love slow cooker recipes, but smelling delicious food cook for so many hours makes me snack like crazy!
This looks very tasty and I will try it this week. This blog motivated me to start my own how to and review blog. myblog
I may not agree with you on this matter, i can explain the reason if you want.
Thanks
Louise again, sorry, forgot to mention I did not put beans in this recipe, probably will do that next time.
did a variation of this, i.e., no kale, just onion, tons of diced garlic, 1 can of Campbell’s tomato soup, large cardboard container of chicken broth, the hottest pepper sauce on earth ..used 5 drops a few cups of water, the smallest pasta on earth i.e., a couple of handfuls, red lentils – about a cup, one diced potato, 3 raw and sliced hot Italian sausages, bit of salt, celery see, coriander seed, black pepper, pinch of oregano, big pinches of dried dill. I think that’s it. Tasted and adjusted as I went. Slow cooked on high a couple hours, then on low a couple of hours, then back on high for an hour or so. All my soups are done in this fashion, but I got great ideas from this recipe, so thank you so much. One problem – it is way too full of fat, so gonna refrigerate and skim that off before I have tons of it as I will need a doctor if I do not do so. Louise in Ottawa, Canada eh?
Awesome recipe! Looks very tasty. Thanks for sharing. I will try to make one.
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good article ; a lot of quality informations and really good content
Awesome!!! Thank you for sharing!!
Great!
I have made this soup many times, but usually on the stovetop as I don’t always remember to set it up for the slow cooker. In those instances I just use canned beans. Wonderful soup! Tomorrow this is being made in my Instant Pot!
This looks awesome.
Happy family after serving the Tuscan Bean and sausage soup for dinner. Did some variations and got all thumbs up! Instead of regular sausage, I cut up sweet italian chicken sausage and just added it in about 45 minutes towards the end. Also, because some of my family are not fans of kale, I used 2 cups spinach and 2 cups kale instead of all 4 cups of kale. Overall the soup came out thicker than the photo in the recipe. Even with these tweeks it was just so yummy and the house smelled wonderful all day as it cooked in the slow cooker.
After reading this recipe. It drive me hungry!
Wow, this looks amazing. I’ve only just recently stumbled across your article and it’s amazing!!!
I personally like chicken. Can I use chicken in this recipe?
Do the beans not need to soak overnight beforehand???
Wonderful soup! Just had this tonight. Do you think that this would freeze well?
Planning to make this for a crowd. How many people will the original recipe serve? Can’t seem to find that info in the recipe or comments. Thank you!
This looks awesome. Could spinach be used in place of kale?
What other meat could you use? We don’t eat pork anymore.
Hi Elizabeth, you could use hamburger, ground turkey or chicken with 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds and a pinch of red pepper flakes mixed in.
Oh this recipe is so amazing Heidi! Thank you so much for sharing this. I’ll try to make it tomorrow!
Can I use frozen kale and frozen butternut squash?
Hi Patricia, I think that would be a great idea.
Slow Cooker Tuscan White Bean and Sausage Soup it’s more testy recipe .
“Slow Cooker Tuscan White Bean and Sausage Soup” is a Great Post
I will do it for my wife.
Thank you for sharing!!
Awesome!!! It looks very tasty.
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Excellent info here, I am currently doing some research and found exactly what I was looing for.
Thank you for sharing!
Keep your work!
I cannot wait to make your Tuscan white bean soup ….the butternut squash sounds so wonderful & I appreciate allowing me to print it out to add to my soup collection … Thank You !!
How many servings does this make? Looks delicious!
Should I cook sausage meatball before putting in crock? Or will it cook in 40 min?
Looks tasty and simple! Does this freeze well?
Wow, this looks amazing. I’ve only just recently stumbled across your article and its amazing!!!
This was a hit! I came home from work and was drooling in my garage from all the yummy smells. Will definitely make again.
I will definitely have to try this. It looks Dee-lish!!!
Made this recipe yesterday and everyone loved it. It did take a long time for the sausage to cook. Next time I would brown the sausage in a pan before adding. My soup thickened up a lot… might be that I added higher amounts of veggies. I will definitely make this again!!
What the nutritional value of the recipe for the soup
Hi Debbie, I don’t provide nutritional analysis but if you’d like to find out, you can try an app like My Fitness Pal.
Made this tonight and the family loved it. Forgot to put the tomato paste in, honestly it was great without it. I probably cooked it a bit to long, but the butternut squash really cooked down. Gave it a bit more thickness like a chowder. The combo of the sweet squash and the savory sausage was delicios. My 7 yr old says this one’s a keeper!
This soup is phenomenal I just made it for first time today and it won’t be the last!! Thank you so much its delish!! And smells awesome! thanks again!!
Thank you Felicia. So glad you enjoyed it!
The pictures look very nice, thanks
Awesome!!! It looks very tasty.
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Any idea as to how many people this recipe serves or how many cups it yields when you’re done?
I’m wondering the same thing!
The smell game sounds fun! I love how easy slow cooker soups are, such an awesome smell to come home too as well!
This is definitely my kind of soup. I make something similar but on the stovetop. I am definitely trying this in the slow cooker. And I am also one of those people who is tempted to sear the meatballs first, but I am going to try it without now!
Awesome!!! It looks very tasty.
I’m craving a cool October nights so I have every excuse to make a cozy soup like this one. Love these flavors!
I’ve been looking for the perfect recipe to break in my slow cooker and this is it! My sister and brother in law (and nephew!!!) are coming into town this weekend and get in late — totally making this for t hem.
You cannot go wrong with this recipe. Honestly, add almost any other veggie, and you will be fine. I added potatoes instead of squash, but you could do both!
I always thought that salt should be added after cooking beans as it inhibits the beans getting soft. This has been my experience as well.
Hi Mike, I thought so too, but after reading the article I linked to from The Kitchn, i decided to try it and they turned out great. You could always leave the salt for later if you prefer. I just like how it flavors the beans.
You are right. I cooked chili beans last weekend in the crock pot and they cooked 8 hours. Do not add salt. They will never get soft if you do!
Thank your for clarifying this Melinda and Mike.
Your favorite smells are awesome – I love the pumpkin one…and it might just be making me a little excited for fall. Along with this soup which is basically fall in a bowl! I just so happen to have two packages of baby kale in the fridge right now (I’m a little obsessed with it).