White Bean Soup with Turkey Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Basil (Video)

This White Bean Soup with Turkey Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Basil is loaded with flavor, and this amazing soup is gluten-free, dairy-free, low-glycemic, and South Beach Diet Phase One. Use the Diet-Type Index to find more recipes like this one.

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White Bean Soup with Turkey Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Basil!

Over the weekend I had my annual soup party, where I make lots of different soups and invite friends and family over to eat soup and catch up on news! Some other people brought amazing soups this year as well, and a lovely time was had by all. This year’s party was partly to show people my finally-completed playroom project where I finished the basement in my new house into a kids playroom, and I promise to take some photos of that soon to share on the blog.

But today let’s talk about this White Bean Soup with Turkey Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Basil. When I picked out some favorite soups to make for the party, I decided this one really needed better photos, so I took some pictures as I was making it. That means this is a double batch of soup, so keep that in mind when you look at the photos.

There are a few ways you can vary this soup with equally good results, but please, please, please use dried white beans that have been soaked overnight and not canned beans. That’s going to make a huge difference in the flavor of the soup.

As I mentioned, soak the beans overnight (or all day if you’re making soup in the evening.) Then rinse beans, pick out loose skins or broken pieces, and put soaked beans in a pot with chicken stock, water, chopped onion, dried basil, dried marjoram (or oregano), ground fennel, and minced garlic and simmer on low until beans are starting to get tender. While the beans cook, either roast the sausage in the oven or brown in a pan, then cut into half moon slices. Add sausage to the soup, deglaze the pan with water, and add that flavorful liquid to the soup pot, and continue to simmer soup.

Cut off the ends of the zucchini and wash if needed; then cut zucchini in half lengthwise and then into half-moon slices. When the beans are nearly done, add the zucchini to the soup and simmer about 30-45 minutes more. Add fresh chopped basil (or frozen basil, or chopped basil from a tube) and simmer about 5 minutes more.

Serve hot and wait for your guests to devour this, which they will!

More Soups with White Beans:

White Bean Soup with Ham and Rosemary ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
White Bean and Ham Soup ~ Simply Recipes
Italian Sausage and Bean Soup with Chard ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Spinach and White Bean Soup ~ Dani Spies
White Bean and Ham Soup with Chard ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen

Print Recipe

White Bean Soup with Turkey Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Basil

Yield: 6-8 servings

Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes + soaking time

Prep Time: 60 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

This White Bean Soup with Turkey Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Basil is loaded with flavor, great for a delicious meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried white beans (soak 10-12 hours)
• 6 cups chicken stock, plus added water as needed
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (or one small onion chopped)
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried marjoram (or use oregano if you don’t have marjoram)
• 1 tsp. ground fennel
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 pkg. (16-20 ounces) turkey Italian Sausage (5-6 links)
• 2 cups diced zucchini
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. hot pepper flakes, or less if you don’t like spicy foods
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (could use less if you don’t have a good supply of basil)

Directions:

1. Soak dried beans overnight, or all day while you’re at work.
2. Drain soaked beans, rinse, and remove any loose skins or broken pieces.
3. Place beans in soup pot with chicken stock, chopped onion, dried basil, dried marjoram or oregano, ground fennel, and minced garlic and cook at a low simmer about one hour, or until beans are starting to get tender. (The cooking time of dried beans depends greatly on how old they are, even when the beans have been soaked, so check by tasting.)
4. While beans cook, preheat oven or toaster oven to 400F/200C and roast turkey sausage about 25-35 minutes, or until well browned and firm, or heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and brown sausage well on all sides.
5. Remove sausages from roasting pan or frying pan, then deglaze pan with 1/2 cup water, scraping off the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and add to soup.
6. Cut sausage in half lengthwise, and then into slices and add to soup.
7. Continue to simmer on low, adding a little water if the soup is starting to get too thick.
8. Wash zucchini, trim both ends, cut in half lengthwise and then into 1/2 inch this slices. When beans are beans softened and close to being done, add chopped zucchini, black pepper, and hot pepper flakes and simmer 30-45 minutes more.
9. When beans are fully softened and cooked, add chopped fresh basil or frozen basil and cook 5 minutes more.
10. Serve hot.
11. This will keep for several days in the refrigerator and also freezes well.

Notes:

You may use about 6 T frozen basil or chopped basil from a tube.

Recipe created by Kalyn with inspiration from a new ceramic-coated cast iron dutch oven.

All images and text ©Kalyn Denny for Kalyn's Kitchen.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
White Bean Soup with Turkey Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Basil is approved for any phase of the South Beach Diet and other low-glycemic eating plans. If you’d like lower carbs, use more sausage and zucchini and a smaller amount of beans.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Nutritional Information?
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you. Or if you’re a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.

Blogger Info:

This tasty soup was first posted for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by the lovely Susan at The Well-Seasoned Cook. This was when basil had been crowned King of Herbs from results of the voting for the favorite vegetable and favorite herb in connection with the two year anniversary of Weekend Herb Blogging. Not only does basil taste wonderful, but it’s easy to grow, and frozen basil will taste great in soup, stew, and pasta sauce all winter.