Add this Italian Sausage Vegetable Stew to your meal planning routine and you will always have a way to use up leftover vegetables at the end of the week. It’s a simple and comforting tomato-based stew that pairs well with warm tortillas.
When the weather starts to shift and the days become cooler, it’s time to bring out the dutch oven and make some soups. I can never have enough soup during the fall and winter seasons. If it were up to me, we’d have it three times a week! The soups that always win my family over are the meaty, creamy, and stew-like soups that can coat a slice of bread, like this Italian Sausage Vegetable Stew for example.
The great thing about this stew is that it doesn’t take more than an hour to make from start to finish. It’s a rich tomato-based stew that lends itself well to many variations. If you are looking for a leaner version, you can use lean ground turkey sausage instead of pork sausage. You can also add green beans, lentils, or chopped kale to really make it stretch.
Italian Sausage Vegetable Stew Recipe
Many recipes for stews use flour as a thickening agent, but this one doesn’t. Instead, I like to add the potatoes at the beginning once the sausage has started to brown because as the potatoes cook, they release enough starch for the soup to thicken up later.
After the potatoes have cooked for 5 minutes, begin the base of the stew. In this case, it will be a tomato-based stew with a good amount of liquid to be soaked up in a slice of bread or tortilla.
Find the juiciest tomatoes when making a stew. Fresh tomatoes are always best, but you can also use canned diced tomatoes to save you some time. If you do, just remember to reduce the amount of water in this recipe accordingly.
Stir everything well and allow the juices from the tomatoes to release any bits of sausage or potato that have stuck to the bottom of the pot. After about three minutes, add the remaining ingredients.
Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot again to make sure nothing is stuck on there.
Cover the pot, but leave a small opening to vent out the steam. Simmer on low for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, turn off the heat, remove the lid, and start warming up some corn tortillas to serve with the stew. Oh, and don’t forget to remove the bay leaf! I always forget it.
I love the simplicity of this Italian Sausage Vegetable Stew. Because it’s done in such a reasonable amount of time, it’s perfect for those chilly nights when all you want is a comforting soup but don’t want to wait more than an hour to enjoy it.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 3 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 4 vine ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 1 1/2 cup carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 bay leaf
- Chopped cilantro (optional)
- Sour cream (optional)
- Fresh lime juice to taste (optional)
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat olive oil and cook sausage 8-10 minutes stirring often to break up the meat into smaller pieces.
- Add the tomatoes, stir well, cook together 5 more minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients, stir well making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover and let stew continue on a low simmer another 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.
- Serve with warm corn tortillas, sour cream, cilantro, and a splash of lime juice if desired.
Notes
Home Chef Tips:
Low sodium chicken broth can be used instead of water for more flavor.
For a thicker stew, reduce water to two cups.
You can also add other types of vegetables such as green beans, or zucchini.
Ground turkey sausage can also be used if you don't want to use pork sausage.
We hope you love this Italian Sausage Vegetable Stew recipe from SoFabFood Contributor, Stephanie from Spanglish Spoon, as much as we do. If you love this recipe, be sure to visit our other soup and stew recipes for more easy weeknight meal ideas. For daily recipe inspiration, like us on Facebook, follow us on Pinterest, and stop by our Google+ Community to see all of the amazing recipes our community members are sharing. Enjoy!
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