Italian Sausage and Orzo Soup

Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage (mild or spicy)
- 1 medium white onion, peeled and diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 8 cups chicken stock (or beef or veggie stock)
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 cup uncooked orzo pasta
- fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
- 2 large handfuls fresh baby spinach or kale
- optional toppings: freshly-grated Parmesan, chopped fresh basil and/or parsley
Instructions
- 1
Brown the sausage
- 2
Heat a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the ground sausage and sauté until browned and cooked through, stirring and crumbling with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked meat to a clean plate and set it aside, reserving 1 tablespoon of grease in the pot. (If there is more grease in the pot, discard it. If there is no grease remaining, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the stockpot.)
- 3
Sauté the veggies.
- 4
Add the onion, carrots and celery and stir to combine. Sauté for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened and translucent. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and sauté for 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
7 min - 5
Simmer the broth
- 6
Add the diced tomatoes, stock, Italian seasoning and cooked sausage and stir to combine. Continue cooking until the broth reaches a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer.
- 7
Cook the pasta.
- 8
Stir in the orzo until combined. Cover the pot with a lid and continue simmering the soup, stirring occasionally so that the orzo doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot, until the orzo is al dente.
- 9
Add the spinach and season.
- 10
Stir the spinach into the soup. Taste and season with salt and black pepper, as needed. (Feel free to also add in extra Italian seasoning, if you would like.)
- 11
Serve.
- 12
Serve immediately, garnished with your favorite toppings.





