Canning Sausage Potato and Kale Soup (Copycat Zuppa Toscana)

4.58 from 7 votes

Canning Sausage Potato and Kale Soup (Copycat Zuppa Toscana)

Canning sausage potato and kale soup means you have a delicious comfort food meal in a jar ready to go at a moment's notice. This particular recipe is similar to Olive Garden's "Zuppa Toscana" and even better when served with a splash of cream.

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Canning Time1 30

Total Time2

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Soup Canning Recipe

Servings: servings, Makes 7 quarts (or 14 pints)

Author: Ashley Adamant

Equipment

Pressure Canner
Canning Funnel
Canning Jars, Lids and Bands

Ingredients

3 lbs ground sausage seasoned or plain
4 1/2 lbs potatoes peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 lb kale destemmed and chopped
10 cups chicken broth vegetable broth, or water
2 tbsp canning salt less if using salted broth
1 Tbsp ground black pepper

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare your pressure canner, jars, and lids. Add a few inches of water to the canner and keep the jars hot at about 180 degrees F.
Peel and cube the potatoes into even 1/2-inch cubes. Destem and chop the kale, using mostly the leaves.
Brown the sausage in a large stockpot over medium heat until no pink remains, leaving some small chunks rather than fine crumbles.
Add the potatoes, kale, salt, pepper, and broth or water to the pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat. Ladle the solids evenly into the hot jars first, then divide the broth among the jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.
Remove air bubbles, recheck the headspace, and top off with boiling broth or water if needed. Wipe the rims, then apply lids and bands fingertip tight.
Place the jars in the pressure canner and lock the lid. Vent steam for 10 minutes, then bring the canner to pressure. Process pints for 75 minutes or quarts for 90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure in a weighted gauge canner or 11 lbs pressure in a dial gauge canner, adjusting pressure for altitude.
When the processing time is complete, turn off the heat and allow the canner to depressurize naturally. Do not force cool. Once the canner reaches zero pressure, remove the weight or open the petcock and wait 10 minutes before opening the lid.
Remove the jars and cool on the counter for at least 12 hours. Check the seals and store sealed jars; refrigerate any that did not seal.

Notes

Ingredient Notes

You can use seasoned sausage (like Italian sausage or chorizo) for this recipe, or unseasoned ground pork. The salt in this recipe is designed to account for seasoned prepared sausage with salt added. If using unseasoned sausage, you'll likely need a bit more salt for flavor, and you might also want to add some dry spices like garlic and paprika.

(Adjust to your tastes. You're always allowed to add more or less salt to pressure caning recipes, and you're able to use a reasonable amount of any dry seasoning as well.)

The quantity of potato and kale in this recipe is weighed once prepared. To make about 4 1/2 lbs of peeled potatoes from 5 pounds whole as purchased. Likewise, for 1 lb of stemmed kale, you'll need about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs with stems.

Altitude Adjustments

The canning time for this soup remains the same regardless of altitude. Pint jars are processed for 75 minutes, and quart jars are processed for 90 minutes.

Pressure, however, changes based on elevation and the type of canner you're using.

Altitude adjustments for canning sausage potato and kale soup are as follows:

For dial gauge pressure canners:

0 to 2,000 feet in elevation – 11 lbs pressure
2,001 to 4,000 feet in elevation – 12 lbs pressure
4,001 to 6,000 feet in elevation – 13 lbs pressure
6,001 to 8,000 feet in elevation – 14 lbs pressure

For weighted gauge pressure canners:

0 to 1,000 feet in elevation – 10 lbs pressure
Above 1,000 feet – 15 lbs pressure

Serving Notes

To serve, empty the contents of a quart jar into a saucepan and gently heat over medium-low heat. This should take about 10 minutes for everything to fully heat through.

If you'd like, you can thicken the soup with a cornstarch slurry made with 1 tbsp of cornstarch per quart. You can also add about 1/2 cup of heavy cream or half and half per quart.

A sprinkling of fresh herbs is really amazing too, and it's best served with toast or breadsticks.

All of these things are optional, and it's also perfectly fine as a simple heat-and-eat meal in a jar.

Variations and Changes

The most common question I get asked on this recipe is about adding onions or garlic, and those can be added safely provided you don't overpack the jars. Remove a cup or two from the total amount of potatoes and you can substitute an equal amount of diced onion (or add an extra jar to the batch).

Nutrition