Polish Sausage (Kielbasa) Soup

Lorac's Note:

You can use from 1-3 pounds of sausage depending on your tastes. I love dipping buttered rye bread in the soup - must be my Polish genes.

• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 lbs lean fresh kielbasa or 1 1/2 lbs smoked kielbasa, sliced
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 4 cups shredded cabbage
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 3 cups beef broth
• 2 cups water
• 3 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
• salt and pepper

Garnish

• chopped fresh dill (optional)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large skillet, add sausage, onions and celery, and cook over medium heat until sausage are lightly browned.
2. Pour mixture into a soup pot and add remaining ingredients except for potatoes.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
4. Add potatoes and cook until potatoes are tender.
5. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with dill, if desired.

Reviews

[Homeschool.Mama]

I thought this soup was very tasty. I used 2 pounds of kielbasa and I loved the tang the vinegar gave. Unfortunately my DS 12 and DS 9 disliked it very much which is suprising since the one loves kielbasa and the other loves soup. So, not a keeper for this house, but I did enjoy it personally.

[SammiCat]

This was very good, a friend had given up a package of hot polish sausage made with pork & elk I believe & this worked well with them. The heat of the sausage was nice too so if I were to make with regular polish dogs I would probably add some red pepper flakes. Good comfort food! Thanks for posting.

[highcotton]

Can't claim any Polish genes, but we sure loved your soup, Lorac -- right down to the buttered rye bread for dipping! When I make soup, I like to have a really full pot since it takes very little extra effort. So... besides the kielbasa, I added 1# of regular smoked sausage, used a whole head of cabbage (probably double what was called for), and was very generous with the other vegetables. To accomodate the extra volume, I increased the beef broth to 5-1/2 cups and the water to about 3-1/2 cups. Bottom line: as long as you have enough liquid to barely cover and increase the vinegar/seasonings accordingly, you can enjoy twice as much of this wonderful Polish treat!