Creamy Sausage and Sauerkraut Soup
This soup idea was lightly adapted from another older recipe that I ran across on Reddit and squirreled away in my saved posts. This time, in the comments on an r/soup post requesting some sauerkraut soup recipes. HauntedMeow was kind enough to contribute this variation that they snagged from a church cookbook.
The flavor combination sounded intriguing, and like something which should be right up our alley. So, I had to save it to my digital Try Pile.
Sauerkraut soup is another thing that I did grow up eating sometimes at home. Like with my adaptation that turned into the Pork and Root Vegetable Stew with Miso a while back? I’m guessing my family’s style was pretty heavy on the migrated “Pennsylvania Dutch” influences. My mom’s take used more fresh pork and potato/carrot/etc., but no cream and simpler seasonings. Another dish that leans hard on the flavors of the stewed pork and vegetables. Good quality meat and kraut make the dish.
This version also uses simple ingredients, but the combination of cured meat, sour cream, and dill really does set it apart. And sounded very much worth a try!
We happened to have just the right amount of open sauerkraut and crรจme fraiche in the refrigerator, and some aging potatoes perfect for a soup or stew. So I picked up a pack of thin Polish-style smoked sausages, and decided to go ahead and give it a go.
This is a very easy meal to put together. I actually complicated the original recipe in several ways, trying to cook it the way I thought would give the best results to my own taste. (As is really par for the course around here!) I did follow the original ingredient list, other than the addition of some carrots and the bit of vegetable bouillon for a little umami flavor boost.
The soup turned out absolutely delicious, and I will definitely need to cook it again. These sausages worked well in there, but I would also be tempted to try some different smoky cured meat next time. The little hint of caraway flavor worked unexpectedly well in here, underneath the fresh dill pop that helped pull everything together. I also very much enjoyed the thicker, creamy broth and its contrast with the sharp kraut cutting through the richness.
If you’re into hearty soups and tart flavors, this is an excellent meal to try.
Creamy Sausage and Sauerkraut Soup
Materials
- 250 g precooked smoked sausage of your choice (8 oz.) sliced
- 1 tbsp neutral oil of choice, or butter (optional) for browning the sausage and onion if needed
Vegetables
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1-3 medium carrots sliced
- 4 medium firm boiling potatoes (or equivalent) cut bite-sized
- 450 g sauerkraut (16 oz., or 1 can) drained, with liquid reserved
Other major ingredients
- 1ยผ liter water (5 cups)
- 250 ml sour cream/crรจme fraiche/grรคddfil (1 cup) full fat is best
- 1 tbsp potato starch can substitute corn or another starch; use 2 tsp if you want the soup less thick
Seasonings
- ยผ tsp caraway seed
- 1.5 vegetable bouillon cubes enough to make 750ml/3 cups total
- 1 large bay leaf
- coarsely ground pepper to taste
- ยฝ tsp garlic powder or use fresh
- 1 tbsp fresh or frozen dill chopped
- salt to taste
- sugar small amount to taste, if the sauerkraut is extremely tart
- sprinkles of chopped dill or parsley, and pepper to garnish the top
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes if you prefer, and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Hold to the side, covered with cool water. We had rather small potatoes today, so I used 8 of those.
- Peel and slice carrots, and chop the onion. Hold to the side separately.
- Slice the sausage into bite-sized pieces. These were a thin version of a Swedish take on soft Polish kabanosy. Kielbasa or pretty much any other smoked sausage you prefer should be good.
- NOTE: This next part is best done in a fairly heavy-bottomed pot that you're planning to cook the soup in. I did this differently because I initially misjudged the size of pot this soup would need. I had hoped to simmer it all together in the potato pot shown above. For this size of batch, you will want at least 3 L/quarts of cooking capacity with room to stir. 4L would be better. Soups and stews do have such a talent for outgrowing their pans!
- Fry the sausage over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it's starting to brown. (Add the little oil or butter to keep things from sticking if your sausage is leaner.) Then add the onions.
- Continue frying it around for a few minutes until the onion just starts picking up a little color around the edges. We aren't looking to cook it soft or deeply brown the sausage, just work up a little extra flavor.
- When that's looking about ready, add in the caraway seeds and fry them around too for another minute or so. If you want to use fresh minced garlic, this is the time to add that too.
- When that's ready, combine the sausage mixture in your soup pot with the potatoes, carrots, and water. Add in the bouillon, bay leaf, and pepper.Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to simmer it covered for 20 minutes or until the potato and carrot is just fork tender.
- When the root vegetables are cooked, it's time to add in the sauerkraut and garlic powder. The veggies are unlikely to get much softer once the kraut acidity goes in.
- The original recipe I was working off specified to add the kraut undrained. This is up to your taste and the kraut you're using. I would suggest draining off most of the liquid and keeping it to add to taste later if you want it.The half a big jar I had to use up was sour enough that I just forked the cabbage out of the brine, and sort of wished I had drained it better. So, this remaining brine went back in the fridge.
- Bring back to the boil, and simmer covered for another 15-20 minutes, or until it's wilted down and softened to your taste. Turn down to the lowest heat.
- Place the sour cream in a heatproof container, and stir in the starch. Mix together until very smooth. Note: Potato starch will hold up better to the kraut acidity than corn. Tapioca starch is also good for that.This step is partly intended to help keep the cream from curdling or "splitting" in the hot soup. It's probably unnecessary with the 32% crรจme fraiche I was using, which can boil–but it will also serve to thicken the soup a little more.
- Dip out some of the hot broth, and gradually stir about a cup/250ml into the sour cream mixture to temper it.This is also intended to keep the cream from curdling, besides the starch glumping up together when it hits the hot broth.
- Our runny tempered sour cream mixture is ready to go into the soup! It should look very smooth.
- Carefully stir this through the soup. Since we used potato starch here, it thickened the soup as soon as it was mixed in. If you're using another starch or your soup has cooled down more, you may need to gently heat it some more before it will fully thicken.
- Adjust seasoning to your taste. This batch turned out just sour enough from that particular kraut that I needed to add around a teaspoon of sugar to help balance the flavors just a tad. The simmering and creaminess were not quite enough to mellow the edge off it. With less aggressively sauerkraut, this addition shouldn't be necessary.Add the dill. Stir in well, then let the soup sit off the heat for 5-10 minutes to let al the flavors blend.l
- Soups's on! This would be good served with some crusty bread, and maybe a green salad. But, it felt like enough of a meal on its own that we just ate big bowls for supper.
