by Texas Homesteader ~
The weather is very raw today – blustery, damp & cold. So I’ve got on my thinkin’ cap making plans for a bone-warming supper for RancherMan & me.
What’s my motto, y’all? That’s right, “Use WhatCha Got!”
So I’m pulling out the ingredients I have available to work with, including leftover smoked sausage from a larger package of sausages, some of my home-canned chicken broth and the last of our fresh potatoes & onions.
The big soup pot is at the ready. Today I think a comfort-foody kinda meal of meaty potato soup is in order!
Potato Soup Ingredients
I chopped the onions & sausages and plopped them into my soup pot with about a tablespoon of bacon grease and cooked them until the onions were translucent.
Then I added a quart of homemade broth and my chopped potatoes, minced garlic, salt & coarsely-cracked pepper and put the top back on the soup pot. The potatoes were simmered until they were soft – probably about 20 minutes.
Now some people like their potato soup very smooth, even placing it in a blender to achieve that smooth texture.
However it feels like a more substantial meal to RancherMan & me to have noticeable chunks of potato & sausage in our soup.
So I just took my wooden spatula and chopped at the soft potatoes until they were as chopped into the soup as I liked.
I stirred in a splash of evaporated milk to add a little extra creaminess and seasoned the soup with some tarragon as well as some of the dried thyme I preserved in the fall.
Then I ladled the thick soup into heavy soup crocks.
I often sprinkle just a little sharp cheddar cheese on top. It was delicious and satisfying on such a cold day, and it cost just pennies!
I served it up with some jalapeno cornbread for a truly delicious warming supper on a cold blustery day! We even got to enjoy plenty of the leftovers with crackers the next day for lunch. A Two-Fer WIN.
Flexible Recipe
Now here’s the most important part – around our household (and probably yours too) rigid recipes just don’t fly. Thankfully this recipe can me amended however you like to suit your own tastes.
Like a smoother soup? Stick those cooked potatoes/onions in the blender. Less meat? More meat? Creaminess? Brothiness? It’s all up to you! Here’s what I did:
Potato Soup w/Smoked Sausage
Ingredients
- 2 smoked sausages chopped
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 Tablespoon bacon grease
- 2 cloves of garlic pressed
- 4 cups chicken broth to cover potatoes (can substitute with water)
- 4 large potatoes (about 5-8 cups depending on how potatoey you want it)
- 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Splash of evaporated milk for extra creaminess optional
- Shredded cheddar optional
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Directions:
-
Chop onions & sausages, saute in bacon grease until unions are translucent.
Add minced garlic, chopped potatoes and broth, salt & pepper to taste. Put lid on soup pot & simmer until potatoes are very soft (about 20 minutes)
Use end of spatula to chop soft potatoes into smaller chunks, stir in dried tarragon & thyme.
Add a splash of evaporated milk to add creaminess and serve with a light sprinkling of sharp cheddar on top.
Bon Appetit!
~TxH~
Our Favorite Soups
- Endless Soup For A Weeks’ Worth Of Lunches
- MYO Cream Of Chicken Soup In A SNAP!
- Potato Soup – A Bone-Warming Meal On A Cold Day
- Planned Leftovers: Beef Stew w/Leftover Pot Roast
- Hot & Hearty Cabbage Stew
- Taco Soup: A Quick Meal For ‘Those Days’
- Lazy-Cooks Italian Soup
- Planned Leftovers: Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Easy Chicken Broth
- (Pressure Canning Broth)
See All Our Soup Recipes
Want to see other Meal Ideas?
-
Want to see other Meal Ideas?
- Poor Man’s Stuffed Steak (hamburger)
- Award-Winning Cowboy Chili
- Slow-Cooker Spicy Sticky Chicken
- Cheesy Spaghetti Squash Lasagne Cooked In Its Shell
- Savory Meatloaf
- Lazy Cook’s Chile Relleno
- Hot & Hearty Cabbage Stew
- Homemade Chicken & Dumplings
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Instant Pot Goulash – Comfort Food FAST!
- Slow Cooker Enchilada Casserole
- Meat-Stuffed Ravioli
- Stuffed Bell Peppers
- Homemade Pasta – Only 3 Ingredients!
- Southwest Chicken w/Seasoned Brown Rice
- Meat & Cheese-Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Homemade Tamales (includes Instant-Pot shortcut)
- Homemade Meals Every Day – The EASY Way!
- Pecan Smoking A Whole, Spatchcock Turkey
- Quick Southwest Quesadillas
Recipes Using Leftover Roast:
- Carnitas Tacos
- (MYO Crispy Taco Shells in Minutes)
- Pulled Pork Enchiladas
- Hearty Meaty Stew
- Pulled Pork BBQ
- (Homemade Honey-Sweetened BBQ Sauce)
See All Our Recipes
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Perfect weather for this meal! Thanks for sharing on the What’s for Dinner link up!
Agreed – comfort food when it’s blustery outside for sure Helen. ~TxH~
I would add some of my shredded cabbage which I froze this past year to the soup. I love potatoes and sausage together and then add some cabbage…yummy. Would think that sauerkraut would work to…for that “German” feeling.
I love good soup in the winter…. of course, it’s 72 degrees here in Atlanta on Jan 19, but I’m hoping that winter will come our way for a little while. If so, I’m hanging onto this recipe! Thanks!
Tammy, it’s the middle of Summer here, but my mouth is still watering! Thanks for sharing at Five Star Frou-Frou this week. I hope you’ll join us again? Love, Mimi xxx
Made it this weekend – I cooked on high in my crockpot – too delicious!!! Thanks for sharing.
That’s so awesome Cynthia – thanks for coming back to let us know how you liked it. I know it goes over VERY well in the Taylor Household and I especially love that it makes enough for us to enjoy for subsequent meals as well. For me it’s a win/win if you can eat a homemade meal without having to actually cook it because your previous homemade meal’s left plenty for you to enjoy in subsequent days. ~TxH~
Mmmmm, potato soup is the best kind of soup! I have one recipe that I enjoy, but do not have one that has any meat in it, and was looking for something that did (for a more substantial meal, that can maybe make more for more leftovers!).
RancherMan’s certainly a meat-n-potatoes kinda man Jessica so this soup combined both. LOL The meatier I make it, the more he likes it. Plus it put good use to what I had needing to be used and I’m always on the lookout for that. Thankfully we waste precious little in the way of food in the Taylor Household but it does take diligence sometimes. ~TxH~
I’m telling ya it’s like I can taste this through the computer! So was that condensed milk as in sweetened condensed milk or was it evaporated milk?
(smacks forehead) Evaporated milk, not condensed milk. Dang I must have gotten so excited when pounding out this post I didn’t even notice that. Funny thing is, I very seldom even have evaporated milk, but this partial can was sitting in my fridge from another recipe & I wanted to use it up and it worked perfectly in this soup. I’ll change it to show evaporated instead of condensed milk – thanks for letting me know!! (Oh, and yeah, the soup was absolutely delicious!) ~TxH~
Oh, YUM. This looks so Delicious and I even have some diced up ham in the freezer.
Will be making this soon. With the Fort Worth Stock Show starting, a person just knows we have bad weather coming. Happens every year while the stock show is going on.
We just finished off our Hamburger Soup so on with another.
I think instead of using my mini potatoes for the Pizza Mashed Potatoes, I will be using them in making of this soup.
Thanks for the recipe.
Have a great day; an enjoyable weekend and Stay warm