Ahh… dinner with family. The ultimate adventure in making something that will please everyone with a less than 50% success rate. It can be very frustrating. On that rare night when you find that dish that is good for them, full of flavor and a family hit, you laminate the recipe and glue it to the fridge! By adding Hillshire Farm® Polska Kielbasa to my white bean and spinach soup, I got that recipe! Usually, I add chicken but, to be honest, I am tired of turning to chicken every time I need protein in a meal. My family, and I, LOVE sausage, so being able to replace the typical protein I use with sausage is a dinnertime winner that makes me Oh So Happy! Keep reading to learn more about this amazing Slow Cooker Sausage, White Bean and Spinach Soup!
I found this recipe on and have been dying to try it ever since. I added a little Lori flair, like using dried beans instead of canned ones and Hillshire Farm® Polska Kielbasa instead of the recommended sausage. I like the flavor better and the quality of the sausage is unmatched. I also left out the onion since my family just doesn’t care for them and I don’t think it takes away from the flavor at all.
Getting started is simple. If you are using dried Great Northern Beans like I did, you have to prepare them first. You can soak them overnight or do a quick soak. Pour a 1 pound bag into a pan with 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil and let boil 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and cover for an hour. Then add them to the slow cooker!
I do this in the morning while I am getting everyone off to school. When I get back from the bus stop, I prep the sausage and get the rest of the ingredients into the slow cooker!
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 (12.8-ounce) Hillshire Farm® Polska Kielbasa rope sausage, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 Lb bag of dried Great Northern bean or 2 (15-ounce) cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups chicken broth
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cups baby spinach
- (If using dried beans, follow the package instructions to prepare them to use.)
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add Hillshire Farm® Polska Kielbasasausage, and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Place sausage, garlic, carrots, celery, beans, oregano and bay leaves into a slow cooker. Stir in chicken broth and 2 cups water until well combined; season with salt and pepper.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours. When done, stir in spinach until wilted.
A few tips when making this amazing meal.
– Use high quality ingredients. Use fresh veggies and not frozen and cut them yourself. Use fresh baby spinach and not frozen as well!
– Spray your slow cooker with a non-stick spray prior to adding ingredients to make it easier to clean.
– You can freeze this soup so make a lot! Just heat it up slowly on the stove or on medium heat in the microwave.
I have never tried a soup like this. I am adding this to my list of recipes to try before it gets too warm! #client
Oh it is perfect year round!! You will love it!!
Looks delicious!
It so is! I’m making it again this weekend, actually :)
Please help. Is there another green you can use besides spinach?
Hi. I have not tried it with anything else but Kale or any other leafy green should work well!
Lori, would it work with cabbage?
Lori, Please help again. I hate to bother you again, but could you use cabbage instead of spinach?
Sorry for the delay – I was in Crossfit – I would think cabbage would be good!
Thank you so much.
Hi Lori
This sounds like a good hearty soup for this time of year…..except I’m not really keen on kielbasa….I was wondering if I could use chicken or turkey sausage instead? Thanks :)
Hi: This soup looks great, I have a pot of northern beans already cooked. Can I just add the other ingredients and cook on the stove?
You can but you can also put the cooked beans in and just let it cook 4 hours in the slow cooker for maximum flavor!
I would love to try this recipe for the slow cooker sausage, white bean, and spinach soup, however based on the amount of each ingredient I am afraid it would make way more then I and one other person could eat. Do you have any ideal how many servings and the size of each serving (for example does the basic recipe make 8 (1 cup) servings?
I have visited this site before and ran across the same issue, so end up having to pass on many of the recipes that I would like to try. Most because I live in a 28 ft. RV with very limited Freezer space so freezing the leftovers isn’t an option. Please send me an email to: tbarrows53@gmail.com letting me know the answer to my inquiry and if at all possible in your future recipe posting could you kindly include the number of servings that the recipe yields.
Respectfully Requested,
Teresa Barrows
did you ever get an answer as to the number of servings it makes let me know please at irener.james@outlook.com