Take the chill out of winter with this delicious Low-Carb Italian Sausage Soup recipe. This soup is pure comfort food, but can still be part of a low-carb, keto, Atkins, Whole-30, Paleo, diabetic, or Banting diet.
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Over the past several days, a cold spell has settled over North Carolina. Sure, it’s still warmer here than other parts of the country, but we’re not used to it. Here, cold weather and snow are met with panicked trips to the grocery store to be met with already emptied aisles. Today, school officials even closed school due to the cold weather.
All of this chilly weather has put me in the mood to make soup. In addition to wanting to make soup, I wanted to try out the new Instant Pot that arrived under my tree on Christmas Eve.
I have heard so many great things about Instant Pots that I couldn’t wait to get started with mine. I love that I can brown the meat directly in the pot. This means there are fewer dishes to clean. I also love how pressure cooking saves time in the cooking process, yet retains flavor.
Using the Instant Pot for the first time was a little scary, but I was determined to get started and not allow my Instant Pot to sit in my kitchen unused. After the steam test, I started looking around the kitchen for potential things to try out in the pot.
I managed to find a package of ground sausage meat, a can of tomato sauce, and a few veggies in the fridge. Using those ingredients and a few other things I keep around the kitchen, I made my first soup in the Instant Pot.
I was so impressed with how the soup turned out! The pressure cooking process retained more flavor than I get with my slow-cooker, yet the meat was still super tender. The soup was a hit with the family and everyone looked forward to more pots of it as I “tweaked” the recipe.
I love that this soup doesn’t have any dairy in it. I’m trying to put more dairy-free recipes in the blog because I know so many people are sensitive to it. Because it doesn’t have dairy (and fulfills all of the other requirements), this soup works for Whole-30 and Paleo eaters as well.
I know that some of my followers eat super low-carb. Because of this, I want to warn you that there is a large variance of the amount of carbs in tomato sauce. The nutritional values were calculated using Contadina tomato sauce and there were 20 grams of carbs in 15 ounces. Some brands contained more than that.
If you are tightly counting carbs, and wanted to keep the carb quantity even lower, you could reduce the amount of tomato sauce to 7-8 ounces and omit the carrots. Another option is to replace the onions with 1 teaspoon of onion powder.
Our low Carb Italian Sausage soup has a tomato scented broth with notes of basil and oregano. A bit of garlic and some red pepper flakes add interest and make it truly delectable. Bits of tender carrot and celery join the sweet sausage to make every spoonful a delight.
Our Low-Carb Italian Sausage Soup Recipe will be a hit with the whole family. Serve it with a salad and some of our Low-Carb Sour Cream Biscuits, or this keto garlic bread from Divalicious to make a complete meal. Enjoy!
-Annissa
PS: Love soup in the winter? Be sure to check out my leftover turkey/chicken soup, my Low-Carb “Potato” Leek Soup, this easy chicken soup recipe for colds from All Natural Ideas and this recipe for keto pot roast soup from Keto Cooking Wins.
Low-Carb Italian Sausage Soup-Instant Pot Recipe
Take the chill out of winter with this delicious Low-Carb Italian Sausage Soup recipe. This soup is pure comfort food, but can still be part of a low-carb, keto, Atkins, Whole-30, Paleo, diabetic, or Banting diet.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 4 ounces onion chopped
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 2 ounces carrot diced
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 32 ounces beef broth low-sodium and preferably organic
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground)
- 1/2 - 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Optional: additional basil chopped for garnish
Instructions
Place the inner pot in your Instant Pot. Select the sauté function of your Instant Pot to preheat the pot. When the word "hot" appears in the display, add the sausage. Break the sausage up with a spoon. Brown the sausage, stirring occasionally. If desired, drain extra fat from the pot.
Stir in the onion, celery, and carrot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften.
Stir in the tomato sauce, garlic, beef broth, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of the sea salt. (omit salt if using regular broth instead of low-sodium).
Close and lock the lid. Set steam release in seal position. Select the Meat Stew setting. Use the +- buttons to adjust the time to 30 minutes.
When the cycle is finished, release the pressure. I use the quick release method for this. Refer to your manual if you are unsure how to do this.
Taste and adjust seasoning. I add the second half teaspoon of salt at this stage, but you should add according to your tastes and needs. Sprinkle a bit of chopped basil on top of each bowl if desired.
Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1/6th of the recipe
Per serving:
Calories: 294
Fat (g): 20
Carbs (g): 9
Fiber (g): 2
Protein (g): 20
Net carbs (g): 7
Can this recipe be prepared in a crockpot?
While I haven’t actually made it in a crockpot, I feel certain it should work fine. There may be some difference in the thickness of the soup, but I don’t have any other concerns. To prepare it for the crockpot, simply do the initial sautéing in a skillet over medium-high heat, then transfer to the slow-cooker. Add the other ingredients to the slow cooker, stir and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-5 hours. Good luck!
Annissa
Doubled the recipe & this came out great!!! Will be making again! I used Parmesan to top it off!
Parmesan cheese on top sounds perfect!
I’ve not made this yet, but it’s sounds very similar to one of our favorites from a 1994 betty Crocker cooking for two cookbook. It uses peeled Italian style tomatoes, undrained and sliced zucchini. It also calls for elbow macaroni. I cook the macaroni separately. .
Since my recipe is for 2 people, it calla for 2 cups of beef broth, 2 cans only 29 oz, so I make up the difference with a nice red wine. My recipe is not low carb, but is definitely delicious. Oh and I do drain the fat after browning the sausage.
Sounds yummy! I love getting inspiration from old recipes!
-Annissa
The X used to make something similar to this cooking it in old pressure cooker. What she did to take it up a notch was to have 1/2 regular Italian Sausage and 1/2 Spicy Italian Sausage. Will try this recipe soon . Thanks for posting
Spicy Italian sausage would be fine to use. It will just taste more, well, spicy. Lol!
-Annissa
Annissa
Thanks for the SPICY comment. My son just got a new InstaPot and I noticed you have this one set to “Meat Stew” setting for 30 min. Many online recipes seem to use the Manual setting. Can you tell me la difference?.
Coach Mo
You’re welcome! I think using presets or manual settings is just a matter of personal preference of the blogger. I prefer presets because I think it’s easier and takes fewer steps. I hope this helps! I hope your son is loving his new Instant Pot!
-Annissa
Thanks Annissa for your spicy comment. I am new to IntaPots and noticed your recipe called for 30 min on “Meat Stew”. I have seen many posted InstaPot recipes using the”Manual” setting. Can you explain la difference?
I used spicy Italian Turkey sausage so it would be less fat as well (regular ole low fat low carb healthy comfort soup) and it came out just as amazing! LOVE this recipe!!! I’ve made it like 4 times already.
Thanks so much! Spicy sausage is a great substitution!
-Annissa
Made the soup today. Delicious!
Yay! Glad you liked it!
-Annissa
I have left over cooked veggies from a bbq last weekend that I was trying to find a use for. This soup is perfect with our farm raised pork. Mmy question is, what cook time should I adjust the IP to since the veggies aren’t raw?
Thanks.
Patricia,
If the veggies are already cooked, I would add them after the soup has cooked. Stir them in after releasing the pressure and removing the lid. The soup will probably be hot enough to reheat them in a few minutes without additional simmering, depending on the amount of veggies you add, how cold they are when you add them, and the thickness of the pieces. If you do need additional heat, a few minutes on the saute setting while you stir should do it. I think if you cooked them under pressure your precooked veggies would get mushy.
-Annissa
I am not normally a soup person, but I love, this soup. I can eat it everyday! I follow the instructions as given, but add a 1/2 cup of heavy cream…which takes it over the top. Also, I just prepare it stove top (one pot) and let it simmer. Yum.
I usually add some shredded cabbage, chopped green peppers, and petite diced tomatoes to mine. And when it is done cooking, I add some Picante sauce. I usually top mine with cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. YUM!!!!!!
Sounds divine!
-Annissa