Venison sausage and gnocchi soup is the perfect winter warmer meal. It's creamy, flavorful, colorful, comforting, and delicious. The seasoning from the venison Italian sausage perfectly flavors the broth and brings together all the ingredients in this delicious soup. Give it a try today!
Why This Recipe Works:
Venison Italian sausage is a versatile ingredient that can be used for so much more than spaghetti and meatballs! The blend of herbs and spices in the sausage gives the broth in this soup a wonderful flavor. The roasted red peppers add a little bit of sweetness and the kale adds beautiful color to this vibrant soup.
The gnocchi are perfect fluffy little pillows of goodness tucked in among the other ingredients. Paired with fluffy sourdough bread for dipping, this delicious creamy soup is sure to warm your belly and fill you up!
If you're looking for a lighter soup, try this venison Italian wedding soup!
Ingredient Notes:
- Venison Italian Sausage: This recipe uses my venison Italian sausage but if you already have some in your freezer, you can use that instead!
- Gnocchi: Gnocchi come in all sorts of varieties. This recipe uses plain potato gnocchi but you can use whatever gnocchi you'd like.
- Tuscan Kale: Tuscan kale can be replaced with any other hearty green like Swiss chard, spinach, other varieties of kale, etc.
Step by Step Instructions:
How to make roasted red peppers:
Roasted red peppers are a delicious ingredient whether you buy them or make them yourself. But, you can usually make them for a lot cheaper than you can buy them and they're super easy to make! They lend a delicious savory and sweet flavor to any dish you add them to. Read below for how to make them!
Pro Tip: Look out for when bell peppers are on sale, make a big batch, and freeze or can the peppers for future use!
How to make sausage and gnocchi soup:
Once you have your sausage and peppers made, this soup is super easy to make! Check out the step-by-step instructions below.
Pro Tip: Add salt and pepper at the end of cooking. The saltiness of your soup will depend on the salt in your sausage and broth. Adding it at the end helps ensure your soup isn't too salty!
A note on venison Italian sausage:
Italian sausage is a popular choice when you take your deer to the butcher. But, you can also make your own! Making your own can be really rewarding and you can adjust the seasonings to your liking. Looking for a recipe? Check out this recipe for ground venison Italian sausage.
Putting it All Together:
Once your soup is ready, it's time to dig in! Top it with a little freshly grated parmesan and chopped parsley for a little extra brightness. Tear off a piece of Dutch oven sourdough bread for dipping and enjoy!
Recipe FAQ's:
Fennel is the main ingredient that gives Italian sausage its distinctive flavor but a blend of other herbs and spices make Italian sausage special as well.
No, you can make sausage with 100% ground venison. You will need to add some fat to the pan to cook it but it doesn't have to be ground in. If you are making sausages in casings, you do need to add fat to the ground venison to prevent it from drying out.
You can make sausage out of any cut of meat you'd like. But, the popular choice is to turn your trim meat from steaks and roasts into sausage. If you're not big on roasts, you can grind those into sausage as well.
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Recipe:
Venison Sausage and Gnocchi Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon pork lard (or other cooking fat)
- 1 lb venison Italian sausage
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion, diced (about 1.5 cups)
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 5 ½ cups light-colored broth (chicken, game bird, etc.)
- 2 roasted red peppers, diced (about 1 cup) - directions below, or jarred
- 1 lb gnocchi
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 bunch Tuscan kale, cut into ribbons (about 4 cups)
- ½ cup parmesan, freshly grated
- ⅓ cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- To large pot, add lard. Heat over medium-high heat until melted.
- Add sausage and break up meat into pieces. Cook for 4-6 minutes, or until browned. Remove to a bowl and set aside.
- Turn heat down to low, add butter and stir until melted.
- Add onions and garlic and stir to coat. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Add gnocchi and bring to a boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 5 additional minutes.
- Add diced roasted red peppers and sausage. Bring back to a simmer and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add cream and bring to a low simmer. Add in kale and stir to combine. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed. You may not need any depending on the seasoning in your sausage and broth.
- Top with fresh grated parmesan and parsley. Serve with crusty bread for dipping. Enjoy!
How to make roasted red peppers:
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Cut peppers in half lengthwise and remove stems, seeds, and white membranes.
- Place peppers, cut side down, on parchment paper-lined pan.
- Roast for 15-20 minutes, or until the skin is bubbling and pulling away from the flesh. You can remove them at this point or leave in the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until the skin is starting to blacken and the peppers start losing their shape. You'll get more flavor out of them if you leave them in!
- Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Remove peels and discard. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- You can pressure can roasted peppers in oil if you'd like to preserve them.
Tracy
This was an outstanding recipe. So easy and delicious. I can think of no better way to use my venison Italian sausage. Everyone loved it.
Annie Weisz
Thank you so much for your kind review, Tracy! I'm so glad you loved the soup!!
CW
As with every recipe I’ve made from Peak to plate, this is a home run! Wyoming was snowy yesterday so I decided to cook this in place of my traditional valentines Surf and Turf. This was so easy and my husband LOVED it. It reminds us of a Philly cheesesteak soup I’ve made in the past but ups the ante with gnocchi. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!!
Annie Weisz
Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm so glad you and your husband enjoyed this recipe. It's the perfect cozy meal for all this snow we've been getting!