Easy Creamy Italian Sausage & Potato Soup

If you’ve got a couple jars of Alfredo sauce sitting in your pantry, I’m about to give you a whole new reason to buy them. Alfredo sauce does not always have to go over pasta! It happens to make one of the easiest, creamiest soup bases ever — and you don’t have to make a roux, buy heavy cream, or worry about your creamy soup separating.

For this Easy Creamy Italian Sausage & Potato Soup, I start with a classic mirepoix of onions, carrots, and celery, then add garlic, Italian sausage, and buttery little gold potatoes. Everything simmers in chicken broth until those potatoes are perfectly tender, and then comes my little shortcut: two jars of Alfredo sauce.

And let me tell you, I am picky about jarred Alfredo sauce. My favorite is Bertolli d’Italia Alfredo Sauce because it is actually REALLY good. It makes this soup thick, creamy, and rich without having to mess around with a bunch of extra ingredients. Then we finish it off with freshly shredded cheddar and parsley, and that’s it!

This is one of those soups that tastes like you did WAY more than you actually did. 

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Want to make it even easier? I also have a Crockpot version of this creamy sausage and potato soup that you can throw together and let cook while you go about your day!

Melissa’s Tips!

• Slow and low on the veggies! You’re softening your mirepoix, not stir-frying it. Give the onions, carrots, and celery time to become tender and fragrant.
• Don’t salt too early. The sausage, chicken bouillon, Alfredo sauce, broth, and cheddar all bring salt to the party. Taste at the very end before adding more.
• Use freshly shredded cheddar. It melts much more smoothly into the hot soup than pre-shredded cheese.
• Turn the heat off before adding the cheddar. The soup is plenty hot enough to melt it with residual heat.
• Adjust the thickness to your liking. I add 1 cup of water because I like having a little more soup while keeping it nice and creamy. Leave it out if you want an even thicker consistency.
• Don’t waste that Alfredo! Add a little hot broth to each empty jar, shake it up, and pour it back into the pot. Every last drop is going in my soup. 
• Cut the potatoes small and evenly. This helps them cook quickly and at the same rate.

🤔 Common Questions

Melissa Jo

Easy Creamy Italian Sausage & Potato Soup

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This Easy Creamy Italian Sausage & Potato Soup is loaded with tender gold potatoes, Italian sausage, mirepoix, garlic, cheddar, and fresh parsley in an unbelievably creamy broth. The secret shortcut is two jars of Alfredo sauce, which create a thick and creamy soup without making a roux or adding heavy cream. It’s easy, hearty, cozy, and SO freaking good!

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Servings: 5 people

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

  

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• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup diced celery
• ½ cup diced carrots
• ½ cup diced onion
• 4 cloves garlic chopped, diced, or sliced
• ½ tablespoon Knorr Chicken Flavor Bouillon
• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 24 ounces bite-sized honey gold potatoes each cut into about 8 pieces
• 32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water optional depending on desired thickness
• 2 16.9-ounce jars Bertolli d’Italia Alfredo Sauce
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese freshly shredded
• Fresh parsley chopped, to taste
• Cracked black pepper to taste
• Salt only if needed, to taste

Method

 

Step 1: Start With the Mirepoix

1. Add the olive oil to a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium to medium-low heat.
2. Add the celery, carrots, and onions. This combination is called a mirepoix, and we’re going to cook it nice and slow.
3. We are NOT stir-frying these vegetables! Let them slowly soften until they’re fragrant and translucent with just a teeny bit of golden color.

Step 2: Add the Garlic

1. Once your vegetables are softened, add the chopped garlic.
2. Let the garlic cook with the vegetables for another couple of minutes, just until it becomes fragrant.
3. Stir in the Knorr chicken bouillon. You can add a little cracked black pepper here if you’d like, but hold off on the salt. Between the bouillon, Alfredo sauce, sausage, broth, and cheese, there is already plenty of flavor going into this soup.

Step 3: Brown the Italian Sausage

1. Push the mirepoix over to one side of the pot and add the bulk Italian sausage directly into the empty side.
2. Break the sausage apart and let it brown. Once it’s mostly cooked through and getting some good color, incorporate it into all those beautiful vegetables.

Step 4: Add the Potatoes

1. Cut each bite-sized honey gold potato into approximately 8 small pieces.
2. Add the potatoes directly to the sausage and vegetables and toss everything together.
3. Let the potatoes sauté with the sausage and mirepoix for about 10 minutes over medium to medium-low heat.

Step 5: Add the Broth

1. Pour in the 32 ounces of low-sodium chicken broth.
2. I also add 1 cup of water here. The water stretches the soup a little further while still leaving it thick and creamy once the Alfredo goes in.
3. If you want an extra-thick soup or don’t need as much, you can leave the additional water out.
4. Bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, you can lower the heat slightly while keeping it at a steady enough simmer to cook the potatoes.
5. Cook for about 15–20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and can easily be pierced with a fork.

Step 6: My Alfredo Sauce Hack!

1. Now for the part that makes this soup SO easy.
2. Add both jars of Alfredo sauce to the soup.
3. But don’t throw those jars away yet!
4. Before stirring everything together, scoop a little hot broth from the soup into each empty Alfredo jar. Put the lid back on, give it a GOOD shake, and pour it right back into the pot.
5. We are getting every last bit of that sauce out of those jars!
6. Stir everything together and bring the soup back up until it’s hot and just beginning to bubble. Then reduce it to a gentle simmer.

Step 7: Finish With Cheddar & Parsley

1. Add a good handful of freshly chopped parsley.
2. Turn off the heat and add the freshly shredded cheddar cheese.
3. Let the residual heat from the soup gently melt the cheese, stirring until everything is smooth, creamy, and absolutely gorgeous.
4. Taste your soup before adding any salt. Mine needed hardly any! Add cracked black pepper and just a little salt at the very end only if you think it needs it.
5. Serve it up while it’s hot!

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👝 How to Store Leftovers

Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3–4 days.

The soup will thicken as it sits because of the potatoes, Alfredo sauce, and cheese. When reheating, add a small splash of chicken broth or water if needed to loosen it back up.

Reheat gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat or in the microwave until warmed through. Avoid aggressively boiling the leftovers since this is a creamy, cheesy soup.