Creamy Parmesan Italian Sausage Soup

Go ahead and bookmark this recipe right now. I am not kidding when I say this is the best pasta soup I have ever made. We dug in after I had it cooked and kept coming back for more. You'll find a tiny little kick of heat and the flavors melded together make a savory bowl of goodness you can't put down. Since it was snowing/raining/cold last weekend and we did not get out, I had to a substitute a few things from the original Creamy Parmesan Italian Sausage Soup recipe I found on Closet Cooking blog site. This dish kept popping up in my social media feeds and I could taste it as I read the ingredients. Luckily, we made an Aldi run the week before and had a pack of Italian Sausage in the freezer and one leftover yellow pepper, which I added to the pan.

We are the world's worst nibblers. Andy and I will sample and then wait a few hours before we eat. Hence, the pasta absorbed a lot of the liquid. If you are a normal person who eats immediately after the food is prepared, it would be a lot soupier and you might want to serve some type of bread to sop up that soupy goodness. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound ground Italian sausage

1 sweet onion

1 colored bell pepper

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 cups chicken broth

1 can petite diced tomatoes 

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

8 ounces pasta 

1/2 cup grated Parmesan & Romano cheese

1/2 cup milk or heavy cream

4 ounces sour cream (Substituted the 4 oz. cream cheese)

Salt & pepper to taste

In a large skillet, brown the Italian sausage and cook the onions and peppers until tender. Add minced garlic and crushed red pepper and stir into this mixture.

Add the can of tomatoes, broth, Italian seasoning and uncooked pasta to the skillet.  Bring the liquid to a boil and cook until pasta is tender. Elbow macaroni or egg noodles were my choices out of the pantry. Next go around, I will use a prettier shaped pasta. However, the elbow macaroni drank in all the flavor and was just fine.

Stir in the milk, sour cream and Parmesan cheese until well blended. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Taste the broth and add salt and pepper to suit your taste buds. This Creamy Parmesan Italian Sausage Soup is ready to eat! If you prefer less broth (as shown in the featured picture), cover and let it sit a little while so the pasta has time to absorb some of the flavor-filled broth.