Smoked Turkey Kielbasa Soup Recipe

Smoked Turkey Kielbasa Soup
With Kale and Leeks

This smoked turkey kielbasa soup with kale and leeks is a delectable soup for any season. I prepare it year round more frequently than any other soup — that’s how delicious it is and how easy it is to prepare. This soup is light and healthy, too!

Turkey kielbasa has become somewhat mainstream and you can find it on supermarket shelves under the brand of a famous sausage and bratwurst purveyor. However, if you live near a Polish market, going there to purchase turkey kielbasa will add so much more flavor to your soup.

To me, the supermarket variety tastes more like hotdogs than kielbasa — but, that is just my opinion. If you ever find yourself near the eastern Pennsylvania coal regions, Kowalonek’s has superb kielbasa. It’s worth the trip and I stock up with their specialties whenever I can.

Fresh dill adds the best flavor to this soup, but if your market is out of it, dried dill weed works okay. Luckily, I grow my own dill for the summer season and one of our local supermarkets usually has huge, gorgeous bunches of it.

I use reduced sodium chicken stock for my soup and enjoy it without adding additional salt. However, if you enjoy a more savory soup, you will need to add some salt to yours.

Smoked Turkey Kielbasa Soup With Kale and Leeks

Smoked Turkey Kielbasa

• 2 lbs smoked turkey kielbasa, partially frozen
• 3 leeks
• 1 bunch whole kale (not the pre-chopped variety)
• 16 cups chicken stock
• 1 large bunch fresh dill or 2 TBS dried dill weed
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper

Yield: 12 servings of 2 cups each.

Total preparation time: 2 hours.

Slice the partially frozen smoked turkey kielbasa into thin slices. Add them to a large stockpot. Cover with the chicken broth and add the pepper. If you are using dried dill weed, add it to the pot now. If you are using fresh dill, save the dill for later.

Bring the broth and turkey kielbasa to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer. Cover and simmer for one hour.

Beautiful Fresh Dill

While the broth is simmering, remove the outer layer of the leaks and discard it. Slice the leeks into thin disks between ¼” and ⅜” thick. Use the dark green portion of the leeks, too. Separate the disks into ringlets over a large colander placed inside a bowl or stockpot. Cover the leaks with water and swish them around in the water to loosen up any particles of dirt in the leeks. Allow them to soak and then drain the water. Cover them again with water and repeat this process until the water is clean. Usually, soaking and rinsing them three times cleans them.

While the leaks are soaking, pull the kale leaves from their thick stems. Discard the stems and slice the kale into manageable pieces, approximately 1 ½” by 1 ½”. Soak the kale in a large bowl of water and rinse it a few times to remove any dirt particles.

If you are using fresh dill, remove the very bottom of the stems and then finely chop the dill. (I include most of the stems when using fresh dill.)

After the smoked turkey kielbasa has simmered for an hour, add the drained leeks and kale to the pot. Add the fresh dill. Stir, cover, and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for another hour.

Remove from the heat and serve the smoked turkey kielbasa soup hot. Rye bread goes very well with this soup. Enjoy!

I am sharing this smoked turkey kielbasa soup recipe with Simple Lives Thursday, Real Food Wednesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, Foodie Friday, Savory Sunday, Full Plate Thursday, Made From Scratch Tuesday, It’s a Keeper Thursday, Wow Us Wednesdays, Strut Your Stuff, These Chicks Cooked, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Living Well Blog Hop, Tuesday’s Tasty Tidbits, Sunday Night Soup Night, and Menu Plan Monday.