As soon as the weather forecast called for snow this past week, I immediately began reviewing soup recipes I saved over the past year.

It was time.

Joey and I prepared our “get ready to be snowed in” list for the grocery store, and I was thoroughly ready to make some awesome, hearty meals while we were stuck inside.

The soup I’m sharing with you this week absolutely fit the bill for a cold day.

This recipe comes from the website “Belaya.” You can find the original post at https://belaya.info/creamy-parmesan-italian-sausage-ditalini-soup.html. I added extra garlic and pasta in my version below. It ended up creating a much thicker heartier soup/pasta dish, so if you like your soups a little looser, I’d recommend halving the amount of pasta or doubling the liquid listed below. 

Creamy Parmesan Sausage Ditalini Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound Italian sausage (I used hot Italian)

1 small onion, diced (I used yellow)

6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups chicken broth

14.5 ounces diced tomatoes, drained

16 ounces ditalini (or other small) pasta

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped

1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes, optional

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pot or Dutch oven. When it’s hot, add the sausage and onions, breaking the sausage apart as it sautes.

When the sausage is cooked through and the onions are soft, add the garlic, sauteing for another couple of minutes or until it is lightly browned and fragrant.

Pour in the chicken broth and drained tomatoes, and stir to combine. Raise the heat to bring the mixture to a low boil, and add the pasta, stirring regularly to keep it from sticking to the bottom. Boil the pasta for the amount of time recommended on the box or until it’s cooked to your liking.

Turn the heat down to medium-low, and stir in the cream. Then stir in the parmesan. Once the soup thickens and returns to a simmer, stir in the spinach, letting it cook for a couple minutes until it’s wilted. Finally, add red chili flakes (if desired) and salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve the soup with more parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

For the leftovers, you may need to add more broth (or a little water) to get it back to the same consistency. It will likely thicken more in the refrigerator.

Ours was definitely thicker than the original recipe intended, but I just couldn’t see having half a box of pasta sitting in my pantry for who knows how long, so I figured there was no reason to skimp on the carbs.

This was warm, creamy and tasty. I really liked the bit of heat from the hot Italian sausage and chili flakes, too, but I also love that you can leave all that spiciness out and still have an amazing meal.

And it gave us another meal of tasty leftovers for later in the week, once the daily grind resumed. Work day or not, soup days and snow days are best combined.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly recipe column by Lindsey Young, who describes herself as an enthusiastic amateur cook and can be reached through her website at spiceupkitchen.net.