Hearty Chicken Sausage, Roasted Pepper & Whole Wheat Orzo Soup Recipe

Hearty Chicken Sausage, Roasted Pepper & Whole Wheat Orzo Soup Recipe: a hearty and healthy dinner option.

It’s amazing what happens whenever I cook with sausages. Two boys, who conveniently disappear when I mention that it’s time to clean their room, emerge from their nook-and-cranny hiding spaces as soon as the savory aroma reaches their twitching noses.

Of course, I have no choice but to pull out the bribing mum card at that point: “Go clean your room and you can have a few pieces of sausage.” My two Tasmanian Devils speed off in a tornado of activity and…lo and behold…their room is clean in five minutes flat. Shocking!

If you like sausages as much as we do, and are partial to smoky roasted red peppers and tender orzo pasta, then this soup has your name written all over it. It couldn’t be simpler to put together and this hearty soup boasts a mere 245 calories and 1.8 grams of saturated fat per serving.

Most flavored turkey or chicken sausage would work in this recipe. Just be sure to choose something that will mix well with roasted peppers. In other words, chicken and apple sausage might not be the way to go this time. But something with sun-dried tomato, artichoke or spinach would be a great option.

My friend Kalyn of Kalyn’s kitchen highlighted these Sabatino’s Smoked Mozzarella Chicken Sausage with Artichokes and Garlic on her blog. Not only are they low in calories, fat and sugar, but they taste fantastic. Oh yeah, and they’re also gluten-free and nitrite-free. Besides this soup, I used the sausages in a low-fat version of baked ziti that I will share with you soon.

Now, let’s get down to business.

The recipe:

Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausages are starting to brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer the sausages to a bowl and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in the same saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Add the onion and cook until the onion is tender, 6 to 7 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the roasted red peppers.

Add the bay leaves and chicken broth, bring to a boil, then turn heat to medium-low. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves and turn the heat to medium-high. Bring the soup to a boil.

Add the whole wheat orzo and cook until the orzo is al dente (according to package directions).

Remove the soup from the heat, stir in the parsley and basil, and serve.

Other recipes with orzo:

Cookin’ Canuck’s Healthy Mushroom, Orzo & Swiss Chard Soup Recipe {Vegetarian}
Cookin’ Canuck’s Chicken BLT (or Bacon, Spinach & Tomato) Pasta Salad Recipe
Aggie’s Kitchen’s Spinach & Orzo Salad with Cranberries & Almonds
Smitten Kitchen’s Baked Orzo with Eggplant & Mozzarella
Eclectic Recipes’ Spinach Tomato Orzo Soup

Tagged as: chicken, healthy, low-calorie, orzo, recipe, roasted pepper, sausage, soup, whole wheat