Sausage Potato Kale Skillet - A 30 Minute Dinner

This is one of my very favorite go-to dishes for a weeknight. It takes about 30 minutes, it tastes great, AND it's healthy. I've served this to many a guest, and it has yet to disappoint. 

I know I've talked about this several times on my menu and briefly described it, but I thought it was time for a full recipe. I make this so often, we like it so much, and it's so easy that I thought it was about time I got it up on the blog.

It's hard for me to write a recipe for this because I make it a little different every time I make it. The particular one photographed here has onions and leeks in it because I had some to use up, but I generally just use kale, potatoes, and sausage.

The sausage is the star of the show here. Most of the flavor comes from it. That being said, be sure to choose a good quality, tasty sausage. I like to buy the Italian sausage from the Dekalb Farmer's Market. The ingredients list is pork, salt, and spices, so you know exactly what you're eating, and it's really good!

Sausage Potato Kale Skillet

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and broken into bite-sized pieces, 4-6 cups

Red Potatoes, approximately 1 1/2 pounds, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces.

Italian sausage, 1/2 - 1 pound

Salt to taste

Beef broth, optional

Directions:

In a large skillet, brown the sausage. When it is cooked through remove it from the pan to a plate with a paper towel, leaving all excess sausage fat in the pan. If you are using sausage links, cook them whole, set aside to cool while you cook the potatoes, then thinly slice. If you are using ground sausage, break it up into bite-sized pieces while it is browning, then set aside while you cook the potatoes.

Add your potatoes to the pan with the sausage fat. Sprinkle with salt, and cook until tender and beginning to brown. Depending on the sausage, you may need some additional fat (such a butter) while cooking the potatoes. Alternatively, you could add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of beef broth to prevent the potatoes from sticking and for additional flavor. Cooking the potatoes should take 15 - 20 minutes.

Put the sausage back into the pan, put all of the kale on top (don't stir at this point), sprinkle with salt again, and put the lid on. After a couple of minutes, stir around and put the lid back on. As soon as the kale is cooked to your liking, which should be approximately 5 minutes, it is ready to serve.

Like I said, I've added onions and leeks to this, I've used garlic, paprika, and chili powder, mushrooms would be good, I've steamed the potatoes and just tossed them in the sausage fat for a quick browning....Be creative! But keep in mind, none of that is necessary. It is good just the way it is. In fact, I most often make it without any of those additions. 

I often serve this alone, but it's great with bread!

This is so tasty for a three ingredient dinner that doesn't include a box or a can. It would be silly to not at least try it.

Enjoy!