Sausage and mussels in tomato broth is gorgeous, finger-licking delicious and easy-peasy to make! This dish is a full meal in a bowl with loads of nutrients and immune-boosting benefits. Perfect for a paleo or low-carb weeknight dinner.
Do you have one of those days you just can’t decide what you want to eat? When I was torn between steamed mussels and tomato soup, the sausage and mussels in tomato broth was the perfect solution. Just imagine combining 2 great dishes into 1. The marriage of the flavours work so well that you will want to make this dish over and over again!
Summary of The Dish
The additional sausage was inspired by a steamed-mussels lunch I had on a beautiful summer day visiting the Nantucket island. There was sausage in the steamed mussels dish. And they tasted amazing together. Thus, I always go back to wanting to recreate the experience. And the way I like my tomato soup? I always use plenty of fennel (the vegetable) in them.
As the flavours of fresh mussels, smoky sausage, tomato broth and fennel simmered into each other, this one pot meal bursted with awesomeness.
Most importantly, sausage and mussels in tomato broth is easy and quick to put together. You will first make a simple tomato broth, and then add in the mussels and pre-cooked sausage. The mussels and sausage only take a few minutes to cook. Voila, you have got a whole meal in a pot!
Immune-Boosting Benefits
Nutrition wise, 2 ingredients really stand out in this dish. They are the mussels and chicken bone broth. Each on their own is a superfood!
Fresh Mussels
Mussels really should be a staple food in every family. This is because shellfish provides so much nutrients that we don’t easily get elsewhere, and mussels are actually among the most economical and nutritious of all shellfish. For example, mussels contain a good amount of omega-3, vitamin B12, iron and zinc. These are often the micronutrients a lot of us are deficient on.
Omega-3 and vitamin B12 support brain health and cognitive functions. Vitamin B12 and iron are crucial in the generation of red blood cells. Zinc supports our immune system to fight off infections in the winter, and supports men’s sexual health by increasing testosterone.
Chicken Bone Broth
I added 2 cups of homemade chicken bone broth in this dish. The chicken bone broth base makes the tomato soup so rich and nourishing. In fact, bone broth is essential in every traditional healing diet. Why? Because it provides easy-to-absorb nutrients, including minerals, gelatin and collagen, that are devoid in modern diet.
Minerals extracted from chicken bones strengthen our bones. The amino acids present in gelatin and collagen repair the intestinal lining and support gut healing. In addition, they are building blocks of healthy joints, ligaments and glowing skins.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Look for an all-natural, refined-sugar free sausage to be paleo compliant. I prefer a pork sausage for this dish. If you have trouble finding paleo-friendly sausage, you can simply substitute with more mussels or another type of seafood.
- I highly recommend buying organic lemons, because we are using the zest instead of the juice of the fruit.
- I prefer using ghee in this dish to fry the aromatics. It adds a little buttery taste and is still dairy-free and paleo. If you prefer a cooking oil, I recommend avocado oil as it has a higher smoking point and is healthier when heated than olive oil.
- The best chicken bone broth is always homemade, but it needs to be prepared ahead of time. Many brands of chicken broth sold in stores don’t have the same nutritional benefits. If you must use a packaged chicken broth, be sure to look for one that’s actually made from simmering chicken bones. Sometimes, I use a chicken bone broth powder for convenience. I like the Perfect Bone Broth Powder, and you can get 10% off using my discount code “YANG10”.
Sausage and Mussels in Tomato Broth Recipe Notes
- For this dish, we will fry the aromatics first. The fennel takes a little time to cook until it’s tender, so it gets the entire cooking time of the dish. While the fennel is simmering in the tomato broth, we also cook off the alcohol in the wine and allow all the aromatics to infuse into the tomato broth and flavours to mellow together.
- Mussels and pre-cooked sausage take only a few minutes to be done. Therefore, add them into the broth at the very end.
- Both sausage and mussels contain salt, once you add them to the broth, the broth will become saltier. I recommend tasting the broth after the mussels are done. Only season with salt at the end of cooking, to avoid making the dish too salty.
- Also note that I am using an unsalted homemade chicken bone broth. If your bone broth contain salt, be sure to reduce the amount of salt you add to this dish.
Related: Other Tasty Nutritious Soup and Broth Recipes You Will Love
- Instant Pot Beef Bone Broth
- Cozy Winter Meatball Soup (GAPS, Paleo, Whole 30)
- Immune-Boosting Chicken Broth Seaweed Egg Drop Soup
- Instant Pot Shiitake Ginger Chicken Bone Broth (All Purpose Asian Stock)
- Turkey Quinoa Pumpkin Soup (with a Bone Broth Base)
- Ginseng Chicken Soup: The Ultimate Nourishing Soup for Energy, Brain Function and Immune Support
- Loaded Vegan Curry Lentil Soup /w Winter Vegetables
- Natural PMS Remedy: PMS Relief Herbal Chicken Soup (四物汤)
- Adrenal Support Chinese Herbs And Pig Stomach Soup (四神汤)
- Chinese Herbal Healing Oxtail Soup
Sausage and Mussels in Tomato Broth
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup finely-diced yellow onion
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/2 cups thinly-sliced fennel bulb
- 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
- 3 tablespoons ghee or avocado oil
- 1 pound fresh mussels
- 1 cup all-natural cooked sausage slices
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 cups chicken bone broth unsalted
- 6 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 lemon zest of
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup finely-chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Rinse the mussels under clean water, while scrubbing lightly to remove debris.
- Heat the cooking oil in a sauce pan, add onion, garlic, fennel and chili flakes. Fry the aromatics on medium heat for 7 minutes, stir continuously.
- Add thyme, white wine, chicken bone broth, tomato paste, lemon zest into the same sauce pan.
- Cover the sauce pan, bring the broth to a boil, and then simmer the broth on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Add mussels and sausage into the boiling broth, then cover the sauce pan with a lid. Cook the mussels and sausage for 4 to 5 minutes on medium heat. When all of the mussels open up, turn off the heat.
- Taste the broth, season with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley.
Nutrition
No mussels in my area right now so made it with clams and andouille sausage – so good! This is going on the keeper list!
Yum! Adding sausage to mussels is such a great combo!
Ooooh, the broth is amazing, I really enjoyed making this one!
We love a good seafood recipe & this has such a wonderful flavor with the broth.
I’ve never cooked mussels at home and this is so easy and flavorful! Great recipe.
Love the tasty tomato broth – goes so well with the mussels!!