First thing is to prepare the beans, use your preferred method or use the shortcut for my pressure cooker method. If you want to use CANNED beans, you need 4 regular size cans.

For pressure cooked beans, place half in a bowl and add liquid from the pressure cooker to just cover those beans, drain the rest of the beans. (Just eye ball the amount with the liquid and drain the rest but reserve the liquid in case it is needed for the soup.) If using CANNED beans, drain two cans, and leave the liquid in the other two cans.

Now we can start. In a large pot on medium heat, add the sausage and break it up as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

As it is just starting to brown, add the onion and celery. Add dried basil as desired. When the sausage is just cooked through, pour off most, not all of the fat. (I did not have celery on hand so diced a carrot and a teaspoon of celery seed, which worked out very well.)

Add the chicken broth, when the broth comes to a boil, add the condensed soup and stir in.

Add the beans. Season with salt and pepper as desired, and bring to a boil. (I added some chopped cilantro for color and it gave the soup a nice flavor.)

Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

The soup is ready at this point, if you want a thinner soup, stir in 1-2 cups broth or liquid from the beans.

Serve. Cornbread on the side would make this a perfect Southern meal.

I went with a nice salad instead.