Bring the taste of Italy home with this creamy and delicious Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup. The whole family loves this soup!
Olive Garden Breadsticks, Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons, or Mozzarella Bites are the perfect compliments for this tasty soup!!
Copycat Olive Garden SOUP
Zuppa Toscana soup is most famous being served at Olive Garden, but has become a popular recipe over the years. In fact, Zuppa Toscana means a soup recipe from Tuscany, but it’s most commonly made from kale, zucchini, cannellini beans, potatoes, celery, carrots, onion, tomato pulp, extra virgin olive oil, salt, powdered chili, toasted Tuscan bread, and rigatino (Italian bacon).
Today’s soup recipe does include sausage, kale, potatoes and bacon, which are some of my favorite ingredients. You can easily add some of the other items like celery and carrots, based on what you like but we thought this was perfect as is. We ended up making a few changes by adding less water and adding Parmesan cheese on top and loved how all the flavors came together so perfectly!
Although I’m sure everyone has their version of this recipe, it’s definitely one to try. You can always head down to Olive Garden and try their version or you can use this recipe to make it at home. Either way, it’s a soup that should be tried and enjoyed!!
How to Make Zuppa Toscana Soup
Believe it or not, this soup actually comes together really quickly! After you’ve prepared all the ingredients (chopped the kale, cooked and crumbled the bacon, and cut the potatoes), it only takes about 25 minutes to cook the soup!
BROWN. Brown the sausage with the minced garlic and set aside.
SIMMER + SERVE. Add the water, chicken broth, chicken base, and potatoes into a large pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Add crumbled bacon, sausage, kale and whipping cream, and cook an additional 5-7 minutes. Serve warm and ENJOY.
Tips + Storing Info
Potatoes: You should slice all of the potatoes to be the same size so that it cooks evenly. You might even try using a mandolin to get even slices without having to make much of an effort.
Kale: When you’re chopping the kale you don’t want to include the stem or spine of the leafy greens. It is not desirable because it is tough and doesn’t cook as well. People also recommend cutting the kale and then washing it. This method removes more of that bitter taste.
If kale is not your style you can use spinach instead, it won’t have as strong a flavor.
Bacon: You can either buy fully cooked bacon and crumble it that way or cook the bacon in the oven with our recipe here.
Sausage: You can adjust the heat in the soup either using mild sausage or a spicy sausage.
More Spice: You can sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes for more heat.
Crock Pot: You can adjust the steps to make this soup in the crock pot. Brown the sausage in a pan. Drain any excess grease and add the sausage to the crock pot. Then, add the stock, water and potatoes to the crockpot. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low heat for 6-8 hours. Stir in the cream and kale and cook for 5 more minutes. Add seasoning and serve with parmesan cheese.
STORE leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat on the stove top or in the microwave.
Make this ahead of time and freeze, I suggest leaving out the Kale and cream.
FREEZE leftovers, but the texture will be a bit off due to the cream. The best way to incorporate the cream into the soup is to reheat it slowly on low heat.
for more favorite soups, check out:
- Cheesy Chicken Parmesan Soup
- Lasagna Soup
- Italian Tortellini Soup
- Basil Parmesan Italian Soup
- Wild Rice Soup
Zuppa Toscana Recipe
Ingredients
- 6-7 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- 16 oz Jimmy Dean Italian Sausage
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 32 oz chicken stock (or broth)
- 6-7 cups water
- 4 medium potatoes russet, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
- 2 cups kale leaves chopped
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- garlic salt with parsley flakes
- pepper to taste
- shaved Parmesan cheese optional topping
Instructions
- In a large pot, cook bacon until crisp, then remove bacon out onto a paper-towel lined plate and reserve a few tablespoons of the grease.
- Add sauce and garlic to the pot and cook until browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add water and stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add kale, sausage, most of the bacon, whipping cream and salt and pepper and cook an additional 6-8 minutes.
- Top with reserved bacon and shaved Parmesan if desired.
This zuppa toscana looks very delicious. I would attempt this recipe this fall.
I hope you like it!! Thanks!
hey girl- this looks amazing! yummy for my tummy!
Hi! What is chicken base???
Chicken Soup Base
Having a deep and rich taste, chicken soup base is just a highly concentrated stock used for soups, stews, sauces and casseroles. You can find chicken base in powder or cube form, or you can make your own and have a supply on hand in your freezer. Unlike chicken stock, chicken base takes a lot longer to make, but the rich results more than make up for the long cooking time. To make a chicken base, start with the basic ingredients used to make a stock (whole chicken, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, water, salt and pepper) and let simmer for at least a few hours, until the liquid is reduced and the vegetables have dissolved into the rich sauce. You may want to strain before freezing or using.You can find chicken soup base in your grocery store. It is typically sold right next to the chicken bouillon cubes.
This looks great and so filling too!! I find most soups don’t fill my husband up very well but this would get the job done (;