Zuppa Toscana Recipe (Olive Garden Copycat)
There’s nothing like a big bowl of soup to bring warmth through the whole body and soul! Easy soup recipes are just what we all need for those chilly fall and winter nights. Or, really any time you want food to make you feel good.
Combining both Italian sausage and bacon with potatoes and kale makes this particular soup both a filling and well-balanced meal. It’s perfect harmony of flavors that results of an amazing tasting soup.
This Zuppa Toscana copycat recipe has all the flavor of the original, but you can make it right at home for a fraction of the cost!
Even better, you only need a few simple ingredients to get that rich, mouthwatering taste you know and love. If you’re feeling inspired to make another great Olive Garden copycat soup recipe, check out Olive Garden Gnocchi Soup.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Bacon – make sure it’s raw bacon not pre-cooked. Cooking the whole soup using some of the bacon fat will incorporate a lot of flavor into the whole dish.
Sausage – use Italian sausage for this recipe but you can choose either sweet, spicy, or mild.
Potatoes – Idaho (aka Russet) potatoes will give the soup the best texture because they are hearty and have a most crumbly texture.
Kale – kale is usually very easy to come by but you can use another hearty and nutritious dark leafy green like Swiss chard or collard greens.
Heavy Whipping Cream – If heavy whipping cream is not available, you can use half and half or whole milk. The soup just won’t be as creamy with whole milk. If you need a dairy-free alternative, you can use unsweetened full-fat coconut cream, which is the solid portion at the top of canned coconut milk. A lactose-free whole milk alternative is also a good option.
How to Make Zuppa Toscana Soup: Steps and Tips
Prepare everything before cooking: Dice the bacon and set it aside. Then, dice the onion, peel and chop potatoes, and mince garlic.
Cook the bacon. Preheat a Dutch oven or another soup pot over medium heat and add oil. Add the diced bacon and sauté until browned and fat is mostly rendered. Rendered meats you don’t see any more fat, it has been cooked out.
Onions and garlic. Add the diced onion and sauté until softened and translucent. Mix in minced garlic and sauté just until fragrant.
Cook the sausage. Add the ground Italian sausage and use a spatula or a wooden spoon to break it up into chunks. You want to break it up as much as possible so each bite is more uniform. Sauté until sausage is mostly cooked.
Add potatoes. Mix in diced potatoes and sauté for a few minutes. I like to mix and then let is sauté for a couple of minutes to get a nice golden sear. Then mix again and let it sear again. Letting meat and potatoes brown will incorporate more flavor into the soup.
Add stock and simmer. Slowly pour in the stock while scraping bottom of the pot and the sides. Bring everything to simmer and lower the heat to medium-low.
Cook low and slow. Season with salt and crushed red pepper flakes and stir. Let the soup cook uncovered over medium-low to low heat until potatoes are very tender (about 40 minutes).
Break up some potatoes. Use a wooden spoon to crush and break up a few potatoes for a thicker consistency. This will give the soup a more hearty and thick feel without adding anything extra to make it thicker.
Add the kale. Chop the kale leaves and discard the thick stem. Stir kale into the soup.
Make it creamy. Stir in the heavy whipping cream and cook for just about 5 more minutes but don’t let it boil. Take off heat right away.
Recipe FAQs
How can I make it ahead?
Prep your ingredients ahead of time so everything is ready to go when it’s time to make this Zuppa Toscana recipe. All of the chopped vegetables, including the kale, can be stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator up to a day in advance.
Note, I don’t recommend that you peel and cut potatoes ahead of time because they will get oxidized quickly.
Storing, Reheating and Freezing
To Store: Transfer cooled cooked soup into jars or airtight food storage containers and keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Reheat individual portions in the microwave until just hot enough. You can also reheat the whole pot on the stove, over medium to medium-low heat, until the soup is warmed through.
You can definitely freeze Zuppa Toscana, but you have to leave out the kale and cream. Cream does not freeze well and the texture of kale will become unpleasant when thawed.
To freeze: Fill a freezer-friendly food storage containers about three-quarters full so the soup has room to expand, then freeze for 3 to 6 months. You can also use zip-top freezer bags to portion the soup.
Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and add the kale and cream when reheating.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
Copycat Zuppa Toscana Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 lb bacon diced
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 lb ground mild Italian sausage
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 2 lbs Russet potatoes about 5 potatoes
- 5 cups vegetable stock warmed
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 bunch of kale about 2 cups sliced, not packed
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes more or less to taste
Instructions
- Prepare ingredients first: dice bacon and set it aside. Dice onion, peel and chop potatoes, and mince garlic.
- Preheat a Dutch oven or another soup pot over medium heat and add oil.
- Add the diced bacon and saute until browned and fat is mostly rendered.
- Add the diced onion and saute until softened. Mix in minced garlic and saute just until fragrant.
- Add ground Italian sausage and use a spatula or a wooden spoon to break it up into chunks. Saute until sausage is mostly cooked.
- Mix in diced potatoes and sauté for a few minutes.
- Slowly, pour in stock, while scraping bottom of the pot and the sides. Bring everything to simmer and lower the heat to medium-low.
- Season with salt and crushed red pepper flakes and mix well. Let the soup cook uncovered over medium-low to low heat until potatoes are very tender (about 40 minutes).
- Use a wooden spoon to crush and break up a few potatoes for a thicker consistency.
- Chop the kale leaves and discard the thick stem. Stir kale into the soup.
- Stir in the heavy whipping cream and cook for just about 5 more minutes but don't let it boil. Take off heat right away.
Video
Notes
- Storing: Transfer cooled soup into jars or airtight food storage containers and keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Reheat individual portions in the microwave until just hot enough. You can also reheat the whole pot on the stove, over medium to medium-low heat, until the soup is warmed through.
- To freeze: freeze without kale and cream. Fill a freezer-friendly food storage containers about three-quarters full and freeze for 3 to 6 months. You can also use zip-top freezer bags to portion the soup.
- Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and add the kale and cream when reheating.
- Heavy Whipping Cream – If heavy whipping cream is not available, you can use half and half or whole milk at the very least.
Nutrition
More Comforting Italian Soup Recipes
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in April 2014.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Every time I fixed Zappa Toscana soup, my adults children finds out from one another so I need to cook a large pot of soup ,that way I may get a bowl full without making more before next month. That’s how often I would have to cook Zappa Toscana soup. We love it!
That’s amazing!Thanks for letting me know the Zuppa Toscana is a family favorite! ❤️
I’ve been making this soup for more than a year and love it! Thank you!
I am so glad you enjoy it!
Just made it , and was so good! My family loved it. Thank you!
My only go to recipe for Zuppa Toscano soup. I’m greedy and double the sausage in the recipe and use pancetta for the bacon. Our families favorite recipe now. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe,
Love this soup. Made it tonight and it is 97 degrees out but we have air conditioning. My husband really loved it too! He loves soup all year long. Thanks for recipe.
SO glad you liked it, Mary! 🙂
Super easy and delish! I used chicken stock since I did not have veggie stock, yummy!
Left out the salt also and it was perfect.
Thanks, Vivki!
Terrific recipe, thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Rose! So glad you liked it!
I cannot wait for soup weather 🙂
Have this in a pot on the stove. Smells AMAZING! Can’t wait to try it.
Awesome! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
It was really good. Any Idea on calorie count?
I don’t right now but there is a place where I can find out. I will let you know once I know! (I’ll submit tonight)
Hi Kara! I got the nutritional info for you. Go here: http://myrecipemagic.com/recipe/recipedetail/copycat-zuppa-toscana and click on the “nutrition” tab! 🙂