Zuppa Toscana Soup {Olive Garden Copycat Recipe}
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Zuppa Toscana Soup is one of my most popular soup recipes, have you tried it yet? It’s packed with slices of tender russet potatoes, flavorful Italian sausage and bacon, fresh kale and a rich and creamy broth. So much comforting flavor in one bowl of soup!
Zuppa Toscana Soup that’s Even Better than Olive Garden’s!
This soup is a regular in my home, it’s one of my families favorites! I love that it’s so easy to make and it has such an incredible flavor thanks to those hearty bits of sausage.
This recipe is inspired by the Zuppa Toscana Soup at Olive Garden but when you make it fresh at home it’s that much better (plus my version seems to be less brothier meaning you get more potatoes, bacon, kale and sausage). Plus it’s made with love right?
Then you can complete the meal by making your own homemade breadsticks and serving with a side salad with Italian Dressing.
Ingredients You’ll Need for This Recipe
- Olive oil
- Italian Sausage (remove from casings if bought as links)
- Bacon
- Yellow onion
- Low-sodium chicken broth and water
- Russet potatoes
- Granulated sugar
- Half and half
- Kale
- Fennel seeds (optional)
- Romano cheese (optional)
How to Make Zuppa Toscana Soup
- Heat olive oil in a large non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat. Crumble sausage into 1-inch pieces and add to saucepan.
- Â Cook sausage, stirring occasionally until cooked through. Drain sausage onto a plate or baking dish lined with paper towels, set sausage aside.
- Â Add diced bacon to saucepan, return to heat and saute 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add diced onions and saute mixture until bacon is cooked through and onions are translucent, about 3 – 5 minutes longer.
- Â Add chicken broth and water.
- Add in sliced potatoes, sugar, fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Bring soup just to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and stir in cooked sausage.
- Cover saucepan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are nearly tender, about 10 – 15 minutes.
- Add in kale then simmer until potatoes are soft and kale is tender, about 5 – 10 minutes longer.
- Stir in half and half and warm through. Use a spoon or ladle to remove excess fat from top of soup if desired. Serve warm topped with Romano cheese if desired.
What is Half and Half and is There a Substitute?
A question I get asked a lot is “what is half and half?” Half and half is basically a mixture of half milk and half cream (maybe just little more milk than cream). So for a good substitute simply use 1 cup low-fat milk and 1 cup cream.
Add this soup to the menu this week! Trust me, it’s a recipe you don’t want to miss out on. You’ll be loving every bite.
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Zuppa Toscana Soup {Olive Garden Copycat Recipe}
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 lb Italian Sausage (casings removed if necessary)
- 4 oz bacon (about 4 slices), diced into small pieces*
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion (about 1 small onion)
- 3 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup water**
- 1 1/2 lbs Russet potatoes,*** scrubbed and rinsed then sliced into halves, halves diced into 1/6-inch slices
- 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed (optional)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups half and half
- 1 1/2 cups packed chopped kale
- Finely shredded Romano cheese for serving, optional
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat. Crumble sausage into 1-inch pieces and add to saucepan.
- Cook sausage, stirring occasionally until cooked through. Drain sausage onto a plate or baking dish lined with paper towels, set sausage aside.
- Add diced bacon to saucepan, return to heat and saute 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add diced onions and saute mixture until bacon is cooked through and onions are translucent, about 3 - 5 minutes longer.
- Add chicken broth, water, sliced potatoes, sugar, fennel seeds, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring soup just to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and stir in cooked sausage.
- Cover saucepan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are nearly tender, about 10 - 15 minutes.
- Add in kale then simmer until potatoes are soft and kale is tender, about 5 - 10 minutes longer.
- Stir in half and half and warm through. Use a spoon or ladle to remove excess fat from top of soup if desired. Serve warm topped with Romano cheese.
Notes
- *I added some extra cooked bacon to the top as well, mostly for pictures purposes though just so you can see that there is bacon in this soup. It doesn't really need it though...but I'll never turn down a little extra bacon.
- **Recipe originally listed 2 cups water but I now like to only add 1 for a little less brothy soup and less watered down flavor.
- ***Work to cut potatoes into even size slices so they finish cooking at the same time.
- If you'd like more flavor sometimes I add 1 large garlic clove chopped during last 1 minute of sautéing onion.
- If desired you can use turkey sausage here as well.