COPYCAT OLIVE GARDEN ZUPPA TOSCANA
Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana is a hearty Italian, homemade, creamy sausage and potato soup. Serve with OLIVE GARDEN BREADSTICKS and it is heaven!
VIDEO INCLUDED BELOW:
WHAT DOES ‘ZUPPA TOSCANA’ MEAN?
Zuppa Toscana just means Tuscan Soup in Italian. But is sounds fancier in Italian, right? 😉 It’s like PASTA E FAGIOLI just means Pasta and Beans in Italian but it sounds so much better when you say Pasta e Fagioli. Ha!
HOW DO YOU CUT KALE?
This is a question I get a lot. Kale is a lot like collard greens and mustard greens and if you’ve ever cut those, then you’ll be familiar. If you’ve never dealt with any kind of large green, I will show below how to do it in my step-by-step instructions.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
bacon
Italian sausage
yellow onion
garlic
chicken stock
russet potatoes
salt and pepper
kale
heavy whipping cream
grated Parmesan cheese
bacon
Italian sausage
yellow onion
garlic
chicken stock
russet potatoes
salt and pepper
kale
heavy whipping cream
grated Parmesan cheese
HOW TO MAKE OLIVE GARDEN’S ZUPPA TOSCANA:
First chop up your kale. If you’ve never worked with greens before, it’s important to remove the stems and wash any grit off. Cut the kale in a “V” pattern to separate the leaves from the stem. Chop up leaves into bite size pieces. You want about 2 cups worth of leaves.
Then throw kale into a colander and rinse well to remove any dirt or grit that might still be hanging on. Let it drain well.
Meanwhile, in a large pot, brown and crumble sausage along with onions. During the last couple minutes of cooking, toss in garlic. Once cooked, drain excess grease.
Return sausage mixture back to pot and pour in chicken stock. Then add in cubed potatoes.
Cover and allow potatoes to simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until tender. Once potatoes are tender, pour in heavy cream and stir. Season with salt and pepper.
Then stir in kale and chopped, cooked bacon. Bring mixture back up to a simmer and allow the kale to soften and wilt.
Give it a test (be careful – it’s hot!) and see if you need more seasoning like salt or pepper.
Then serve!
Enjoy
Originally published April 2013
Updated and republished: May 2019
OLIVE GARDEN ZUPPA TOSCANA
Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana is a hearty Italian, homemade, creamy sausage and potato soup. Serve with breadsticks and it is heaven!
Print Pin RatePrep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 6
Calories: 623kcal
Ingredients
- 5 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 32 oz container chicken stock or 4 cups
- 3 cups russet potatoes cubed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups kale washed and cut into bite size pieces
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- Garnish: Parmesan cheese grated, to taste
Instructions
- First chop up your kale. If you've never worked with greens before, it's important to remove the stems and wash any grit off.
- Cut the kale in a "V" pattern to separate the leaves from the stem.
- Chop up leaves into bite size pieces.
- You want about 2 cups worth of leaves.
- Then throw kale into a colander and rinse well to remove any dirt or grit that might still be hanging on.
- Let it drain well.
- Meanwhile, in a large pot, brown and crumble sausage along with onions.
- During the last couple minutes of cooking, toss in minced garlic.
- Once cooked, drain excess grease.
- Return sausage mixture back to pot and pour in chicken stock.
- Then add in cubed potatoes.
- Cover pot and allow potatoes to simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until tender.
- Once potatoes are tender, pour in heavy cream and stir.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Then add in kale and chopped, cooked bacon.
- Stir again. Bring mixture back up to a simmer and allow the kale to soften and wilt.
- Give it a taste test (be careful - it's hot!) and see if you need more seasoning like salt or pepper.
Video
Notes
collard greens or mustard greens can be used in place of kale
Nutrition
Calories: 623kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 53g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 151mg | Sodium: 1097mg | Potassium: 729mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 62.1% | Vitamin C: 42.3% | Calcium: 10.3% | Iron: 11.2%
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BE SURE TO TRY THESE OTHER OLIVE GARDEN COPYCAT RECIPES!
Olive Garden is a registered trademark of Darden Restaurants, Inc.
Devonne says
What do you mean by whipping cream? Are you talking about the whipped cream that goes on top of pies etc….
Brandie @ The Country Cook says
Hi Devonne, check out my ingredient photo above and you’ll see what I am talking about. Heavy whipping cream is a liquid and you can find it where the milk is located in the grocery store. Hope that helps! 🙂
Audrey says
This is a great recipe but I was wondering if there’s a healthy version of it?
Destiny says
Cauliflower instead of potatoes
Katie says
Wow! This soup turned out perfect. Thanks for the great recipe!
Marsha says
I made this soup last night, and my husband commented that it’s better than the OG version. Thanks so much for posting this.
Sonni says
Love this recipes! I also add a can of white cannelini beans and use once can of evaportaed milk instead of heavy cream. A sure winner in this household, thanks for the recipe!
Amy says
Thank you for this recipe!!! The Zuppa Toscana is my absolute favorite soup. I followed your recipe and it tasted exactly the same as Olive Garden. I’m so glad I can make it from home now!
Sylvia says
Recipe turned out well. I added one chicken bouillon cube for flavor and used real Bacon bits pieces in place of fried bacon.
Carrie Nelson says
We love this soup! My Husband is a huge fan of it and says that its better than Olive Gardens! we enjoy it so much that I make it year round! Gotta love a really good one pot meal too!
Carol Keller says
I love Olive Garden but I like this recipe even more. I really don’t like Kale so I add fresh spinach to each bowl before adding soup. Delicious……….. btw, I never have whipping creme so I add milk or half and half or whatever I have (sometime condensed) Still delicious…..Thanks!
Karen says
I made this yesterday and we loved it. It was very close to Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana. Love it!
Payton says
This has become one of our go-to dinners. So fresh and simple and my goodness delicious!!! We always pair it with a loaf of French bread. Leftovers don’t last long!
Brandie @ The Country Cook says
Thank you so much Payton! I am so thrilled to read this!!
Brittany says
So delish!!! I didn’t add bacon and it was still good. I think the only thing I would change is to dice my potato’s a bit bigger (my own fault). I love how SIMPLE this recipe is!!!!
Diane says
My family loves this soup!! Thank you for posting it!!! Definitely will make this again !!!
CLee says
I order this each time I visit Olive Garden, well… since I’ve decided that eating out wasn’t something I wanted to continue doing, I wanted to give this recipe a try. THIS RECIPE IS BOMB!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!!! Breadsticks, soup, paired with a salad is perfect for a cold day!!!
Brandie @ The Country Cook says
Woo hoo! Yay!! This is so wonderful to read. I am thrilled you loved it!!!