by Alyssa RiversI love the Olive Garden. It is my restaurant of choice. Mainly for the soup, salad and breadsticks. Zuppa Toscana is one of my favorite soups to get there! I think it is awesome when you can make the same delicious soup at home that tastes straight from the restaurant. 
I have been a little under the weather lately, so all that sounds good to me is soup and breadsticks. We have been going to Olive Garden a lot lately. Their soup, salad, and breadsticks never disappoint. Zuppa Toscana is creamy and amazing, while hearty and filling. I love the potatoes in the soup. The sausage and bacon added to it give it a great flavor. It is warm, creamy and smooth and it definitely hits the spot every time! This is as close to the real deal at Olive Garden as it gets and it is absolutely fantastic!
- 3 cans (14 oz) chicken broth
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 lb Italian Sausage
- ½ pound bacon
- 4 russet potatoes
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2½ cups chopped spinach (or kale)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- Cook and crumble the bacon. Set aside on a plate lined with a paper towel. Cook the sausage and set aside.
- Skin each potato and slice in half and make about ¼ inch slices. You can slice these into fourths making the potatoes more bite sized.
- Bring a large pot with the chicken broth to a boil. Boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until tender.
- While the potatoes are boiling, saute the onion and garlic until tender and set aside.
- Once potatoes are tender, add sausage, onion, garlic, and chopped spinach to the pot. Boil for a couple of minutes until the spinach starts to wilt. Reduce heat and add heavy cream.
- Cook until heated through and add salt and pepper to taste.
The recipe I use for Zuppa Toscana also calls for kale, you should add that to your soup, it’s sooooooo good! Also, if you like spicy foods, use spicy Italian sausage and add a teaspoon of hot chili pepper flakes, it really isn’t that spicy, but it adds the perfect amount of flavor.
What a beautiful picture! We love Zuppa Toscana too. I actually made a very similar version of this last week using the crock pot – browned the sausage (I only used 1/2 pound), then put everything but the spinach and cream into the crock pot, cooked on high for 4 hrs, then added the spinach and cream (I used half and half to make it a little lighter) for another 30 min or so. It was great, and even better on the 2nd day.
That sounds amazing! I will have to try it that way!
Soup sounds so comforting when you’re feeling under the weather and hope you feel better soon Alyssa 🙂 This soup looks wonderful, we like Olive Garden too so can’t wait to try making this 🙂
I adore soup, salad, and breadsticks! This looks really good!
This sounds amazing! I am pinning it to try!
My husband always orders this soup and I always get the Minestrone. I’ll have to make this version for him sometime since I always make minestrone here.
Does the bacon just go on top when serving, or is it incorporated earlier?
I ENJOY THE ZUPPA TOSCANA SOUP VERY
MUCH WHEN I GO TO OLIVE GARDEN
I HAVE BE LOOKING FOR THE RECIPE FOR
SOME TIME NOW .
THANK YOU SO MUCH
BILL S
I have also made a similar version. I love it. It is made with Kale not spinach, also. I fold the leaves in half and cut the spine off and then chop the leaves. I also love it with extra potato. The recipe I’ve used calls water and bullion for the broth, and then the cream. Made that way, I have used less water, and cut out the cream, and substited the difference in water and what was called for with the heavy cream amount, with milk instead. Way less calories, and I still loved it just as much. I also like the mild Italian sausage. Isn’t this soup the best?!
best ever!
I used to work for Olive Garden back in the 90’s when they made EVERYTHING from scratch, (most everything is frozen now) and this was my favorite soup to make. I make it for myself now and mines better cuz i use hot sausage and kale instead of spinach cuz it holds its texture better in the soup.
Yummy…. We always make that soup when its cold . We use kale in ours like Olive garden.
I tried it, it’s a wonderful soup!. Thank you for the recipe!!
http://panebisteccacom.ipage.com/2/post/2013/12/zuppa-toscana-nachgekocht.html
regards
Wilma
Have been wanting this recipe to try so thank you very much. I will try it tomorrow as I will make also for cool fall nights.
I am so proud to get this recipe. I will make it tomorrow and will look forward to the soup this winter evenings. Will be great for Christmas Eve.
I love this soup also. I jazz it up by adding red peppers and jalapeno’s for color and flavor. I also add celery and leeks. There is so much extra vitamin C that I add about a half tsp of baking soda to keep the milk from curdling when I add the milk. I basically saute everything by adding it by how long it takes to cook, then add the chicken broth and then add the potatoes and cook the potatoes, last the kale cut up in chunks without the spines and then I add the baking soda and then the milk and then cook until the milk is heated up. Then I add flavorings and perhaps some jalapeno cheese. I also cut up fresh sweet corn and add that after the potatoes and before the kale.
I just made this soup for dinner and it was really good. I doubled the recipe except for the cream and sausage and I used kale, red potatoes with the skin on, and I added some fresh basil. This recipe is a keeper. Of course its way better than Olive Gardens.