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Creamy Zuppa Toscana is a savory Italian soup that is made with potatoes, spicy sausage, bacon, and kale. It is thick, creamy, and delicious and is a must-make soup this fall!
Reasons You’ll LOVE This Recipe
- Hearty and Filling: Some soups are used as a starter to a meal but this one can be used as the entree! It’s packed with protein and delicious veggies and will fill you right up.
- Quick: This recipe is ready to go in under an hour which makes it perfect for all of those on-the-go nights!
- Copycat Recipe: I love a good restauraunt copycat recipe that I can make at home. Add in this Copycat Olive Garden Salad and these Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks for the whole meal!
Ingredients to Make Zuppa Toscana
This soup is simple to make and doesn’t use a ton of ingredients. Make it on the stove or in a slow cooker (instructions below) and you will be making this over and over this winter season!
- Chicken broth: This adds a lot of flavor to the base of the soup.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream is a must to make a heavy, thick base for the soup. It helps soak up the potatoes and adds bold flavoring.
- Italian Sausage: Depending on the sausage that you use, this can have a little bit of a kick. Keep that in mind and get mild Italian sausage if you aren’t crazy about heat.
- Bacon: When combined with the sausage, the bacon is so delicious!
- Russet Potatoes: When you are cutting these into cubes, try to keep them uniform in size. That way, they will cook evenly.
- Onion: The onion adds so much flavor. You can use a white or a yellow onion.
- Garlic Cloves: If you don’t have fresh garlic cloves, then you can use minced garlic. 1/2 teaspoon equals about 1 clove.
- Spinach or Kale: This adds color, texture, and a great flavoring to the Zuppa Toscana soup.
- Salt and Pepper: Just a dash for taste!
How to Make Zuppa Toscana
There are a few steps to take to prepare this Zuppa Tuscana soup but they are simple and let me tell you… this soup is worth every step!
- Cook your meats: Cook and crumble the bacon. Set aside on a plate lined with a paper towel. Cook the sausage and set aside.
- Prepare your potatoes: Skin each potato and slice in half and make about 1/4 inch slices. You can slice these into fourths making the potatoes more bite sized.
- Boil your potatoes: Bring a large pot with the chicken broth to a boil. Boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until tender.
- Sauté: While the potatoes are boiling, sauté the onion and garlic until tender and set aside.
- Combine ingredients together: 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: Finish by cooking until heated through and add salt and pepper to taste.
How to Make Zuppa Toscana in a Slow Cooker
This soup is so simple to make in a crockpot. It doesn’t take long to cook on the stove, but it is nice to have another option for busy days.
- Brown the Meat: Cook and crumble the bacon. Set aside on a plate lined with a paper towel. Cook the sausage and set aside.
- Prepare your Potatoes: Skin each potato, slice it in half, and make about 1/4 inch slices. You can slice these into fourths, making the potatoes more bite-sized.
- Boil your potatoes: Bring a large pot with the chicken broth to a boil. Boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until tender.
- Sauté: While the potatoes are boiling, sauté the onion and garlic until tender and set aside.
- Combine ingredients together: Once potatoes are tender, add sausage, onion, and garlic to the slow cooker.
- Cook: Cook on high for about 3 to 4 hours or low for about 5 to 6 hours.
- Last 30 Minutes: Add the kale or spinach to your slow cooker.
Tips for Making Homemade Soup
I love Zuppa Toscana just the way it is but here are a few changes that I use in a pinch:
- Substitute for Heavy Cream: The heavy cream gives this soup a lot of flavoring, but if you don’t have any on hand, you can try substitutes! Instead of using heavy cream, you can use half and half or 1 cup of milk with three tablespoons of cornstarch whisked in.
- Add More Veggies: If you like more vegetables, Try adding in some carrots or corn.
- Can I use Spinach Instead? Yes! You can use spinach or kale in this recipe!
- Add Heat: If you add in a dash of red pepper flakes, the spiciness of this recipe will be taken up a notch!
Storing Leftovers
This delicious Zuppa Toscana soup makes the perfect leftovers!
- In the Refrigerator: prepare and make this soup as instructed. Once it has cooled, place it in an airtight container or ziplock bag. It will last in your fridge for 2 to 3 days.
- In the Freezer: If you plan on freezing this soup, I recommend leaving out the potatoes and kale and adding that in just before serving. Cook the soup (without the potatoes and kale) and store the soup in a ziplock bag (don’t forget to label it with the date!) for about one month.
- To Reheat: If you are reheating from frozen, thaw the soup overnight in the freezer. Just before serving, add in cooked potatoes and kale and cook on the stove over medium-low heat. Once the kale starts to wilt, it’s ready to serve.
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Creamy Zuppa Toscana Soup
Creamy Zuppa Toscana is a savory Italian soup that is made with potatoes, spicy sausage, bacon, and kale. It is thick, creamy, and delicious and is a must-make soup this fall!
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound bacon
- 3 cans (14 ounces) Chicken broth
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 lb Italian Sausage
- 4 russet potatoes
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 1/2 cups kale or chopped spinach
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the bacon for 5 minutes and crumble it. Set aside on a plate lined with a paper towel. Cook the sausage and set aside.
- Skin each potato, and slice it in half, and make about ¼ in 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 boil, saute the onion and garlic for about 5-7 minutes or until tender and set aside.
- Once potatoes are tender, add sausage, onion, garlic, bacon, and chopped spinach to the pot. Boil for 2-3 minutes until the spinach starts to wilt. Reduce heat and add heavy cream.
- Cook for 10 minutes or until heated through, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Video
Notes
Originally Posted on November 19, 2013
Updated on October 12, 2023
Nutrition
Calories: 490kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 13gFat: 41gSaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 115mgSodium: 512mgPotassium: 609mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 1411IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 62mgIron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!
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.
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 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.
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 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
Yummy…. We always make that soup when its cold . We use kale in ours like Olive garden.
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.
best ever!
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?!
kim — your version of this recipe looks so good! Techniqually I don’t think it is Zuppa Toscana anymore…but maybe a delicious creamy vegetable soup. I really want to try your version, too. I love soup!
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
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.
This sounds amazing! I am pinning it to try!
I adore soup, salad, and breadsticks! This looks really good!
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 🙂
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!
I added leeks and roasted the garlic instead of slicing made a huge difference very nice recipe and will definitely make again👍
Remind everyone to add the bacon as the garnish at the end. Can you believe I put the bacon in it and it was all soggy. I am really laughing at myself. This is fantastic. It is so simple to make. thank you for your recipe
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.
I’m thinking this would be good for my low carb diet, just omite potatoes and maybe add more meat! Yum..
Add parsnips