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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 have made Zuppa Tscana soup in the past using a different recipe. After making the soup using this recipe, I will not be going back to the previous recipe. Absolutely love this recipe. It is so flavorful. I did add 1/4 teaspoon of pepper flakes, otherwise followed the recipe exactly.
This soup was absolutely amazing and my adult son, who doesnt like any soup, stopped in for a bite and this is what I had on the go. He couldnt believe how good it was and asked for a “to go” container lol
Absolutely loved this recipe! Only change I made was substituting breakfast sausage links with the Italian sausage. It was still delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Made this tonight for the first time and we loved it! I used spinach as I had it on hand. Soooo good!
I made the Zuppa Toscana soup and I must say it was delicious; it is definitely a keeper! Thank you!
Great idea for a chilly day…Love this soup….used turkey bacon, spinach …turned out great!
Best soup I have ever tasted. I ate it for 3 days!! Makes a lot and can be frozen in portions.
I just made Zuppa Toscana and it is amazing! A great and fairly easy recipe; everyone enjoyed it, thanks for sharing with us! Karen
Don’t forget the Parmesan!!!
I used ground beef as a base meat for zappa t. And it’s also tasty combined with bits of bacon and sausage. I also used baby spinach. But thanks to you Alyssa for introducing this to me.
Ever grateful,
Ray Francis
I may try ground meat seasoned with italian herbs. The sausage was overpowering and way too much. I wish I’d only used half a pound.
Sounds delicious! Planning to use the slow cooker. Is it really necessary to pre-cook the potatoes? Seems as if they would bet too mushy if I do so – they should be able to cook/soften in the slow cooker.
If you are using a slow cooker, you do not need to precook the potatoes.
I used the instant pot route but you should have also said to leave the cream out till the very end. It separated and did not look very pretty.
This recipe is one of the best soups I’ve ever had! I pureed part of the soup for even more creaminess and replaced the kale with sauteed baby spinach.
I added chicken tenders from making the broth, diced; fresh basil, chopped; cheese tortellini; and two generous dashes of chili powder—which really made it perfect! Thanks for the great idea!
Could you get away with using cauliflower instead of potato to make it keto friendly?
Yes, that will work too. Let me know how it turns out!
This recipe is awesome it is much better than Olive Garden. I had an unexpected guest last night for dinner he told my grandson it tasted like Olive Garden’s. My grandson commented it was way better than theirs. I will definitely be fixing it again. Thank you for sharing.