I bet you have finished a bowl of the Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup and wondered if you could make this soup. Yes, you can make this favorite soup from the Olive Garden. You will have a creamy soup filled with crispy bacon, chicken stock, and pork sausage. The first time you taste your homemade soup, it will become a family favorite.
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Copycat Zuppa Toscana
When you try this Olive Garden copycat recipe, you won’t need to go out for unlimited soup and breadsticks any longer. I make this hearty soup often, but I must confess, the Olive Garden is my favorite restaurant, so I still go back all the time!
Why This is the Best Recipe for Zuppa Toscana
This is the best copycat, Zuppa Toscana because it contains everything you love about this soup. Italian sausage, many Russet potatoes, and bits of smokey bacon are all served in a creamy broth. This Italian soup is packed with everything so that you can enjoy this delicious soup at home. Be sure to serve it with some crusty bread!
What is Zuppa Toscana?
Zuppa is an Italian word for soup. Toscana is the Italian name for the region of Tuscany. So Zuppa Toscana is Tuscan soup.
Olive Garden Tuscan soup is creamy, hearty, and loaded with Italian sausage, tender potatoes, and kale. It is an excellent meal with Olive Garden breadsticks and Italian salad. It is also Olive Garden’s most famous soup, and serves countless bowls of it every day.
What Makes Italian Sausage Italian?
Sausage is the star of this soup, so it needs to be the highest quality Italian sausage you can find. Make sure to select Italian sausages for this recipe because it has an entirely different flavor profile than other types of sausage, such as Andouille or Chorizo.
Italian sausages combine finely ground pork, pork fat, and seasonings inside a natural casing. The main seasonings which give them their unique flavor are fennel and anise.
Unlike other varieties of sausages, Italian sausages are always raw and never smoked or precooked. You will need to make sure to cook them thoroughly before serving.
Don’t be confused about the labeling on the package. You will often see Italian sausages labeled as ‘mild,’ ‘sweet’, or ‘hot’ in the supermarket.
Mild and sweet sausages are two different words companies use to describe the same ingredients.
The word ‘hot’ indicates that red pepper flakes are part of the pork mixture. The spiciness of hot Italian sausages varies by brand.
Hot or sweet Italian sausages work for this recipe, so choose whichever one you usually enjoy. You can also make Italian Sausage and season it to your liking.
Zuppa Toscana Soup Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need to make this hearty homemade soup.
- Mild Italian sausage – You can use spicy Italian sausage
- Russet Potatoes is what the restaurant uses; Yukon Gold is another great option
- White onion – You can use yellow onion as well. I find it adds a bit more heat than what the restaurant serves.
- Chicken Broth – Homemade makes a more delicious broth, but canned will work, I recommend low-sodium
- Water
- Garlic cloves
- Slices of bacon or Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits
- Kosher salt
- Ground black pepper
- Fresh kale
- Heavy cream
Nutritional information can be found on the recipe card below.
How to Make Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
- Place the sausages in a baking pan—brown sausage by roasting at 300°F for 30 minutes or until cooked through.
- Drain sausages on paper towels to absorb the excess grease and cut the links into slices.
- Place the potatoes, onions, chicken broth, water, and garlic in a large pot or large Dutch oven and cook on medium heat until the potatoes are fork-tender.
- Add the sausage, bacon, salt, and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Turn the heat to low. Add kale and cream and stir to combine.
- Add more water if necessary for desired consistency.
- Heat thoroughly and serve.
Cooking and Serving Suggestions for the Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Recipe
- Use a food chopper. The time required to make this recipe revolves around cutting the vegetables. Save time and get perfectly diced onions and sliced potatoes with an inexpensive and indispensable food chopper. These inexpensive food prep tools are a must-have time-saver in any kitchen.
- Serve with warm slices of Tuscan bread to make Zuppa Toscana a simple supper. Tuscan bread is unique because it is baked without salt. Some people say there is no salt in bread from the region because the stubborn residents refused to pay high salt taxes during the Middle Ages. Other people think saltless bread pairs well with the traditionally heavy and salty local food. Either way, Tuscan bread goes great with this soup.
- Top each bowl w
How to Store Leftover Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
Like many soups, this soup tastes better the next day! Store any leftover soup in an airtight plastic container in your refrigerator.
How long is Zuppa Toscana good for in the fridge?
Should you have any soup leftover you can store it in an air-tight container in your refrigerator. It should be consumed within three to five days. After this point, the soup should be frozen to be eaten later.
Does Zuppa Toscana freeze well?
Zuppa Toscana does freeze well. You should store this in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Best Way to Reheat Soup
You may be tempted to place this soup in the microwave, but soup is best reheated on the stovetop. Simply reheat the amount you will need over low to medium heat. This way all of the soup will reheat evenly.
Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes!
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Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage links
- 1 pound russet potatoes peeled, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 29 ounces chicken broth (2 cans)
- 1 quart water
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/4 cup chopped slices of bacon or Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits(1/2 can)
- kosher salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 2 cups chopped kale
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- Place the sausages in a baking pan and roast for about 30 minutes or until cooked through. Drain sausages on paper towels and cut into slices.
- If you are using fresh bacon slices, saute bacon in a small skillet until the bacon has browned.
- Place the potatoes, onions, chicken broth, water, and garlic in a pot and cook on medium heat until potatoes are done.
- Add the sausage, bacon, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Turn the heat to low. Add kale and cream. Stir to combine.
- Add more water, if necessary for desired consistency.
- Heat thoroughly and serve.
Joanne L. Purkis
This is the best ever!!
Stephanie c
Our favorite soup at The Olive Garden and now one of our favorite soups for home I didn’t use the bacon or garlic though hubby is finicky but still taste just like our favorite restaurant
Jeskah
For a more authentic OG soup use ground mild Italian sausage and add red pepper flakes while cooking. Remove cooked sausage. In the same pan,Sauté onions, garlic, and cooked bacon together until onions are soft. Add broth and water then thinly sliced potatoes. Cook until potatoes are soft. Soup should be around 185F. Remove from heat. Add half and half or heavy cream. Also the kale should be added to hot soup after it’s cooked to keep its texture. Just a couple of hints from the OG kitchen.
Stephanie
Tasty and a ton of flavor! One of my favorite recipes.
David
We’re having the rare ice day here in Houston so I thought, what better time to make soup. I tried this recipe and it came out great. I didn’t see the video so I only browned the sausage. Just like in Olive Garden, one bowl wasn’t enough. I’ll definitely be making this again.
Nancy Kim
Easier than recipe I was following and just as good tasting. I followed the written recipe and didn’t see the video until afterwards, so I didn’t brown onions and garlic with sausage. I dumped them in the broth uncooked. I browned the the sausage earlier in the day and bought kale in a bag already chopped to simplify even further.
Sondenjon
So good…Perfect
Lynn
My boyfriend’s favorite soup at Olive Garden! He LOVED this copycat version! We will be making this again!
Stephanie
That’s awesome!