Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup Copycat Recipe

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.

Overhead view of copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup.


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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.

Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup ingredients on a tray.

How to Make Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

  1. Place the sausages in a baking pan—brown sausage by roasting at 300°F for 30 minutes or until cooked through.
  2. Drain sausages on paper towels to absorb the excess grease and cut the links into slices.
  3. 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.
zuppa toscana soup base in a pot
  1. Add the sausage, bacon, salt, and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.
  2. Turn the heat to low. Add kale and cream and stir to combine.
zuppa toscana soup ingredients in a pot
  1. Add more water if necessary for desired consistency.
  2. Heat thoroughly and serve.
Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup, a spoon, and bread.

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.

Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup in a black bowl.

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a bowl of potato and sausage soup with kale

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

Made with fresh Russet potatoes, Italian sausage, chicken broth, onions, and fresh kale, this soup is irrestible.
4.96 from 44 votes
Print Pin Rate Add to Collection
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Olive Garden Recipes, Olive Garden Soup Recipes, Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana, Zuppa Toscana
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 382kcal

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.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 382kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 878mg | Potassium: 613mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 2110IU | Vitamin C: 33.6mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 1.7mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gina

    Very good. Makes a whole lot of soup. I used an extra clove of garlic and the optional fennel seeds. If I did it again I’d add about 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes, a bit more pepper and about 1/8 – 1/4 cup less cream. Very good though, just personal taste variants.

  2. Lisa Masteller

    I am what you would call a “late bloomer”, with good home cooking. Now that I live in the South East, I have been more drawn to coming up with meals that please a variety of people. This one continues to be very consistent no matter how many times i make it. It contains so much flavor and goes very quickly! Love, Love it!!

  3. Becky

    this receipe is identical to Olive Gardens…. I have cooked n served this to numerous people and they all agree…. the only change I made that seemed to make a TREMENDOUS difference is simmering a whole chicken and using the actual stock instead of the broth… the chicken salad the next day was an added bonus

  4. Dave in Florida

    I found using 32 oz chicken stock(not broth) and 24 oz water, escarole instead of kale, and a touch more cream kicked this up several notches. I also cooked some bacon and used the bacon grease to wilt the onions prior to adding the other items. I just made some last week and it’s still great.

    • Dave in Florida

      A really nice addition. Get a bag of pizza dough and pull some golf ball sized pieces from it and place on a greased sheet pan. Allow dough to almost double in size at room temp. Sprinkle tops with garlic salt and bake at 400 for 12 mins, or until very light golden colors start showing. Nice soft, chewy pizza crust rolls.

  5. Brandy

    Made this soup for my boyfriend because this is his FAVORITE thing from OG. I have never had it before. He said it was really good and tasted a lot like OG. I really enjoyed this soup and will make again. I could not find Swiss Chard or Kale at our local grocery store so I used Napa Cabbage instead. It was so good!!

    • Dave in Florida

      Try escarole if it’s available. It’s not as firm as kale and it’s still very authentic Italian. I love it in this soup.

  6. Lisa

    OMGosh, this tastes exactly like Olive Garden. My daughter (11 years old) and I are making this as I type. The broth is exactly the same. I made some changes though – I used real bacon and sauted the garlic and onions in that and then used all of that in the soup itself I bought Italian sausage, but still added a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. I will double the batch next time, since we like to have leftovers for lunch through the week! Thanks for the recipe!

  7. Cathy Ighagbon

    I’ve made this soup recipe a few times and really believe it tastes better than what you get at Olive Garden! It’s wonderful and so easy to prepare! I add a small pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and it’s awesome! Thanks for sharing your recipe!

  8. Margaret deVries

    I make this with 1/2 and 1/2 instead of cream and omit the bacon…still tastes great!!! I fling in a ham stock cube…
    I use the ground Italian sausage 1 lb
    I have used the super large size of canned potatoes which I cut up …..used frozen spinach,,,,though I prefer Kale, and even used a can of evaporated milk when I had nothing else…and it always tasted great!!

  9. Amy Wellman

    I’ve been making your creation of OG’s Alfredo Sauce & Zuppa Toscana Soup for years….It is wonderfully yummy…I still like to visit OG when I can.

  10. Diana

    For the OG Zuppa Tuscana, it’s
    Italian Sausage, Pancetta (Italian bacon), Diced Onion, Minced Garlic, Chicken Stock, Heavy Cream and Milk.and slice Russet Potatos. The Kale is added just prior to serving…The Kale sets off the flavors. A little extra Crushed Red Pepper can be added to give it that extra little zip.

  11. Karen

    It was the best copy kat recipe I have tried. It was just like setting at a table at Olive Garden and having this great soup. It has been my favorite soup for about the past 3 years but have never been able to perfect it myself. You did it for me. Thanks.

  12. Chef Mark

    This recipe will make a close clone of the OG soup, but I beg to offer a few tips to make it much better than the OG:

    1) Use 1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley instead of the kale — it’s less harsh, and adds a better hint of freshness
    2) Use yellow potatoes instead of Russets — they are far less likely to crumble and dissolve after so much simmering
    3) Sauté the sausage & bacon, reserve some of the bacon fat and sauté the onions until brown, add the garlic until fragrant (30 seconds), THEN, add it to the broth & water; it greatly increases the flavor
    4) The OG version is too watery — don’t be afraid to add a little corn starch/water thickener or use some of the bacon fat & flour to make a roux to thicken the soup up a bit

    • Stephanie

      I appreciate your suggestions. I think your suggestions will make this better than what the Olive Garden makes. Love your additional suggestions, while that won’t make exactly what they do, it will make very tasty soup!

    • PMM

      To me, one of the things that makes this recipe is the kale and the taste the kale adds to the overall soup, and Italian parsley would detract rather than enhance the soup for me.

      • Darrien Maverique

        Bill, the recipe may be dead on, but as he said, he is offering methds to improve on Olive Garden. I intend to try all of them except subbing out the kale, that part he is just wrong on. Don’t think I would thicken mine any further either, but worth trying.

  13. pima

    If you want to make it closer to the OG recipe, you should add in a 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes. It gives you the kick!

    Also, I typically cook the sausage the night before when I am making dinner for that night. Cool it over night and then slice the sausage.

    The soup makes alot. I would say 6-8 servings. If you have a Panerra Bread by you, buy the soup bowls and use them. I do it that way for entertaining a luncheon with the OG salad.

    I do go to our local OG for the salad, because it is cheaper than me making it!

  14. Emily

    I’ve made a very similar recipe, as well! It’s the Caldo Verde, from The Joy of Cooking…and I had no idea, but my roommate told me that it was just like her favorite soup from Olive Garden. The only difference is that it does not include cream (or any dairy). So light and tasty, though! And a LOT of fun to make! The recipe is on my blog!

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