I bet you have finished a bowl of Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup and wondered if you could make this soup at home. Yes, you can make this favorite soup from Olive Garden! You will have a creamy soup filled with crispy bacon, chicken stock, and pork sausage that becomes a family favorite from the first taste.
On a cold winter many years ago, I craved the comforting warmth of Olive Garden’s famous Zuppa Toscana. Instead of heading to the restaurant, I decided to recreate this beloved soup in my kitchen. After numerous attempts and tweaks, I’ve perfected this copycat recipe that captures the essence of the original with a creamy, savory soup that’s both hearty and satisfying.
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Table of Contents
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.
Why This Recipe Works
This is the best copycat, Zuppa Toscana, because it contains everything you love about this soup. Italian sausage, russet potatoes, and bits of smoky bacon are all served in a creamy broth that perfectly balances richness with hearty satisfaction. The key is browning the sausage properly in the oven to develop deep flavors, then building the soup base with aromatics before finishing with cream and fresh kale. This method ensures each component maintains its distinct character while melding into a harmonious, restaurant-quality soup.
Zuppa Toscana Soup Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need to make this hearty homemade soup.
- Mild Italian sausage – provides the primary savory flavor and meaty texture
- Russet Potatoes – adds heartiness and helps thicken the soup naturally
- White onion – creates a flavor foundation and adds natural sweetness
- Chicken Broth – forms the soup base and adds depth. Low-sodium broth is recommended
- Water – helps achieve the perfect consistency
- Garlic cloves – adds aromatic depth and traditional Italian flavor
- Slices of bacon or Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits – contributes smokiness and rich umami flavor
- Kosher salt – enhances all flavors
- Ground black pepper – adds subtle heat and depth
- Fresh kale – adds nutrition, color, and slight bitterness
- Heavy cream – creates the signature creamy texture
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.
Pro Tips and Common Questions
Ingredient Substitutions
- Potatoes: Yukon Gold potatoes can replace Russet
- Sausage: Spicy Italian sausage for extra heat
- Kale: Spinach or Swiss chard work well
- Heavy Cream: Half-and-half for a lighter version
Make It Your Own
This recipe is incredibly versatile. Try these variations:
- Add mushrooms for extra earthiness
- Include cannellini beans for more protein
- Use turkey sausage for a lighter version
- Add a splash of white wine for depth
Troubleshooting Tips
- Soup too thick? Add water or broth gradually
- Soup too thin? Simmer longer or add more potatoes
- Too mild? Add red pepper flakes or use spicy sausage
- Potatoes not cooking evenly? Cut them into uniform sizes
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 with cheese and a splash of olive oil. A tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil on top of your soup just before serving helps provide a luscious mouthfeel. A little grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese on top helps balance the soup’s richness.
Storage & Reheating Instructions
- Freezing: Freezes well in airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator before reheating.
- Refrigerator Storage: Store leftover soup in airtight container for up to 3-5 days in the refrigerator. Like many soups, this tastes better the next day.
- Reheating Method: Reheat on stovetop over low to medium heat for even warming. Avoid microwave as it can cause uneven heating and texture issues.
Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes!
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- Olive Garden Spinach Dip
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- Seafood Alfredo
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Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana – Easy Copycat Recipe
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.
This soup was incredible, now that I can’t go out to eat thanks to Rona. I will try more recipes soon.
I haven’t been in an Olive Garden for a long time, this soup tastes sooo good!
A new favorite.
I thought this was very similar to the Olive Garde, but I thought it was even BETTER.
Good soup, I added more sausage. Even my son liked it.
I can’t get enough of this soup.
Tell us the truth, it’s so good you must have been an employee LOL! My fav at the OG is soup/salad/breadsticks and always Zuppa Toscana.
I made this soup in January I think and froze the leftover. Just had that tonight and I’m writing in to tell you it was no different reheated. Delicious! Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for making these for “home cooks”. I look forward to trying each one.
Thank you very much Syd! What types of recipes are you looking for?
Can you use a slow cooker for this?
Yes, here are the instructions.
https://copykat.com/olive-garden-zuppa-toscana-slow-cooker/
Thank you❤️
Thanks so much! Soup is Rich, tasty, I am not a soup eater, this one is delicious!
Recipes on this site are really good. I just wish they would add serving size to the nutrition information.
I love this recipe! I add a lot of spices top pick up the flavor…and change the broth to rich beef broth! The beet broth adds great flavor. I added sliced sausages and ground beef, 1/4 stick of butter, onions, green and red peppers, lots of kale…and a large can of stewed tomatoes. Lots of cayenne and hot pepper. I added the heavy cream at the end. WOW!! Fantastic flavor!
Yet oddly nothing like Olive Garden… I bets it’s delicious tho! ???
Not Zuppa Toscana but probably good. FYI I won’t be trying it as I came here for the actual ZT recipe. Maybe post this recipe on like allrecipes.com with a name of your choosing?
Hmm, thanks for the response. Good luck in your recipe search.
I love this recipe! I add a lot of spices top pick up the flavor…and change the broth to rich beef broth! The beet broth adds great flavor. I added sliced sausages and ground beef, 1/4 stick of butter, onions, green and red peppers…and a large can of stewed tomatoes. Lots of cayenne and hot pepper. I added the heavy cream at the end. WOW!! Fantastic flavor!
I have made this before and it tastes just like the real thing. I do leave out the onion since I am allergic though. Next time I am going to try it with almond milk instead of cream since I also have a dairy allergy.
How were you even able to eat the real thing with your allergies? Must have been very uncomfortable. Glad to see you found a work around.
Wow, I don’t remember it having bacon in it?
Years ago it did contain bacon, when I say years ago, I would guess this recipe on their part changed about 15 years ago or so. I am guessing this did this to remove expense from the recipe.
This is my family’s favorite soup that I make I have lighten it up by using turkeys sausage and light cream I too love it so easy to make I’m from Newjersey it gets very cold and wet in the winters so this soup warms the bones thank you for make this an easy delicous recipe.
I love your lighter tips.
This was on the menu tonight with fresh ingredients from the Amish market and it was wonderful. LOL I didn’t mind cooking for my birthday. I did it according to the written directions since the video wouldn’t download in the market. Browning the sausage was a great idea. I used 1/2 hot Italian sausage and 1/2 sweet Italian chicken sausage. The only thing I think I’d do differently is to saute the onions and potatoes in some of the bacon grease along with the garlic. Thank you. Just a note . . . it’s pronounced TSOO-pah or ZOO-pah. Don’t worry, I only know this because I’ve lived in Italy. – Kim
Thank you for your wonderful comments. I appreciate you telling me how to pronounce it properly. The thing with video is it lasts forever 😉 I can’t go back and fix it without a re-shoot 😉
I tried your recipe…wonderful! Soo good. The video worked for me btw. 😀
All the ingredients are there. It isn’t necessary to measure the potatoes, bacon, sausage etc. Your salt, pepper and garlic may be more critical, but adjust according to your taste. I like to make it richer with more heavy cream, plus make it a little heartier by not skimping on the other ingredients to make each spoonful have more solids in it. The additional cream kicks it up 2 notches from the soup in the restaurant.
Thank you for your comments.
We make ours a little richer by using a little more heavy cream.. This recipe is dead on.
Heavy cream makes many things better.
Used real bacon and added fennel used Kale and added italian parsley as well. Woof this is good.
I bet your version of this soup was incredible.
I’m a single Dad, and at times its hard to please my kids and very expensive to dine out, But I turn to your reciepes and make there favorite meals. I
Thank you for your nice comment. Going out to eat can be expensive, and honestly, I think we often cook the food better at home. We get the chance to add love ;). Let me know if there something you would like to see.