I bet you have finished a bowl of the Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup and wondered if you could make this soup. You can make your Zuppa Toscana taste just like the Olive Gardens soup recipe.
Potatoes, Italian sausage, kale, onions, bacon, and cream make for a delicious and hearty soup. You don’t have to get a babysitter, or even leave your house to have soup just like Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana.
Rich and hearty, Zuppa Toscana is one of the most popular Olive Garden soups on the restaurant’s menu. Enjoy a delicious bowl of this Olive Garden favorite at home any time you want with this recipe.
Like most homemade soup, the Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana recipe does take some time to come together. Do you want to get this meal on the table faster? Then be sure to read the time-saving tips below.
Table of Contents
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 simply Tuscan soup.
Olive Garden Tuscan soup is creamy, hearty, and loaded with Italian sausage, potatoes, and kale. It is a great meal with Olive Garden breadsticks and Italian salad.
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 exactly 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.
For this recipe, hot or sweet Italian sausages work, 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
- Sweet or hot Italian sausage links
- Russet Potatoes
- Onion
- Chicken Broth
- Water
- Garlic
- Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits
- Salt
- Pepper
- Kale
- Heavy cream
How to Make Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
- Place the sausages in a baking pan and roast at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until cooked through.
- Drain sausages on paper towels and cut into slices.
- Place the potatoes, onions, chicken broth, water, and garlic in a large pot and cook on medium heat until potatoes are done.
- 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. A lot of 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 the reason there is no salt in bread from the region is that 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. Just 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 to balance out the soup’s richness.
How long is Zuppa Toscana good for in the fridge?
Should you have any soup left over 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 air tight container for up to 3 months.
Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes!
- Alfredo Sauce
- Watermelon Sangria
- Olive Garden Spinach Dip
- Capellini Pomodoro
- Seafood Alfredo
- Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo
- Shrimp Carbonara
- Peach Cheesecake
Popular Soup Recipes
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Zuppa Toscana 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 Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits (1/2 can)
- salt to taste
- 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.
- 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.
Lavina
This soup was incredible, now that I can’t go out to eat thanks to Rona. I will try more recipes soon.
Larhonda
I haven’t been in an Olive Garden for a long time, this soup tastes sooo good!
Taylah
A new favorite.
Suzanne
I thought this was very similar to the Olive Garde, but I thought it was even BETTER.
angel
Good soup, I added more sausage. Even my son liked it.
Jeannie
I can’t get enough of this soup.
Susan
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.
Stephanie
So glad you enjoyed it!
Syd
Thank you for making these for “home cooks”. I look forward to trying each one.
Stephanie
Thank you very much Syd! What types of recipes are you looking for?
Diane
Can you use a slow cooker for this?
Stephanie
Yes, here are the instructions.
https://copykat.com/olive-garden-zuppa-toscana-slow-cooker/
Diane
Thank you❤️
Jeannie
Thanks so much! Soup is Rich, tasty, I am not a soup eater, this one is delicious!
Dan
Recipes on this site are really good. I just wish they would add serving size to the nutrition information.
Janice
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!
Alice Madden
Yet oddly nothing like Olive Garden… I bets it’s delicious tho! ???
laura
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?
Stephanie
Hmm, thanks for the response. Good luck in your recipe search.
Janice
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!
April Alters
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.
laura
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.
Sharon Lee
Wow, I don’t remember it having bacon in it?
Stephanie
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.
Ann Larkin
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.
Stephanie
I love your lighter tips.
sfg4u
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
Stephanie
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 😉
laura
I tried your recipe…wonderful! Soo good. The video worked for me btw. 😀
Jimmy
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.
stephaniemanley
Thank you for your comments.
bill snill
We make ours a little richer by using a little more heavy cream.. This recipe is dead on.
stephaniemanley
Heavy cream makes many things better.
Dan Barnes
Used real bacon and added fennel used Kale and added italian parsley as well. Woof this is good.
stephaniemanley
I bet your version of this soup was incredible.
Dwayne Soto
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
Stephanie
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.