If you are looking for that sausage, potato and kale soup recipe that you had at Olive Garden you are in the right place. This is a great Copycat Zuppa Toscana recipe, just like the popular restaurant version, but made in one-pot at home! It is loaded with potatoes, sausage and kale. It comes together really quickly and can be made on the stove top, in the Instant Pot or in a slow cooker.
What is Zuppa Toscana
If you haven’t been to Olive Garden and aren’t sure what Zuppa Toscana is, let me tell you! Zuppa Toscana translated from Italian means Tuscan Soup. It is Pronounced “zoo-pah toe-skaw-nah”.
It is a broth based soup that is made slightly creamy with heavy cream. It is full of Italian sausage, onions, potatoes, kale, and red pepper flakes. The soup was made popular by the chain restaurant Olive Garden in the United States.
Ingredient Details
It doesn’t take a lot of ingredients to make Zuppa Toscana!
Sausage – use what your family likes, any crumbled Italian sausage will work; pork, turkey, mild, sweet, or spicy.
Potatoes – a russet potatoes holds up best in this soup recipe, although others will work too; Red or Yukon. If you use russet I recommend peeling the potato. If you use Yukon or red potatoes you can leave the skin on.
Kale – make sure to remove the hard stem pieces from the kale, those bits will not soften in the soup. Only use the leaf portions and chop those into bite sized pieces. You can also buy bags of kale that are already processed and ready to use (near the packaged salads at your grocery store).
Heavy Cream – this helps make the soup slightly creamy… not thick and creamy, just creamy based. You can also sub in half and half for a less creamy (and less caloric) soup.
You will notice there is not salt included in the recipe. Do not salt this soup until you taste it at the end. The sausage and chicken broth add a nice amount of salt, so add it to taste before serving.
How To Make Zuppa Toscana – Step by Step
Copycat Zuppa Toscana is pretty easy to make, the majority of the work is slicing the potatoes and then waiting for them to boil. If you have a mandolin, it makes quick work of the potato prep!
- Start by crumbling and cooking the sausage in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic and soften for another 5 minutes.
Drain any excess grease.
Pro Tip
Push the meat and onions to one side of the pot, tip the pot up and let the grease drain to the empty side of the pot. Mop it up with paper towels being held with tongs. Discard the paper towels and move on to the rest of the recipe!
- Add the broth and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. This is called deglazing and will add amazing flavor to your broth.
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- Add the potatoes and bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender but not falling apart.
- Add the cream and kale, simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Taste for additional seasonings – salt, red pepper flakes and pepper.
Thickening The Zuppa
This is absolutely a broth-ey soup. If you prefer something a little creamier you can do one of two things:
- Mix 2 tablespoon corn starch with 2 tablespoon cream and add it to the soup at the end. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes and it will thicken nicely.
- OR reduce the broth to 5 cups, and then at the end increase the cream to 2 cups.
Serving Zuppa Toscana
Just like at Olive Garden this soup is PERFECT served with warm bread or bread sticks and a big veggie filled salad.
To recreate the bottomless soup, salad and breadsticks from Olive Garden here are the other copycat recipes you need:
Copycat Olive Garden Salad & Breadsticks
Storing & Reheating
Store any leftover soup in the fridge in a covered container. It will be good for up to 5 days. To reheat simply warm on the stove top or microwave individual bowls for a minute or two.
I do not recommend storing this soup in the freezer, the milk content tends to separate in the freezer.
TL;DR Recipe Tips
- Taste the soup before you add salt! The sausage and chicken broth both have salt content.
- Make sure to drain some of the sausage grease before adding the broth.
- Cook the potatoes until they are fork tender, but not until they are falling apart.
- Use the sausage you like – mild, sweet, spicy, turkey. They all work.
- Make it extra spicy by adding an extra helping of red pepper flakes.
- A mandolin slicer makes really quick work of the potato prep. I have the OXO Simple Mandolin, it is under $40 and a great investment!
Other Great Italian Soup Recipes
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Did you make this recipe?
I would love to hear your review, especially if you have tips and tricks to add! Pop down to the comment section and connect with me
Copycat Zuppa Toscana Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Mild Italian Pork Sausage - (sweet, hot, even turkey sausage- whatever you prefer)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 yellow onion - chopped
- 3 plump garlic cloves - minced
- 3 cups russet potatoes - peeled, halved lengthwise, then sliced ¼ – ½ inch thick
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 3-4 cups fresh kale - chopped, hard stem pieces removed
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- salt to taste - TASTE THE SOUP BEFORE SALTING
- pepper and red pepper flakes to taste
Instructions
- Place a large pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and crumble/brown the sausage for about 5 minutes.1 tablespoon oil, 1 lb Mild Italian Pork Sausage
- Add the onions and garlic and soften for about 5 minutes.1 yellow onion, 3 plump garlic cloves
- Drain most of the grease.Pro Tip: Push all the sausage/onions to one side tip the pan up and let the grease drain to one side of the pot. Sop it up with a couple paper towels being held with tongs. Discard the paper towels.
- Pour in a little chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Pour in the remaining broth.6 cups chicken stock
- Add the peeled and sliced potatoes and turn the heat to high and bring the pot to a hard simmer/boil.3 cups russet potatoes
- Reduce the heat to medium/low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Turn the heat to low and add in the kale and cream. Keep on the heat for another 5 minutes.3-4 cups fresh kale, 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Taste for seasoning (salt, pepper, red pepper flakes) and then serve!salt to taste, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste
…Or Use The Slow Cooker Directions
- In a large sauté pan on the stove top, over medium heat, cook and crumble the sausage. Add the onions and garlic and saute for another 5 minutes.
- Pour the sausage mixture into the bottom of your slow cooker.
- Add in the peeled and diced potatoes and chicken stock.
- Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6 hours, until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Pour in the cream and add the kale. Cook for another 10 minutes.
- Taste for seasonings (salt and red pepper flakes).
Serving
- Just like at Olive Garden, this goes great with some warm bread sticks or ciabatta bread, and a big veggie salad! Pop down to the notes section for links to Olive Garden Copycat Breadsticks and Salad!
Storing
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days. I do not recommend freezing this soup due to the milk content.
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Recipe Tips and Notes:
- Mix 2 tablespoon corn starch with 2 tablespoon cream and add it to the soup at the end. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes and it will thicken nicely.
- OR reduce the broth to 5 cups, and then at the end increase the cream to 2 cups.
Joan says
Delicious!! Better than Olive Garden. Dinner is on the table in less than an hour!!! Thanks for this great recipe, I look forward to fall soup weather.
Susie Weinrich says
Girl!!! I am ready for fall soup weather too!