Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup

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March 29, 2009 128 Comments

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.

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

Author: CopyKat Recipes
Recipe Type: Soup
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Serves: 8

Make this classic sausage, potato, and kale soup at home.

Ingredients

1 pound Italian sausage
2 large russet baking potatoes sliced in half and then in 1/4 inch slices
1 large chopped onion
1/2 can Oscar Meyer Real Bacon Bits (these are less fatty than real bacon)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped kale or Swiss chard
2 14.5 ounce cans chicken broth
1 quart water
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Cook sausage in a 300-degree oven for approximately 1/2 hour; drain on paper towels and cut into slices.

Place onions, potatoes, chicken broth, water, and garlic in a pot and cook on medium heat until potatoes are done. Add sausage, bacon, salt, and pepper to taste and simmer for another 10 minutes. Turn to low heat; add kale, cream, and water (optional). Heat thoroughly and serve.

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Additional Notes: You may wish to add about a half teaspoon of fennel seeds to this for an extra taste. The fennel seeds are often an ingredient used in the Italian sausage, and it is a nice extra touch. Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana is a delicious soup you can make at home. I love to make this soup up as a main dish during the week because this is one soup you don't have to simmer for hours to have that all day slow cooked flavor. Some people like to add additional crushed red pepper flakes to this recipe. I personally don't like to make anything too hot, because I want everyone to be able to enjoy it. Often Italian sausage already has crushed red pepper flakes as one of its ingredients, so it depends on how your soup is shaping up to what you may want to add here. The quart of water may be omitted, it depends if you like a soup that is more thinned out or not, I personally like a soup that is thick and hearty. Many viewers have suggested if you want to make this soup low carb, you can use cauliflower instead of potatoes, and they have had excellent results. Maybe you have a suggestion or two for additions you may like when you prepare your own version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana soup. You can find more copycat recipes that taste like the Olive Garden Recipes at CopyKat.com, the web's most popular destination for copycat restaurant recipes.

busybonds

sitting in heaven as i write!! this soup is the best thank you for sharing it was easy to make affordable and delicious all at once !! It tastes just like olive garden’s and i can now satisfy my craving at anytime thanks to you . My son and husband are lovin it as well. Thanks for MAKING ME ROCK THE KITCHEN TODAY :0)
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  I am so happy this worked out well for you. There is nothing like getting validation from your family. It makes all of the difference in the world when they love your cooking.
bruce

A waitress ( OG) told me that their chefs add a lot of butter. When you order the at OG, notice the yellow sheen in the soup.
kaylaGray

can you use anything in place of chicken broth?
Vincent Holbrook

My wife made this soup. I love Zuppa at Olive Garden and this recipe is a true COPY CAT. Love this soup. My brothers family was over and they all loved it, even the three year old. Thanks for the recipe
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  I am happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
Rich Shewmaker

I love this recipe. I do have a couple of suggestions. First, use real bacon. Freeze two bacon strips, then use kitchen scissors to cut them into 1/4″ pieces. Cook the bacon until crisp in the pot, and remove it, and set aside, then pour off all but one tablespoon of the fat. Saute the onion until soft, then add the garlic and sauté until fragrant. Remove the onion and garlic and add to the bacon bits. remove the skins from the Italian sausage, and crumble the meat into the pot. Saute until softened but not yet browned. Remove sausage and add to bacon/onion/garlic, leaving behind as much of the fat in the pan as possible. Pour off the fat, and return ingredients to pot. Add potatoes (I peel mine before dicing), Kale (I remove the stringy ribs before chopping) , and one quart of half-and-half. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Add 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.
Sherry Burroughs

Just made this recipe for dinner. I didn’t change anything. All that was missing was the bread sticks!
http://www.facebook.com/SophieGarza Sophia Bustos Garza

Delicious! And so easy to make. Great for a chilly day!
fifi_66

im trying ground turkey in mine to cut out fat and keep the red pepper flakes for a low fat soup
http://www.facebook.com/deedee.holliscollins Dee Dee Hollis-Collins

Whats the different between chicken broth and chicken stock?
- Stephanie Manley
  
  Let’s see broth is tasty on its own, stock is basically water that has been cooked with meat and vegetables, and isn’t intended for eating without additional steps. I call for broth, if you are using stock, I would be sure to adjust for proper seasoning.
Kispench

Video ingredients & written recipe ingredients do not match. Video uses red pepper (not in written recipe) and also video does NOT use water (as listed in written recipe).
- Stephanie Manley
  
  Let’s see, I added a little red pepper because the sausage didn’t have enough by looking at it. I should have noted that. My editor cut out the water that was added, why ? I don’t know.
  - Jeanetta
    
    Stephanie, have you ever made this soup the night before???? If so, is it just as good?
Alma S

Made this today! Delicious and exactly like the OG soup but cheaper lol. I used hot Italian sausage and it tastes even better. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Megs

I like to boil the potatoes separately (in a different batch of water) drain them and add them to the soup later. That makes it more creamy, and less starchy. If you like it thicker, though – as some others are saying, cook them in the broth.
ALSO. This makes a great slow cooker recipe. Throw everything in in the morning (except for the kale and cream) and let it cook. Throw the kale and cream in a few minutes before serving and voila.
Megs

I like to boil the potatoes separately (in a different batch of water) drain them and add them to the soup later. That makes it more creamy, and less starchy. If you like it thicker, though – as some others are saying, cook them in the broth.
ALSO. This makes a great slow cooker recipe. Throw everything in in the morning (except for the kale and cream) and let it cook. Throw the kale and cream in a few minutes before serving and voila.
Anne Nero

What about freezing some? Is that Okay to do?
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  You could give it a try. I have never personally frozen it. I rarely have enough left over to freeze.
Pperkins

This is an awesome soup! I’m diabetic, so I can’t have too many carbs, so I add some cauliflower and put in less potatoes, and I add carrots. It’s awesome! And we do use the Spinach instead of Kale.
liv

How do you get the recipes?
Mamabear0525

That’s funny cnsdigital2, my friend is a manager at OG and this is exactly the recipe! LOL The only thing missing is crushed red pepper flakes!
Sally

If you live near a Trader Joe’s then try using their sweet Italian style chicken sausage. I also add extra potatoes and kale. We absolutely LOVE this soup when we make it!!!

I didn’t like Olive Gardens version
Lfoster1743

Excellent soup
Amanda C

The copycat recipe I have also calls for 1.5 tsp crushed red pepper flakes – gives it just a touch of spicy, which I love. And I think it tastes JUST like the originial
- Anonymous
  
  Keep in mind much of the sausage comes with red pepper flakes in it already, make sure you don’t add too much extra heat.
Betty

I made this soup for my family and they loved it. Thank you so very much! You were very right about the whipping cream and reheating. Even though I’m still very young, I know a good recipe when i see one. I give it five stars.
RicklWright

Why not use Hot Italian sausage, and leave out the red pepper flakes? Isn’t that about the same thing?
- Anonymous
  
  I like being able to control the amount of heat, by using the red pepper flakes I feel like I can do that better.
- Anonymous
  
  I like being able to control the amount of heat, by using the red pepper flakes I feel like I can do that better.
- PMM
  
  If I make it for folks who like spicy, I do exactly as you suggest, but many times we have folks who are not into hot and spicy, so the “sweet” Italian sausage and passing around the red pepper works better. We don’t want anyone who passes on the soup, because it is too spicy for them!
Daugherty87

Your soup looks better than OG’s. I love lots of kale.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000723378389 Tamara Sanford

Can you use a lactose free milk instead of the heavy cream? I have a couple of family members that have the heavy cream.
- Anonymous
  
  I am sure you can give it a try. I have not tried the recipe this way.
- http://twitter.com/GairdinDawn Dawn
  
  You could try experimenting with soy. You can get soy milk and reduce in a sauce pan so that it thickens and becomes the consistency of cream. Just be sure to get plain and unsweetened.
Fred

Wow! forget the soup. The cook is beautiful!
Pinkkat72

Perfect recipe however, DO NOT add any water to it!!
Kim

I made this soup yesterday and my husband absolutely loved it! He had to stop at bowl #2 even though he said he wanted more! The recipe was soooo simple to follow. The only difference when I made it was that I used spinach in place of the kale (I couldn’t find any in my small town). Otherwise, perfect!
Sad Souper

I’ve made this soup before and absolutely LOVED it.

Made it tonight, and it tasted like watered down milk. Extremely disappointed and don’t know what the heck I did wrong!
- Anonymous
  
  I am sorry this didn’t work well for you tonight. Did you use milk? Did you substitute ingredients?
DianeWente

Loved the soup however we use baby spinach in place of the stronger chard/kale. It is a gentler taste! Our daughter-in-law in Italy fixed it for us and we have been making it ever since then. Somerset, IN
- Jodie
  
  I was actually looking for this soup, because I heard it was a way to add kale into my diet, LOL!!! But with that, I understand not wanting such a strong taste. What if you mixed half baby spinach, half kale? That way the benefits of kale are still there; just not so much strong taste. (Does anyone agree? I haven’t tried this yet.)
  - http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
    
    So you can do what you prefer, but the kale will hold up better in the heat if you want to reheat it.
- Jodie
  
  I was actually looking for this soup, because I heard it was a way to add kale into my diet, LOL!!! But with that, I understand not wanting such a strong taste. What if you mixed half baby spinach, half kale? That way the benefits of kale are still there; just not so much strong taste. (Does anyone agree? I haven’t tried this yet.)
DianeWente

Loved the soup however we use baby spinach in place of the stronger chard/kale. It is a gentler taste! Our daughter-in-law in Italy fixed it for us and we have been making it ever since then. Somerset, IN
Jamie

You can freeze this soup. I freeze in individual servings for my parents and have them add the cream and kale (or not) when they reheat it. Putting the cream in before you freeze will cause the texture to change and it will separate.
Jeffery Karen

Inside information: OG browns the sausage with red pepper. It’s a fact!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Heather-Chapman/1510748071 Heather Chapman

I omitted the bacon, changed the chicken broth to vegetable broth, and used Morningstar’s Italian Sausage to make this vegetarian style – and it still tasted just like the soup at olive garden! It was so good, thank you so much!
Raraqueen91

I use Goya pork flavoring packets instead of cream, leave out the bacon, and use red potatoes instead of russets and it tastes just as good with less calories.
Reglindis Eckhardt

I loved the soup in the restaurant and from this recipe. I really find the thumbnail pics a help too.
JessShivers

This is a great recipe, my husband asks me to make it all the time now! The only thing I do differently is instead of baking the sausage I remove the casing and brown it in a skillet, it gives it more of a ground beef texture, more like what I’ve seen at Olive Garden.
http://craftyladyrecipes.com CherylK

This is one of my favorite soups! So thrilled to have found this recipe of yours…I’ll be making it the very next cool day that we have. (And in Minnesota, that could be tomorrow – ha!)
Cheryl Robinson

This soup is excellent; I still use bacon because that was the original recipe I found years ago on Copycat. I am always amazed that people say they want a specific recipe because they love it – BUT, look for ways to change it or substitute ingredients.
- Stephanie Manley
  
  I have found that recipes change from time to time at a restaurant. Sometimes food costs are the reason. Sometimes restaurants want to reduce the costs on their dishes and may remove or substitute ingredients over time.
Jenn

So, I am attempting to make this for the first time but with a few changes…half and half and turkey sausage to make it healthier and adding then making some without the kale for my husband…wish me luck, i’ll let u know how it turns out!
kristie

where can i find kale or swiss chard
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  You can find this in most grocery stores in the produce department.
Melissa R Wheeler

As I mentioned on your FB Page YOU have WON my Heart! This is my all time favorite dish! Thanks for what you are sharing with us!
- http://www.copykat.com Stephanie
  
  I feel so honored!
Server

sausage, sliced potatoes and kale
cream, bacon, onions, garlic and crushed red pepper.
Straight from the OG product hand book