Description
Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana soup brings hearty Italian comfort from Tuscany’s rustic kitchens to your dinner table. Creamy potatoes, spicy sausage, and crisp kale create a soul-warming meal you’ll crave all season long.
Ingredients
Scale
Meat and Protein:
- 1 lb (454 g) Italian sausage (mild or spicy)
- 4 slices bacon, diced
Vegetables and Aromatics:
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 medium russet potatoes, thinly sliced or diced
- 2 cups kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
Liquids, Seasonings, and Garnish:
- 4 cups (946 ml) chicken broth
- 1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional, for spice)
- Salt, to taste
- Black pepper, to taste
- Parmesan cheese (optional, for serving)
Instructions
- Brown the Italian sausage in a spacious pot, methodically fragmenting the meat into fine, uniform crumbles until thoroughly cooked and golden.
- Transfer the rendered sausage to a paper towel-lined plate, allowing excess grease to absorb, preserving the meat’s robust texture.
- Utilize the identical pot and maintain the residual flavorful oils, then crisp the bacon until achieving a deep, rich mahogany coloration.
- Extract the bacon fragments using a perforated utensil, strategically retaining approximately two tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat within the cooking vessel.
- The reserved bacon and sausage will serve as critical flavor foundations for the impending soup, concentrating the preliminary aromatic elements of this Tuscan-inspired culinary creation.
Notes
- Swap out pork sausage for turkey or chicken sausage to create a leaner version of this classic soup that still packs incredible flavor.
- Consider removing bacon for a vegetarian adaptation by replacing it with smoked paprika or liquid smoke to maintain that rich, smoky depth.
- Reduce sodium by using low-sodium chicken broth and selecting lower-salt bacon varieties, which helps control overall salt content without compromising taste.
- Prepare soup in advance and store in refrigerator for up to 3-4 days, knowing flavors will continue to develop and intensify overnight, making leftovers potentially even more delicious than the first serving.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Dinner, Appetizer
- Method: Sautéing
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
- Calories: 380
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 920 mg
- Fat: 30 g
- Saturated Fat: 14 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 16 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 15 g
- Cholesterol: 80 mg