Best Zuppa Toscana Recipe | Olive Garden Copycat

Warm up with a bowl of delicious Zuppa Toscana! This hearty and comforting soup is perfect for chilly days, combining savory Italian sausage, tender potatoes, and nutrient-rich kale in a creamy broth. Inspired by the beloved Olive Garden favorite, my homemade version is easy to make and packed with flavor. Whether you’re cooking for family, entertaining guests, or simply craving a satisfying meal, this Zuppa Toscana recipe will quickly become a household favorite. Follow along for step-by-step instructions and tips for the perfect bowl of comfort. Buon appetito!

Background & Inspiration

Since the beginning of 2024, my husband and I have been eating at home a lot more. When I say a lot more, I mean our usual 3-4 meals out of the house have disappeared (including our DoorDash subscription)! In lieu of eating out, we’ve been trying to find more ways to make our favorite restaurant meals at home.

My husband was not a fan of soup until he tried the Zuppa Toscana soup from Olive Garden, which happened to be my favorite Tuscan soup. I decided that this is one recipe we definitely need to make at home! Now, it’s my husband’s favorite soup and he requests it constantly.

This creamy soup, Olive Garden’s zuppa toscana, combines the richness of heavy cream, the kick of red pepper flakes, and the wholesome goodness of chicken stock. The soup is not just delicious but also versatile and easy to make. The combination of savory sausage, tender potatoes, and creamy broth creates a delightful symphony of flavors and textures. It’s perfect for family dinners, entertaining guests, or meal prepping for the week.

It pairs perfectly with sourdough bread or breadsticks paired with an olive oil blend (not bottomless, unfortunately)!

Tools

• Large Pot
• Kitchen Scissors (optional)
• Wooden Cutting Board (optional)

Ingredients

Italian Sausage: With different flavors of Italian sausage, choose the one you love! Personally, we love hot/spicy Italian sausage! We get our hot Italian sausage from Sprouts which is made from pork raised with no antibiotics, minimally processed, and no artificial ingredients. Friends of mine prefer to make it with sweet Italian sausage.

Bacon: We started out our recipe with a few slices of bacon, and evolved to including a whole pack (can you tell we’re bacon lovers?)! We get our bacon from Sprouts which is made from pork raised with no antibiotics, no added sugar/hormones, and all natural.

Russet Potatoes: These potatoes perfectly match the Olive Garden recipe. We buy our potatoes organic.

Kale: If you’re not a fan of kale, you can switch this out with spinach. We prefer fresh kale!

Onion: We buy our onions organic!

Garlic: I have pre-minced garlic that I use for this! I’m still working on my garlic chopping skills.

Chicken Broth: We love the Kettle & Fire Chicken Broth because it’s organic, non-GMO, and has no preservatives.

Heavy Whipping Cream: We use Kalona Organic Whipping Cream! It’s one of only a few heavy whipping creams that do not contain mono and diglycerides, polysorbate 80, and carrageenan. It’s a single ingredient: organic cream.

Red Pepper Flakes: I use A LOT of red pepper flakes when I make this soup! The recipe doesn’t use as much as I do but follow your heart when seasoning! We use the Simply Organic Crushed Red Pepper.

Zesty Italian Pluck Seasoning (optional): In every recipe we make at home, we include a few teaspoons of Pluck seasoning. It’s a mixture of Redmond Real Salt, organic spices/herbs, and 100% grass-fed beef organ meats. It has so many important vitamins that we miss in our everyday meals! Use code RenaissanceAlana for 15% off!

How to Make Homemade Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat)

Preparation

Cut or slice bacon into small pieces. Dice onion. Dice garlic. Chop kale. Peel potatoes (optional).

Cooking

In a large pot, cook Italian sausage with red peppers. Once cooked, transfer cooked sausage to a medium bowl and set aside.

In the same pot, cook the bacon until crispy. Drain about half of the excess grease, keeping the crispy bacon in the pot. Add chopped onion and garlic to the bacon and grease. Cooking for 3-5 minutes until onions are translucent.

Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Add potatoes and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.

Reduce to medium heat and add heavy cream, sausage, and kale (add your pluck seasoning now!).

Cook and stir until sausage is warm.

Serve and enjoy this hearty soup! You can top this cozy soup with freshly grated parmesan cheese for the full Olive Garden experience (just say when!). All the ingredients are seasoned enough so there’s no need for additional salt or black pepper. Once the delicious soup has cooled, you can store it in an airtight container for 3-5 days in the refrigerator.