Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe

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5 from 10 votes

Make your favorite Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup at home!

Prep Time45

Cook Time30

Total Time1 15

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: soup, zuppa toscana

Servings:

Calories: 492kcal

Author: Tricia

Ingredients

4 slices bacon (plus more for garnish if desired)
1 ½ pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 large onion, diced
1 small stalk celery, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
½ teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme or Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ½ pounds waxy potatoes, cubed (peeled or unpeeled)
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (32oz or 907g)
2 cups half-and-half, or whole milk
4 cups packed kale leaves
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Once cooled, chop the bacon into bite size pieces and set aside. Add the sausage to the bacon grease and cook, breaking into clumps with a spoon, until no longer pink. Remove from the pot and drain, reserving drippings.
Return 2 tablespoons of drippings back into the pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot and salt. Sauté the vegetables until crisp tender, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the garlic, crushed red pepper and thyme. Sauté until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, until the flour forms a fond on the bottom of the pan and starts to brown, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the potatoes and broth to the pot. Stir to combine scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Bring the soup to a boil over medium high, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are just tender, about 10 minutes.
Add the half-and-half, kale, black pepper, crumbled sausage and chopped bacon. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until the kale is softened and the soup is heated through. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
Serve immediately garnished with chopped parsley, extra crumbled bacon, and black pepper, if desired. We enjoy this soup with hunks of nice crusty bread for dipping.

Notes

Take care when adding salt to the soup as bacon is often salty enough.
We prefer waxy potatoes for this soup and leave the peel on. Russet potatoes seem to break down too quickly and become mushy more than white or butter potatoes. Red potatoes would also be good in this recipe.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition