The BEST Zuppa Toscana Soup (Olive Garden Copycat)

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The BEST Zuppa Toscana Soup (Olive Garden Copycat) – This is one of the tastiest, most comforting soups on a chilly day! It’s packed with slices of tender russet potatoes, salty Italian sausage and bacon, fresh kale and a rich and creamy broth. Everyone will want more!

 

Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 lb Italian Sausage (casings removed if necessary)
  • 4 oz bacon (about 4 slices), diced into small pieces*
  • 1 cup chopped yellow onion (about 1 small onion)
  • 3 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 cup water**
  • 1 1/2 lbs Russet potatoes,*** scrubbed and rinsed then sliced into halves, halves diced into 1/6-inch slices
  • 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed (optional)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups half and half
  • 1 1/2 cups packed chopped kale
  • Finely shredded Romano cheese for serving, optional

 

Instructions

  1. Heat olive oil in a large non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat. Crumble sausage into 1-inch pieces and add to saucepan.
  2. Cook sausage, stirring occasionally until cooked through. Drain sausage onto a plate or baking dish lined with paper towels, set sausage aside. 
  3. Add diced bacon to saucepan, return to heat and saute 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add diced onions and saute mixture until bacon is cooked through and onions are translucent, about 3 – 5 minutes longer.
  4. Add chicken broth, water, sliced potatoes, sugar, fennel seeds, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring soup just to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and stir in cooked sausage. 
  5. Cover saucepan and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are nearly tender, about 10 – 15 minutes. 
  6. Add in kale then simmer until potatoes are soft and kale is tender, about 5 – 10 minutes longer. 
  7. Stir in half and half and warm through. Use a spoon or ladle to remove excess fat from top of soup if desired. Serve warm topped with Romano cheese.

 

Notes

  • *I added some extra cooked bacon to the top as well, mostly for pictures purposes though just so you can see that there is bacon in this soup. It doesn’t really need it though…but I’ll never turn down a little extra bacon.
  • **Recipe originally listed 2 cups water but I now like to only add 1 for a little less brothy soup and less watered down flavor.
  • ***Work to cut potatoes into even size slices so they finish cooking at the same time.
  • If you’d like more flavor sometimes I add 1 large garlic clove chopped during last 1 minute of sautéing onion.
  • If desired you can use turkey sausage here as well.

 

 

 

 

Recipe by: cookingclassy.com

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