Zuppa Toscana is Olive Garden’s most popular soup. This one-pot, homemade Zuppa Toscana recipe is hearty and loaded with Italian sausage, kale, bacon, and tender potatoes. It’s on my family’s regular menu rotation!
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Helpful Reader Review
“Soup was delicious! Best copycat Olive Garden recipe ever! Taste so authentic; I thought I was eating at Olive Garden!” – Marianne ★★★★★
Zuppa Toscana Video
Now wasn’t that easy? Serve topped with crispy bacon, extra cheese and generous slices of Sourdough Bread, or crusty French Bread. I hope this Zuppa Toscana becomes a favorite in your home as well.
Zuppa Toscana Copycat Recipe
Some of our most popular recipes are restaurant copycat recipes like Creamy Shrimp Pasta and of course Chicken Madeira! You can make it better at home for a fraction of the price!
We love re-creating restaurant-quality soups at home, like our popular Clam Chowder Recipe. My sister Tanya taught me how to make this Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana from scratch and it has been a family and reader favorite since we first published it in 2010. We have since made it heartier and more flavorful. The classic just got better!
What is Zuppa Toscana?
Zuppa means soup, and Toscana means Tuscan. Tuscan Soup! This American adaptation is classically made with kale, potatoes, onion, and garlic, then served topped with Parmesan cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano.
Is Zuppa Toscana Spicy?
I Use “Hot” Italian sauce, which does give this soup a spicy kick, but you can substitute with medium or mild Italian sausage and make a less spicy version that’s more kid-friendly, then season with salt and pepper to taste. You can spice up individual bowls later with red pepper flakes if you prefer.
Zuppa Toscana Ingredients
- Bacon – the bacon adds an extra layer of flavor to the soup and a crunchy salty bite when sprinkled as garnish. Parmesan is also a nice touch to serve the soup.
- Italian Sausage – I prefer using ‘hot’ Italian sausage, but you can use mild if you prefer less spice. Remove casings if present.
- Aromatics – I use a whole head of garlic (more on that below) and a diced onion.
- Chicken stock – you can use chicken broth or stock here, or even substitute with turkey stock. Homemade always tastes best, especially bone broth! For richer flavor, you can replace the water in the recipe with more stock.
- Potatoes – you can peel or leave the skins on for a more rustic soup. Russet, or yello wpotatoes work great.
- Kale – strip the leaves from one kale bundle then finely chop. It will seem like alot of kale, but it softens and shrinks down in the soup.
- Whipping cream – heavy cream creates a rich broth. You can use a light cream if desired.
Do I really need 1 HEAD of Garlic?
YES! We used a full head of garlic (about 10 large cloves). Do not skip the fresh garlic. Garlic gives the broth an incredible and authentic Italian flavor. Since the garlic is sautéed and then simmered with the broth, it doesn’t overwhelm the soup. Garlic is also very good for you (a super food)!
Is Zuppa Toscana Healthy?
This soup is naturally gluten free and grain free. To make a Keto-friendly Zuppa Toscana, you can substitute potatoes with cauliflower.
For Whole 30 (dairy free), substitute the heavy whipping cream for 1 can of full fat unsweetened coconut milk (using the solid white cream portion only and adding it at the very end just to heat through).
Everyone in my family makes this Zuppa Toscana regularly. I love it when my Mom has a pot simmering on the stove when all of my sisters’ families come over for Sunday lunch. It’s the first thing I reach for, even with plenty of other options on the table (Mom always makes a feast on Sundays!). I hope this Zuppa soup becomes a favorite in your home as well.
Zuppa Toscana – Olive Garden Copycat
Ingredients
- 6 oz bacon, chopped
- 1 lb Italian Sausage, The “Hot” variety
- 1 head of garlic, about 10 large cloves, peeled and minced or pressed
- 1 onion, medium, finely diced
- 6 cups chicken broth, or chicken stock
- 4 cups water
- 5 russet potatoes, medium, peeled and chopped into 1/4" thick pieces*
- 1 kale bundle, leaves stripped and chopped (6 cups)
- 1 cup whipping cream, or 1 can full fat unsweetened coconut milk
- salt and black pepper to taste
- Parmesan cheese, optional, to serve
Instructions
- Brown Bacon – In a large pot or Dutch oven (5.5 qt), over medium-high heat, add chopped bacon and sauté until browned (5-7 mins). Remove bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate and spoon out excess oil, leaving about 1 Tbsp oil in the pot.
- Brown Italian sausage, breaking it up with your spatula, and sauté until cooked through and browned (5 min). Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate.
- Add onion to the pot and saute 5 min, stirring occasionally, or until soft and golden, then add minced garlic and saute 1 min.
- Add broth and water, and bring to a boil. Add sliced potatoes and cook 13-14 min or until easily pierced with a fork.
- Add chopped kale and cooked sausage, and bring everything to a light boil.
- Stir in cream and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, then remove from heat. Ladle into bowls and serve garnished with bacon and grated parmesan.
Notes
- Fridge: once completely cool, cover and refrigerate leftovers for 3-4 days.
- Freezer: Soups with cream and potatoes do not freeze well, so I don’t recommend freezing this soup.
- Reheat: Warm on the stove over medium-low heat or in the microwave until steaming hot. Avoid boiling.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Copycat Recipes from Restaurants
These recipes are inspired by some of our favorite restaurant dishes. In every case, we loved the homemade version even better because of higher-quality ingredients, healthier fats (olive oil), less salt, and, of course, a lower bill!
- Beet Salad with Arugula
- Stuffed Chicken Parmesan
- Filet Mignon
- Chicken Mango Avocado Salad
- Chicken Stir Fry
- Shrimp Scampi
- Monterey Chicken
- Homemade Salsa
- Chicken Piccata
So I’m making this soup, following the recipe to a T. Scrolling through comments some say too much garlic, I start fishing out garlic from the already boiling soup. During my taste test I’m like I’m gonna put the garlic back lol it was delicious with all that garlic!! Definitely going on my biweekly menu!!
That’s amazing, Tanya! I’m so glad you loved the recipe. We love this soup and do not think it’s too much garlic either.
Bland soup. Way too watery. Why add the water?? I ruined my soup 😤😩
Hi Tanya, did you change anything else in the recipe? Or did you possibly add too much water? There should be plenty of flavor in the soup as it is written.
I agree Tanya. I made this as written and it was too thin and bland.
Hi what i do to add more favor to this is i add 2 cups of cream instead of one and i add at the end lots of black pepper and garlic powder and lots of Parsley Flakes and red peeper flakes
We are huge fans of the site and discovered this recipe right before Covid happened, so we’ve made this MANY times over the past three years. It is my husband’s number one favorite soup of all time! Since we’ve made it probably close to 25 times, we’ve learned what works for us: We always make 12 servings and add two extra potatoes. We use mild turkey sausage and cut down to five garlic cloves (hubby’s preference). To slightly thicken the soup we add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup instant potato flakes but otherwise make as written. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe. We will keep sharing it and your site with our friends and family! 🙂
That’s awesome! It’s so inspiring to see your message and review, thank you for sharing that with us. It means a lot to us!
I love this soup! I make it about once a month. I make 1/2 batch and save the cream until I eat it because the rest freezes well (without cream). I use Kirkland precooked bacon. Thanks for many wonderful soup days.
Hi Julia! You’re very welcome! Thanks so much for sharing.
I like garlic but this was way to overpowering to me. And I didn’t use the whole 10 cloves.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Kat! I wonder if your garlic head was larger? We used 1o cloves from a medium garlic head (picture in the post for reference).
Just made this morning. It is absolutely delicious. Changed it up a bit and used fresh kielbasa from Easter and it was awesome. Question, has anyone tried to thicken it? I know the original is not, but just asking.
Hi Dianne! That’s wonderful, I’m so glad you loved the recipe. I have not thickened this soup with anything since we love it the way that it is. But it should work. 🙂
I put some white beans in the blender with a little of the broth. Then pour the mixture into the soup. It thickens it a bit!
That’s a great tip, Anita! 🙂
Just add a small cornstarch slurry to the soup. That will do the trick. The slurry is equal parts of cornstarch to water, such as 2 tbs. water to corn starch. You can even take the broth out and add the starch to it. Corn starch will make it thicken quickly and does not need to be cooked off like flour and make a smoother sauce.
Hi, Dianne. We use instant potato flakes, about 1/2 cup to help thicken.
To cut down on the liquid, I substitute the 4 cups of water with an extra 2 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of dehydrated water. Adding emulsified navy beans or potatoes will also help to thicken it.
What is dehydrated water? Are you kidding around or is that a real thing? I’m just curious as I have never heard someone use that term before.
I too am curious as to what dehydrated water is. Please explain.
I made this yesterday, it was great! Tasted as good or better than the famous Italian restaurants’
I’m so glad you loved it! Thanks for sharing.
Loved this soup. Served it with pepperoni rolls. Everyone loved it!
Sounds delicious! So glad it was enjoyed.
This soup is EXCELLENT! My kids love it, my friends love it and my family loves it. I do a few tricks to up the flavor! Add garlic puree and a couple chicken bouillon cubes.
Hi Michelle! I’m so glad it was a hit. Thank you for sharing.
This turned out amazing! I was wondering if I can freeze it? Thanks!!!
Hi Maria! I’m glad you loved the soup. I haven’t tried freezing this myself but one of our readers wrote: “I freeze this soup all the time! I usually make a triple recipe so I can freeze some for later… It’s as good, or better!” I hope this helps.
Truly a great cold weather soup. I added a dollop or two of cream cheese to make it thicker, creamier and take away some of the bite from the spicy sausage.
Sounds great, happy to hear that you liked this!
Love this soup! But is there any way to make it not have the orange/bright yellow oil glaze on top of the soup? Your recipe photos don’t have it, so maybe there’s something I can do. It never says to drain the oil from the sausage in the recipe. But that would probably help. And cook the onions in olive oil instead.
Hi Shirl! I’m so glad you love the soup. It’s one of our favorites.
The orangish tint at the top of the soup is from the fat in the sausage. It could also depend on the type/brand used (some cause this worse than others). I do remove my sausage after it’s cooked onto a plate lined with a paper towel so it absorbs some of the excess grease and taking this step helps. Did you do this as well? If not, I would recommend trying that first to see if you notice a difference.
This recepie is awesome! I tried it and it’s packed with flavor and goodness. I am not a fan of kale, however, everything blends so well I couldn’t even notice the kale. I will be fixing this more often. Thanks for the recepie and keep the goodness coming!
Hi MJ! That’s great to hear. So glad you loved it. Thank you for sharing with us.
I made this soup and fell in love with it! My only problem was the amount of garlic taste. Don’t get me wrong, I love garlic but it was a lot. I made the soup as directed but the only thing I didn’t have was a medium onion. I only used 1/2 of a small onion. Do you think that would have anything to do with the strong garlic flavor? Or maybe I didn’t cook it enough? Either way, I plan on making this again very soon but will probably back off on the amount of garlic.
Hi Bridget, we believe we found the perfect balance, but you’re welcome to alter it to your liking.
Hi Natasha! I love your recipes!! I want to try this in a slow cooker so I can take it to work. Is there any changes on the recipe if I do this? Thank you!
Hi Estella! I have not tested this in the slow cooker but it reheats well, so I think you could reheat it in a slow cooker.
I’ve made this recipe for a few years now. It is sensational and honestly, it’s better than Olive Garden’s. I’ve eaten it same day, froze it and also pressure canned it. It’s delicious every time. I just wanted to say thanks. for your time and effort of posting it here. Thank you!!!
Aww, that is so kind. Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback. I appreciate your love and support.
I made this last night and was super pleased. The flavor was great and all the ingredients I’m constantly trying to get into my diet were in this!! Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Rene!
I found the nutritional information, but how many servings does this make?
The servings are 8 bowls.
Long time reader, first time commenter here; I just had to comment because I found all of the negative reviews quite surprising. I made this soup about a month ago and just came back because I have been craving it and must make it again! This recipe is packed full of flavor and I wouldn’t change a thing. Thanks for yet another incredible recipe Natasha!
Thank you so much for your good comments and review, Liz. Happy to know that you love this reicpe a lot!
Can I substitute anything else for the kale? I got food poisoning from kale on a sandwich and can’t stand to eat it. Besides it’s tough to chew!
Hi Bonnie! Many of my readers replace it with spinach. 🙂 I hope you love the soup.
I use spinach and its delicious! I am not a huge kale fan so this substitute is pretty spot on