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!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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
Zupa Toscana is my very favourite soup. I always double the recipe and freeze it.
One of our favorite soups! So so good – always!
Tried it today. We didn’t have bacon, so substituted sliced prosciutto and reversed the order, sausage first, then prosciutto, so as not to overcook that. Still turned out excellent. Definitely making this again
Great to know the information. Thank you for sharing that with us, Eva. I am so glad that you loved this recipe, thanks for your excellent feedback!
Big hit at our house !!! Thank you it was delicious 😊
You’re welcome! Thanks for sharing that with us.
Amazing soup! Thank you for offering such great instructions to make this recipe; it is a favorite soup of my husband and I so no more need for Olive Garden!
I’m so glad that you and your husband loved this recipe. It’s also one of our favorites at home!
I’ve made this countless times as it happens to be my daughter’s favorite. I make this with whatever ground meat I have in hand and just add some spice and red pepper flakes for the kick. Love that it is naturally gluten free. Also, I make this dairy free by substituting cream for coconut milk. It tastes wonderful and the change is so subtle you can barely tell under the aromas of garlic and meat.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Excellent recipe. I’m no fan of the bitterness of kale. I substituted baby spinach for the kale. Perfect.
Sounds good, Jim. I’m glad that kale worked!
We enjoyed the soup. Used a 10 oz bag of Kale. Froze the leftover’s. Next time will use mild sausage maybe add pepper flakes. Forgot cheese and bacon the next day for lunch, favor was milder.
Thank you for that great review! I’m glad you enjoyed that.
As a former OG employee, just a few notes, way too much garlic, should be mild Italian sausage, and missing the crushed red pepper, also cut potatoes into slices and the starch will settle better
I’d give more stars if I could! This soup is wonderful, and I actually thought I wouldn’t really like it. I don’t like italian sausage but liked it in this (I used the sweet as I don’t like hot stuff). Only change I made was: instead of 6 cups water and 4 c. broth, I used 8 cups broth and 2 cups water. OH, I did ad some frozen corn too-we really liked that in it. This soup was so tasty. Me and hubby kept saying that while we were eating it, lol. Thanks Natasha
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me Brenda! It sounds like you found a new favorite.
I made this soup for my husband since he always orders it at Olive Garden. It is delicious. This will be one of my go to recipes when the grandchildren visits. Easy to make and I served it with garlic bread.
I’m happy to hear your comments and feedback. I’m glad this has become your husband’s favorite!
I first made this 1-2 years ago and have repeated it a few times since. I believe this recipe gets better with each time I make it! It’s a fantastic meal, suitable for special occasions or just for a quiet night with a book.
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite Mike!
My husband’s favorite soup. Our Olive Garden went out of business. Must be because your soup is so good that everyone is making it at home instead of going out. I’m making this for lunch today on this bitterly cold day. Ymmm!
This is also one of our favorites soups Helene! Thank you for that wonderful feedback.
I greatly appreciate that you list the nutrition. And I appreciate your recipes. I am on a rather low sodium diet, and when people list the nutrition, it gives me a baseline on what the sodium level is as the recipe lists, and I can figure out how much I have to trim back. It helps a lot. Some of your recipes are low enough it doesn’t take a lot of work from me. Replacing sodium with flavor takes work, as I am sure you know!
Oh. kale. Yucky as a salad, so yummy in a soup. I have been doing it in soups for years.
Again, thank you so much for what you do. It helps me a lot in figuring out how to eat with low sodium. I have been hospitalized due to salt, so it can be a huge deal.
Sherri
You are so welcome, Sherri. I’m glad that the info helps you a lot in planning your diet. Wishing you good health and all the best!
Made this tonight for dinner! Delicious and rave reviews from my husband. Since there only the two of us, I didn’t want to add spinach to the soup as it would overcook when being reheated. So, not being a kale fan, I thawed and cooked part of a bag of frozen spinach in the microwave and added it to the soup bowls before serving. Perfect! I also only used 2 cups of water and 8 cups of chicken broth. Thank you for a terrific recipe!
Perfect! Thanks for sharing that with us, Carol. I appreciate the great review too!
Frozen spinach…smh
Seems like a good way to ruin a good thing by adding mushy microwaved spinach but you do you.
My husband has been asking me to make this for a few days now. He absolutely loved it and he is a picky one too. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Thanks for your good review and feedback. I’m so glad that your husband loved this!
WOOOW! Definitely a keeper! We really enjoyed this soup and all it’s flavors! Risked the hot italian sausage (wasn’t sure if it might be too spicy for us). I’m so glad I did because it was sooo delicious! Wow, the flavor…every bite! Will absolutely be making this over and over again! Thank you Natasha!
I’m so glad you found a favorite on our blog, Cheryl! Thank you for that amazing review.
I made it and it is that good, need to get my chunks broken up, and learn what bite-size is.. Even my daughter enjoyed it. Garlic bread adds to the atmosphere.
I’m so glad to hear it. Thank you for that great review, Robert.
Love the soup it’s my favorite. Question do you know what it’s like to freeze? Love to be able to keep some on hand for my non beef eaters. Thanks
Hi Melissa, I haven’t tried freezing it but one of my readers froze it and shared the following helpful info: “I froze the remaining soup in individual servings using freezer bags and this soup is just as delicious the second time around!”
Looks like 5 stars to me. Wondering if this soup would take kindly to being frozen in portions to thaw and enjoy later?
Hi Ron, I haven’t tried that but I don’t see why not. I think it would work to freeze it.
Absolutely! I make this soup in bulk for my husband and freeze it. I place It in individual sized serving bags. All of the veggies hold their firmness after thawing and reheating. This soup is just as good the second time around!
I’m so glad you all enjoyed this Lori! Thank you for this awesome feedback!
SO delicious!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed that, Jill!
Making this for my big guy for valentine’s day here in WI it’s so cold here. He can’t stop saying it smells so good. Love all the recipes and the videos. Huge fan
This is THE perfect comfort soup for the cold and chilly nights. I’m smiling big reading this comment. Thank you for sharing that with me.
Hi! in my country we do not have Italian sausage, can I substitute with some other sausage?
Hi Wendy! I bet another sausage would work. The taste will be slightly altered but will work. If you experiment I would love to know how you like the recipe.
Thank you! I will continue looking if in some place I found Italian sausage, if not I will try with something similar and I will let you know about the experiment.