Hearty Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat Recipe)
Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat Recipe) – Full of flavorful meaty broth, bacon, fresh green kale and a slight kick of heat, this Zuppa Toscana will warm your belly and your soul this cold season.
Olive Garden knows they’ve hit the jackpot with their Zuppa Toscana Soup when they have customers come in just for a bowl of the soup. One of those customers is my husband, he will go there just for this soup, no entree needed, may be just one re-fill…or two.
Full of flavorful meaty broth, bacon, fresh green kale and a slight kick of heat, this Zuppa Toscana will warm your belly and your soul this cold season. If you don’t have Olive Garden where you live or you’ve never tried this soup, it’s definitely a must. Any good cook has to know how to make a good Tuscan (Italian) Soup!
Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat Recipe)
Yields: 8 qt pot of soup
Ingredients for Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat Recipe):
How to make Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat Recipe)
- Cut bacon to 1/3 inch pieces and render fat in a skillet set over medium heat until crispy. Tilt skillet to the side and let fat drip to the bottom while collecting bacon at the top. Remove bacon from skillet and discard the fat (discarding fat is optional and is only done to make the soup a little more healthy).
- If not using the already pre-mixed Italian sausage, mix the ground meat with 1 tsp salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and pressed garlic until combined.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet and saute diced onions over medium heat until transluscent, about 5 minutes. Add bell peppers, saute until slightly golden, another 3-4 minutes. Add shredded carrots, saute for 3-4 minutes, then add ground sausage and brown it while breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon.
- Add 4 quarts of water or meat stock to a large pot and set over high heat. Add thoroughly scrubbed and then sliced potatoes to the pot and allow to come to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Add the browned sausage mixture & bacon, then let cook until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork fork, about 10-15 minutes.
Once the potatoes are soft, add heavy cream and bring to a boil. Remove the pot from heat. Add chopped kale & green scallions. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. 
Let soup sit and mend all the flavors for 20-30 minutes before serving.
Here are some other SOUP recipes:
- Roasted Tomato Soup Recipe – Soup roasted with tomatoes, garlic, and peppers.
- Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe – Delicious chicken noodle soup recipe.
- Borsch – A classic Ukrainian Beat Soup recipe.
Hearty Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Copycat Recipe)
The best Olive Garden copycat soup recipe. Homemade ground
meat with vegetables, bacon, and potatoes cooked together to make a delicious
Zuppa Toscana soup!
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 5 qt water or meat broth
- 5 Yukon Gold Potatoes medium size, sliced 1/8 inches thick (peeling potatoes is optional)
- 1 medium onion peeled, diced
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots optional
- 3/4 cup bell pepper diced
- 8 thin or 5 thick strips bacon chopped
- 1-2 lbs Italian Sausage or ground meat of choice chicken thigh, turkey or pork + 1 tsp of Italian seasoning
- 1-2 cups heavy cream
- 4-5 cups kale rinsed, stems removed, chopped
- 1– 1 1/2 tbsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns freshly ground (to taste)
- 3 cloves garlic pressed/chopped
- Olive Oil - for sauteing
- 1/2 cup chopped green scallions
Instructions
Instructions
-
Cut bacon to 1/3 inch pieces and render fat in a skillet set over medium heat until crispy. Tilt skillet to the side and let fat drip to the bottom while collecting bacon at the top. Remove bacon from skillet and discard the fat (discarding fat is optional and is only done to make the soup a little more healthy).
-
If not using the already pre-mixed Italian sausage, mix the ground meat with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, Italian seasoning and pressed garlic until combined.
-
Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet and saute diced onions over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add bell peppers, saute until slightly golden, another 3-4 minutes. Add shredded carrots, saute for 3-4 minutes, then add ground sausage and brown it while breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon.
-
Add 4 quarts of water or meat stock to a large pot and set over high heat. Add thoroughly scrubbed and then sliced potatoes to the pot and allow to come to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Add the browned sausage mixture & bacon, then let cook until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork fork, about 10-15 minutes.
-
Once the potatoes are soft, add heavy cream and bring to a boil. Remove the pot from heat. Add chopped kale & green scallions. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Let soup sit and mend all the flavors for 20-30 minutes before serving.
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Marina | Let the Baking Begin
Five quarts of water is listed, that’s 20 cups, and over a gallon of water. I’ve been making this for a lot of years, but would question if this is correct? You only added 4 quarts in instructions, when is the other quart to be added. Please check your hard copy recipe for clarification.
We all enjoy this soup @ the restaurant or at home and done so for many years. I’ve used a variety of copycat recipes, but never had them call for pepper or shredded carrots. I’m sure those would be fantastic in the recipe. One typo – let the soup MELD flavors!
I loved this soup To cut down on some calories I used Italian style ground turkey instead of sausage, turkey bacon instead of pork, and half n half instead of heavy cream. It came out delicious!
Turkey sausage is a great idea, I do that too! Thanks for your comment Christina!
Just checking to see if the amount of stock / water is correct….4 quarts seems like a lot to me!
Hi Mary,
It is correct, but if it looks like the soup will be not thick enough for your liking, start with less and then add more boiling hot water at the end of its not enough.
I wanted to make this today.. was wondering about the bell pepper.. does Olive garden have bell pepper in theirs? Would it change the flavor if I left it out.. my hubbys not a big fan.
By all means, if he’s not a fan omit it 🙂 It won’t make a huge impact on the overall flavor.
My absolute favorite soup! I definitely need to try making this at home. And I certainly plan to head to Olive Garden this weekend 🙂
Haha, yes I love Olive Garden for this soup)) Let me know how it all goes when you make it at home 🙂
How many servings is this approximately?wondering if I need to add to my party of two before making it 🙂
I love this soup, it is about 30 degrees in FL, so I made this tonight, it was great!!! Thank you so much. The only change I made was to add the kale to each individual serving, right before serving it. Again, fantastic recipe.. Thank you, Thank you 🙂
Thanks so much for your feedback! Pouring soup over kale right before serving sounds like an awesome idea! thank you!
Love your recipes so I’m signing up to receive more! Thank you and we appreciate you!
Lori
I really like your style so much. And Merry Christmas to you!
Thanks so much! Merry Christmas to you too!
Such a comfort food, yummy!
Definitely!
Oh what an absolute stunner! I’ve never had this soup but I am making it ASAP!
You should! it’s very good!