Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup
This Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup recipe is filled with bits of crumbled sausage, kale, potatoes, and diced onions in a rich, savory broth topped with a pinch of red pepper flakes. Exactly like the restaurant version!
Umm, this is my third time re-posting this recipe. Third time shooting the photos, third time writing up the post, and billionth time making the soup. I am beyond in love with the flavors here, they blend so perfectly together and totally taste just like Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana soup.
What Does Zuppa Toscana Mean?
Zuppa Toscana translates to: “Soup in the style of Tuscany.”
Using Homemade Chicken Broth:
Homemade chicken broth is easy to make at home and makes your soups and stews taste twice as good:
-Take a leftover chicken carcass (even a small rotisserie chicken is great for this), and place the bones and all of the scraps into a medium/large pot.
-Add enough water to cover the chicken by an inch or so. Add in any onions/celery if you have them.
-Cover the pot, leaving a small crack for steam to escape and simmer for an hour or two.
-Place a fine mesh strainer over another large pot and pour the mixture into the strainer, allowing the broth to seep through the strainer into the pot. The remains in the strainer can be discarded.
-Allow the chicken broth to cool and freeze for your future soup needs!
Storing Leftovers:
-Leftovers should be refrigerated and used within three days.
-You can also freeze leftovers, and it’s best if you eat them within three months.
Easy Freezer Storage:
-I like to store leftover soup in quart-sized Ziploc freezer bags. Take a large mug and line it with a labeled/dated freezer bag, then ladle the soup inside it. Seal as much air out as you can and lay it flat in the freezer.
-Once frozen, you can stack the bags on top of each other or stand them up on shelves.
I decided to run down to my freezer and show you! 😉 This is leftover hamburger soup, which I am obsessed with and make in quantities larger than any person ever should.
Love Olive Garden Copycats?
- Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
- Olive Garden Stuffed Chicken Marsala
- Copycat Olive Garden Salad Dressing
- Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- More
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This Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup recipe has bits of crumbled sausage, kale, potatoes, and diced onions in a rich, savory broth topped with a pinch of red pepper flakes. Exactly like the restaurant version!
- 1 pound ground Hot Italian sausage
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 large cloves garlic minced
- 32 oz. chicken broth (equal to 4 cups)
- 1 russet potato scrubbed clean
- 1/2 bunch kale de-stemmed and roughly chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 Pinch of red pepper flakes optional
- Brown the sausage in a large pot over medium heat.
Grain any excess grease. (Failure to do this will result in red broth from the sausage grease.)
Add the garlic & onions and sautee for about 5 minutes, until the onions have softened.
Pour in the chicken stock and cover the pot. Reduce heat to medium-low and let it simmer for about an 30 minutes.
Slice the potatoes very thin and add it to the pot. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through.
- Whisk together the heavy cream and flour until well combined. (It may be a little lumpy but the lumps disappear once mixed into the soup!)
Pour the flour mixture into the soup and increase heat to medium-high, uncovered, for about 15 minutes or until the soup has thickened slightly.
Stir in the kale and heat for 5 additional minutes. Season according to your taste (a pinch of pepper flakes perhaps), and serve!
Follow same steps as above, however instead of simmering the soup for an hour, cover and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or on HIGH for 3-4. Add the potatoes during the last hour.
- Once the flour mixture is added, heat on HIGH for another 30 minutes. Stir in the kale and serve!
Absolutely loved this soup, and it even tasted better then Olive Garden’s.
I’m SOO glad that you enjoyed it JoAnne! I have to say that I agree, it DOES taste better than Olive Garden.. I was tempted to say that in my recipe, and I know it’s quite a claim, but it really is soooo good! (And easy too!!) Thanks for letting me know how you liked it!! Have a great day 🙂
Honestly I’ve never had Olive Gardens Zuppa, but I can tell you one thing I made this last night and everyone loved it. My son told me when I was making it and he saw the kale he thought YUK but after the first taste he was sold on it and loved it. For my money I bet it was better then the original. I just about doubled it and most of it is gone. I did notice today when I pulled out the leftover out of the refrigerator it was more like a paste then a soup but once reheated it was back to soup. The soup is really good but very rich. Thanks for sharing a keeper!
Hi Dennis! I couldn’t agree with you more, I have had this soup from OG and I honestly do think it tastes better… it’s quite a claim, but it really does! And sooooo easy to make!! The kale is such a great addition in there but you’d never think it! Thanks so much for sharing how you enjoyed it!
This soup looks so flavorful, I can’t wait to make it. I think my husband will really like it; he loves dishes with hot sausage!
omgoodness, omgoodness. amazing recipe
Omgoodness! this is absolutely amazing! 2nd time making it. this time I doubled the recipe but 2 1/2 times the sausage potatoes. Husband wanted more of a “stoup” lol. still looks and smells delicious.
Hi Kav!!! I’m SOOO happy you guys love this soup as much as we go.. it really is amazing how delicious it is, especially given how easy it is to make! 🙂 It’s time that I make another batch soon myself! Thank you for taking the time to let me know how you like it! Have a great week!
Thank you for this! I have, in the past, made a similar concoction, whick was awesome! Has been a while, forgot the specifics. I do not eat pork, therefore use a seasoned ground turkey mix (it is a Clean Eating recipe, and quite quite good). so glad for Winter!! I LOVE SOUP!!
Hi Cindy! It’s so funny that you happened to comment on this soup today because I actually had some of it for lunch that I had in the freezer! 😉 A seasoned ground turkey in this soup actually sounds AMAZING… I’m DEFINITELY trying that next time, it’ll take out a smidgen of guilt. I LOVE SOUP TOO, oh my gosh…sooo much. hahaha! Have a great rest of your week!
Making this now ! Yummy…
YAAYYY!! What a great Sunday soup Barbara!! Enjoy!! 😁
I made this wonderful soup a couple months ago. We ate every drop.
I’m making it again today!
EXCELLENT Patti! Isn’t soup season the best?! I might just have to make a batch myself! Thank you for letting me know how you like it! Have a great weekend!
Mmmmm, that was goood. Just got done eating a bowl. So easy to make and so delicious, thank you for sharing!!!
Hi Shari! Oh I’m sooo happy that you loved this soup! I can never get enough of it and I can’t believe how easy it is either! (Shoot. Now I want a bowl!) It actually freezes well and I think I have some in my freezer, so thank you for catching me just before lunch, haha! Have a great rest of your day, and thank you for taking the time to let me know what you thought of it! -Stephanie
I omitted both the flour and the heavy cream.
I prefer a clear chicken broth…. but still all else is the same.. love it!
Sounds delicious Wini, so glad that it turned out great! I’ll have to try that next time! 🙂
Hiya, I live in the UK and I’ve never heard of a ground hot italian sausage being available to buy in a regular grocery store. Is there anything else I can substitute it with or a different sausage perhaps? Thank you
Hi Agata! You could buy whole sausage links and remove the casings, would that work?
It’s so coincidental that I had already planned to make this for dinner tonight! Your recipe is a bit different from mine however. I’ve never used flour in the cream, but I’m definitely trying this tonight. Also, your recipe calls for only 1 potato…is this correct? I usually use 3 or 4 potatoes. Perhaps mine are smaller russets? Thanks for sharing this!
That is so funny that you were planning on making this!!! You can absolutely use more potatoes, I don’t like too many in my soup and round that one medium potato was plenty, but totally your call!! ENJOY!!!!
Another huge hit! We loved it, and it was super easy!
Great for a cold winter night!
Yes!! Wahoooo! I’m so happy to hear it Steph!! You made my day!