Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat Recipe
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An Olive Garden copycat recipe! This zuppa toscana soup is made with crumbled sausage, tender potatoes, spinach and bacon. So cozy, so hearty!
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My husband always gets this at Olive Garden so I thought I’d make it at home for him. He RAVED about it- said it was better than Olive Garden’s and could eat it every night. Thanks so much for an easy yummy recipe!
Why you’ll love Olive Garden zuppa toscana
- Copycat recipe. This is Olive Garden’s most favorited, most-loved soup, and you can whip this up right at home in a single pot, which is always a win on those super busy weeknights (hello, easy cleanup here). It’s made with crumbled Italian sausage, tender russet potatoes, sneaked in leafy greens, and all the crispy bacon crumbles sprinkled on top.
- Allows for complete customization. By making this restaurant-favorite at home, you have full control over all the ingredients. Make it spicy, make it mild, make it extra creamy, or make it a little lighter with healthier swaps.
- Leftovers taste even better. Similar to lasagna, zuppa toscana tastes even better the very next day, really letting the flavors marry overnight.
- Budget-friendly. You can enjoy restaurant-quality soup for just a fraction of the cost using better quality ingredients all around.
WHAT IS ZUPPA TOSCANA?
Zuppa toscana is a soup from northern Italy in Tuscany. Translated word for word, zuppa toscana literally means Tuscan soup, also known as minestra di pane in Italy (bread soup).
Key Ingredients
- Italian sausage: mild or spicy
- Aromatics: garlic and onion
- Liquid: chicken broth or chicken stock
- Potatoes: russet potatoes
- Greens: baby spinach or kale
- Cream: heavy cream or half and half for a lighter version
- Seasoning: salt and pepper
- Topping: bacon crumbles
How to make Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat Recipe
- Cook the bacon. Place the diced bacon in a Dutch oven over medium hight heat. Pro tip: you do not need to add oil as the bacon will render its own natural fat. Cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, bubbly, and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside, leaving 2 tablespoons of bacon grease in the Dutch oven.
- Brown the sausage. Add the Italian sausage with the casing removed. Crumble and break apart the sausage as it cooks, stirring until browned and cooked through. Drain the excess fat but reserve 2 tablespoons in the Dutch oven.
- Sauté the aromatics. Stir in the garlic and onion until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Simmer. Stir in the chicken broth and russet potatoes. Reduce the heat and let it simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 10 minutes.
- Finish. Stir in the spinach (or kale) and heavy cream.
- Serve. Season with salt and pepper, and serve warm, sprinkled with the reserved crispy bacon.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH ZUPPA TOSCANA
Tools For This Recipe
Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat Recipe: Frequently Asked Questions
Is zuppa toscana soup spicy?
The spicy Italian sausage does pack a little bit of heat, but you can substitute mild Italian sausage for milder flavors.
What is heavy cream?
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
How can I store leftovers?
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, gently reheating on the stovetop until warmed through.
Is this freezer-friendly?
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the heavy cream and bacon (cream soups tend to separate when frozen) in individual freezer bags. To reheat, thaw overnight and reheat gently on the stovetop, adding heavy cream and bacon when serving.
Can I make this in the Instant Pot?
Absolutely! I have a recipe for that here.
Do you have a recipe for Olive Garden’s pasta e fagioli?
Yes! You can find the copycat recipe here.
Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat Recipe
An Olive Garden copycat recipe! This zuppa toscana soup is made with crumbled sausage, tender potatoes, spinach and bacon. So cozy, so hearty!
Video
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 1 pound spicy Italian sausage, casing removed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium hight heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; drain excess fat, reserving 2 tablespoons in the stockpot, and set aside.
- Add Italian sausage and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat, reserving 2 tablespoons in the stockpot.
- Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in chicken broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in spinach until wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in heavy cream until heated through, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, garnished with bacon.
Equipment
Notes
- Render some bacon fat. Save some of the leftover bacon fat to cook the sausage and aromatics – this will add a rich, smoky base layer to the soup. And the bacon crumbles will double as a garnish when serving.
- Use starchy potatoes. Russet potatoes have a high starch content, naturally thickening the soup into a velvety consistency while soaking up the rich flavors.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options.
- Add the cream slowly. Always add the heavy cream at the very end of cooking, pouring very slowly to prevent curdling.
- Make it dairy-free. Substitute coconut cream or skip the heavy cream.
- Add garnishes. Garnishes are always optional but a fresh sprinkle of grated Parmesan or some crispy bacon will take your soup to the next level, adding more flavor, texture and contrast.
- Freeze without the heavy cream. The dairy (heavy cream) may separate or look grainy when thawed. If you are planning to freeze the soup, hold off on the heavy cream and bacon, and portion the soup into plastic freezer bags in individual servings. Label, date, and freeze up to 2 months.
Did you make this recipe?
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As the lady says, “Damn Delicious!” And yes, it’s even better than Olive Garden!
Can I leave out the spinach? And just not add it or the kale?
Sure!
I use canned mixed greens
I love, love, love this soup at Olive Gardens!
So excited to try this this week! Wondering if it is possible to freeze any left overs for later use???
Unfortunately, soups that contain milk or cream, like chowders and bisques, do not hold up well in the freezer as they tend to take on a grainy texture and separate when defrosted and rewarmed. 🙁
What we usually do is add a dollop of cream to individual serving bowls. It sacrifices a tiny amount of richness from simmering but allows us each to control the amount we consume, plus freeze leftovers.
I make this all the time, it’s so comforting and delicious! I do double the broth (cuz i like things brothy) and when i sautee the onions and garlic I deglaze the pot with some white wine! Lastly i bake half of the kale so i have a crispy topping! Sooooooo good.
I make this soup often, shared it with my mother and sister and we all love it!! Tonight I’m even making it for a birthday party, but for some reason the recipe isn’t showing up on the website?? I’ve used this link so many times, I know it should be here. Please fix or send the recipe ASAP! Thanks, Chungah!
My apologies. The website is undergoing a system update. The recipes will be available very soon! Thank you so much for your patience.
This recipe is definitely better than OG’s! We are spinach lovers here too. My 15 year old says that the spinach is like noodles in the soup and asked me to add more! Even my 9 year old loves this soup but how could you not?
First off, Olive Garden uses kale. And doesn’t use bacon.
Just kidding. I’m sure you are so sick of those comments.
Personally I’d rather channel my inner Italian grandma and use what is delicious and what my family will eat.
Just wanting to chime in and say this recipe is fantastic, is one of the highlights of winter for my husband, and if he had it his way there would be no green stuff in it at all.
Haha thanks, Haley!
Loved this soup! It truly is BETTER than Olive Garden’s.
Great recipe! I did dice the potatoes instead of slicing. Same cooking time 10 minutes for potatoes. Thank you for the Zuppa!
I’ve made this and it is absolutely delicious. My family loves it. Does anyone know if it freezes well?
Yes, you can absolutely freeze this but I would hold off on the spinach and heavy cream until right before serving. Hope that helps, Shirley!
I halved the sausage (because I only had 1/2 lb)next time I would use more bacon and spinach. Also added some seasonings oregano, thyme, basil may have been a few others i don’t remember now. Turned out amazing I’ll be making again soon!
I used Cajun Style kielbasa very good.
I used Italian sweet turkey sausage, Yukon gold potatoes, kale, and fat free half and half. It was absolutely delicious. And boy I ate too much.
Hi Chungah, made this soup for dinner tonight. It goes well with football! This is the best soup ever. Never go to OG—dont need to. Thanks for the great recipe. I will make it over and over again.
Excellent soup. My only addition is 1 can of drained and rinsed cannellini beans. I prefer the use of spinach instead of kale, as used in some recipes. I use an entire 6-ounce bag of spinach, removing the larger, thick stems. When I don’t have a bag of fresh spinach, a a 10-ounce thawed package of frozen, chopped spinach works very well. Canned, low-sodium chicken broth is a pantry staple in our house. No additional salt is necessary.
This is the BEST SOUP I have ever made. I have made it 5-6 times and we’re having it again tonight . Thanks for such a great recipe . EXATLY like Olive Garden . Everybody needs to stop other thinking kale vs spinach it doesn’t matter . It’s GOOOOD
I love this soup and if you don’t change a thing I think you will still love it.
Because I can’t ever leave well enough alone, here are some changes you can consider to have an alternate soup: to the chopped onion, add three stalks of chopped celery and three chopped carrots. Brown the sausage (I do two pounds but that is not necessary), Remove sausage, drain most of the grease off and add the veggies, saute a bit, put the sausage in the pot, add the chicken broth and then add the potatoes and chopped kale – six cups or more, it is strange but you cannot taste the kale so you have a bit healthier soup. Add the half and half or heavy cream. The broth will be thin. My husband likes thick soup so I add boxed mashed potatoes to thicken. Garnish with bacon and parmesan cheese!
Here is something I want to share… I’m not fond of chicken bouillon cubes and canned or boxed broth is way too expensive. I use chicken soup base which is way cheaper but tastes awesome. They make beef, ham and vegetable soup base too. It comes in a jar and is kind of a powder. Find it in the soup section.
I keep canned condensed milk in my pantry; could that be used in lieu of the cream?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications. Sorry, Betty!
Betty, canned “condensed” milk has quite a bit of sugar added to it, which is why it’s used in desserts like lemon and lime pies and why some British folk add it to their tea instead of milk and sugar. It would spoil any soup you put it in. Canned “evaporated” milk is whole or skim milk from which part of the water has been removed, so it is simply a thicker form of milk and is often used as a rough-and-ready substitute for cream. Evaporated milk works well in most thick milky soups such as chowders, so it should be fine here.
Made this dozens of times..started it a few days ago, only to discover..NO POTATOES! I had sweet potatoes though…and OH MY GOODNESS..never making with white potatoes again!!!!
We use Italian ground sausage, with the sweet potatoes my husband wants to try a spicy sausage next time.
This soup looks and sounds amazing. Can hardly wait to make and eat it