Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat
by Chungah
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So much tastier, cheaper + healthier than the restaurant-version! On your dinner table in just 30 min, a quick weeknight family favorite soup!
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why you’ll love this zuppa toscana copycat recipe
- Olive Garden favorite. Yes, we can make restaurant-quality soup right at home. This copycat recipe is much more tastier, faster and cheaper than the restaurant version!
- Has that simmered-all-day flavor. With the help of the Instant Pot, the soup tastes as if it’s been simmering for hours on end, allowing all the flavors to fully infuse the broth in just a few short minutes in the pressure cooker.
- Quick, easy and effortless. There is zero babysitting here! We’re talking convenient hands-off cooking where the IP does all the work for you, yielding a rich, hearty, cozy soup, full of all the sneaked in greens (perfect for picky eaters) with only one pot to clean up.
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).
Why make zuppa toscana in the Instant Pot?
Cooking this Olive Garden favorited soup in the Instant Pot offers convenience and hands-free cooking while locking in all the flavors as if it’s been simmering all day in just a fraction of the time.
How to make olive garden zuppa toscana in the instant pot
- Crumble the sausage. Using the sauté function in the Instant Pot, crumble the sausage until browned, draining the excess fat but leaving just enough for flavor.
- Add aromatics. Add in onion, garlic and oregano, stirring until the onions are translucent. Sautéing the onions and aromatics in the sausage fat will build a rich flavor base for the soup.
- Pressure cook. Stir in potatoes and chicken broth, stirring well, and pressure cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the finishing touches. Stir in kale (or any other leafy greens) until wilted before adding in half and half or heavy cream.
- Serve. Garnish generously with fresh Parmesan and serve warm with crusty bread and a simple side salad.
what to serve with Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt Instant Pot®
Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat: Frequently Asked Questions
Mild or spicy Italian sausage is great for bold authentic flavors. Turkey sausage is also a solid option.
Spinach, cabbage, swiss chard and collard greens are all great subs.
Half and half is equal parts of whole milk and cream. For 1 cup half and half, you can substitute 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream or 2/3 cup skim or low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the half and half (cream soups tend to separate when frozen) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding half and half when serving.
No Instant Pot, no problem! We have a favorited stovetop version here.
Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound mild Italian sausage, casing removed
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 russet potatoes, chopped
- 6 cups chicken broth
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
- 1 cup half and half or heavy cream
Instructions
- Set a 6-qt Instant Pot® to the high saute setting. Add olive oil and sausage. Cook, stirring frequently, until sausage is lightly browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in garlic and oregano until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in potatoes and chicken broth; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 5 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Stir in kale until wilted, about 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in half and half until heated through, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Equipment
Notes
- Use mild or spicy sausage. The sausage is a key ingredient in zuppa toscana. Be sure to use high-quality mild or spicy Italian sausage for authentic flavors, crumbling the sausage until browned.
- Russet potatoes serve as a natural thickener. The potatoes will release starch into the broth to create that velvety, restaurant-quality richness. They will also soften under pressure absorbing all the flavors of the broth, becoming extremely tender and “buttery”.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Kale, spinach, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options. Always add the leafy greens at the very end to avoid mushy greens.
- Finish with half and half or heavy cream. Half and half will yield a lighter version whereas heavy cream will yield a richer, velvety consistency.
- Make it dairy-free. Need a dairy free option? Substitute coconut cream or skip the half and half.
- Add garnishes. Garnishes are always optional but a fresh sprinkle of grated Parmesan or some crispy bacon will certainly take your soup to the next level, adding more flavor, texture and contrast.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I made this recipe last night and incorporated a few tips from other reviews (added 4 chopped carrots, doubled the kale amount, and let people add their own half-and-half to taste). Delicious flavor! It took the InstantPot a long time to come up to steam, so it wasn’t “instant”; however, the result was fast and took no tending on my part, which is part of the value of the InstantPot. The Quickrelease of steam also took a long time; be sure to wear an oven mitt.
Thanks, Pat!
I’ve made this dish several times and had great results each time. I have had inconsistent results from other recipes, probably mistakes of mine. But, with the problems, I’ve decided I’ll post reviews after more than one try. This is absolutely safe for even old people who make mistakes. Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you for sharing, Dave!
Not impressed. I love cooked kale with bacon and beef kielbasa over potatoes. I grew up on that. This soup was ok but nothing to write home about
So easy and so good!!!! I did add some crushed red pepper to kick up the heat a bit.
This was SO easy to make and SOOOO DAMN DELICIOUS! My husband loved it and we had plenty of leftovers! Thanks for sharing so many wonderful recipes!
Awesome! Thanks, Laura!
So this was my first go round with the instant pot and I was shocked at how perfect this was!! The potatoes were done just right (after 5 minutes cooking?! Seriously?!!) and the broth was amazing! I added lots of kale and exploration potatoes don’t normally go thru that much kale with that much pleasure, haha. It really was delicious, thank you for sharing this recipe with the world!!! I added a little Italian seasoning just for kicks and extra garlic as I always do, and it was a hit with everyone at our house!
That’s awesome!
Just had this over the weekend and it was delicious. The cook left out the oregano, but even still there was plenty of flavor. Nice robust soup and very filling without giving you that leaden feeling. Very nice.
This was really good soup and my family liked it. We added a can of white cananelli beans, threw in the whole bunch of kale and a couple of extra cups of broth. It was super easy and delicious! Thanks for the recipe for the Instant Pot.
Just made this and it was delicious!!! Tastes just like the original from Olive Garden and so yummy on this cold autumn day. My picky husband took seconds ! Thanks for another winner, chungah!
So many copycat recipes do not taste like the real thing. This one does!! If you love Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana, make this one. You won’t be sorry. It even tasted good before I added the half and half so you could save the calories if you wanted. Love using the instant pot! Love this website!
Thank you!
This was amazing! I added a bit more kale, substituted the broth for bone broth, and used heavy cream versus half and half. It was so good that my husband was making some suspicious sounds! Lol!
This turned out perfect, thank you!
Great!
Made the zuppa toscano copycat soup in my instant pot tonight and all I gotta say is damn, that is some goooooooood soup!!! The recipe was easy to follow and the end result was mouth-watering deliciousness! Will be using this recipe again and again and will recommend to friends and family. Thank you
Please do!
For the dairy free people: I just made this and used unsweetened coconut milk from a carton in place of the half and half. I also took a large ladle worth of the potatoes out with some broth and puréed it with an immersion blender (doing this brings out the starch) and added it back in. It was still missing something so I spooned some of the reserved sausage fat back into the soup, as it wasn’t getting the fat from the half and half. Adding the oil back added a lot of the sausage flavour that was lost when it rendered its fat when sautéd.
I made it for dinner Saturday and it was delicious, my husband love it. I owned an 8 quart IP.
Thank you
Sweet!
Delicious soup! I have made this in the Instant Pot for the first time. Previously I made it over the stove top. The Instant Pot version makes the broth much richer and flavorful – requiring less seasoning! I did not need to put any salt into the soup.
My only modification is adding chili flakes, as its what I’m familiar with in my stove top recipe. I added about a table spoon of chili flakes before turning on high pressure.
Thank you for your feedback, Melissa!
Great recipe. I don’t cook very healthily, so my modification goes like this… I cook 5 slices of bacon diced up on sauté first in the instant pot, retaining the fat. I remove the bacon bits, Proceed with your instructions throughout, and add the bacon back when the kale is added to the pot. I don’t add the oil. The rendered fat from the bacon is fine to cook the sausage in. I retain the sausage fat too, because it’s going to make it more flavorful and rich. Additionally, I use heavy whipping cream instead of half and half. I add 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper to kick up the spice. Salt is not necessary.
We gussy this up with cooked chopped smokey bacon and red pepper flake!
Delicious!
A friend and I used to go to Olive Garden and she would always have the ‘sausage soup’ and I would have minestrone. The calories and fat in the sausage soup is astounding.
Thanks so much for an IP version. I make a wonderful sausage soup using Soy-rizzo, which is vegan. That vegan sausage is incredibly good and I’m looking forward to trying your soup with the vegan sausage and vegann stock.
Thanks, Lou!
LOVE this soup! I don’t have an IP, but make it stovetop. I’m not sure how this would work in an IP, but I add a pkg. of instant potatoes to thicken the broth a bit. Also, I have substituted 1/2 of the broth with either white wine or beer (no kids here!). Thanks again for your yummy, easy recipes!
Thank you!
Um, can I just ask where those spoons were purchased? I love them!
West Elm!