An Olive Garden copy cat recipe for Zuppa Toscana, a rich, creamy Italian soup made with spicy Italian sausages! This is a reader recipe from Lisa in Portland, Oregon! This recipe can be made on the stove, in a slow cooker or in the oven. (Refer Note 5 for slow cooker and oven directions). This soup is very rich so I think it is enough to serve 4 people. The slow cooking not only gives the soup liquid incredible flavour, it also cooks the potatoes so they are cotton soft while still retaining its shape (cooking at a high temperature would result in the potatoes crumbling into the soup).
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time1 hourhr30 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr50 minutesmins
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American-Italian
Servings: 4
Calories: 755cal
Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Ingredients
1 lb / 500g Italian sausages(spicy) (Note 1)
1/3cupbacon, diced
1brown onion(large), peeled and diced
4 - 6garlic cloves, minced (I like garlicky, so I use 6)
1 lb / 500g potatoes(Note 2), peeled and cut into 1 1/2 cm / 3/5" cubes (2 large or 4 small)
4 cups / 32 oz / 1 litre chicken broth / stock
2tbspflour
1cupcream(not whipped) (Note 3)
2cupskale leaves, torn into bite size pieces (can substitute with spinach, swiss chard / silverbeet)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Instructions
Remove the sausage from the casings. (Note 4)
Heat a large heavy based pot over high heat. Add the sausage meat into the pan and cook, breaking up the meat into largish chunks, until nicely browned (around 3 minutes). Remove sausage into a bowl.
Add the bacon and fry until browned. Reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish, then transfer the rest into the bowl with the sausage meat.
Turn the stove down to medium high. If the pan is looking dry (depends on fattiness of sausages and bacon), add a bit of oil and return to the stove. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent and garlic is fragrant - around 2 minutes.
Return the sausage meat and bacon into the pot. Add the potatoes and chicken broth / stock. Bring to a simmer then lower stove to low (so it bubbles gently) and cook for at least 1 hour, preferably 1 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally.
Mix together the flour with 2 tbsp of cream in a bowl until a "slurry" forms, then add the rest of the cream and stir until combined.
Stir cream mixture into the soup and let it simmer for a further 15 minutes or until the soup is thickened. Stir through the kale a couple of minutes before the soup is ready to come off the stove.
Add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste.
Remove from stove. Serve, garnished with reserved bacon.
Notes
1. This recipe must be made with spicy Italian sausages, the type where you can see white chunks in the sausages rather than being a uniform pink colour (the cheaper, standard sausages). Standard sausages are bulked up with alot of filling whereas Italian sausages are pure meat and also have much stronger flavours. The flavour of the sausages is a key part of the soup flavour.2. Russet Potatoes (America) or dirt brushed potatoes (Australia) are ideal. 3. The original recipe calls for heavy cream, I used ordinary and found it rich and creamy enough. You can use light cream or evaporated milk for lighter options.4. The original recipe said to cook the sausages first, then cut lengthwise then slice. The alternative is to slice first, then cook. I chose to remove the mince from the casings so the meat would be nicely browned all over. Because this is made using Italian sausages which are chunky and made with (almost) 100% meat (rather than the standard sausages which are filled out with flour and other ingredients), I found it held together in large chunks rather than crumbling into small pieces. You can use whichever method you prefer!5. This can also be made in the slow cooker or oven.Slow Cooker (I also made it this way, I could not tell the difference): Cook sausage, bacon and onion in a fry pan (separately, in that order), transferring each to the slow cooker when done. Deglaze the pan by pouring in 1 cup of chicken broth/stock and simmer for 1 minute, using a wooden spoon to scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan so it mixes in with the liquid. Pour this into the slow cooker, add potato and remaining broth and cook on LOW for 6 hours. Add the cream and cook on LOW for 30 minutes. Stir through Kale and let it sit for 5 minutes (so the kale softens). Season then serve.Oven (this is Lisa's way): Either following the recipe directions, using an oven proof pot or casserole dish (with a lid) and instead of simmering on the stove, cook in the oven at 310F/150C for 4 hours. Or follow the Slow Cooker instructions above and cook the sausage, bacon and onion in a fry pan and pour into a casserole dish or ovenproof pot. Add the cream and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Stir through Kale and let it sit for 5 minutes (so the kale softens). Season then serve.5. Nutrition assumes 4 servings. See below for a lighter option.Most of the calories is attributable to the Italian sausages. This is the nutrition assuming you use Lean Italian Sausages.