Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

Leslie O's Note:

I used Italian turkey sausage, and turkey bacon. I also added 1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 3

• 1 ½ cups spicy sausage
• 2 medium potatoes , cut in half lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices
• ¾ cup onion , diced
• 6 slices bacon
• 1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 cups kale leaves , cut in half, then sliced
• 2 tablespoons chicken base
• 1 quart water
• 1⁄3; cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. If sausage is in links, take out of wrapper (or slice).
2. Cook ground sausage, until done. Cook bacon and onion over medium heat, when bacon is crisp, take it out of the pan and leave the onion.
3. Add garlic to the onion, and cook 1 minute.
4. Add chicken base, water, and potatoes; simmer 15 minutes.
5. Crumble bacon.
6. Add crumbled bacon, sausage, kale and cream.
7. Simmer 4 minutes, then serve.

Reviews

[DeniseBC]

I had kale in our CSA box and this is one of my favorites at Olive Garden. We really enjoyed this recipe and would say it was a reasonable copy of Olive Garden's version. For future reference, my sausage worked out to be about 1/2 pound to equal a 1.5 cups. I also used Yukon Gold potatoes which seemed perfect. I had a little trouble with the directions, but that may just be me. I wasn't sure if I was to cook the bacon in the same pan as I had cooked the sausage or if I should drain off the fat of each. I decided to cook the sausage in one pan and the bacon/onion in another. I drained fat off both. If I use bacon next time, I will cook it first and then cook the onions and garlic after it is done in the bacon grease. I mistakenly mixed the sausage in with the broth and potatoes at the point where you are to simmer for 15 minutes, but that worked out ok. Next time I will add more potatoes, a little less sausage and probably leave out the bacon, but I will definitely make this again! Thanks for sharing Leslie 0! A great supper on a cool October night!

[Peejers]

Fantastic soup, Since I made it the first time 3 weeks ago I have had to make it two more times, both double batches. This was a huge hit with both my picky eater hubby as well as my Sicilian dad. I did adjust the recipe/process a bit by the third time. I don't cook with exacts so I know my measurements were off each time but it turned out faboo. Definitely double the recipe if you want any leftovers for lunch or to freeze. So here are the adjustments I made. I used one tube of Bob Evans hot sausage instead of 1 1/2 cups. I cooked the sausage, then the bacon in the soup pot. After each was done cooking I put it to the side. Then I took out most of the bacon fat (and saved to the side to use with burgers one day) and left about 1 tbsp to cook the onions in. I dumped in the onions and let them caramelize in the pan while I chopped up the crispy bacon. When I added the water I increased the amount by at least a cup, since my husband really liked the broth. I also cooked the soup a bit longer to give the potatoes a creamier texture. It was absolutely delish and I will use this recipe over and over. Thank you so much for posting it!

[Southern Polar Bear]

This was really good soup! My husband watches his carbs, so I didn't add the potatoes. As a result, the broth was very thin. I will definately make it again, and when I do, I will add more cream and reduce it to make it a little more thick. Thanks for sharing the recipe!