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Bringing back another childhood staple, try my Whole30 Zuppa Toscana, a copycat rendition of Olive Garden’s delicious soup. The only thing that I am missing is the endless breadsticks and salad!
Growing up in Celina, Texas, my friends and I would always drive up to Frisco (the closest city to us) so that we could dine at Olive Garden together. In fact, when I ran cross country back in the day, Olive Garden was our restaurant of choice when we went to big meets out of town. Our Coach would take us to Olive Garden so we could feast before we’d run our little hearts out the next day. We loved it.
Being the soup lover that I am, I loved getting the Zuppa Toscana as my appetizer, even as a child. I loved it’s rich, creamy broth with the chunky potato and sausage filling. It’s one of those soups that really can be full meal.
In this Whole30 Zuppa Toscana recipe, I’ve recreated one of my childhood favorites while also keeping it dairy-free and gluten-free. It’s still simple to make and just as satisfying as it was during my teen years. The flavor from the ground sausage really does all the talking along with the rich and creamy texture of the soup, which is thickened with arrowroot flour and dairy-free creamer!
ingredients:
- Bacon
- Hot Italian Sausage
- Yellow Onion
- Garlic
- Kosher Salt
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Arrowroot Flour
- Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
- Italian Seasoning
- Lacinato Kale
- Russet Potatoes
- Dairy-Free Creamer
- Nutritional Yeast
- Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
step-by-step:
step one: cook the bacon
Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until bacon is just crispy, about 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Reserve the bacon fat in the the pot.
step two: cook the sausage
Add the sausage, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat with back of spoon, until cooked through and no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes.
step three: build the soup
Add the arrowroot flour and stir until well incorporated. Stirring constantly, slowly pour in chicken broth, then bring the soup to a boil.
step four: add the kale and potatoes
Reduce heat to simmer. Add the Italian seasoning, chopped kale, and potatoes. Cover and cook until the potatoes are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
step five: finish the soup
When the potatoes are tender, uncover and stir in the creamer, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice. Cook for 5 minutes, simmering uncovered, just to let the flavors meld.
step six: garnish and serve
Garnish with the cooked bacon bits, serve, and enjoy!
recipe faqs:
Let the soup cool completely, then transfer it to airtight containers or freezer bags, leaving some space for expansion. Label and date the containers before placing them in the freezer.
To thaw, move the container to the refrigerator and let it defrost overnight; for for a quicker option, use the microwave’s defrost setting. Further reheat the soup or stew in a pot on the stove over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it reaches a simmer, or microwave it in intervals, stirring in between, until heated through.
You can add 1 to 2 cups more broth to rehydrate the soup, as needed, and get it to the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Yes! If you haven’t eliminated dairy from your diet, you could make this with half-and-half or heavy cream.
The hot Italian sausage gives the soup a little bit of a kick, but it’s not too spicy. You could always use mild Italian sausage instead if you’re worried about the heat.
I think this Whole30 Zuppa Toscana is going to be a total crowd-pleaser and I hope y’all enjoy it as much as me and my family do!
looking for more soups recipes? try these!
Chickpea and Farro Soup with Escarole
Whole30 Zuppa Toscana
Ingredients
- 2 strips bacon, diced medium
- 1 pound hot Italian sausage
- 1 cup finely diced yellow onion (from about 1 small onion)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot flour
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 4 cups chopped lacinato kale, stemmed (from about 1 bunch)
- 2 cups peeled and cubed russet potatoes
- 1 cup dairy-free creamer
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (from about 1 lemon)
Instructions
- Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until bacon is just crispy, about 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Reserve the bacon fat in the the pot.
- Add the sausage, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat with back of spoon, until cooked through and no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the arrowroot flour and stir until well incorporated. Stirring constantly, slowly pour in chicken broth, then bring the soup to a boil.
- Reduce heat to simmer. Add the Italian seasoning, chopped kale, and potatoes. Cover and cook until the potatoes are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
- When the potatoes are tender, uncover and stir in the creamer, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice. Cook for 5 minutes, simmering uncovered, just to let the flavors meld.
- Garnish with the cooked bacon bits, serve, and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Making this for the 2nd time tonight and probably at least once a month for the rest of eternity! SO. GOOD. For all the people like me who read comments to see if a recipe is worth it, yes…yes it is.
Can you do this in a crock pot all day on low? and then add kale towards the end like last hour?
The only issue with doing it in the Crockpot is that the arrowroot won’t thicken as well… so i recommend making a slurry at the end of the day with about 1/2 cup of broth and the arrowroot. and waiting to add the kale and the DF creamer at the end as well!
We have soup every Monday through out the winter and more Mondays than not, this is the soup that someone requests. It’s so great- and, I discovered last time I made it that it’s just as delicious without the bacon (didn’t realize we were out until it was too late!)
HOLY MOLY! I love everything you make but this might take the absolute cake. My husband and I both LOVED this when I made it for the first time last week and now I’m making it again and practically drooling waiting for it to be ready to eat. There is a very good chance we will cook this weekly for the rest of winter 🙂
Ohmygoodness- I don’t ever leave feedback on recipes… that being said, my whole family loved, loved, LOVED this recipe. They requested that I put it in the regular rotation of meals. Winner winner Zuppa Toscana dinner!
I love this soup!! Are you able to tell us approx calories per serving? Thank you!
My Mom and I are doing Jan Whole30 and are absolutely using your plans you share. Fortunately for us, we became a fan of your dishes before we started Whole30 and we’d even cooking new Alex dishes each weekend together. I really think the fact that we were already making your recipes before most of the time saved us from any of the Whole30 headaches- it has been and easy and delicious journey for us.
My Mum’s made this about 4 times now. And me, once. We don’t all have the same threshold for spicy food, so my Mum experimented with 100% spicy sausage, then 25/75, only to keep 50 spicy/ 50 non spicy. It was delicious each time!
I made it with 25%spicy sausage and 75%ground turkey. Good’- and my children 1 and 3 ate some too.
I like that once we made about 3 of your recipes we had a good stock of the ingredients to try other dishes.
All of your recipes are good, but this one is OUTSTANDING. Minimal effort, high payoff. Required very little chopping and dirtied only a few dishes. This will be in regular rotation at the Smith house.
This soup is SO. GOOD. Made it for my roommates and they LOVED it!!! We can’t stop eating it lol it’s the perfect comfort food! And we had leftovers for days – the flavors just meld even better the next day! Thank you so much, Alex!!!
10/10 again.. over and over! While I don’t have the waiter at my table asking “would you like cheese on that?”, this is way better than the restaurant version. It’s light yet creamy, the potatoes are cooked perfectly, the amount of lemon.. it’s all perfection. We ate it next day for lunch and it was even better. Will make this recipe for years and years to come.