Copycat Zuppa Toscana Soup Made in a Crock Pot

March 18, 2016

My family loves to go to Olive Garden, mostly for their soup and salad! I was thrilled to find some of their soup recipes, tailored for the crockpot, online. The restaurant serves 4 different soups. Chicken and Gnocchi is a creamy soup made with roasted chicken, dumplings and spinach. Their Pasta e Fagiolo consists of 2 kinds of beans, ground beef, tomatoes and pasta. Minestrone (my fave!) is the vegetarian soup with fresh vegetables, beans and pasta in a light tomato broth. Zuppa Toscana is a spicy sausage, fresh kale and potatoes in a creamy broth.

Zuppa Toscana is the most asked for soup at Olive Garden. This particular recipe comes from MyRecipes and claims to be better than the original.

Zuppa Toscana Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound Italian sausage (spicy)
• 4-6 russet potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp garlic, minced
• 32 ounces chicken broth (I used low sodium)
• 1/2 bunch kale (or swiss chard), destemmed and cut/torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup bacon, cooked and chopped

Directions

1. Brown sausage links in a sauté pan.
2. Cut links in half lengthwise, then cut slices.
3. Place sausage, chicken broth, garlic, potatoes and onion in slow cooker. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and meat.
4. Cook on high 3-4 hours (low 5-6 hours) until potatoes are soft.

30 minutes before serving:

5. Mix flour into cream removing lumps.
6. Add cream and kale to the crock pot, stir.
7. Cook on high 30 minutes or until broth thickens slightly.
8. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.
9. Top with bacon immediately before serving.

Here’s another great recipe for this zuppa toscana soup from Cooking Classy. I haven’t tried it but I have tried their copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup and it’s amazing!

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