Zuppa Toscana copycat Olive Garden recipe lower fat

Zuppa Toscana copycat soup
 with homemade breadsticks

If you have ever had Olive Garden's soup, salad and breadsticks for lunch, you may have had zuppa toscana soup.  It's a delicious creamy soup with spicy Italian sausage, kale, potatoes and a whole lot of flavor.

So when a friend posted her favorite copycat recipe for it, I was excited to make it.  However, when I looked at the recipe, it was not even remotely healthy, so I made a few changes to the recipe to make it healthier.  I replaced pork Italian sausage with my favorite chicken Italian sausage.  Then I swapped out heavy cream for milk or half and half.  I used the half and half since I had a lot on hand, but milk would work just fine. 

I find that sometimes chicken or turkey Italian sausage do not have as much flavor as pork Italian sausage and decided that it needed a bit more fennel.  Your sausage may be different and you may or may not want to use the fennel.

Be sure when you make this that you do not overcook the potatoes.  Otherwise they will fall apart.  This was so good that I definitely plan on making it again. 

One other thing; my friend made a version of this where she substituted potatoes for cauliflower.  If you are trying to watch your carbs, this may be a good swap out.  For us, though, potatoes were key.

Let me know how you like this and if you make other changes to the recipe.  Here it is:

Zuppa Toscana (Lower fat copycat of Olive Garden's soup)
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Serves : 6

·       1 tbsp Oil

·       1 lb. hot/spicy Italian sausage – crumbled (I used Sprouts hot Italian chicken sausage)

·       1 medium onion, diced

·       2 garlic cloves – minced

·       1 qt. water

·       1 qt. ium Chicken broth

·       2 large russet potatoes – slice in half lengthwise and then slice into ¼ inch slices

·       3 cups de-stemmed/chopped kale (cut pieces slightly larger than would fit on a spoon)

·       3 oz Smoked Bacon Bits

·       1 cup heavy whipping cream, half and half or milk (I used half and half)

·       2 tbsp all purpose flour, if using half and half or milk

·       1 tsp ground fennel, optional

·       salt and pepper - to taste (heavier on pepper – it doesn’t need much salt because of the bacon) 

1.     If sausage is in a casing, remove casing to crumble. 

2.     Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add sausage and brown sausage, breaking into small pieces as you sauté it.  Drain and set aside.  Remove fat from the pan if there is more than a few tablespoons.

3.     Sauté onions in the same pan as the sausage until the onions are translucent.  Add in the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds.’

4.     Place water, broth, and potatoes in the pot.  Simmer over medium high heat until potatoes are tender (about 10 minutes – don’t overcook because it will be cooking an additional 10 minutes).

5.     Add sausage. kale and bacon to pot; simmer for 10 minutes. (Skim any fat off the top that you can.)

6.     If using half and half or milk, stir a little into the flour and mix well making sure there are no lumps.  Then add cream, half and half or milk, along with flour mixture, if using, to pot.  Season with salt and pepper  Taste and add ground fennel, if desired.  (ground fennel will add more of a sausage flavor that you may want if you use chicken sausage.)  Heat through bringing to almost a boil if using flour in the soup..