Our Zuppa Toscana Instant Pot recipe is the best Olive Garden copycat one you will find anywhere! It's rich, creamy, hearty, and a Whole Lotta Yum.
Our Toscana Soup is so hearty!
Filled with sausage, bacon, potatoes, heavy cream, and topped with cheese, Toscana soup is literally the best for cozy winter nights.
Making restaurant favorites at home is cheaper, often better, and usually healthier too. It's also naturally gluten-free since the potatoes, cream, and cheese are what thickens the soup instead of flour.
This is my personal favorite soup on Whole Lotta Yum and we've recreated it every which way. In the Instant Pot, Crock Pot, and a Whole30 version when we're craving something a little lighter.
What you'll need
- bacon - cook it in the pot for depth of flavor or buy precooked bacon like you can get at Costco.
- spicy or mild Italian sausage - Olive Garden uses spicy Italian, we typically use mild (or sweet) sausage at home.
- red onion - you could use white, yellow, or sweet onions
- garlic cloves - we love the Dorot frozen cubes when we aren't using fresh cloves.
- sea salt
- black pepper
- Yukon Gold potatoes - Yukon Gold are hearty meaty potatoes that hold their shape. You can use Russet but they'll give you a thicker more chowder like soup since they have more starch
- kale - baby spinach is a common alternative
- chicken broth
- heavy whipping cream - make this cream free with a plant based cream or canned coconut milk.
- parmesan cheese - Olive garden uses shredded Romano
- cayenne pepper - optional, for a spicier kick
For reference below, we made the soup on the left with Yukons and the one on the right with Russets. All other ingredients were the same. Russet makes the soup much thicker and like a chowder!
Kitchen tools
A Pressure Cooker - This is the Instant Pot model that we have
How to make Zuppa Toscana
- Saute the bacon, remove it from the pot, and cook the sausage in a bit of bacon grease.
- Saute the onions and garlic
- Add the chicken broth and potatoes
- Pressure cook the soup for 10 minutes, then do a NR for 10 minutes.
- Simmer the kale and heavy whipping cream for a few minutes.
- Garnish with bacon and parmesan cheese.
This is a condensed overview of the recipe steps, the full instructions are down in the recipe card
Storing and freezing
Leftovers should be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge and used within 4-5 days.
Freeze: Since dairy gets grainy in the freezer, freezing leftovers isn't the best idea unless you freeze it before adding the cream and kale. Then add those ingredients when you defrost it and go to make the soup.
More healthy soups
- Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Pizza Soup (Crockpot, instant pot)
- Crockpot low carb taco soup
- Chicken Zoodle Soup
- Instant Pot Cuban chicken stew
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Recipe
Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ lb raw bacon about 4-5 slices bacon
- 1 lb spicy Italian sausage or mild Italian sausage
- 1 large red onion chopped
- 2 tablespoon minced garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 lb Yukon Gold potatoes cut into 1" cubes, see note in recipe card
- 4 C chopped kale
- 32 oz chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Romano cheese or parmesan to sprinkle
- ⅛-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional and to taste
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to Saute and cook the bacon until it's crisp to your liking. Remove the bacon, drain the grease, and set aside one tablespoon of the bacon grease for cooking other ingredients.
- Saute the Italian sausage in the bacon grease. Drain all but 1 tablespoon or so of the grease.
- Add the chopped onions and cook for 5 more minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add the chicken broth and diced potatoes. Press the potatoes down into the liquid, if needed. Add the broth to the pot first and then add just enough potatoes to fill the pot, for us, it was slightly less than 3 lbs.
- Pressure Cook on Manual High (ore Pressure Cook) for 5 minutes.
- Do a Natural Release of pressure for 10 minutes, then do a Quick Release of the remaining pressure.
- Add the kale and whipping cream and cook on high for 3-4 more mins or until the kale is wilted.
- Garnish with the reserved crumbled bacon and Romano or Parmesan cheese on top. Enjoy!
Notes
- Baby spinach is a popular substitute for kale
- Leftovers will last in the fridge for up to 5 days, we don't recommend freezing.
Nutrition
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