Monday, November 14, 2011

Better Than Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

I am this close to a trifecta my friends!  I present to you "Better Than Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana".  The name pretty much says it all...it IS better than the Zuppa Toscana soup at Olive Garden.  I am working on finding a fabulous salad dressing for the "Better Than Olive Garden's Salad".  I already have the breadsticks that I think are way better than Olive Garden's, found HERE.  Don't wait to make this one, it is SCRUMPTIOUS!

Better Than Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana
Recipe Source:  Steak N Potatoes Kinda Gurl
  • 4 slices bacon, diced
  • 1 lb ground hot Italian sausage
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 cups (32 oz) chicken stock
  • 3 cups russet potatoes, cubed
  • 3/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 cups kale, washed and cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • Parmesan cheese, grated, to taste
In a large pot, cook the bacon until crispy. Drain the grease. Add the sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks. Once sausage is browned and crumbled, remove sausage and drain off grease leaving a tbsp to saute the onion.
Add the onion to the pan; saute until translucent; add garlic; saute until fragrant.  Add the bacon and sausage back into the pot.
Stir in the stock and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Add kale and heavy whipping cream. Bring to a simmer. Top with Parmesan cheese, when serving.

This recipe has been linked up to:
This Chick Cooks
The Country Cook
Tidy Mom
SImply Sweet Home
Eat at Home

30 comments:

  1. what do you do with the bacon after youve cooked it? Is it a garnish?

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    1. Read the directions, it explains all

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    2. Be sure to use the better than bouillon chicken paste to make your own stock and it knocks the soup out the park!!!

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  2. Whoops! I fixed that, sorry. The bacon and sausage get added back to the pot when you add the potatoes and stock. Thanks for bringing to my attention :)

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  3. Sig this sounds AWESOME! I ♥ the one at Olive Garden, but I'm thinking yours sounds way better. YUMMO!!

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  4. My hubby would be a very happy man if I made this for him. Looks delicious and I've although I've never had the Olive Garden version I'm sure yours is better!

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  5. I made this soup this afternoon and it was fabulous! We all had to stop ourselves from going back for more again and again. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. This is a heart attack waiting to happen but what a way to go!

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  7. This soup is one of my favorites at Olive Garden so thank you for sharing your version of it. It is just as good if not better than the original. My husband could not stop wanting more. He was about to head out the door but kept coming back for more and more haha. He loved it! Thank you again for this wonderful recipe! It is now a permanent rotation our household.

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  8. Usually how many people does this recipe serve?

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  9. SAMs club sells bottles of Olive Garden salad dressing & huge bags of Olive Garden croutons. If you're still looking:)

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  10. Found your recipe via Pinterest and tried it tonight for the first time. HOLY CRAP...THAT WAS AWESOME!! Definitely a keeper in my house. Thanks for sharing :-)

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  11. If I had to make this a couple hours ahead of time, how do you suppose it would taste if just left on the stove? And then of course turn the stove back on for a quick reheat before serving. Will it overly thicken or do you think it will be just fine?

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    1. Probably too late now, but it will be fine. Just don't add the cream, baccon and kale until you reheat it. My large family loves this soup,so I make a lot at one time, but then split it to freeze some - and I add the kale bacon and cream when I make it again. The reason is because the kale can get overcooked, then it is thin and sorta mushy - think of wet baby greens - and the bacon gets soft and chewey and the flavor goes into the soup, but not much left in the bacon itself. Your cream would probably be fine, but freezing it makes it separate. Good Luck!!

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  12. I substituted chicken for the sausage and it was delicious if not better than the original!

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  13. I have made this over and over, and when I went back to Olive Garden, I didn't even think it tasted that great. This is much better. Thanks.

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  14. I am using ground beef since I have it on hand. We have 13 inches of snow here in Michigan so I am not venturing out for pork sausage when I am not a huge fan. I also will add carrots and Mushrooms and subbing in spinach.

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    1. Lol..then it's not the same recipe

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  15. This is seriously one of the easiest and best tasting soups I have ever made and I make a lot of soup. Thanks for the great recipe. No need to change a thing.

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  16. I can,t what to make it! Thanks for posting it.

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  17. Make it better....add CRUSHED FENNEL. Also there are 2 types of yellow onion. If you like SWEET onion, check the label. They both look exactly alike.

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  18. Can I make this in my crock pot and if so how long would I cook it for and are there any alterations

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  19. Do you cook potatoes adente before putting in soup

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  20. Make this all the time. So good, family loves it!

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  21. Made this for our Christmas office party… none left! Everyone loved it!

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  22. Very delicious 😋 I will definitely make this again!

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  23. Delicious, made this tonight and my whole family raves about it. It’s very hard to find something everyone loves but they all LOVED this. Husband and daughter had 3 bowls of it. Next time I may omit the salt, because it probably would have tasted great without it. The stock has enough. Great recipe!

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  24. I've made this recipe for years and have adapted it after the 2nd time. Our family has never been to olive garden, but this is my husbands favorite Soup. I use 1lb of bacon, 2lb spicy Italian sausage, 1 onion, lots of diced potatoes, broth, I mince kale in it. And use fresh to garnish. Husband doesn't care for the fresh Parmesan. But it's so perfect!

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