Craving a warm, comforting bowl of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana? The best Olive Garden copycat recipe brings the rich flavors of creamy Tuscan soup to your kitchen with Italian sausage, potatoes, kale, and dumplings.
This Creamy Italian Sausage and Potato Soup is a hearty chowder made with ground sausage, frozen potatoes, and a creamy broth, creating one of the best Italian soup recipes for chilly nights. Cooked on the stovetop in a Dutch oven, this quick and easy family meal is both healthy and satisfying—ideal for fall and winter soup recipes.
Enjoy a homemade soup recipe that’s better than takeout! Pin this for your weeknight dinner recipes and keep hearty soup ideas ready for busy nights!
Why this is the best Olive Garden Copycat Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe
Creamy potato soup is the ultimate comfort food. Creamy, saucy, and full of sweet Italian sausage, this rich, chunky soup is like heaven in a bowl.
Zuppa Toscana is a delicious cream soup recipe. This great weeknight soup is as easy as dumping a few things together; it doesn't get any easier than that! It does have a fairly long list of ingredients, but they're all easy to find. All those ingredients give the soup a deep, rich flavor.
The ingredients for this easy recipe are very common and inexpensive. You probably have most of the simple ingredients already in your pantry, and the remaining couple are available in every grocery I've ever visited.
This recipe is easy to serve. It doesn't get easier than a simple soup, which makes this a perfect weeknight dinner for a busy mom or dad.
This recipe is a family favorite. Kids especially love the creamy broth, the sweet Italian sausage, and the tender potatoes.
What you'll need to make Creamy Italian Sausage and Potato Soup
Equipment
- 12-inch skillet
- Dutch oven or large stockpot
- Garlic press
Ingredients
See the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page for all measurements and nutrition facts.
For the Italian sausage soup
- Bacon - You'll fry the bacon and use some of the bacon grease to sauté the onions. You'll also put the bacon in the soup.
- Italian sausage - This can be plain sausage, sweet, or Maple flavor. I recommend pork sausage, but you could use turkey sausage instead.
- Diced onion - You'll fry this in bacon grease until the onions are sweet, soft, and golden brown.
- Fresh garlic - Fresh garlic is cheap and makes a big difference in the flavor of your food. Use additional garlic cloves as desired.
- Yukon Gold potatoes - You can use any potatoes. I like Yukon Gold because the skins are thin and don't need to be peeled. If you use Russet potatoes, you'll need to peel them before adding them to the soup. In either case, cut the potatoes in half and slice them into ¼-inch thick slices. You could also use a bag of frozen hash browns. There's no need to thaw them before adding them to the soup. They will cook in the soup.
- Chicken broth - You can use more or less depending on how thin you want your soup to be. I prefer to use less and make my soup thicker.
- Corn - You can use fresh, frozen, or canned corn.
- Kale - Strip and chop the leaves.
- Heavy cream - This makes the soup creamy rather than just a broth.
- Whole milk - You can use all heavy cream or cream and milk.
- Salt and black pepper - You can add this to taste after the soup is finished.
- Grated Parmesan cheese - This is the slivered kind of actual cheese and not the dusty stuff. You will just put this on at the end for garnish.
- Green onions - These are also for garnish at the end. You can leave them out if you want to.
For the ranch dumplings
- Butter - You can use salted or unsalted butter.
- Ranch dressing - This is the secret ingredient in the dumplings. It gives them an amazing flavor!
- Garlic powder - There is already garlic powder in the ranch dressing, but an extra pinch makes the flavor of the dumplings really bright and fresh.
- Onion powder - There is also onion powder in the ranch dressing, but this too makes the dumplings taste really good.
- Salt - You need salt to make the dumplings puff up.
- Baking powder - This is also a leavening agent that makes the dumplings expand while they're cooking.
- Whole milk - This is the liquid that makes turns the flour into a dough.
- All-purpose flour or cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix - This is the base of the dumplings. If you're making a gluten-free soup, you can use a gluten-free baking mix like Pamela's or you can just leave the dumplings out altogether.
How to make Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup
- Sauté bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crispy. When it's done, remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and allow to cool. When cooled, crumble bacon into a bowl and set aside. Transfer about 1 tablespoon of bacon grease from the skillet to the Dutch oven.
- Heat the Dutch oven on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion to the hot grease in the pot. Sauté until soft and golden. Add pressed garlic and sauté 1 minute more. Add the sausage to the onions in the pot. Break the sausage up with a spatula, mix it into the onions, and sauté until the sausage is no longer pink and the onions are beginning to brown.
- Pour 8-10 cups of chicken broth into the Dutch oven and bring to a boil over high heat. Add sliced potatoes and cook until they are fork tender and easily pierced.
- Reduce heat to medium-high and add corn, crumbled bacon (reserve some for garnish), and kale (reserve some for garnish) and bring everything back to a boil.
- While the soup is heating, melt the butter in a medium bowl, then whisk in the ranch dressing, garlic powder, onion powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Add milk and whisk to combine. Add flour to the ranch mixture and stir with a spoon or spatula to make a thick dough. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Break off small pieces from the dumpling dough and drop them into the pot of boiling soup, submerging them with a spoon as necessary. Lower the heat to medium to keep the soup at a lively simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the dumplings. The dumplings are done when they have almost doubled in size, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- When dumplings are done, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of milk and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Season soup to taste with salt and black pepper. Garnish with reserved bacon, reserved kale, green onions, and grated parmesan.
Variations & substitutions
If you want some heat in your creamy potato soup, mix in some red pepper flakes either at the same time as the bacon and kale or right at the end with the salt and pepper.
You can replace the bunch of kale with spinach if you prefer. The spinach has a different texture and cooks down more than kale which will stay firm and crisp.
You can add some chopped celery and carrots into the Dutch oven with the onions if you'd like. It will give the soup a richer flavor.
Cook's tips
To make this soup gluten-free, replace the all-purpose flour with a cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix like Pamela's or simply leave the dumplings out.
How to serve creamy potato and sausage soup
This soup is delicious with a BLT salad and a loaf of crusty bread.
Storage
Transfer leftovers to an airtight container after they've fully cooled. Store in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Because this soup is made with cream, it does not freeze well.
Try these other delicious soup recipes:
- Taste of Home Cheeseburger Soup - This is the stovetop recipe.
- Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup - This is the same recipe as above, but adapted to the CrockPot.
- Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup
- World's Best Chili with Bacon
- Zuppa Toscana - Creamy Italian Sausage and Potato Soup
- Cheesy Vegetable Soup
- Slow Cooker Potato Soup
- Crockpot Corn Chowder
- Simple & Easy Cheesy Cauliflower Soup
- Hot and Sour Soup - Uses ingredients found in a traditional grocery store
- Crockpot Beef Stew
- Instant Pot Cheeseburger Soup
- Easy Black Bean and Beef Chili
- Gluten-Free White Chicken Chili - Stovetop and CrockPot instructions included
- Green Chili Chicken Soup - Stovetop and CrockPot instructions
- Black Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Recipe
Zuppa Toscana - Creamy Italian Sausage and Potato Soup
Equipment
- Dutch oven or large stockpot
Ingredients
For the sausage and potato soup
- 6 strips bacon chopped
- 1 pound Italian sausage plain, sweet, or Maple flavor
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 clove garlic pressed
- 5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes cut in half and sliced into ¼-inch thick slices
- 8-10 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup corn
- 1 bundle kale leaves stripped and chopped, about 6 cups
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese grated, not the dusty kind, for garnish
- 2 green onions chopped, for garnish
For the ranch dumplings
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons ranch dressing
- 1 pinch garlic powder
- 1 pinch onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 cup all purpose flour or cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix
Instructions
- Sauté bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crispy. When it's done, remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and allow to cool. When cooled, crumble bacon into a bowl and set aside. Transfer about 1 tablespoon of bacon grease from the skillet to the Dutch oven.
- Heat the Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion to the hot grease in the pot. Sauté until soft and golden. Add pressed garlic and sauté 1 minute more. Add the sausage to the onions in the pot. Break the sausage up with a spatula, mix it into the onions, and sauté until the sausage is no longer pink and the onions are beginning to brown.
- Add 8-10 cups of chicken broth to the Dutch oven and bring to a boil over high heat. Add sliced potatoes and cook until they are tender and easily pierced with a fork. Reduce heat to medium-high and add corn, crumbled bacon (reserve some for garnish), and kale (reserve some for garnish) and bring everything back to a boil.
- While the soup is heating, melt the butter in a medium bowl, then whisk in the ranch dressing, garlic powder, onion powder, baking powder, and salt. Add milk and whisk to combine. Add flour and stir with a spoon or spatula to make a thick dough. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Break off small pieces from the dumpling dough and drop them into the pot of boiling soup, submerging them with a spoon as necessary. Lower the heat to medium to keep the soup at a lively simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the dumplings. Do not remove the lid until the time has passed! The dumplings are done when they have almost doubled in size, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- When dumplings are done, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of milk and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Season soup to taste with salt and black pepper. Garnish with reserved bacon, reserved kale, green onions, and grated parmesan.
Becky Waltz says
It was even better than Olive Garden! The dumplings were a great addition.