Creamy Zuppa Toscana Soup
Creamy, cozy Zuppa Toscana soup with Italian sausage, bacon, potatoes, and kale. Easy to make, full of flavor, and even better than the restaurant version
Ingredients
- 12 oz bacon, fried and chopped up
- 16 oz Italian sausage, mild
- 1 large yellow onion, diced finely
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 4 medium potatoes, sliced thinly. (I sliced lengthwise in half then thinly sliced each half.)
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 6 cups water
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 cups kale leaves, rinsed well and chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2-1 tsp red pepper flakes, (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the bacon nice and crisp, drain and cool on paper towels, then chop in to small pieces. (Or chop before cooking – whichever you like.) Set aside
- In a large 6qt stock pot, brown the Italian sausage.
- Remove sausage from stock pot and put to the side with the bacon, but leave the little bit of sausage fat in the pan.
- Sauté chopped onion, garlic and sliced potatoes on med-high heat in the sausage fat, tossing frequently until the onions are starting to get soft and translucent and the potatoes are starting to cook through.
- Add the bacon pieces, Italian sausage, chicken broth and water back in to the pan.
- Bring to a boil, reduce the heat slightly and let simmer 20 mins or so until the potatoes are almost cooked through.
- Add the cream, kale, salt & pepper, (plus optional red pepper flakes.)
- Turn heat to med-low and let simmer for and additional 10-15 minutes or until kale is at desired consistency.
- Serve with hot crusty bread or breadsticks!
Notes
Tips for the Best Zuppa Toscana
- Prep the bacon the easy way. I like to slice several strips into small pieces before cooking — they crisp evenly and cook faster. But baking or pan‑frying whole slices works too.
- Choose your heat level. Mild or hot Italian sausage both work beautifully. I usually use mild and add red pepper flakes so I can control the spice. Start with ½ teaspoon and adjust next time if you want more kick.
- Slice the potatoes thinly. Thin slices mimic the restaurant texture and cook quickly. I scrub them well and leave the skins on for extra flavor, but peeling is totally fine if you prefer.
- Prep the kale properly. Strip the leaves from the tough stems, rinse in a big bowl of clean water, and chop into bite‑size pieces. Fresh kale softens perfectly in the creamy broth.
- Finish with cream for richness. Adding the heavy cream at the end keeps the broth silky and prevents curdling.