Healthy Zuppa Toscana

A healthier copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup that’s warm, comforting, and bursting with flavor! This soup is loaded with bone broth, Italian sausage, potatoes, kale, and bacon. It’s creamy, super filling, and the perfect family-friendly meal!

Just in case you didn’t know, Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana soup is the most popular soup on the menu. And when you taste this soup, you’ll understand why. It’s delicious, savory, and packed with crumbled sausage, potatoes, kale, and bacon in a light and creamy broth. When there’s a chill in the air, this recipe and my easy stovetop chili are my go-tos!

I’m confident this is the best healthy zuppa toscana recipe you’ll find. You can easily make it within the comforts of your own home, and the entire recipe cooks up in one pot on the stovetop! It’s family friendly, and makes plenty of leftovers, so it’s a great meal prep recipe.

If you’re looking to make a recipe without added sugar, just use my easy homemade ground Italian sausage recipe below. This recipe can also easily be made into a whole30 soup. Feel free to swap the ground pork for ground turkey or chicken, and use sugar free pork or turkey bacon.

Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe

Zuppa Toscana is an incredibly delicious and healthy soup. It typically includes heavy cream as the base. You’ll love this healthier version because it’s:

• Made with whole ingredients. The main ingredients are broth, ground Italian sausage, bacon, coconut milk, and it’s loaded with potatoes and kale! It’s a lighter broth that isn’t heavy on the cream. Because the ingredients are simple, this is a whole30 zuppa toscana recipe that’s paleo, too!
• Easy to make! The entire recipe cooks up in one pot on the stovetop. Perfect for weeknights!
• A make-ahead meal. You’ll get a lot of soup from this recipe. Freeze the leftovers and have another meal for lunch or dinner!
• Dairy free and gluten free. By default, this recipe is gluten free, but with a simple swap of coconut milk, is also great for people who are dairy free!

Ingredient Notes

There are just a few simple ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe. The ingredients are fresh, healthy, and super flavorful. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Ground Italian sausage – Use mild or spicy ground Italian sausage depending on the amount of heat you like. For a whole30 recipe, use my homemade Italian sausage recipe above, and make sure to use sugar free bacon.
• Organic bacon – I like to look for nitrate free and sugar free bacon.
• Yellow onion – Go with a sweet onion, like Vadalia onions.
• Italian seasoning – This is a seasoning blend available at most grocery stores
• Chicken bone broth – You can use your own homemade chicken broth, or purchase a chicken broth either in a carton or in the freezer section.
• Yellow potatoes – these have a creamy texture and a soft skin
• Coconut milk – Use coconut milk from a can for the best flavor and texture.
• Sea salt – I recommend using an unrefined salt like Redmond Real Salt.

Substitutions

If you’re short on ingredients, here’s what you can do:

• Ground Italian sausage: Make my homemade Italian sausage recipe above with ground chicken or ground turkey.
• Potatoes: You can use red or gold potatoes, too!
• Coconut milk: Heavy cream (not dairy free) works too. If using heavy cream, reduce to 1 cup.

How to Make Healthy Zuppa Toscana

The best part about this recipe is that it all cooks up in one pot! Here’s how to make it in five easy steps:

1. Brown: Heat a large dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat. Once hot, add a small drizzle of oil. Add the sausage and use a spoon to break it up as it cooks. Once the sausage is browned, drain and set aside.

2. Cook the Bacon: Add the bacon to the pot and cook until crispy, about 5-7 minutes. Stir the bacon as it cooks. Remove the bacon pieces and set aside. Leave two tablespoons of bacon grease in the pot.

3. Sauté: Add the onion, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper to the pot. Cook until the onions are soft, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.

4. Boil: Pour the chicken broth into the pot, stirring as you pour. Increase the heat to medium-high to bring the soup to a boil. Add the potatoes and boil until fork tender, about 15 minutes.

5. Simmer: Add the cooked sausage, most of the bacon, kale, and coconut milk to the pot. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the kale is tender, about 5 minutes.

6. Serve: Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with remaining bacon and serve warm.

Homemade Sausage

If you want to make this a Whole30 zuppa toscana recipe, you can actually make your own sausage with ground pork and a mixture of spices! In fact, I much prefer making my own sausage since there are no additives. Just mix together the following in a large bowl with your hands before using it in this recipe:

Whole30 Italian Sausage

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

There are plenty of Whole30 compliant (sugar free) bacon options available in store! The two most widely available are Applegate Organics Uncured Bacon and Wellshire Sugar-Free Bacon. In general, look for a bacon that is uncured and sugar free.

Cooking Tips

• You can use mild or spicy ground Italian sausage depending how much heat you like.
• Make sure to dice the potatoes into small 1-inch cubes for even cooking.
• Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper at the end. I use ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper, but that may vary depending on the chicken broth and bacon you use. 
• Don’t let the soup simmer too long after adding the kale.
• For whole30 zuppa toscana, use my homemade ground Italian sausage recipe and use sugar free bacon.
• This recipe is perfect for meal prep! A batch will give you plenty of leftovers for a second meal.

Recipe FAQs

Storage Tips

STORE: Healthy zuppa toscana stores really well in the refrigerator and leftovers are amazing! Place any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

FREEZE: To freeze, just place the soup in an airtight storage container. I like using mason jars or Le Parfait super jars. Let the soup cool completely before storing in the freezer, and leave room for the liquid to expand in the jar. Here are some great tips for storing soup in glass jars. This soup will keep in the freezer up to 3 months.

REHEAT: Reheat in a saucepan over low to medium heat until warm.

More Healthy Dinners

• Healthy Orange Chicken
• Easy Stovetop Chili
• Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup (Whole30, Paleo)
• Healthy Chicken Tikka Masala
• How to Make Chicken Bone Broth

Recipe by: Noelle Tarr and Kelsey Hite / Coconuts and Kettlebells | Photography by: Casey Colodny / The Mindful Hapa