Zuppa Toscana Soup

Today we have snow in Charlotte. Third day in a row. In February! It is freezing cold outside and the snow just keeps piling up. This soup is the perfect soup to warm you up on such a day as today, So I made a big pot of it for my family. This soup is famous in the chain Italian restaurant, Olive Garden. So of course I had to try to make it at home. There are many different recipes for this amazing soup, but this recipe is my own. I have been making it this way since we got married. The way I came up with this recipe is by putting together all the things that I tasted in the soup when I tried it at Olive Garden. It came out great and I have been making it that way for many years now and anyone who has ever tried it, Loved it. My grandmother from Massachusetts always requests me to make this soup when she comes to visit us. So I decided to put this yummy recipe here so that others can try it, and for those that already have tried it and loved it, to be able to make it for their own families. 🙂

Zuppa Toscana Soup {Serves 10-12}

Ingredients:

• 1  1/2 LB Italian Sausage (Mild)
• 7 Slices of Thick Cut Bacon
• 4-5 Redskin potatoes
• 12 Cups Water
• 2 Tablespoons Oil
• 4 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
• 1 1/2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 Large onion
• 1/2 OR 3/4 teaspoon, Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (Depending on how spicy you like your soup. I do 3/4 teaspoon because we like it with a little spicy kick)
• 1/2 a Bunch of Kale
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

Directions: 

1) Get the ground meat out of the Italian sausages. I do this by holding the sausage with one hand and with the other squeezing out the ground meat. I shape the ground meat into little round balls. Then set it aside in a plate.

2) Cut your slices of Bacon into little pieces. (As pictured below.) Set aside in a plate.

3) Finely chop your onion.

4) Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large pot on Medium-High heat. (I did a 7.5) Throw in the Italian sausage and crushed red pepper flakes. Mix the sausage every once in a while so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Add in the garlic powder.

5) When the sausage is a little cooked through, add in the bacon pieces and chopped onion. Don’t forget to keep mixing.

6) Saute everything until the sausage and bacon is cooked through and the onion is soft and translucent.

7) Then add the water to the pot. Bring it to a boil.

8) Meanwhile cut your potatoes. *Leave the skin on! Note that this will not taste as well with regular potatoes, only Red Skin Potatoes. But when I had to substitute with regular potatoes I peeled off the skin.*

9)When the water boils, add the cubes of chicken bouillon. *I Cut my cubes so that they dissolve faster.*

10) Then add the potatoes into the pot.

11) Cook until the potatoes are soft. About 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile wash and chop the Kale. Only cut the leafy part of the kale, Into about 1 inch pieces. Cut off the stem completely because you will not need it, you can throw it out.

12) Then add the heavy whipping cream to the pot. cook until it is thoroughly heated.

13) Add in the pieces of Kale. Stir well. Once the Kale is soft and the heavy whipping cream has heated through, your soup is ready! If you have to add salt/pepper you can do so. *My soup was perfect so I did not add any. Probably because the chicken bouillon cubes have salt in them.* I serve this soup with Hot fresh bread sticks, or take and bake bread. It tastes best hot out of the oven to go with this soup.