There’s nothing quite like a pot of Tuscan Potato Soup simmering on the stove when the weather turns chilly. This lightly creamy version of Zuppa Toscana is loaded with savory sausage, gold potatoes, and a rich, herby broth that tastes like it took all day, even though it’s ready in an hour. It’s the ultimate one-pot comfort food, and once you make it, it might just become your go-to soup for the entire fall and winter season.
As a soup chef, I try my best to be season-appropriate when it comes to recipes … but also somewhat season-agnostic when it comes to soup. It’s the life of a food blogger that I must cook ahead of the calendar so that recipes are tested, finalized, and ready to share before you even think about your upcoming Thanksgiving dinner, game day bash, or summer cookout.
So, I’m often making new fall and winter soups in the middle of summer, when I should least be wanting heavy, carby, creamy, meaty bowls of steaming broth anywhere near me and my flip-flops. But the fact is, I find soup — all soups — appropriate all year-round. Maybe it’s just in my DNA.
My Tuscan Potato Soup here was published in September, which means it was cooked in July. And I’m here to attest that whether you indulge in this hearty, bones-warming soup in its natural winter season, or buck the trends and enjoy it with the air conditioning running full blast like I did, I think you and yours will leave the table happy.
Because that’s what soup does.
Recipe Highlights
- Difficulty: Easy!
- Cook time: 40 minutes. Prep time is about 20 minutes.
- Servings: Makes about 1 3/4 quarts of soup, or 4 to 5 servings.
- Flavor profile: Savory, well-seasoned sausage meets chunky potatoes in a flavorful, lightly creamy broth.
- Why I think you’ll love this soup: Zuppa Toscana is a go-to with soup fans, and my Tuscan Potato Soup take on it is a family favorite. It’s an easy-eating, meat-and-potatoes soup with that unmistakable comfort factor that makes you just want to hover over the bowl until every last drop is gone.
Sausage soups have that special something that makes you want to dig in with an extra-large spoon. If that feeling sounds familiar, you might also enjoy my pasta with tiny sausage meatballs Italian Wedding Soup, my beans-loaded Smoky Black Bean and Sausage Soup, and my wonderfully seasoned Marry Me Sausage Orzo Soup. Pure comfort food in a bowl, one and all!
Key Ingredients
Here are the main ingredients that make this soup special. The full list with quantities appears in the recipe card below.
Sausage — Sausage provides a solid savory base for this soup, adding both spice and texture. Use your favorite. I usually choose either mild Italian pork or turkey sausage. For an extra kick, you could use hot Italian sausage.
Aromatics — Flavoring superstars onions and celery are joined by leeks, which I especially love in meat-based soups. They’re milder than bulb onions, and are often described as slightly sweet, but not in the sugary sense.
Low-sodium chicken broth and bouillon — Why both? Because getting the right seasoning balance in soups can be challenging. Over-salting is a common issue in soup-making (think, that sharp tang in canned soups; that’s over-salting). Start with a low-sodium broth and add your favorite bouillon. I’m partial to Better Than Bouillon. The additional seasonings in the bouillon round out the broth without over-salting it. It’s a decent shortcut when you’re stuck with iffy grocery store broths.
Potatoes — Zuppa Toscana calls for Russet potatoes, but for soups where the potatoes should remain intact, I prefer gold potatoes. They’re sturdier in brothy soups yet somehow more tender and buttery.
Dairy — This soup is meant to be lightly creamy, not cream-of-whatever-soup goopy. Instead, I use just enough half-and-half to add a welcome richness and smoothness to the delicious broth.
Greens — While I do appreciate the classic addition of kale, spinach is my go-to green for soups like Tuscan Potato Soup. It doesn’t add much in the way of flavor or texture, but I like the little health boost. And it always looks great in soup! If you buy baby spinach, you won’t have to trim the stems as they’re quite tender. But do chop them.
How does my recipe compare to Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana?
Although Olive Garden’s soup is yummy, I’ve made their basic copycat recipe so often that I can’t help but level it up to my own tastes. The goal was not to create an entirely different soup, but rather to sub in certain ingredients for a more refined result. Here are a few changes I’ve made to this family-loved favorite!
Yukon Gold potatoes replace starchy Russets, which can break down in the soup and become mash potato-y, especially with planned leftovers. Gold potatoes hold their chunky shapes much better.
I opted to go with spinach rather than kale. I simply prefer the more tender leaves, and it’s less of an obstacle for greens-avoiders — especially kids — than kale. I also pumped up the aromatics in the soup base with leeks and celery, adding so much flavor to the broth, and made sure to deglaze the sausage fond in the pot with some wine, so as to not waste a single crumb of that Maillard reaction goodness.
Some versions of Zuppa Toscana use both bacon and Italian sausage for the base. While I’m not going to be the one who disses bacon, using both is a whole lot of salty pork products in what should be a humble soup. Instead, I save the bacon for an optional soup topping.
How to Make Tuscan Potato Soup
Ready to make the recipe? Skip to the recipe card now to see the full ingredient list, quantities, prep/cooking times, and printable, detailed instructions. Or, keep scrolling for a visual walk-through and summary of making the soup.
Cook the sausage and vegetables
Thoroughly brown the sausage in the heated pot, and transfer to a plate to rest. If you used a fatty cut of sausage, you’ll need to drain off some of the liquid fat. Saute the onions, celery, and leeks until soft, then stir in the garlic. Deglaze the pan with the wine, and then return the cooked sausage to the pan.
Simmer the broth and potatoes
Thicken the base with the flour, and then add the broth, bouillon, and potatoes, and bring the pot up to a gentle boil. Cook the potatoes until tender.
Finish the soup
Stir in the greens and dairy. Taste, adjust seasoning if needed, and serve with your favorite toppings.
Cook’s FAQs
I’m so happy to kick off the 2022 soup season — Souptember! — with this hearty, scrumptious Tuscan Potato Soup. It’s warm, filling, and endlessly comforting. If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out. Leave a comment below and let me know!
More Italian-inspired soups:
Tuscan Potato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound mild ground Italian sausage (remove casings if present)
- 1/2 sweet or white onion , diced
- 1 leek , chopped (white and light green parts only)
- 1/2 cup diced celery (about 2 ribs)
- 6 cloves of garlic , minced (or 3 teaspoons jarred minced garlic)
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon paste (such as Better Than Bouillon)
- 1/2 pound Yukon gold potatoes , scrubbed and sliced into 1/4" thick chunks
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
- 1/2 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
- 2 cups loosely packed baby spinach (stems removed), coarsely chopped or julienned
- kosher or coarse sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Suggested toppings:
- crumbled bacon
- grated parmesan cheese
- chopped chives
- sour cream
Instructions
- Heat a 4 quart Dutch oven or soup pot over medium, and add the sausage. Cook, stirring frequently, breaking up large chunks with your spoon or spatula, until browned. Transfer the sausage to a paper-towel-lined plate to rest.
- The sausage will have given off fat and moisture: drain the pot of all but about a tablespoon or so of liquid.
- Add the onions, leeks, and celery to the pot and saute until soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and let cook for one minute more, until fragrant.
- Deglaze the pot with the white wine, stirring and gently scraping up the fond that has collected on the bottom of the pot, mixing it into the vegetables. Return the reserved sausage to the pot.
- Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to coat. It might become a little pasty; that's okay — thin with a splash of broth and stir to loosen.
- Add the remaining chicken broth, chicken bouillon, potatoes, and Italian seasoning. Increase the heat to medium-high and stir well. Let the soup come to a gentle boil, then lower the heat slightly to maintain a bubbly simmer.
- Cook for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. Test a chunk of potato against the side of the pot: it should easily smash when pressed with a fork or spatula. Reduce heat to low.
- Stir in the dairy and the baby spinach. Let the heat of the soup wilt the spinach (it will only take a minute or two).
- Taste, and add salt and black pepper, a couple of pinches at a time, until the soup meets your preference.
- Serve the soup with the suggested toppings on the side, so your guests can each add their favorites.
Rebeka
Monday 30th of October 2023
I've never had TOG's potato soup and now I don't think I need to. This soup was sooo good. It's definitely going on the regular menu for winter, and I think we'll swap in turkey or chicken sausage next time, just to keep the waistline guilt down haha.