How To Make Zuppa Toscana At Home (BETTER Than Olive Garden)

Here’s the full printable recipe – https://mrmakeithappen.com/zuppa-toscana-soup-recipe/

Today we are making the classic Zuppa Toscana from Olive Garden. This is easily the best thing on their menu and it’s also 100% better made at home. Let’s #makeithappen

Here’s the full printable recipe – https://mrmakeithappen.com/zuppa-toscana-soup-recipe/

Go to today’s sponsor https://www.Strawberry.me/mrmakeithappen to get your career coach today!

Join this channel to get access to perks – including LIVE virtual cooking classes!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBW5KiJa8Ft42-XNIz4HCgg/join

Olive Garden might have made it famous, but today I’m going to show you how to make Zupa Tuscana even better from the comfort of your own home. This rich, hearty Tuscan soup is loaded with Italian sausage, creamy broth, tender potatoes, and kale, and it tastes even better the next day. This right here is in my top five soups of all time. Meet me in the kitchen. Let’s make it happen. The beauty of this recipe is the simplicity and how few ingredients you really need. Right now, we’re about to prep our onions, garlic. We got two large rusted potatoes. So, if you have smaller potatoes, you might need four for this recipe. A little kale, some chicken stock, a few other flavor enhancers that we’re going to get to here in a little bit. We’re going to get the party started by dicing up our onion. I I like to leave my root intact. Kind of holds everything together. Makes the onion preparation a little bit smoother. So, just make cuts in one direction like so, opposite of the root. And then right down the middle, and you got a diced onion. Real simple, real easy. And then we’re going to dice up some garlic. Prep our potatoes. Make sure you clean those rusted potatoes. Potatoes are a root vegetable coming out of the ground. So, you make sure they’re nice and clean before they go into your soup. Let me know in the comments what your favorite soup is. This has got to be one of mine. I liked it even before I started really cooking that seriously when I used to go to Olive Garden and the waitress would come to the table and tell you to tell her when to stop adding the Parmesan cheese. And I’ll just stare at her until her arm falls off. All right, guys. Next up for the prep, you want to go ahead and clean and chop your kale. If you don’t eat kale, this is a great opportunity to introduce some to your diet. Full of nutrients. Speaking of nutrients, it’s time to prep the potatoes. So, we’re going to leave the skin on the potatoes because that’s where the bulk of the nutrients are. Feel free to peel your potatoes if you want to. You want to you want to slice them relatively thin. A mandolin would work well here or if you got a nice sharp knife. Uh you can go ahead and do it by hand. If you don’t have a nice sharp knife, you can grab this one from Mr. Make It Happen.shop. We’re going to cut them into little circles like so. And then I’m going to basically cut them in half or quarter them depending on the size of the actual potato. You want it to fit on a spoon, right? That’s that’s the idea. You want a nice bite-sized piece. You want it to be relatively thin. That way they cook quickly in the soup. and you got yourself a delicious kale and potato soup. If you haven’t had this before, they sell it at Olive Garden that they’re basically who made it popular or famous. It’s all over the internet as well these days on Tik Tok and Instagram and all that good stuff. Uh this has been a very popular recipe on my channel as well. And today we’re running it back for old times sake. So, when it comes to this particular recipe, I want to build flavor from the very beginning and keep all the flavor in the same pot that we’re going to cook our soup in. We’re get the party started by cooking our bacon. I’m using five or six slices of thick cut bacon. Use whatever you like. If you don’t eat pork, you can leave this out or use beef bacon. Next, once the bacon is done, we’re going to remove that to a paper towel to drain. And then we’re going to add in one lb of Italian sausage. And today’s episode is sponsored by Strawberry. Me. Now, if you’ve been following me on social media or YouTube for any length of time, you know that earlier this year, I opened my very first restaurant. Now, I know that’s very exciting to a lot of people. For me, it was super stressful. It came at a time in my career where I felt a little burnt out and honestly unsure of which move or which decision I should make to really move the needle in my career. That’s why I tried career coaching with Strawberry. Me. Getting started was shockingly easy. I answered a quick quiz, got matched with a certified coach, and booked my first virtual session that same week. Sessions fit right into my busy schedule. And the whole membership is designed to work with a busy life. No travel, just real work you can do from anywhere. And what I love the most is my coach didn’t tell me what to do. They actually partnered with me to build a personalized plan I could follow. My coach really did a great job of keeping me accountable, keeping me on track, and just helping me make some real tough life decisions. So, if you’re ready to stop guessing and start planning, visit strawberry.mme/misterake it and claim your special offer. That’s strawberry. Make it happen. Scan the QR code on your screen or hit the link in the description to get matched with a certified career coach. Don’t wait. While you’re thinking, someone is making a plan. Go to strawberry.me/mrake me/mrakeit happen right now and take control of your next step. Again, if you don’t eat pork, you can substitute this for uh turkey, beef, whatever floats your boat. Or to get this Italian sausage into that bacon grease, press it down. Make sure it’s making good surface area contact so it browns up nicely. And we’re just going to let this cook. Mash it up. And then we’ll start adding in our onions and garlic. [Music] [Music] Immediately the house is smelling phenomenal. Now it’s time to start adding some seasonings. I’m using the last bit of this buttery garlic pepper seasoning I got in this bottle. I got to hit Mr. Makeah.sh shop to give me some more. Then we’re going in with some red pepper flakes. These are optional, guys, but I like the little bit of heat that it provides. And I like to add it directly to the bottom of the skillet so it can start to kind of use that oil to rehydrate a little bit and bloom. Going in with a little bit of Italian seasoning, my allpurpose seasoning. And about a teaspoon blooper, and about a teaspoon of this better than buon roasted garlic base or chicken base, whatever you got. Going to get that in there. AP seasoning to taste. And then we’re going to delaze and add our homemade chicken broth with a little bit of store-bought chicken broth because I had about four cups of homemade broth in the refrigerator from another recipe. So, we’re going to use that. But use whatever you got. Storebought will get the job done. You just got to season it up a little bit more. Give everything a good mix. It smells heavenly. All [Applause] right, guys. You want to go ahead and give your potatoes about a 10minute head start because they do take a little bit longer to get tender than the kale. Once you’ve had them in there for a bit, we’re going to go ahead and add in our kale that we cleaned and chopped. We’re going to add that to the soup. And then really once the once the kale is tender, you’re done. Going to add in some of this chopped bacon as well, cuz why the hell not? We’re here for a good time, not a long time. Save a little bit of bacon for garnish. Going to give this a mix. Put the lid on. Let it cook for another 15 minutes. Got your soup. [Music] All right, guys. So, for the last 5 minutes or so of the cooking time for your soup, I like to add about a/4 cup to a/2 cup of heavy cream. This is going to make the soup a little bit creamier, give it that nice color that you’re used to when you see zupa tuscana. Totally customizable, optional for you. If you don’t want to add that much cream, you can just omit it completely. Or you can add a little bit more if you want it even creamier. I like, like I said, between a/4 cup and a/2 cup. Once we go ahead and plate this up, going to garnish it with those bacon bits that we chopped up and saved to the side earlier. Add that to the top. A little freshly grated Parmesan cheese, cuz why the hell not? We’re here for a good time, not a long time. This the part where I say, “Brace yourself for a trademark money shot.” Say it with me, guys. Looking good. The only thing left to do is dig in for the taste test. But before we do that, please take a quick second to subscribe to the channel. Make sure you hit that bell to enable notifications as well. It is time for the moment of truth. Digging in for the taste test. I found my spoon. Before we do that, guys, make sure you Before we do that, quick reminder that this recipe and all of my recipes can be found at mrmake.com. This is a beautiful bowl of Zupa right here. Here we go. Cheers. A little crunchy from the the bacon. That’s perfect. Kick off soup seasoning with this one. You won’t regret it. No, you good. You got extra bacon on that one. Bro, flavor town. I just want to go to flavor town. This is why this got to be top five soups. I just want to drink it.