It almost pains me to give my husband credit for this soup recipe, but really it was his idea. He dropped the not so subtle hint by sharing a similar recipe on my timeline. I tracked down the original recipe to Food.com and decided to humour him.

The recipe was actually very good (sorry, I have never had the Olive Garden version so can’t compare the two), but I did make a few changes. Mainly I sautéed the onion, omitted the water and used Swanson Tuscan Chicken Flavor Infused Broth for the chicken broth. These little tweaks worked out really well, and this is definitely a recipe I will be making again soon!

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat Recipe

Name: Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 4 slices bacon, diced; 1 pound bulk Italian sausage; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1 onion, diced; 4 cups chicken broth I used Swanson Tuscan Chicken Flavor Infused Broth; 3 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced; 3 cups baby spinach; 1 cup heavy cream; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

4 slices bacon, diced
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
4 cups chicken broth I used Swanson Tuscan Chicken Flavor Infused Broth
3 large potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cups baby spinach
1 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
In a large stockpot or dutch oven cook Italian sausage over medium heat, crumble the sausage as it cooks with a spoon. Cook until cooked through, about 3-5 minutes. Remove sausage crumbles with slotted spoon and set aside.
Add onion to the sausage drippings, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes, add garlic and cook about 2 more minutes. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
Stir in sausage and spinach until spinach begins to wilt, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in heavy cream until heated through.
Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from: Food.com