Zuppa Toscana is easily made in the slow cooker, made with potatoes, sausage and kale. Great for a weeknight dinner.
With many soups to try in the slow cooker, this is a very popular one to try! Zuppa Toscana is a classic recipe that you may have seen on the menu at Olive Garden. It is a potato and sausage soup that has cream and kale added at the end. It makes for a hearty dinner, just needs some crusty bread!
This soup takes a little bit of prep work, but nothing too time-consuming. I don’t peel the potatoes for this recipe, I like the texture of the unpeeled potatoes in this soup.
Be sure not to add the kale and heavy cream until the end of the cooking time.
More slow cooker soup recipes:
- Slow Cooker Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle
- Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup
- Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken Soup
- Slow Cooker Summer Minestrone Soup
- Slow Cooker Maine Corn Chowder
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Slow Cooker Zuppa Toscana
Equipment Needed:
- Slow Cooker – 4 quart or larger
Ingredients:
- 6 slices bacon cut, cooked and drained
- 1 lb. mild pork sausage browned and drained (such as jimmy dean)
- 4 cups diced russet potatoes
- 1 cup diced white onion
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 2 tsp. minced garlic
- 32 oz. box chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream add at the end
- 4 cups chopped kale add at the end
Instructions:
- Add everything to the slow cooker EXCEPT the cream and kale.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours.
- When the cooking time is done, add the heavy cream and kale, push the kale down in to the soup.
- Cover and cook for and additional 20 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Delicious. How can I make it thicker?
You can do a cornstarch and water slurry. Or use cream cheese instead of cream.
Do you cook sausage in frying pan before adding to crockpot?
Yes.
Made this today and it was a hit! Turned out great.
What is the serving size?
Absolutely delicious!
I love this soup and this recipe is great. Love that it’s easy and I don’t have to watch it in the slow cooker. I doubled it the second time because it disappeared so quickly. I did use fresh baby spinach instead of the kale and thought it was great. Thanks!!
Can I put it on high and cook for half the time?
Yes! I would try 4 hours on high
Does this freeze well?!?
I don’t recommend freezing anything with dairy or potatoes, doesn’t thaw out well.
What brand and type of mild sausage.?
Pork sausage. I use jimmy dean.
Great recipe; we made it today. Can it be frozen?
I think the cream may weird after being froze. Has anyone else froze this after making?
I have never had this soup at Olive Garden, but you make it look so delicious and sounds so easy that I will have to give it a try soon. Thanks for the recipe!
Has anyone swapped out the kale for something else, like spinach? Interested to hear how that is.
Spinach doesn’t hold up as well as the kale. I was never big on kale but in soup it is so much better than spinach.
I always use spinach. Also Italian sausage in place of regular sausage.
My husband love love loves this soup at Olive Garden and I have made a stove top version. Yours sounds delicious and a lot more convenient and I can’t wait to try it.