This 5-star Healthy Zuppa Toscana Soup is a lightened-up Whole30 version of the popular Olive Garden favorite. Each bite in this dairy-free Zuppa Toscana soup includes lean Italian turkey sausage, creamy potatoes, and hearty kale; it’s delicious and better than the restaurant version.
I have mentioned this before, but I worked as a waitress at the Olive Garden long ago (in another life). Those were fun times filled with lots of salad, breadsticks, and yummy food.
Pasta Fagioli, Healthy Baked Ziti, Healthy Chicken Parmesan, Healthy Fettucine Alfredo, Baked Eggplant Parmesan, Baked Turkey Meatballs, and Healthy Artichoke Spinach Dip are healthier copycat versions of my favorite Olive Garden recipes. And you’d never know these are lightened-up recipes because each one is delicious.
Today, I’m sharing a Whole30 and Paleo version of the popular Zuppa Toscana.
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Reasons you’ll love this recipe.
- Easy to prepare. Everything goes into one soup pot!
- Nutritious. This healthy Zuppa Toscana soup is filled with lean protein, high-fiber kale and potatoes, and a dairy-free creamy base made without heavy cream or half and half. It’s also gluten-free Paleo, Whole30, and, with a couple of swaps, Keto-friendly.
- Delicious! This copycat Zuppa Toscano consistently gets 5-star ratings from readers! It’s super tasty without all of the fat and calories.
- Make-ahead. This creamy potato sausage soup can be made on Sunday for the week or frozen for a quick lunch or dinner later on.
Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients you’ll need to make a pot of this tasty, healthy Zuppa Toscana soup. For the full instructions, see the recipe card.
- Italian turkey sausage. You can either purchase ground Italian sausage or poultry links. If you get links, then remove the casing before using the sausage in the recipe.
- Onion and cloves of garlic. The starting foundation for this healthy Zuppa Toscana.
- Dried basil, oregano, and thyme. This seasoning blend adds the perfect layer of flavor to this soup. You can also use a teaspoon of this homemade Italian seasoning mix.
- Crushed red pepper flakes. This gives the soup a nice spicy kick.
- Potatoes. A classic Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup uses russet potatoes. However, Yukon gold potatoes, also called yellow or butter, are my favorite to use in this soup recipe. I’ve used both many times, and I prefer yellow over russet because they have a creamier buttery texture. Russets tend to get grainy. However, both will work.
- Unsweetened coconut milk. Instead of heavy cream or half and half, I used unsweetened coconut milk. It adds the perfect creaminess to this soup without the extra saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories. Use the coconut milk found in the dairy section not the canned coconut milk.
- Fresh kale. You can purchase cleaned and chopped kale bags from the produce section to save time. If you buy whole kale leaves, then clean the leaves thoroughly and remove the stem before chopping. You can also use frozen kale. Here are my instructions for freezing kale if there are leftovers.
How to Make Healthy Zuppa Toscana Soup
Start by heating olive oil in a large soup pot on the stove top and cook the Italian sausage over medium-high heat until it is no longer pink. Use a large spoon or spatula to break the sausage into small pieces as it cooks. Because you’re using poultry sausage, you won’t need to drain any grease.
Add the onion, garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes to the sausage and cook for 5 minutes or until the onion and garlic start to soften.
Stir in the potatoes, chicken broth, and coconut milk and bring to a boil.
Then reduce to a simmer over medium heat until potatoes are fork tender – this takes about 15-20 minutes. Give the soup a taste, and then add in the salt.
Stir in the kale and cook for another 15 minutes or until the kale is tender. Season with more salt and black pepper if needed. Serve hot!
Serving suggestions
This Whole30 Zuppa Toscana soup is a meal in itself, but if you want some different sides, then try these ideas:
- Gluten free Caesar salad or another green salad.
- Roasted broccoli, Italian roasted veggies, or roasted asparagus.
Cooking Tips
- Leave the skin on the potatoes. I’ve made it both ways, and both are tasty. Make sure to clean the potatoes thoroughly to remove any dirt or debris.
- Adjust the spice level. If you like a spicier soup, add extra crushed red pepper flakes. You can also control the spice by using either mild or hot Italian poultry sausage. Remember that using hot Italian sausage, you might not need crushed hot pepper flakes. It depends on how spicy you want the soup.
- Adjust the consistency of the soup. If the soup seems too thin, mash up some potatoes to thicken it up. On the flip side, if it starts to thicken up as it sits, you can stir some chicken broth to loosen it up.
Variations
- If you don’t want to use kale, then baby spinach, Swiss chard, or other greens will work fine as a substitute.
- You can also use almond or other non-dairy milk, but coconut milk provides a creamy texture; the others don’t. Or swap in dairy milk or half and half if you don’t need a dairy-free soup.
- To create keto-friendly Zuppa Toscana recipes, swap in cauliflower florets for potatoes.
- For extra flavor, add in bacon or pancetta. Cook 4-6 slices of bacon, remove it from the pan, and set it aside. Crumble it once it cools. Drain most of the bacon grease, cook the sausage, and continue with the rest of the recipe. After the soup cooks, stir in the bacon, saving some to sprinkle on top.
- Instead of turkey sausage, you can use pork sausage, ground chicken, or ground turkey. Of course, keep in mind this will change the soup’s flavor.
- Bulk up the veggies. You can add celery, carrots, and other vegetables to this soup.
Storage Tips
Zuppa Toscana gets better by the day, so it’s a great soup to make on Sunday for lunch or dinner all week. Or freeze it to have dinner ready for later on.
- For the week. After the soup cools, place it into an airtight container and refrigerator for up to 4 days. I like to use individual containers to keep portions under control and also so I can quickly heat and eat.
- For the freezer: I’ve frozen this Zuppa Toscana recipe numerous times. I’ve never had a problem with the coconut milk separating or curdling.
- After the soup cools, place it into containers leaving an inch from the top for expansion. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. I also love to use Souper Cubes 1-cup portion silicone trays to freeze this and other soup recipes. You can get more tips in my how-to-freeze soup tutorial.
More Healthy Soup Recipes
If you are looking for a couple of more healthy and delicious soup recipes, take a look at this list:
- Cheeseburger Soup
- Buffalo Chicken Soup
- Pizza Soup
- Healthy Potato Soup
- Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Healthy Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Chicken Tortellini Soup
See all of my healthy soup recipes.
Healthy Zuppa Toscana
Equipment
- 5 1/2 quart dutch oven or soup pot
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground Italian turkey or poultry sausage or 6 links with casings removed
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 6 cloves garlic finely minced. You'll get about 2-3 teaspoons of minced garlic.
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 lbs yellow or russet potatoes skins removed and cut into bite-sized pieces.
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (carton) you can substitute any milk, half and half, or cream.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3-4 cups chopped kale
- salt and black ground pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot and cook the italian sausage until no longer pink. As it's cooking use a spoon or spatula to break into small pieces.
- Add the onion, garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes to the sausage and cook that for 5 minutes or until the onion and garlic start to soften.
- Stir in the potatoes, chicken broth, and coconut milk and bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are soft – this takes about 15-20 minutes.
- Give the soup a taste, and then add in the salt.
- Stir in the kale and cook for another 15 minutes or until the kale is tender.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Have you tried this Healthy Zuppa Toscana Recipe? I can’t wait to see it! If so, I’d love for you to rate this recipe and leave a comment below. We all learn from each other’s experiences. Also, it would be awesome if you could share a picture on Instagram and tag it #organizeyourselfskinny.
Kathy says
Absolutely delicious! M new favorite for me. I used hot Italian pork sausage and omitted the red flakes. Magnificent!!!
Molly Pinon says
I made this one for my husband and it was an absolute hit. The recipe was easy to follow and turned out IMO better than Zappa Toscana from Olive Garden – Thank you for posting this one. I will definitely be making this one again.
darlene says
I made this yesterday for my brother who had pancreatic surgery a month ago I substituted omion powder for onions and garlic powder for the garlic and he loved it and wanted the rescipe . It was so good! Thank you for the lighter version of Zuppa Touscana.
Jyl says
I made this yesterday and it was delicious! The only thing I changed was the turkey sausage. My grocery store was out and I couldn’t bring myself to buy the regular sausage links (21g of fat per link! YIKES) so I just bought the ground turkey (98% fat free) and it was still good. Thank you sharing, I’ll definitely make it again!
suzanne says
I make a very similar recipe only I slice up raw cauliflower, looks like little sliced potatos, and throw them in the pot the last 10 minutes. They keep a firmness and are still yummy the next day.
Much more than 10 minutes and they add a sweetness to the soup that I dont like.
Lisa E says
This was so good, we spiced it up much more for our taste profile. Definitely a new recipe in our rotation!
Nicole says
I absolutely love this recipe! Have made it twice already! But how much is 1/7th of the recipe? A cup? A cup in a half?
rosie says
Thanks! I’ve still got kale in the raised bed, and a huge bag in the freezer. Everything on hand except the sausage. So, this goes to the top of my list once I finish freezing and canning from the garden. I’m really enjoying your blog!
Margaret Schenck says
hi this recipe sounds delicious but I’m asking about the kale in your freezer. can kale be frozen fresh is there anything I need to do to it before freezing it I bought the only kale I could find and it was a super large bag and I would like to use only half of it so freezing would be ideal how do you freeze kale Thanks
Tammy Kresge says
Yes you can just throw kale into a freezer bag and freeze. I do it all the time and it works great.
Laurie says
This is the first time making this recipe, easy to follow instructions. I omitted the red pepper flakes and used Tuscan spice blend with sweet Italian sausage. Smells amazing.
Lori says
YUM! It smells amazing simmering on my stove right now! I added extra red pepper flakes to make it spicy! I can’t wait to try it!
Mary says
Very good. I would add note not to worry about exact amounts, etc. I added more broth and only one c 2% milk (all I had). Simmered only five min after kale added because I like it crunchy. Thank you for posting!
Marissa says
Really great. My boyfriend wanted us to try to make his favorite Olive Garden soup, and I was hoping to find a recipe that used milk instead of cream. This recipe was perfect. We used lean pork sausage instead turkey. Great flavors, loved the texture of the broth.
Julie says
I made this last night and my hubby and I both love it! There wasn’t any left to freeze. Next time I will double the recipe and have some to freeze. Thank you for the good healthy recipe!
Nancy says
So delish. Thanks for sharing!
Melissa says
can we substitute spinach?
Mary Beth says
Have done that with success, as my family does not care for kale.
Roberta Davis says
The recipe reads 7 servings, but how much is a serving? Is it a cup, two cups? I want to use the nutrition information but need to know the portion size. Thanks for all you do! Can’t wait to try this.
Georgianne Watling says
Hi. I was looking for kale recipes and came upon your website.
Tried the kale soup last nite and it was delicious and easy to make. I will definitely be trying some more of your recipes!!
PS funny thing is I am from Buffalo!
Tammy Kresge says
Awesome!! Love my fellow buffalonians!
rachael morcio says
Absolutely delicious!!! Thank you
Tria says
Super recipe Kale is the latest in thing.
Cecily Olson says
Will the potatoes freeze okay with this recipe? I have read that they typically don’t freeze well?
My husband is dying for me to try this!!
Tammy says
Yes only raw potatoes have issues freezing. try this recipe. You will love it – and so will hubs 🙂
Cecily Olson says
Yay!! So excited 🙂 thank you!
Sharyn says
Am I missing something on the nutritional info? It doesn’t have calories? I can’t wait to make it, though!
Tammy says
Just fixed it. Sorry.
Deborah says
do you have the sodium count on this?
Lynn says
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1/7 of recipe Calories: 316 Fat: 11 Carbohydrates: 34 Fiber: 3 Protein: 20
William says
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1/7 of recipe Calories: 316 Fat: 11 Carbohydrates: 34 Fiber: 3 Protein: 20