Zuppa Toscana Soup

Zuppa Toscana – Or Tuscan Soup

Prep Time: About 10 minutes

Cook Time: 4.5 Hours in a slow cooker

Servings: 6-8

This warming and hearty soup is made with potatoes, kale, spicy Italian sausage as well as generous amounts of garlic and onion.  Though Zuppa Toscana comes in many varieties, this version is a copycat of a popular soup featured at a national Italian chain restaurant known for what I will call “limitless drinkable food, bowls of garden stuff and sticks of garlic gluten” (soup, salad, and breadsticks.)

This version uses a slow cooker because I love coming home to the aroma of a slow-cooked meal. And I just got a new slow cooker that I have been itching to try out.  However, preparing the soup in a pot on the stove is just as easy and takes less time (about an hour in total).

Ingredients

• 1lb. ground Italian “hot” Sausage (or mild if you prefer)
• 6 strips of bacon
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic or 10 cloves peeled and pressed
• 1 medium yellow onion finely diced
• 4 cups of chicken broth or chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 4 medium-sized russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1in pieces
• 1 bundle of kale, stripped of the stem and chopped into bite-size pieces   (approximately 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp of granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• optional parmesan cheese to serve

Instructions:

Start by cooking your bacon in a skillet until brown, then transferring the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to soak up the excess grease before crumbling into bite-size pieces.

Drain half of the bacon fat from the skillet before using it to brown your Italian hot sausage.  This will add additional flavor! Once the sausage is browned, strain off the excess fat and also transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to soak up additional grease. Don’t skip this step or your soup will have a thick layer of grease on top once cooked.

While your sausage is cooking, finely chop your onion, strip and chop your kale, and peel and chop your potato into bite-size pieces (around 1 to 1/2 inch).

In an 8-quart slow cooker, pour in your chicken broth and water and add in your minced garlic, chopped onion, browned sausage, cooked bacon, diced potato, and spices.  Give it a good stir and cook on high for 4 hours until your potatoes are fork-tender.

Once your potatoes are tender, stir in your heavy whipping cream and chopped kale and cook on high for an additional half-hour until flavors are blended.

Garnish with parmesan cheese and enjoy!