An Olive Garden Copycat Recipe
One of my favorite chain restaurants to dine at is Olive Garden. My husband absolutely adores their Zuppa Toscana soup and always orders it every time we go. While browsing around pinterest, I found this copy cat recipe and knew I had to try it. Needless to say, Justin loved it and the left overs did not last long. A fun fact, I used the kale from our garden in the soup and try to use everything from our garden that I possibly can in my recipes! Now, the taste of the soup is without a doubt creamy and literally has you craving more with the sweet Italian sausage and potato bites that seem to just crumble in your mouth. This would not be for the health conscious person necessarily, but it's fun to diverge every now and then and try something on the creamier side. It's more of a hearty soup perfect for Fall in my opinion.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound spicy Italian sausage, casing removed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 cups kale
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add Italian sausage to the skillet and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in sausage and kale about 5 minutes. Stir in heavy cream until heated through, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, garnished with bacon.