The Best Vegetarian Zuppa Toscana

This Vegetarian Zuppa Toscana features a mixture of fresh kale, thinly sliced potatoes, cream, and a flavorful spice blend. This recipe is made without meat or meat alternatives. It’s a satisfying and hearty takeout inspired meal that’s great year-round. Makes 9 cups of soup.

This is one of those recipes I didn’t know I needed. I always picked out the sausage (those rare times we went to OG and I ordered this soup)–but I loved the cream and potato base. I would have been making this dish long before I became vegetarian if I would’ve thought about. For those of you who are new here (welcome!) I’ve been a vegetarian for 3 years and most of the recipes I share are my home versions of a dish I used to love (ya know, before going veg). This version of Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana is vegetarian and definitely fits the bill for us to enjoy the soup now 🙂

Highlights of The Best Vegetarian Zuppa Toscana:

• Easy to make and ready in under 50 minutes- great for any day!
• Spicy and Rich (but not too spicy or too rich)
• Comforting and delicious
• A hearty, restaurant style meal at home
• Meat free (and no meat alternatives!)

Keys to Making this Soup:

1. Use real heavy cream and real butter (yep–full fat and all.)
2. Kale should be kept small (1 inch or so)
3. Potatoes cut at 1/4 inch thick (this thickness means some will fall apart but most will stay intact so you’ll have a good variety)

The Best Vegetarian Zuppa Toscana

Hearty + spicy potato and kale soup. Vegetarian take on Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana. Perfect year round and so easy to make. Ready in about 50 minutes.

For the Italian Spice Blend:

• 1/2 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/8 tsp crushed fennel
• 1/8 tsp paprika

For the soup:

• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 3 large russet potatoes, cut to 1/4 inch thick
• 2 cups Curly or Lacinato Kale, stems removed + small chop (~1 inch squares)
• 1 large onion, diced small (yellow or white)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 4 Tbl butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt/pepper to taste

Prepare Italian Spice Blend:

1. Mix all of the dried spices together in a dish and set aside.

Make the soup:

1. In a large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat.

2. Add in the onion, garlic and spice blend, stirring to coat the onions/garlic with the spices. Cook until soft and fragrant, 5 minutes stirring occasionally.

   (the goal here is for the spices to adhere to the onion–helps keep them from floating throughout the soup)

3. Stir in vegetable broth and potatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender but not falling apart, 23-25 minutes.

4. Add in kale and cook until pieces tender and bright green–2-3 minutes.

5. Stir in heavy cream and simmer until heated through, 5 more minutes.

6. Serve as desired and enjoy! Top with fresh parsley, salt and pepper or some (vegetarian) Parmesan.

   Soup will keep in refrigerator for up to 5 days. Excellent on day 2! Freezing not recommended due to cream.

• We highly recommend using real heavy cream and the full amount of butter.
  • We have tested using alternatives (milk, half and half, less butter, etc) but the creaminess of the soup really depends upon the heavy cream. 
• We leave the skins on our potatoes but this is just preference–peeled would be great, too!
• Italian Sausage Spice Blend adapted from: https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/homemade-italian-sausage-seasoning/
• Recipe adapted from: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a45873/copycat-olive-garden-zuppa-toscana-recipe/

Give this a try next time you want some restaurant style flavors at home 🙂 Or as a great appetizer for Italian night! Share this with your vegetarian friends or anyone eating less meat 🙂

Have a great week!

-Emma