You’re going to love this easy Crock Pot Zuppa Toscana… let your slow cooker do the work!
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There’s just something I love about opening my front door to a blast of aroma from a crock pot full of hearty soup. Loaded with sausage, bacon, potatoes and kale, this Olive Garden copycat recipe is nothing short of comforting.
How to make Zuppa Toscana in your crock pot:
You’ll start out with frying the sausage and bacon in a large skillet until cooked. Add garlic and chopped onion and cook an additional minute. Drain off grease and transfer the mixture to your slow cooker insert, along with chicken broth, water, potatoes and seasonings. Cook for 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low.
Kale and heavy cream are then added and cooked an additional 30 minutes on high. EASY PEASY!
What to serve with this soup:
Serve with salad and/or crusty French bread and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan, if desired.
Looking for a stove top version of this recipe? You can find it by clicking here. Enjoy! 
Crock Pot Zuppa Toscana
- Total Time: 6 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 5 slices thick cut bacon, chopped into ½-inch pieces
- 1 (20-ounce) package hot Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1–½ cups chopped yellow onion (about ½ of a jumbo onion)
- 1 tablespoon freshly minced garlic
- 1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 4 medium russet potatoes (about 1–½ pounds), peeled and cut into about 1-inch pieces (or unpeeled by cleaning, rinsing and cut into 1-inch pieces)
- 1 teaspoon salt (more or less, to taste)
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (more or less, to taste)
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 3 cups tightly packed chopped kale with large stems removed
- Freshly grated Parmesan for topping, if desired
Instructions
- Fry bacon and sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat until cooked and sausage is browned (about 7-8 minutes), crumbling sausage as it cooks. Add onion and garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Drain off grease. Transfer mixture to slow cooker insert (I used a 6-quart slow cooker). Add chicken broth, water, potatoes, salt, pepper, sugar and nutmeg. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 5-6 hours.
- Add heavy cream and kale and stir to combine. Cover and cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.
- Serve topped with freshly grated Parmesan, if desired.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Category: Soup
- Method: Slow Cook
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: crockpot zuppa toscana, slow cooker zuppa toscana, crock pot zuppa toscana recipe, crock pot zuppa toscana soup
Absolutely delicious! My husband loves this soup and he thinks this is just as good or even better than Olive Garden’s. When he stopped eating meat, I modified the recipe to use plant-based sausage and bacon and it’s just as good.
★★★★★
Is there anyway to make the broth thicker?
This soup is wonderful, Amy! We just ate it. And it wasn’t complicated at all. (I NEED SIMPLE!) Loved it. My husband had 2 big bowls!)
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Jennifer – So glad you and your husband enjoyed it!
Seriously the best Zuppa recipe ever! I’ve made several Olive Garden copy cat recipes, and this is by far the best. Tastes even better in my opinion! My picky eaters absolutely loved it. Keeping this recipe in my back pocket!
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Hannah – so glad you enjoyed it!
This soup was amazing!!! I did add only about quarter of the cup of heavy cream otherwise my soup would also be too milky and heavy.
★★★★★
I love this soup when I had it at Olive Garden and thank you for giving us the recipe. I made it today and it turned out perfect!
★★★★★
Thanks so much, Teresa… so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I have tried a multitude of Zuppa Toscana recipes, and this was is BY FAR my family’s favorite!! The creaminess and flavor is amazing. Thank you!
★★★★★
This was the best Zuppa Toscana I’ve had! Better than the restaurant! I substituted the hot Italian sausage for regular ground sausage and used a spinach/kale mix in lieu of just kale, And (accidentally) omitted half the water, but otherwise stuck to the recipe and it was delicious! The nutmeg and sugar are the magic ingredients!