Soups have got to be one of my favorite things to make. They fall into that wonderful one-pot meal category — proteins, veggies, everything you need all in one bowl. Granted they don’t always work year round (no one wants to eat a steaming bowl of mulligatawny soup in August), but for several seasons of the year they’re ideal. So when I had a nice bunch of kale to use up and a basketful of sweet potatoes, I thought I’d give this recipe a try.
Healthier Zuppa Toscana Soup
I kept seeing copycat recipes for Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana online. I’d never tried it, but a soup of Italian sausage, kale, and potatoes sounded pretty delicious. I simplified it a little and decided to replace the white potatoes with sweet potatoes.
I don’t always use sweet potatoes in place of white potatoes, but you may notice a trend: loaded sweet potato soup, sweet potato fries, and sweet potato topped shepherd’s pie.
Why all the sweet potatoes?
The plethora of sweet potato recipes is partly from necessity. We like to grow sweet potatoes in the garden and occasionally have so many that I have to get creative with how I use them!
Sweet potatoes are also very healthy. They’re high in potassium, fiber, and vitamin A. I love being able to incorporate such a nutrient-dense vegetable into great tasting meals.
For this soup, I slice the sweet potatoes fairly thin so they cook quickly. You can peel them first or just leave the peels on.
More Copycat Recipes Made Healthy
Here are some of our favorites:
- Asian Color Burst Salad
- Asian Ginger Vinaigrette
- Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wrap
- Chipotle Style Burrito Bowl
- Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- P.F. Chang Asian Lettuce Wraps
- Pineapple Whip
- Real Food Shamrock Shake
- Sous Vide Egg Bites
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Vegetable Fried “Rice”
- Not mine, but Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos
Sweet Potato Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 2 large onions (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced, or 1 tsp garlic powder)
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 5 medium sweet potatoes (thinly sliced)
- 1 cup heavy cream (or coconut milk)
- 2 cups kale (washed, dried, and shredded)
Instructions
- In a large pot, brown the Italian sausage.
- Remove the sausage and set aside.
- Add the diced onions to the pot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and cook and additional minute.
- Stir in the chicken broth and bring to a boil.
- Add the sweet potatoes and boil for about 20 minutes until sweet potatoes are fork tender.
- Add the kale and simmer for 2 more minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the cream and cooked sausage.
- Stir to combine and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Do you like to make copycat recipes? What’s your best success?
I made this today with a batch of your bone broth recipe! While I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss the bacon that is in the Olive Garden version;) I didn’t have chicken sausage but used some Italian turkey sausage. Added some salt and red pepper flakes too but I think that was due to my bland sausage. Is there anything that can be added to tone down the sweetness of coconut milk and sweet potatoes? Otherwise suuuuper healthy and pretty tasty?
If you’re looking for a good summer soup, try lithuanian summer soup. Beets, buttermilk, hard boiled eggs and cucumbers. Sounds weird but it’s amazing and super healthy