Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat Recipe
This week, we’re full-on fall. That being said, it’s soup season! If you are familiar with Olive Garden, you know that the Zuppa Toscana is one of the most loved soups on their menu. Soup, salad, and breadsticks are a much-loved treasure, so why not make it at home? My version of Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana is flavorful and warms the tummy.
Making pressure cooker Zuppa Toscana doesn’t take much effort. It’s pretty much just potato, sausage, and kale. It’s a great meal to prep for the week since it is one big pot of soup. You can easily make the Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana healthy, too by omitting some parts like the cream. Or, ditch the potatoes and make Instant Pot Zuppa Toscano Keto-friendly.
How to Make Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana in the Pressure Cooker
To make Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscano copycat, you want to first turn your pressure cooker onto sauté mode. Once hot, add in your chopped bacon while still stirring occasionally as the bacon renders. Remove the bacon and set aside until later.
Next, add the sausage. Brown the sausage, moving it occasionally and breaking up larger chunks. Brown the sausage as much as possible. You can remove some fat, but keep some in so you can cook the onions in the fat for better flavor. Add your onions in and cook them until they turn translucent. Next, you’ll add the oregano, then garlic, and give it a good stir.
Next, pour in the broth while scraping the bottom of the pot and deglazing. Add your potatoes in and then add the bacon back into the pot. Press cancel on sauté mode, close the lid, and set your valve to sealing.
Next, you’ll hit manual or pressure cook on high for five minutes. After the timer goes off, you’ll wait another 15 minutes to do a natural release of the pressure valve. After the 15 minutes, safely release pressure. Once the pin drops (you’ll hear it), you can open the lid.
Add in kale (or thawed spinach) and give it a stir. Cover your pot for about five minutes so the greens can soften. Stir in the heavy cream and serve!
How to Make Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana Healthy
If you want a healthier version of the Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana copycat, you can omit certain ingredients. The heavy cream portion can be skipped entirely. You can add more kale or spinach for more vitamins and fiber. You can also omit the bacon if you are trying to limit the amount of fat. Along with that, you can substitute the hot Italian sausage with Italian style chicken sausage with fewer calories and fat.
How to Make Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana Keto-Friendly
For Instant Pot Zuppa Toscano keto-style, just omit the potatoes. You should be fine with all the other ingredients since they’re higher in fat and protein. You can add more or less of the meat and kale for extra calories and vitamins as well.
Freezing Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat
If you plan on freezing this soup, just be sure to portion out the soup for the freezer before you add the kale or spinach. Then, when you go to reheat the soup, you can add fresh greens that won’t be all wilted. Otherwise, you may get some wilted greens when going to reheat.
Find More Soup Recipes for Instant Pot
I used my Instant Pot Duo for this recipe, but you can use any Instant Pot model or another brand of pressure cookers. Check out our product reviews, guides, and more yummy recipes!
Instant Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Copycat
Ingredients
- 3 Strips of thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 2 lbs Ground hot Italian sausage (or mild)
- 1 Large onion, chopped
- 1 tsp Oregano, dried
- 5 cloves of Garlic, pressed or minced
- 4-6 Medium Potatoes, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 6 cups of chicken broth, low sodium
- 1 Bunch of kale chopped, with rib removed, or 1 package of thawed spinach
- 1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
Instructions
- First turn your pressure cooker onto sauté mode.
- Once hot, add in your chopped bacon while still stirring occasionally as the bacon renders.
- Remove the bacon and set aside until later.
- Next, add the sausage.
- Brown the sausage, moving it occasionally and breaking up larger chunks. Brown the sausage as much as possible.
- You can remove some fat, but keep some in so you can cook the onions in the fat for better flavor.
- Add your onions in and cook them until they turn translucent.
- Next, you’ll add the oregano, then garlic, and give it a good stir.
- Next, pour in the broth while scraping the bottom of the pot and deglazing.
- Add your potatoes in and then add the bacon back into the pot.
- Press cancel on sauté mode, close the lid, and set your valve to sealing.
- Next, you’ll hit manual or pressure cook on high for five minutes.
- After the timer goes off, you’ll wait another 15 minutes to do a natural release of the pressure valve. After the 15 minutes, safely release pressure. Once the pin drops (you’ll hear it), you can open the lid.
- Add in kale (or thawed spinach) and give it a stir.
- Cover your pot for about five minutes so the greens can soften.
- Stir in the heavy cream and serve