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A few nights ago, Bjork and I sat down for dinner with the girls. It’s pitch black out. Freezing cold and windy.
On the stove: a Dutch oven with browned bits of sausage, tender potatoes, and wilted kale, all wrapped in a a creamy, rich, slurpable broth. House smells amazing, we’re all feeling real cozy.
I ladled steamy zuppa toscana into bowls. Handed out chunk of warm, crusty bread. There’s buttering, there’s soup dunking, and honestly, just silence and clinking bowls and spoons.
And then there’s this moment where we looked at each other and almost started laughing, like, “oh my gosh. this is so good right now.”

Zuppa toscana (the one I’m channeling here) is the Italian-American classic Olive Garden soup that we all know and love. But it hits really different when homemade.
The thing I want you to know most of all is that the broth here is BROTHY. It’s creamy while being highly slurpable. When you dip a piece of bread in there, it’s going to sop, soak, saturate in the best way. (I have a very similar recipe – sausage, kale, and white bean stew – which is highly rated and I love it. But the difference is that one tends to be thicker. This one is truly brothy.)
We’re talking *MINIMAL* ingredients. Humble simplicity. Just the easiest recipe ever, and somehow the end result is just so incredibly delicious.
Wishing you a cozy zuppa toscana night with lots of bread!

I start with the sausage, then add onions and garlic. Let it cook down for a good 5-10 minutes until super soft.

I add water and then use Better Than Bouillon for my broth base!

Let it hang out over a low simmer so all the flavors lock in and the kale wilts down.

This is such a great moment. Soup, bread, coziness at its peak.

Guys, I live in Minnesota and I make so much soup. I love it so much. Click here for a list of 30 more of my favorite, top-rated soup recipes!
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Zuppa Toscana:
To Season / Serve:
Broth: I always use 6 cups water + 2 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon chicken flavor base. It’s amazing. Highly recommend. If you’re not using this, you’ll probably need to add a bit more salt.
Pork Fat: This soup will have small beads of the pork fat distributed throughout the soup and/or pearling on top of the soup. That’s a good thing – it is a sign of both amazing flavor and a luscious mouthfeel. These will incorporate as it gently bubbles, and they will rise to the surface as it cools. To re-incorporate, just heat it back up again and give it a stir.
Bacon: Hot take, but I don’t think it’s necessary which is why I didn’t include it. You get so much flavor already from the pork sausage. I have never eaten this and wished it had bacon in it.
Potato Peels vs. No Peels: If you want to save a bit of time, use baby potatoes and just cut them into quarters – you don’t have to peel them! It has a slightly different, more earthy taste (as potato peels do), but can confirm, it’s still delicious.
White Wine: For weeks now, I’ve considered adding white wine to this recipe to deglaze the pan after the sausage, onion, and garlic; in my mind, it would add a nice layer of acidity to a very savory, rich broth. However, I have made this so many times and never had white wine in the house on any of the times, and I have loved every batch so much exactly as it is. Let me know if you try it with white wine in there!
Keywords: zuppa toscana
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