If you love Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup, you will love this recipe for Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana. Made in under 30 minutes, with and satisfying flavor, this Copycat Zuppa Toscana is a keeper!
Does anyone remember the days when Olive Garden offered all-you-can-eat soup, salad, and breadsticks? It was a dream come true for broke college kids, myself included.
And while I haven't stepped foot inside an Olive Garden in decades, my love for their Zuppa Toscana, salad, and breadsticks still runs deep! That is why I am thrilled to share with you this recipe for Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana Soup. Along with my recipe for Instant Pot Minestrone, Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli, and Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup, this recipe proves homemade trumps Olive Garden!
Reasons To Love Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
- Better than Olive Garden. While the flavor is reminiscent of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana, this homemade version trumps the restaurant's version. It uses quality, fresh ingredients, which in turn, delivers the best flavor!
- Lower in Fat and Sodium. This is not a light soup, yet Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana is lower in fat and sodium than when you get the soup out.
- Bacon. Need I say more? The bacon, along with the Italian sausage gives this soup smokey undertones to make this soup irresistibly good.
- 30-Minute One-Pot Dinner Recipe. Thanks to the Instant Pot, you can enjoy this copycat recipe in under 30 minutes, making it the perfect easy dinner recipe to enjoy any night of the week.
Ingredients for Zuppa Toscana
- Bacon: Use thick-cut, pork bacon for the best flavor.
- Sausage: Use any ground store-bought or homemade Italian sausage you like. Chicken, turkey, or pork Italian sausage all work well.
- Aromatics: Adding garlic and minced yellow onion to the soup helps to build layers of flavor.
- White Wine: Use a dry white wine, such as Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio, to add sharpness and depth of flavor to the Zuppa Toscana.
- Chicken Stock/Broth: Use low-sodium store-bought, homemade chicken stock, or Instant Pot Chicken Stock.
- Seasonings: This soup develops intense flavor thanks to the bacon and sausage. Therefore, you only need kosher salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes to season the soup.
- Potatoes: Russet, red, or yellow potatoes all work in Zuppa Toscana. There is no need to peel the potatoes, just scrub them well before adding.
- Kale: Be sure to remove the thick, hearty stems of the kale before adding it to the soup.
- Cream: Use heavy cream to give the soup a creamy finish and tone down the spices added to the soup.
How to Make Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
The following tips are provided to help you achieve perfect results. You will find the detailed instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Sauté Meat and Onions
Beginning this recipe by sauteing the bacon until it is crispy and renders out its fat, goes a long way to developing flavor to the soup. Using the rendered bacon grease to sauté the sausage and onions will add rich, smokey undertones to replicate the flavors known and loved in Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana.
Deglaze the Inner Pot with Wine
After sauteing the bacon and sausage, add the wine, or a bit of stock to the inner pot and use a wooden spatula to scrape off all the browned bits on the bottom of the inner pot. This is a crucial step in preventing a burn notice.
Add Remaining Ingredients
At this point add in the broth, potatoes, seasonings, and kale.
Pressure Cook with Natural Pressure Release
After pressure cooking for 5 minutes, let the pressure release naturally for AT LEAST 15 minutes! To do a quick release of pressure would result in hot liquid spewing all over your kitchen!
Finish with Cream
Adding cream to the Zuppa Toscana after pressure cooking will help to thicken up this soup and make it oh-so rich and creamy!
Serving Suggestions
Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana is the perfect soup to cozy up to on a cold winter's night! Dish the soup up and top it with the reserved crispy bacon and extra parmesan cheese and dive into the coziest of soups.
I also recommend serving Zuppa Toscana with Homemade Italian Bread, Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks, or Dutch Oven Bread for dipping and a Copycat Olive Garden Salad or Caesar Salad to round out the meal.
Substitutions/Modifications
- No bacon? In place of rendered bacon grease, use olive oil to sauté the sausage and onions and simply omit the bacon from the recipe.
- Swap kale for spinach. While kale is customary in Zuppa Toscana, feel free to use spinach if that is what you have on hand. However, unlike kale, spinach does not need long to cook. Simply add the spinach to the soup when adding the cream.
- Don't cook with alcohol? Use additional stock in place of wine.
- Use frozen kale. Feel free to use defrosted and drained kale in place of fresh kale. You don't want to add frozen kale directly to the soup, as the water content from the kale will water down the flavor.
- Using a 3-Quart Instant Pot: If you are using a 3-quart Instant Pot, it is best to cut the recipe in half but leave the cooking time the same.
More Instant Pot Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot Potato Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
- Instant Pot Lasagna Soup
- Instant Pot White Bean and Kale Soup
- Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup
- Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup
I hope you enjoy this recipe for Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana and I would love for you to take the time to leave a comment and/or review.
Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana Soup
Ingredients
- 3 slices thick-cut bacon chopped
- ½ pound Italian Sausage casings removed
- 1 small onion minced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup dry white wine optional
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 5 medium russet potatoes cut into 1 inch chunks
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes optional
- 3 cups fresh kale chopped and stems removed
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot turn sauté and allow to heat up. Add in bacon and sauté until browned and crispy. Remove bacon using slotted spoon and place on paper towel lined plate.
- Add in sausage and the onions, breaking up the sausage as it cooks. Once the sausage is browned add in the garlic and sauté for one minute longer.
- Add the wine into the inner pot, scrape up any browned bits off the bottom of the inner pot, and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes until the alcohol is cooked off. Turn Instant Pot off.
- To the inner pot, add the stock, potatoes, salt, pepper, chili flakes, and kale and gently stir to combine.
- Place the lid on the pressure cooker, and seal or lock the lid. Set to cook on high pressure for 5 minutes by hitting manual or pressure cook and using the +/- buttons to adjust the cooking time.
- Once cook time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally for at least 15 minutes. After 15 minutes have passed, you can release the remaining pressure by using a wooden spoon or pot holder to unlock or release the venting knob. Alternatively, allow for a full natural pressure release.
- Stir in cream and place the lid back on the pressure cooker for 3-5 minutes to let the cream heat through.
- Serve soup, topped with cooked bacon and Parmesan cheese if desired.
Julie Hewett
My husband and son’s favorite soup at Olive Garden. They thought this was better. We all had 2 bowls!
Kristen Chidsey
That is the best kind of compliment. I love hearing this Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana recipe was better than their favorite!
Jan
This soup was delicious! However, there is no way in the world that it can be done in 30 minutes. 5 minutes of prep time is a real joke.
Sam
This was so delicious! I love finding new recipes for my instant pot!
Mel
Everyone in my family loved this recipe. But I especially loved how EASY it was to make. Thanks for this new to me instant pot favorite!
Kristen Chidsey
I love hearing you enjoyed so much Mel! Thanks for sharing!
Araceli Rodriguez
Great soup!, thanks for the recipe.
Melissa
I just got my Instant Pot for Christmas. Best meal I’ve made in it so far. My 14-year-old daughter had two bowls. I will make this again!
Kristen Chidsey
I am so happy you enjoyed so much Melissa! I especially love when the kids get seconds! I hope you find many more recipes to enjoy here!
Clarence
I left out the chili flakes.
This was well enjoyed by all three of us here, but dinner was late.
I'm switching from Slow Cooker to Instant Pot, and I get carried away with the idea that it is "Instant".
This took about two hours, start to finish.
The listed prep time of five minutes is less than it took for me to wash and chop the potatoes.
Oh, my son stole my frozen kale for a smoothie, so I had to run down to the store and get another bag, but my laptop screen hadn't even timed out by the time I got back.
I bumped up the garlic and the bacon amounts. Can't have too much bacon on hand, since it is a user-adjustable topping.
Kristen Chidsey
Clarence, I am SO happy you enjoyed this soup, but sorry if the timing was off. I am pretty quick at prepping, so I need to keep in mind not everyone moves at my speed. I hope you enjoy this soup again and again though 🙂
Karly
This soup looks amazing and easy! Thanks for sharing!
Kristen Chidsey
You bet Karly--it is really one of our favorites.