It’s hard to believe that I used to hate soup. Whaaaattt???? I hated them. And I mean all of them. I found soup unsatisfying and uncravable. I needed something with substance (and by substance I mean a big hunk of meat or a big hunk of bread).
How could I resist this beauty???
Nowadays the soup and salad combo is one of my favorites, especially this time of year. I love the contrast: a cool crunchy salad and hot comforting soup. I went to lunch with my coworkers last week and tried Zuppa Toscana for the first time. It was DELISH, and I knew I had to give it a shot.
So first off, what is Zuppa Toscana anyway? Tuscan soup… not exactly descriptive. Google tells me Zuppa Toscana is supposed to include sausage, bacon, greens, potatoes and cream. Sounds like a good starting point!
After some futher googlin I found a few recipes that looked pretty tasty and after some tweaking and Maryfications I ended up with some mighty tasty results!
First up, I took some help for my girl Jennie O’, and grabbed 3 hot turkey sausage links.
I ran a knife along the back of each sausage link to cut through the casing, then removed the sausage meat and discarded the casings
Once my skillet was nice and hot, I tossed the sausage in and used a spatula to break out the meat. When the sausage was no longer pink, I removed it from the skillet and set aside.
Next up, I heated up a soup pot, once hot I added one large diced yellow onion, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and and 1.5 tsp red pepper flakes. I like it hot!
Glory in a pot:
Cook the onions until soft and translucent, then add 2 boxes of low-sodium fat free chicken broth (64 ounces). While you are waiting for the soup to come to a boil, slice up one large potato:
Bring the the soup to a boil, then add the sliced potatoes. Reduce to medium heat, and cook for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender. Next toss in the sausage and one cup of half and half.
Let the soup simmer away until everything is warmed through, and just before you are ready to serve it toss in 3 cups of spinach.
VOILA! Soup is served!
This soup was AWESOME. Only problem was my poor potatoes practically disintegrated in the soup. Next time I think I’ll chunk the potatoes rather than thinly slicing them.
Despite that potato problem, the soup was so tasty and it had a little kick which I loved! If you aren’t big on spicy foods, cut the red pepper flakes and black pepper back.
Serve with a delicious salad, of course!
Zuppa Toscana Ingredients List (makes 6 Servings)
Stats on one serving Zuppa Toscana: 207 calories, 15g carbs, 10g fat, 14g protein, 2g fiber
When I was a freshman in college, I often carried a rice crispy treat in…
If you've never had the pleasure of doing a honey or maple syrup tasting, I…
A big thanks to Hook Line and Savor for sponsoring this post and for creating great-tasting, allergy-friendly,…
A big thanks to Hook Line and Savor for sponsoring this post and for creating great-tasting,…
A quick and hearty vegan and gluten-free stew that comes together in less then 20…
Last month, I got the chance to hang out with some folks from the Ohio…
View Comments
MMM love this!
This looks great and seems so simple! Normally this soup is too spicy for me in restaurants but I'd love to create it at home to be able to control the spice myself!
WOW! I have wanted to make this soup forever! I'm so excited. Thank you! I now know what I'm making for dinner Sunday night. Yummy Yummy!!!
Thanks Jenn! Let me know how it turns out!
I am all about making soup at home right now. In fact, I think I know what I'm making for dinner tonight - thanks lady!
Yay! Hope you like it as much as I did!
Looks delicious! We had a party at church last night and one of the soups I tried tasted like this, it was my favorite!! Thanks for the recipe :)
Jen
How delightful, I love the scattering of spinach at the end. And anything with potatoes involved is a-okay in my book.
How many people do you think this would feed? I may make it at our next family dinner!!
Hey Jaci! I'd say it makes 6 dinner-size portions. But, if you're serving it as a side dish you could stretch it a lot further than that. Let me know how you like it!
I buy hot Italian sausage & do not add any other pepper at all I also add Bacon & use kale instead of spinach and I use more potatoes like she said zuppa toscana .. delicious
Thanks for the suggestions! Sounds yummy!