Paleo Zuppa Toscana is a rich soup filled with potatoes, kale, Italian sausage and bacon. Your slow cooker makes this dairy free recipe easy to make.
Paleo Zuppa Toscana Recipe
One of my favorite things to eat is soup. And something that I don’t fix very often is soup. I know it doesn’t make sense. For some reason, soup is generally not what comes to mind when I’m menu-planning. The one exception is when we are on a Whole30 or eating strictly paleo. Although I know there are a lot of unhealthy soups out there, soup in my mind equals healthy.
Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe
This Paleo Zuppa Toscana is our grain free, gluten free, sugar free and dairy free version of one of our Olive Garden favorites. That creamy soup is my husband’s favorite and we realized how easy it is to make the Olive Garden soup recipe into a low carb soup that would be hearty enough and spicy enough to still bring smiles.
Zuppa Toscana Ingredients
Zuppa Toscana literally means “soup in the style of Tuscany”. This creamy Whole30 zuppa toscana soup is full of potatoes, Italian sausage, kale, onions, and most importantly, bacon.
Bacon makes everything better.
Except chocolate. I do not care for chocolate covered bacon. I’ll take my bacon and chocolate separate, thank you.
Sausage Soup Recipe
I used our own Italian sausage blend that you can find here. Homemade sausage seasoning is so much better than store-bought. Yes, it takes 5 minutes to throw the seasonings in a pound of ground meat, but the exploding flavor that will happen in your mouth is so worth it. Plus, you get to decide what type of “sausage” meat you use. Our favorite meat to add sausage seasoning to is ground turkey because it is so lean. I did a little bit of prep work the day before and got a pound of ground turkey seasoned and browned, so the next morning, it was all ready to throw in the slow cooker.
{And if you’re looking for homemade Italian seasoning mix? Try THIS!}
You can also prep the bacon ahead of time, too. Just a little bit of thinking ahead will make this an easy paleo sausage and kale soup to throw together on those early mornings.
Zuppa Toscana with Coconut Milk
One last thing before you head to the store to get the ingredients for this dairy free zuppa toscana soup. The recipe calls for coconut milk to make the soup creamy. If you don’t need the soup to be dairy free, you can add whole milk or half and half creamer instead.
The coconut cream (or regular milk) should be added at the very end of cooking. Make sure that your can of coconut milk are refrigerated and use only the solid white cream from the cans. Save the clear milky liquid for a smoothie or another recipe. Add the cream in, stir it into the soup a bit so it melts in and voila…you’ve got creamy soup!
Slow Cooker Zuppa Toscana
I like to double this recipe to fill my 5 quart slow cooker right to the top. That way we have plenty for leftovers. Meal prep can be hard, so having a soup recipe with lots of leftovers makes dinner the next day or even lunches a breeze.
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Paleo Zuppa Toscana
Ingredients
- 1 lb bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1 lb Italian sausage browned and drained
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 large potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
- 2 cups kale diced
- 1 can full fat unsweetened coconut milk refrigerated
Instructions
- Place half of the cooked and crumbled bacon into the slow cooker. Reserve the other half as a topping for the soup.
- Add the Italian sausage, chicken stock, garlic, onion and potatoes to the slow cooker.
- Cover and simmer on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6 hours until the potatoes are tender.
- With 30 minutes left, add the kale to the slow cooker. Cover and allow the kale to cook for 30 minutes.
- Five minutes before serving, open the can of refrigerated coconut cream and add just the solid white cream to the slow cooker. Reserve the clear coconut milk for another use. Let the cream heat through the soup for about 5 minutes.
- Serve with crumbled bacon on top.
We substitute parsnips for the potatoes. They honestly don’t change the flavor and my kids don’t know the difference between when I use potatoes and when I use parsnips. Just wanted to share if anyone is looking for alternatives to potatoes.
I’ve been on a kale kick lately and actually have some in my fridge right now. I’m thinking this is a great way to use some of it up! Looks wonderful!
Adding this to my must try list now! It looks so good!
This soup looks incredible, ladies!
Oh my gosh…I am right there with you. I LOVE this soup from Olive Garden. I have made it a few times before but never thought to make it with coconut milk. Definitely adding this to our menu soon!
This is one of my favorite soups at Olive Garden too. Love how you made it with the coconut milk! It sounds amazing and perfect for these chilly days here in the Midwest!!
One of my favorite soups at Olive Garden! I love that y’all made this in the slow cooker – It would help with the chaos at my house during dinnertime!
Wish I could eat this right off the screen! Can’t wait to give it a try!
Yay! Enjoy it, Kara!
Thanks, Selena! It’s a delicious soup, paleo or not!
Thank you so much, Kelsey 🙂
Yes, everything about this is beautiful, from the photography to the ingredients to the homemade sausage seasoning recipe (thanks!!). I feel warmer just looking at this amazing soup! ♥
This soup looks fantastic, and you’re right that bacon does make everything better. Can’t wait to try it as I can’t get enough soups lately!
This zuppa looks amazing and vary tasty. I will make this recipe for my familly. Thanks
The coconut milk is great to make the soup creamy! Enjoy!
A lot of the recipes I am seeing are not actually paleo. Potatoes are not a paleo food…
My daughter sent me this link and I made it last night. I didn’t have an kale, but I had baby spinach, and made the sausage with ground turkey. This dish is absolutely delicious! Thank you so much!!!!
I’m going to try this tonight just cooking it up in a bot, not doing the slow cooker. Can’t wait!
I have been craving this soup from Olive Garden (despite the 90 degree weather we’ve been having) and came across this recipe. I made it today and I have to say it was probably better than the Olive Garden version! Thanks for this recipe, I look forward to trying more of the recipes on your site! (Especially if they satisfy my pregnancy cravings like this one did!)
Making this as we speak! I have a can of trader joe’s coconut cream, not milk. I still refrigerated it, however. About how much cream should I use? (In cups)
Daaaang! This looks perfect for rainy season. Can’t wait to try it when it cools down!
Potatoes are not paleo!
Hello, want to make this for company. Just quick question… Do the potatoes get too soft from being in crockpot so long? Thank you so much!!
Just made this soup for dinner and all I have to say is WOW! I also followed the sausage recipe using pork and loved it. I was worried that the coconut flavor would be overwhelming in the soup but I didnt even notice it. I will now always use this recipe instead of the “traditional” version that is loaded with dairy and store bought sausage with God knows what added ingredients!
This looks so delicious! I absolutely love zuppa toscana soup! Since I have celiac disease, paleo recipes are perfect for me! Thank you.