Introduction: Olive Garden - Zuppa Toscana (Instant Pot) Copycat Recipe!!!

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I haven't been to Olive Garden in 10 years, so I was skeptical when my wife suggested this soup. However, being in the throughs of learning to use the Instant Pot I was game for anything. That was two years ago and I have made this every couple of weeks since then.

The recipe has progressed, I think the two types of potatoes adds some variety. The Jimmy Dean's Hot Sausage is not very consistent in it's spiciness (which led to some blisteringly hot batches early on), monitor your flavor through the process and you should be fine. Keep in mind that the spices can bloom as the soup sits so lean conservative on the spices and then punch it up with some cayenne or hot sauce if need be.

I have messed this up in just about every way you can think of. Too spicy, curdled the milk, used bouillon instead of my homemade stock and it was too salty. But this recipe is worth it! Enjoy.

Supplies

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound Jimmy Dean's Hot sausage

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

2 white potatoes

3 small red potatoes chopped

6 cups chicken stock

kosher salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon umami seasoning

1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped

1 cup half and half

Step 1: Prep the Veggies

Dice your onion

Put a fine dice on your garlic

the red potatoes get a large dice

and the white potatoes get a fine dice

The reason I use two types of potatoes is the larger red ones hold up to the soup and give you the chunks of potatoes and the fine white ones break down and give body to the soup making it more stew like

Then just tear the leaves off of the kale. You can go as far as you want on this step. I just don't like my kale to be "stemmy"

Step 2: Cook Your Sausage

Add the olive oil to the pot

Turn on the sear function

This will get the pot rippin' hot

Once it is up to temp put in the sausage

When the sausage is 3/4 browned toss in the onions

After a couple of minutes everything should be just about done so add the garlic

Step 3: Talking Chicken

This is the two for one recipe in this tutorial. When we get a rotisserie chicken from the super market it feeds the family for three main meals (generally: chicken and rice, chicken tacos and if I am lucky chicken enchiladas). That in itself makes a $7.00 chicken worth it. However, if you take the bones and skin from that and toss it into the Instapot with 6 cups of water for at least a half and hour. Presto, you have a very workable chicken stock that has never let me down. Now, if you are adventurous you could take the bones and skin and do that a couple more times and get 18 cups of stock. I then premesure 6 cups of stock for the Zuppa and transfer that to zip lock bags and freeze it. All of a sudden that $7.00 fed the family and made $40.00 worth of chicken stock. That is a BARGIN!

Step 4: Now You're Cooking

Add all the potatoes, chicken stock and spices

Put on the lid and pressure cook for 5 minutes

Step 5: Finishing It Up

Once the timer goes off manually release the pressure

Add in the kale and put the lid back on

Let the kale cook in the warming mode for 30 mins

Step 6: Make It Creamy

Once the Kale is cooked add in the cream. At this point you don't want to pressure cook this again, I learned the hard way it will curdle the milk.

Step 7: Bon Appetit

And there you go. I always eat a couple of bowls and then freeze single servings in sandwich bags with the rest. It makes a quick lunch! Hope this work for you the way it has for me...