Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
” I have made this recipe 5 times. Hands down fave. “- Lauren
MADE THIS TODAY AND IT IS AMAZZZZIIIIING!! – Jenny
Comfort food heaven in the form of a soup, Zuppa Toscana, but made simply in the Instant Pot! Packed with sausage, bacon, a creamy base, and tons of flavor.
Table of contents
- What is Zuppa Toscana?
- Why you’ll love this Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
- Recipe Ingredients
- How to Make Zuppa Toscana in the Instant Pot
- How to modify Instant Pot Zuppa Toscan for the Stove
- Tips & Tricks for Perfect Zuppa Toscana
- Recipe FAQS
- Storage & Reheating Instructions
- Can Zuppa Toscana be frozen?
- More Italian-inspired recipes to try…
What is Zuppa Toscana?
Zuppa Toscana essentially translates to “The Soup of Tuscany”. A traditional Zuppa Toscana embodies this perfectly! It’s made with Italian sausage, potatoes, kale, a creamy base, and topped off with bacon and parsley. Most Americans may recognize this soup from the Olive Garden menu, but it’s also incredibly simple to make at home.
Why you’ll love this Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
There’s absolutely nothing like a cozy soup, and Italian flavors are always just peak comfort food. Whether it be Italian Wedding Soup, or Gnocchi Chicken Soup, Italian food is just so perfect for when the weather cools down.
Zuppa Toscana is another one of those cozy classics, but one of the issues with comfort food is time. It can be so time consuming to prep a huge, warm meal, but this recipe is the best of both worlds: Comforting and Quick. Here’s why you’re going to love it…
- Quick and easy! This recipe is made in the Instant Pot for a quick and mostly hands-off approach.
- It’s flexible. While I do recommend making it in the Instant Pot, you can still make it on the stovetop if needed! You’ll just need a bit more time, and to babysit it a little more.
- Dairy-free swaps. This uses a dairy free swap to make a creamy soup without any dairy.
Recipe Ingredients
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
| Ingredient | What It’s For… | Potential Swap |
| Italian Sausage | This is the main protein in the recipe! You can use mild or spicy sausage, depending on your preference. | You can use ground turkey if you’d like a lighter option. If you’re intolerant to nightshade spices (learn more from my nightshade food list) you can easily make your own sausage at home using ground pork and herbs like dried parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder & salt. |
| Bacon | Bacon is used as a garnish, and the bacon fat is used to cook the onion and garlic for extra flavor. | I really recommend keeping it in for flavor, but you could also cook the onion and garlic in olive oil. |
| Onion & garlic | A must for rounding out the flavors of the soup. | You can also use dried versions if that’s all you have on hand. |
| White sweet potato | I prefer to use white sweet potato because of my own nightshade intolerance, but I also love the touch of sweetness that it adds to a savory soup. | You can use white potato if tolerated, or even rutagbaga. |
| Kale | Kale adds texture and some more nutrients! | Spinach |
| Chicken broth | The base of the soup. | Veggie broth |
| Coconut milk | This is a dairy free substitute for heavy cream. | You can use oat milk for another dairy free swap, or simply use heavy cream. |
How to Make Zuppa Toscana in the Instant Pot
Here are the simple steps, with photos, to make this recipe. Find full instructions in the recipe card.
Step one. Set the instant pot to sauté and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and set aside, leaving the fat in the pot.
Step two. Keeping the Instant Pot on sauté, add the onion and garlic to the bacon fat and cook for about 3 minutes, or until translucent.
Step three. Add in the ground sausage and sauté until cooked through.
Step four. Turn the instant pot off, sauté, and pour in the chicken broth, coconut milk, diced sweet potato, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
Step five Lock the lid onto the instant pot and set to 13 minutes on high.
Step six. Remove the lid and add the kale and parsley, and allow to wilt in the hot soup until it’s softened. Serve topped with bacon and extra parsley.
How to modify Instant Pot Zuppa Toscan for the Stove
I love using the instant pot for fast, easy meals! However, if you don’t have an Instant Pot, the recipe is easily adaptable to a stovetop! Here’s how you do it…
- Use a large Dutch oven if possible. This is better at conducting and holding heat.
- Add more cook time: Sauté the initial ingredients as instructed. Then, double the cooking time of the soup on the stove, or wait until the potatoes are softened. Add the kale at the end and stir until wilted.
Tips & Tricks for Perfect Zuppa Toscana
- Modify the sausage to your liking. You can give this soup more of a kick with a spicy sausage, or make it more kid-friendly with mild sausage. You can even make your own spice blend and add it to ground turkey or ground pork!
- Add more toppings. You’ll want lots of parsley for this soup, and it already has bacon as a topping, but you can even add Parmesan or pecorino!
Recipe FAQS
Yes, this Zuppa Toscana is totally gluten-free! It’s made with potatoes as the main starch instead of pasta, and there is no flour to thicken the soup.
Zuppa Toscana is a rich and creamy soup with a pop of freshness from the kale, and a hint of spice from the sausage!
Traditionally, zuppa toscana is made with cream, but this version uses coconut milk instead for a dairy free and paleo swap.
Storage & Reheating Instructions
Leftovers of this soup will stay fresh for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Reheat the soup on the stovetop for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.
Can Zuppa Toscana be frozen?
You can freeze this soup! The kale holds up well, as does the rest of the soup. Simply freeze everything except for the bacon for 2-3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight, reheat in a pot, and serve topped with fresh bacon.
More Italian-inspired recipes to try…
If you tried this Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana or any other recipe on my blog please leave a rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
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Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon, chopped
- ½ medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage , see notes for swaps
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups white sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 3 cups kale, destemmed and chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Equipment
Instructions
- Set the instant pot to sauté and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and set aside, leaving the fat in the pot.
- Keeping the instant pot on sauté, add the onion and garlic to the bacon fat and cook sauté for 3 minutes or until translucent.
- Add in the ground sausage and sauté until cooked through. Remove some of the fat.
- Turn the instant pot off sauté and pour in the chicken broth, coconut milk, diced sweet potato, oregnano, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Lock the lid onto the instant pot and set to 13 minutes on high. After the instant pot comes to pressure soup is done, carefully quick
- Remove the lid and add in the kale and allow to wilt in the hot soup for 3-4 minutes.
- Serve topped with bacon and parsley!
Notes
This post first appeared on Unbound Wellness in October 2017 and was updated in 2025.
Delicious and so easy to make!! I love the instant pot soup recipes! Just stared the AIP protocol and I don’t think I would’ve been able to keep to it and maintain such a positive attitude without all your awesome easy recipes. Finding your site has been awesome!
Thank you so much, Catherine!!! SO glad it’s helpful!
I used 1.5 lb white sweet potatoe, 1.5 lb (x2 medium/large) parsnips, and 1.5 lb (1 large) rutabaga and it was a tasty combo my husband thought it was regular potatoes. I’ve experimented with the different ratios of root veggies in this dish and so far this is my favorite. I prefer to dump a aroy-d coconut milk from the carton but I used canned coconut cream separated from the runny water and its great as well. Thanks for the recipe. Hope my veggie ratios inspire someone lol. I used to serve at olive garden so this recipe is a regular one in our house.
Making this right now looks great! Smells incredible. Followed some suggestions and used rutabaga instead of potatoes, and did half lb of Italian sausage, and half of lb of spicy sausage. Thanks for the yummy recipe.
Everyone loved this recipe! Thank you!
Excellent soup!
I do double the recipe, make the sausage, lots of flavor, stores and freezes well.
Thank you so much!! 🙂
Made this for the first time and it came out amazing!! I stuck to the recipe you called for and it is cooked to perfection! I’m new to the AIP diet and this sure does hit the spot. Might I add I am not a good cook by any means and this still turned out great!
Question, about how many servings would you say one batch makes?
So happy that you liked it!! It makes roughly 5-6 servings, depending on the person 🙂
This recipe is amazing! It will be a staple for me. I appreciate you listening substitutions. I have never found sweet potatoes in my grocery stores so I used the rutabaga. I also omitted the bacon and garlic because I am allergic to them. This soup is the best. I can’t thank you enough for sharing all of your amazing recipes!
Thank you so much!!
This is one of my favorite go-to recipes.
I make it with spicy sausage which counters the sweetness of the potatoes nicely.
Thank you so much for this recipe!
Hi! I don’t know if it’s there and I’m just missing it, but at what step do you add most of the cooked bacon back in?
I add it on top at the end and mix it in 🙂
oooh I made something similar and used celery root in mine, it was very tasty!
Such an amazing recipe. Used Turnip instead of white sweet potato. My husband thought it was regular white potato, haha.
Loved this soup – I even really liked the sweetness of the white sweet potato – it blends well with the saltiness of the sausage and the bacon – a real keeper!
I ate a piece of daikon radish in an Asian soup and thought it was potato. Plan on trying radish with this soup. Thanks for the recipe. I loved this soup before.
Made last night with only 1 sweet potato (just to keep the sweetness to a minimum) since we don’t eat much sugar. Still came out really sweet breakfast soup. Any suggestions on how to dial it down?
I’ve used turnips or rutabagas instead of sweet potatoes. That made it less sweet and more hearty.
Sorry you thought it was a bit sweet! I agree rutabaga is a good sub. I’ve also tried parsnips and have updated the recipe to reflect the swap.
I always forget about parsnips! Will try again with those. Thanks, Michelle!
The Zuppa Toscana soup from Olive Garden used to be my favorite soup! Can’t wait to try this Paleo version!
Thank you so much Chelsea!!