Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana (Paleo, Whole30, AIP)
This Zuppa Toscana is serious comfort food! It’s a classic copycat made gluten-free, paleo, whole30, and AIP.
What is Zuppa Toscana?
Zuppa Toscana essentially translates to “The Soup of Tuscany”. When I traveled to Tuscany when I was 21, I was expecting everything to be swimming in only Marinara sauce. Much to my surprise, Tuscany features a lot more rich, savory flavors like cream sauces, white beans, and rustic bread. A traditional Zuppa Toscana embodies this perfectly! It’s made with Italian sausage, white beans, tomato, onion, potato, kale, Italian bacon, and olive oil. The American version (which you’ll probably remember from Olive Garden) adds cream and usually omits the tomato.
So really Zuppa Toscana it’s just a nourishing soup and the perfect comfort food dish that can be enjoyed on all types of healing diets… if you prepare it right and use good ingredients! This version is paleo, whole30, AIP, and can be made in the instant pot.
The Ingredients you’ll need for Zuppa Toscana
- Italian Sausage. Italian sausage gives this soup a ton of flavor! Traditionally this soup is made with a spicy Italian pork sausage with the casing removed. If you’re like me and can’t have nightshade spices, or are following an autoimmune protocol, you can easily make your own sausage at home using 1 lb ground pork and spices like dried parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, and sea salt.
- Bacon. Gotta have the bacon, right? Bacon is used as a garnish in this soup.
- White sweet potato.
- Onion.
- Kale. See? I told you this soup was healthy 😉 You’ll use a whole head of kale in this soup.
- Chicken broth.
- Coconut milk. This is the substitute for heavy cream.
How to Make Zuppa Toscana in the Instant Pot
- Cook the bacon: Set the instant pot to sauté and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and set aside, leaving the fat in the pot.
- Saute the onion and garlic: Keeping the instant pot on sauté, add the onion and garlic to the bacon fat and cook sauté for 5-6 minutes or until translucent.
- Cook the sausage: Add in the ground sausage and sauté until cooked through.
- Add the broth and sweet potato: Turn the instant pot off sauté and pour in the chicken broth, coconut milk, diced sweet potato, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Cook: Lock the lid onto the instant pot and set to 13 minutes on high. After the instant pot comes to pressure soup is done, allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Add the kale and serve: Remove the lid and add in the kale and parsley and allow to wilt in the hot soup. Serve topped with bacon and extra parsley.
Can you make this recipe on the stovetop?
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! See the notes of the recipe for instructions.
Is Zuppa Toscana Healthy?
“Healthy” is always a subjective term and means something different for everyone. However, since this soup is homemade and packed with vegetables like sweet potato and kale, I’d call this soup pretty wholesome.
How long is Zuppa Toscana good for in the fridge?
Leftovers of this soup will stay fresh for 3-4 days in the fridge.
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.
How do you reheat Zuppa Toscana?
Reheat the soup on the stovetop for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.
Can you use something other than white sweet potato?
Though this soup traditionally has white potato and white beans, I’m using white sweet potato to keep it nightshade-free and AIP compliant. The sweetness of the potato really adds something to the soup, but you can also use regular white potatoes if you tolerate them. If you’re not into sweet potato, you can also sub parsnips or rutabaga.
Can you make this soup without coconut milk?
Traditional Zuppa Toscana really isn’t as creamy as the American version, but let’s be real… creamy is good! Using coconut milk helps keep this soup dairy-free, and with so many other flavors, you don’t really taste the coconut. However, if you can tolerate nuts and don’t do coconut milk, you can try another dairy-free milk to make this soup creamy.
You’ll also love…
Paleo Zuppa Toscana (Whole 30 & AIP)
Ingredients
- 6 slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage , use this for AIP
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups white sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 bunch of kale, destemmed and chopped
- 3 tbsp fresh Italian parsley, plus extra for garnish
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper, omit for AIP
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 5-6 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, 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, allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Remove the lid and add in the kale and parsley and allow to wilt in the hot soup.
- Serve topped with bacon and extra parsley.
Notes
Recipe by Michelle, Unbound Wellness. Photos by Eat Love Eats
This post first appeared on Unbound Wellness in October 2017 and was updated in 2022.
Another five-star dish! I have an IP but have actually made this on the stove twice. I’ve made it mostly AIP, but used sausage that had some spices that aren’t allowed in the elimination phase. This is now my go-to soup and I’ll keep making, honestly, forever – long after I leave the hardest parts of AIP. I have made it once without bacon and once with. The time without, I sauteed everything in bacon grease and really didn’t miss the bacon. It’s just one of the best recipes!
Aw thank you! I love to hear that!
This was so easy to make and so flavorful. Thank you for creating such wonderful recipes.
Delicious!! Make this at least once per month!
This soup is so good! I added a lb. of white sweet potatoes but I think next time I will double the amount. Whole family loved it.
Thank you so much, Erika! So glad it was a hit 🙂
Delicious! My husband said, and I quote “this is the best thing you’ve ever made.”
We loved it! I tolerate regular white potatoes so I used those, otherwise didn’t change a thing!
I COULD EAT THIS SOUP ALL DAY EVERYDAY !!!!! So incredibly delicious. I actually like it more than real Zuppa Toscana.
Made my own AIP compliant “spicy” Italian sausage which was simply ground pork + various spices.
This came together easily and quickly in the instant pot.
Couldn’t hold off on eating the bacon so we had no garnish, but the parsley added plenty of extra flavor.
Thanks for putting this recipe together, Michelle !!!!
Hi. The link to the Italian Sausage recipe seems to be broken and I SO want to make this soup! Can you help? It looks amazing, can’t wait to try it…
You can use 1 lb. ground pork; 1 tsp each dried parsley, basil, & oregano; 1/2 tsp each thyme, garlic & onion powders, sea salt, & optional coarse-ground black pepper.
So yummy! Just finished this soup up so that I have ready to go lunches and I had try have a cup. It’s amazing! Thanks so much for the recipe
Every time I try to click the link to the Italian sausage recipe it comes up with an error. I really want to make this yummy soup, but need the sausage recipe as well. Thanks for the help
You can use 1 lb. ground pork; 1 tsp each dried parsley, basil, & oregano; 1/2 tsp each thyme, garlic & onion powders, sea salt, & optional coarse-ground black pepper.
When you say coconut milk in your recipes are you using canned coconut milk? Or like carton of cold section coconut milk? Thanks!
Canned coconut milk! My favorite is Native Forest Simple.
I just made this and it is sooo good. This is definitely going to be heavy in the meal rotation.
Made it for dinner tonight. I subbed water for broth and left out the bacon so it was lower histamine which resulted in it needing more salt. Super good, recommend!
Hi! Do you ever drain the grease from the sausage and the bacon?
I’ve made this with rutabaga before and my non aip family really can’t tell the difference! I love it!!
I’m a newbie to the instant pot so forgive me if my question seems silly! After it pressure cooks for the 13 minutes, how long should the natural release take? Mine took about 45 minutes which seems really long but maybe it’s normal.
Yeah, that’s a long time! If it’s stretching too long, I eventually just quick release.