I know when you think of Olive Garden, you are probably thinking about those breadsticks, but one of my favorite things to order there is the Zuppa Toscana soup. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it is made with a creamy broth and loaded with sausage, potatoes, and kale. It has nice spicy zip, too. This soup is actually super simple to make at home, and there are copy cat recipes all over the internet.
But the macros? Let’s just say you’ll probably be giving up half of your fat grams to enjoy a bowl of this soup. We still love the flavor, though, so I made a skinnier version of Zuppa Toscana. It begins with using lean ground turkey seasoned with Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes. This still gives the same taste, but takes away a large portion of the fat. Another change that helps with the fat content is by replacing the cream with fat free half and half. The macros for a very generous serving are rounded to 7F/22C/30P. And as an extra bonus, if you make this at home, you’ll also be saving yourself some major carbs by skipping the breadsticks! HA!
Skinnier Zuppa Toscana
Ingredients
- ~1.5 lbs lean ground turkey (93/7) 757 g
- 1 medium onion 226 g
- 1 TBSP Italian seasoning
- 1 /2 tsp red pepper flakes (this gives the soup a good kick. Reduce this amount if sensitive to heat or serving to kids!)
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- salt to taste
- 8 chicken broth cubes + 8 cups of water (or 8 cups of chicken broth)
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled, sliced in half and then cut into 1/2 inch slices 440 g
- 1 cup Fat Free half and half 240 ml
- 1/2 bunch kale 52 g
- Parmesan cheese optional
Instructions
- Cook ground turkey and onion together in a large soup pot over medium heat, crumbling the ground turkey as it cooks. Add in the Italian seasoning, red pepper, garlic, and salt. Cook until no pink remains.
- Add in the chicken broth cubes and water. Then add the potatoes and bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Keep the soup boiling until the potatoes are soft.
- Bring down the temperature of the soup to low. Allow it to simmer for 10 minutes, and then stir in the fat free half and half and kale, allowing the kale to soften in the soup. Taste, adjust seasoning as necessary.
- Serve with grated Parmesan cheese on top, if desired, and additional crushed red pepper flakes for heat.