This soup is awesome! Because of the sausage, bacon, potatoes and kale, it doubles more as a meal.
The Olive Garden restaurants often refer to themselves as “The OG”, which of course makes sense. But I often wonder if they really mean “The Original Gangsters” because this restaurant chain is the top dog of Italian-American restaurant chains. The first Olive Garden was opened on December 13, 1982, in Orlando. By 1989, there were 145 Olive Garden restaurants, making it the fastest-growing units in the General Mills restaurant division. Now owned and operated by Darden Restaurants (named for Olive Garden’s founder, Bill Darden) it has over 900 locations in 15 countries and districts and boasts over $3 Billion a year in sales. That’s a lot of breadsticks!
The marketing campaign that The Olive Garden uses, with unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks, also adds to the restaurant chains popularity. And why shouldn’t it? It’s a heck of a deal when a family on a budget can treat the brood out to a fun night at a restaurant, fill up on soup, salad, and killer breadsticks and then bring the entrees home for dinner the next night. I would be lying if I said that my family has never done it. And really, what family isn’t under a budget?
For a fun Olive Garden restaurant experience at home, serve the Tuscan soup with the The Olive Garden’s House Salad with House Dressing and The Olive Garden’s Fettuccine Alfredo and Enjoy! Cheat…the New York Style breadsticks in the grocery freezer section are a pretty good substitution for The OG’s.
Ingredients
- 1 LB. Spicy Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled into ½ inch pieces
- 4 Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
- 4 slices of bacon, cut into ½ inch pieces
- 1 large white onion, diced
- 4 cups fresh kale, torn into bite-sized pieces, stems and ribs removed
- 5 cups chicken broth (homemade, preferred)
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 TBL white wine vinegar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 TBL EVOO
- Crushed red pepper, Kosher salt and cracked black pepper-to taste
Instructions
On high heat, bring a large stock pot to temperature and add 1 TBL EVOO. Brown bacon until crispy, remove and set aside to drain on a paper plate. Add sausage to bacon drippings. Brown the sausage and cook throughout. Remove to drain.
Discard ½ of the oil and drippings. Add the onion and garlic until fragrant and slightly browned. Add the potatoes and cook until slightly softened. Add 2 pinches of Kosher salt, 5-6 cranks of black pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. Little or none if spice is not your thing. 5-6 shakes if you want it to bring the heat.
Add the chicken broth and simmer until potatoes are tender (10-12 minutes). Reduce heat to low and add back in the bacon and sausage. Add the white wine vinegar and heavy cream and stir.
Add the kale and cover the pot until kale is tender (about 3-4 minutes).
Serve with THE OLIVE GARDEN'S House Salad and Fettucine Alfredo and Enjoy!
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
