Vegan Zuppa Toscana
This savory vegan zuppa toscana soup with potato and kale is easy to make in one pot for a healthy and delicious dairy-free meal.
Table of Contents
Features
- dietary needs: completely plant-based (vegan) and can be gluten-free
- quick and easy: ready in 40 minutes in one pot with simple pantry ingredients
- nutritious: features healthy ingredients like kale and potatoes in a creamy dairy-free broth
- freezes well for meal prep and batch cooking
- enjoy as is for a healthy and delicious meal or try it with vegan sausage to really kick it up a notch!
What is zuppa toscana?
Zuppa toscana is an Italian soup that translates as “Tuscan soup”. Classic zuppa toscana is made with lots of vegetables, potatoes, white beans, olive oil, bacon and crusty Tuscan bread.
The Americanized version of the soup, popularized by the Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana, typically features heavy cream, sausage and potato.
Ingredient Notes
- olive oil – if needed you can omit and use vegetable broth for an oil-free recipe
- all-purpose flour – helps thicken the soup, whole wheat flour would also work
- vegetable broth – any homemade or store-bought carton or cubes work here
- yellow potato – Yukon gold is recommended but you can use russet in a pinch
- coconut milk – use canned light coconut milk (you can use full fat coconut milk but I found it too heavy), can be substituted with cashew cream if needed or you can use unsweetened almond milk or cashew milk but it won’t be as creamy
- kale – I like lacinto kale here but any kale works, just make sure you remove the leaves from the tough stems, can be swapped for spinach or Swiss chard
See recipe card below for complete list of ingredients and amounts.
Step by Step Instructions
- Sauté the onions and spices in a large soup pot over medium heat for about 5 minutes until softened and fragrant.
- Add the crushed garlic and sauté another 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice to deglaze the pan, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pot back into the mixture.
- Sprinkle the onions with the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the stock and bring to a boil. Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. Add the potatoes, coconut milk, salt and pepper and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes
Stir in the kale, turn off the heat and let sit for a few minutes, then serve immediately.
FAQs
Definitely! I’d recommend Beyond Meat Italian sausage or ground “meat” or Field Roast Italian sausage.
To add sausage to the soup, add to a the pot before starting the soup and break it up with a wooden spoon. Brown the sausage, stirring frequently for 7-8 minutes.
Remove from the pan and set aside, using the residual oils from the sausage to cook your onions. Add the browned sausage back to the soup when you add the kale.
Since it’s made with light coconut milk, there is a very subtle coconut flavour. If you’re really not a fan of coconut, I would recommend trying cashew cream instead.
To replace the coconut milk with cashew cream, soak 3/4 cup raw cashews in boiled water for 30 minutes (or overnight) then drain and blend with 1.5 cups water until smooth and creamy. Use that instead of the 400 mL can of coconut milk.
To make this soup gluten-free, you can use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend that contains ingredients like arrowroot flour, potato starch or tapioca starch (like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur).
You can also substitute 1 tbsp cornstarch for the flour. Mix it with a little water to make a slurry before adding to the soup.
Storing & Reheating
- Let cool for at least 30 minutes before storing.
- Fridge: Store in a sealed container for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: Store in a sealed container (or containers for individual portions) for up to 3 months.
- If frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Reheat as needed on the stovetop or in the microwave until heated to your preference. It thickened substantially after storing, thin by stirring in a little broth until it reaches your desired consistency.
Did you make this recipe? Click here to leave a review!
PrintVegan Zuppa Toscana
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Prep Time: 10 min
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Cook Time: 30 mins
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Total Time: 40 minutes
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Yield: 6 1x
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Category: Soup
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Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
This vegetarian zuppa toscana soup is made with simple, wholesome ingredients for a flavourful result that’s perfect for warming up on a cold winder day. Enjoy this dairy-free recipe as written or try it with vegan sausage for a real treat!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil (30 ml, use vegetable broth for oil-free version)
- 2 small white onion, diced (300g)
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed (10 g)
- 1/8 cup lemon juice (30 ml)
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour (25 g)
- 4 cups vegetable broth (1000 ml)
- 2 yellow potato, peeled and diced (500 g)
- 1 400 ml can light coconut milk
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 cups kale, stems removed and torn into small pieces (75 g)
Instructions
- See notes if you’d like to add sausage tot his recipe, otherwise, add the olive oil to a a large soup pot with the onions and spices and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes until softened and fragrant.
- Add the crushed garlic and sauté another 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice to deglaze the pan, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pot back into the mixture.
- Sprinkle the onions with the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the stock and bring to a boil.
- Carefully use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. You could also transfer the soup to a blender to blend then add back into the pot. This will help with the creaminess of the soup as well as breaking up the fennel seeds to release more flavour.
- After blending, add the potatoes, coconut milk, salt and pepper and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes.
- Once the potatoes are fork tender, stir in the chopped kale and turn off the heat. Let sit for a couple of minutes to allow the kale to soften.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Let cool until no longer steaming before storing. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge. Reheat stovetop or in the microwave until heated to your preference.
To make this with cashew cream instead of coconut milk, soak 3/4 cup of raw cashews overnight then blend with 1.5 cups of water and use that instead of the can of coconut milk.
Feel free to add vegan sausage into this recipe, I like to use field roast Italian sausage. I would recommend cooking it at the beginning, removing from the pan before adding the onions and spices. Using the residual oils cooked from the sausage to cook your onions. Then adding sausages back into the soup when adding in your kale. You could also stir in some chickpeas or white beans at this point for an alternative to sausage.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6th of recipe
- Calories: 213
- Sodium: 512 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 35 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 5 g
Keywords: vegan zuppa toscana, vegetarian zuppa toscana
Really tasty!
★★★★★
This looks so good! I’m wondering if I could add white kidney beans for some extra protein and fibre. If I used canned white kidney beans would I add them in at step 7 (after blending soup, at the same time as the coconut milk)? And would you recommend omitting/reducing the amount of potato? Thanks so much!
This is so good. I ate it for lunch and dinner and lunch the next day. It will be a staple on my menu plan. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
★★★★★
You are so welcome! Thanks for trying it!
I followed the instructions exactly as well as the additional tip of adding Beyond Meat Italian sausage. This turned out perfect in my opinion and tasted exactly as I hoped it would as I used to love this at Olive Garden but the heaviness always made me sick. The vegan version does not sacrifice taste or texture. My husband loved it and ate most of it so I only got 1 serving so plan to make again this week.
★★★★★
Awesome! So glad you guys enjoyed it. Thanks so much for the review and feedback!
Loved it and would def make it again. But I winged it on the cashew cream. How much should I use? I soaked one cup of nuts and then added some water in the blender. Soup is very forgiving to non precise measurements!
★★★★★
It’s in the recipe notes…3/4 cup nuts and 1.5 cups water. Always a good idea to browse through the blog post as I always includes lots of tips and notes like that! So glad it worked out for you either way though. Thanks for the review!
Whoops thanks! Was doing it from my phone, which is probably not a great idea.
OMG!! I loooved it!! It was so good, Even though I didn’t use coconut milk. Thanks!!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it, Anna! Thanks for letting me know.
I made this already as soon as I received your post. I substituted fresh organic spinach for the kale and fresh cashew milk instead of coconut milk. My initial taste test is delicious- simmering now on stove. Thank You.
★★★★★
Amazing! Hope you enjoyed the finished soup! Thanks for letting me know.