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Ever crave that rich, creamy Olive Garden favorite but wish it was plant-based? This vegan zuppa toscana soup delivers all the classic flavors you love with tender potatoes, savory plant-based sausage, and nutrient-packed kale in a creamy broth. After making nearly every soup recipe imaginable, I stumbled upon traditional Italian Zuppa Toscana and I knew I had to create my own vegan version that would be just as satisfying as the original.
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe
- Quick: It’ll only take you about 30-40 minutes to have this ready to warm you up.
- Healthy: I’ve added in things like kale that boost the nutrient content of this soup.
- Comforting: Between the warming flavors and the potatoes, this soup recipe is truly so comforting.
Ingredients
Kale – A traditional Zuppa Toscana ingredient that packs incredible nutrition. A single cup of raw kale contains 684% of your daily Vitamin K, 134% of Vitamin C, 9% of Vitamin B6, and 26% of your daily Manganese.
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Field Roast Sausage – This unreal meat replacement provides the perfect savory flavor that traditional Zuppa Toscana is known for while keeping the recipe completely plant-based.
How to Make This Vegan Zuppa Toscana Soup Recipe
- Break up the sausage using your hands, then fry the sausage in a deep pan medium-high heat while stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. When browned (around 5-6 minutes) remove sausage and place onto a plate.
- Add your olive to the pot and heat on medium-high for around 20 seconds before adding the onion. Cook until soft and translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.
- OPTIONAL: Add your white wine of choice and let it reduce to half (about 2 minutes).
- Increase the heat to high, add vegetable stock paste, potatoes, seasoning and herbs and cook for around 5 minutes until potatoes are fully coated. Add enough water just to cover the potatoes and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in the coconut or oat milk, cooked sausage, and kale. Let simmer for 2 minutes, until kale leaves have softened.
Tips and Tricks
- Break up the sausage with your hands before cooking for the best texture
- Add white wine and let it reduce for extra depth of flavor
- Use coconut milk or oat milk for the perfect creamy consistency
Variations
Get creative and make this vegan zuppa toscana your own:
- Greens: Traditional zuppa toscana uses kale, but you can swap it for mild Swiss chard, tender baby spinach, or hearty collard greens. Each green offers different nutrients and textures.
- Potatoes: Replace white potatoes with Yukon golds for a buttery texture, sweet potatoes for extra vitamins, or cauliflower for a low-carb alternative. Red or purple potatoes will add beautiful color and more antioxidants.
- Milk: While coconut milk adds richness, try unsweetened oat milk for a neutral taste, cashew cream for extra protein, or homemade almond milk for a lighter soup. Each brings different nutrients and textures.
- Non-vegan: If you are not vegan or vegetarian, you can use Italian sausage instead of Field Roast, heavy cream instead of coconut milk, and add crispy bacon bits on top for a traditional version of this soup.
Best served with
- Crunchy Feta, Olive and Spinach Wrap
- Whipped Feta with Roasted Garlic, Red Pepper and Chili Olives
- Vegan Olive Salsa
- Plant Based Greek Platter Drizzled in Olive Oil
How to Store Leftovers
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Common Questions
The name Vegan Zuppa Toscana in Italian is actually a broad term that means “Tuscan Soup”. This kind of soup got its North American popularity thanks to Olive Garden, who knew. Well, hunny, this ain’t no Olive Garden and I’m here to take us back under the Tuscan sun for a more traditional vegan option.
Remove it completely or swap it for spinach instead.
Traditional Zuppa Toscana is known for its sausage, bacon, and heavy cream. This vegan version uses Field Roast sausage and non-dairy milk, creating the same delicious flavors while being completely plant-based.
Yes! While this recipe uses coconut milk, you can use any non-dairy milk like almond or cashew milk.
Yes! Let it cool completely and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw and reheat when ready to consume.
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Ingredients
- 2 field roast Italian sausages
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ½ cup dry white wine, optional
- 1 ½ tbsp. vegetable stock paste
- 3 large russet potatoes scrubbed, rinsed and cubed – cut evenly
- season to taste
- 2 tbsp. dried basil
- 1 tbsp. dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes optional — adjust to your taste
- enough water to cover the potatoes, around 4-5 cups
- 1 can coconut milk or oat milk
- 3 cups chopped kale hard stems removed – can also use spinach or fresh green chard
- garnish with fresh lemon and vegan parmesan
Instructions
Start Cooking- Break up the sausage using your hands, then fry the sausage in a deep pan medium-high heat while stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. When browned (around 5-6 minutes) remove sausage and place onto a plate.
- Add your olive to the pot and heat on medium-high for around 20 seconds before adding the onion. Cook until soft and translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.
- OPTIONAL: Add your white wine of choice and let it reduce to half (about 2 minutes).
- Increase the heat to high, add vegetable stock paste, potatoes, seasoning and herbs and cook for around 5 minutes until potatoes are fully coated. Add enough water just to cover the potatoes and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in the coconut or oat milk, cooked sausage, and kale. Let simmer for 2 minutes, until kale leaves have softened.
- Serve hot with vegan parmesan and a dash of lemon!
59 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
Any suggestions on how to adapt this to cook in a slow cooker? I love this recipe and was hoping to find a way to have it ready after a long day lol
Hey Nicole, I haven’t made this is a slow cooker before but you could try adding everything into the slow cooker. Just omit the greens and garnishes till the very end.
Amazing soup!
We used beyond sausages so that the recipe is gluten free and it was awesome. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
You’re so welcome! Thanks for the love, Tania!
Super delicious 😊
thank you, jennifer!!!
I loved this recipe because of the flavor that builds with every step. So delicious!
thank you, ashley!
You always impress Maria🤤 Delicious and Easy soup recipe, with so much flavour!!! Definitely going to be a winter staple in our house. Thx Maria 😘
Thank you so much, Kelly!!
Not only was this delicious but it was fast and easy to make too! This is my husbands favorite soup and he says its “like the real thing” and asked it to go into our “make again” recipes! Definitely a winner for vegans and non-s all around.
YES!! This makes me so happy! you have to try our “meat sauce” next hun!!
Delicious dish. I mák this soup áll time. My family love this.
Thank you Maria
Here go my 5 stsrs 😘😘😘😘😘
Thank you so much sweetie!
This soup is delicious and so easy! The whole family loved it.
I’ve made this twice now – by far the best soup I’ve made, it has SO much flavor.
YES!!! I love this soup so much. Filled with flavour and deliciousness!
Loved this! Made it also for my non vegan husband and he loved it too!
YES! This is incredible, thanks for the star review, Karisa!