Recipe: Vegan Zuppa Toscana
An original recipe.
Welcome to my first recipe blog post! Let’s get right down to it…
This is a recipe for vegan “Zuppa Toscana” - Tuscan soup. It’s a play on the classic tuscan soup but without the heavy cream, bacon, chicken broth, etc.
Even without those things though, it’s still super velvety, hearty, and seriously cozy. I’m one of those people that can happily eat soup year round, but if you’re not, make sure you save this one so that when cooler weather comes around and you get those fall feels you’ll have the perfect recipe on hand.
A quick disclaimer that I think is really important for you to know before you try to make any recipe, whether it’s mine or not.
Intuition is one of the greatest tools a person can develop in the kitchen.
If you’re the kind of person who follows a recipe religiously, I highly encourage you to start to test your limits in the kitchen and get out of your comfort zone a little. Make sure you’re always tasting as you go and don’t take the recipe creators word as the gospel truth. Everyone’s palate is different, just use your best judgement to make small changes to get it right for you.
In addition to that, if you’re not sold on the vegan version and you want to add in your own meat, or dairy product, go for it! Most of my recipes are completely interchangeable.
Now, without further adieu...
Vegan Zuppa Toscana
Here’s what you’ll need:
4 vegan sausages, for this recipe I recommend the Beyond Meat sausages. Either hot Italian or sweet Italian.
6 medium sized Yukon gold potatoes
6 cloves garlic
1 yellow onion
4 cups chopped tuscan or curly kale
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp fresh or dried thyme
2 boxes of veggie broth (total of about 65 oz)
2 cups unsweetened, unflavored plant based milk or cream. I recommend cashew or almond over soy.
Olive oil
salt and pepper
white wine (a little for cooking, a lot for drinking)
Instructions:
First let’s prep…
Dice the yellow onion into small cubes
Peel and cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch medallions
Mince the garlic
Cut the sausages into about 1 inch pieces
Chop the kale
Now let’s cook!
Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil and turn the heat to medium, once the oil is hot, add in the sausage and cook until it turns a golden brown then remove the sausage and save for later.
Add the onions to the pot and season with about a half teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper. Sauté until they start to caramelize then add in the garlic, smoked paprika, chili flakes, and thyme and sauté one minute more.
Deglaze the pan with a splash of wine (deglaze just means pour a liquid into whatever you’re cooking to get all the yummy crispy stuff off the bottom).
Add in the veggie broth, potatoes, and reintroduce the sausages into the pot. Let this cook at a simmer for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are done.
Once the potatoes are cooked, add the plant milk and kale. Test the salt level and add accordingly. Cook this for another 3-5 minutes.
Finish with a sprinkle of chili flakes and…