I love coming up with new recipes, I really do. That part of blogging is really fun. Taking the pictures can be really annoying at times (this particular recipe more so than some others), but for the most part I enjoy it. The actual writing part is less so. First off, I have to plug my new recipe into Senza so I can get an accurate macro count. Then I have to figure out how to explain all the steps I took clearly and coherently. Then I have to use the recipe plugin and do the exact same thing I did in the body of the blog post, only more succinctly. It’s not creative writing at all. I say all this to let you know that sometimes I need a break from blogging for a while, and this whole global pandemic thing has been draining whatever energy I have to do pretty much anything other than stay afloat. I hope everyone reading is well, and know that if you’re feeling overwhelmed, you’re not alone. All that having been said, this recipe was too good to not share, so I’m putting in the effort to get it out to you.
If you’ve ever been to Olive Garden, you’ve hopefully tried their Zuppa Toscana. I’m not a huge fan of chain restaurants in general, and I haven’t been to an Olive Garden since probably undergrad, but I still remember how good this soup is. A lightly creamy broth with spicy Italian sausage, kale, and my nemesis, potatoes. I’ve seen a lot of keto recipes that just leave out the potato entirely, or replace it with cauliflower, but I decided to try something new that I hadn’t seen before.
Enter the rutabaga, otherwise known as yellow turnip or swede. 1 net carb per ounce, as opposed to 4.5 for a potato. And now that I’ve figured out how easy it is to use in soups and how well it works, I’m going to be experimenting with it in a LOT of potato-based soup recipes! Clam chowder, here I come! The hardest part of cooking with rutabaga is chopping it. It’s a lot firmer than a potato, so you need some muscle and a really good chef’s knife. I’m partial to Shun brand knives. I’ve had mine for over 15 years, and other than the occasional sharpening, it’s held up remarkably well. Just make sure to NEVER put a chef’s knife in the dishwasher!
Okay, now that I’ve gotten through the background, I’ll get to what you’re all here for. Start off by peeling your rutabaga, and then slicing it into thin bite-size rectangles. I used a pound in this recipe, which was about 1/2 of a large rutabaga. After you’re finished with the rutabaga, set your Instant Pot to saute. Dice 1/2 of an onion while the pot heats up. Once it’s up to temp, add the onion along with about 1.25 pounds of hot Italian sausage. This will be about five links, with the casings removed. Make sure you get the hot kind. The soup will not be the same without it. Saute the meat and onion, stirring to break the meat into crumbles, until the sausage is cooked through. Add a tablespoon of garlic and saute it with the sausage and onion for a minute or two. Drain it once it’s cooked if you want to avoid a bit of orange grease on the top of your soup, but I personally think orange grease is the best kind of grease, so I was fine with it.
Pour in 6 cups of chicken broth, then add the rutabaga, two teaspoons of salt, and a generous amount of black pepper. Close the lid and set the pot to pressure cook for four minutes. While the pot is getting up to temperature, rip the leaves off of 3-4 large stems of kale, leaving the tough stems. Tear each kale leaf into small, bite-sized pieces, and put them in a salad spinner. I had to rinse and spin mine three times because my kale was very sandy this time around. By the point you’re finished with this task, your Instant Pot timer should be very close to going off. As soon as it does, manually release the pressure and open the lid as soon as it’s safe. Switch the pot to saute, then stir in the heavy cream. Add the kale, stirring until it’s just wilted. Turn the pot off once the kale is wilted, and wait a few minutes to serve it because it’s wickedly hot when it first comes out. This soup is even better the next day, so it’s perfect for meal prep! I’ve been eating it for lunch every day for the past week.
Keto Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 lb rutabaga chopped into thin bite-sized rectangles
- 1/2 large onion diced
- 1.25 lbs hot Italian sausage casings removed
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp salt
- black pepper to taste
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3-4 stems kale leaves only, torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Peel and sliced the rutabaga into thin bite-sized rectangles and set aside.
- Set the Instant Pot to saute. Dice the onion and remove the casings from the sausage, if necessary.
- Saute the sausage and onion in the Instant Pot, stirring to break the meat up into small chunks, until the sausage is cooked through. Add the garlic and saute for another minute or two. Drain the sausage, if desired, and return it to the pot.
- Pour in the chicken broth and add the rutabaga, salt, and pepper. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set it to pressure cook for 4 minutes.
- While the Instant Pot is coming to pressure, tear the leaves off of the thick center kale stems. Rip the leaves into bite-sized pieces and discard the stems. Carefully rinse the leaves in a colander or salad spinner.
- When the Instant Pot timer goes off, manually release the pressure and open the lid. Set to saute, and stir in the heavy cream and kale. Cook until the kale is wilted, about 1-2 minutes, then turn off the Instant Pot and serve.
- Macros per serving (approximately 1 cup): 260 calories, 5 grams net carbs, 11 grams protein, 22 grams fat.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Any embedded link to a product earns me a portion of the purchase price if you click and buy it.
Recent Comments