awesome soup.emailed this to a friend & she loved it.reminds me of a soup i had somewhere else,lol.thanks for sharing this

Wow, fantastic soup! I made a couple of changes because of what I had here. I didn't have any Italian sausage so I used some J.D. breakfast sausage and added a little Italian seasoning. It was great. I used a can less broth and about 2 cups cream and 1/2 cup non-dairy creamer (trick I learned from a popular chowder company -- it tastes great with a lot of cream soups). I put the spinach on the bottom of the bowls and poured the soup over it -- then added a couple pieces to the top for garnish. Was delicious! Thank you, thank you for the killer recipe!

I love it. I used kale instead and didn't use any bacon. I also browned the sausage, onion and galic in a little bit of olive oil. I will be making this a lot.

Outstanding recipe! I was hunting for another recipe and came across this one. It just so happened that I had everything I needed on hand so I decided to make this recipe instead. The Kale worked well in the soup. I did cut back on the red pepper flakes to 3/4 tsp for the kids sake but it was still very good. Only mistake was not having French Bread on hand to go with the soup. Next time!

I only liked this soup okay, and I don't think that I will be making it again. I followed the recipe exactly with two exceptions: I used spinach instead of kale, and I used half chicken broth and half water. (I suspected that with the bacon and sausage the soup would taste salty enough with some water in it, and I was right.) It was a bit too spicy for me, and the texture was a bit too thin. (It might be improved by removed the bacon before adding the liquids, cooking the potatoes as instructed, and then removing and pureeing some of the potato/onion/broth/mixture and returning it to the pot to make the whole thing thicker in consistency.)

Absolutely Fantastic. Its a favorite recipe of mine which I've passed on to others!

Went searching for a 'knock off' recipe after eating at Olive Garden. This was a hit! We'll definitely be making this one again. I used kale since I had some on hand, and only added it to my bowl. (The kids aren't big fans.)

killer!

I can't get enough of this soup! I tweaked it by leaving out the bacon and using kale instead of spinach (the famous restaurant uses kale). I also added 1 teaspoon of fennel as I think that it is crucial to the flavor of the soup. My Italian sausage was hot enough without the added red pepper, also. Still, I think this recipe is pretty forgiving and you can add or subtract to your taste. This was just what I was looking for to start me on my way to my new favorite soup. I also loved how quickly everything cooked.

This is EXACT! My fiance orders 3 bowls when we go to Olive Garden and we have been searching for a great recipe that we can me at home. This is IT! Only differences we had were that we used hot sausage so we didn't need the pepper flakes and we like to use kale vs. spinach. Thank You!

Verrrrrrry good!!!! I put Kale instead as well after reading all the reviews! And I forgot to get heavy cream, so I used whole milk and corn starch! I bet if I used the heavy cream will taste even better!!!!

Excellent! I too used Kale instead of Spinach! GREAT... and YUMMY YUMMY!

Awesome soup! I am glad I didn't cut down on the potatoes like some reviews said because I think that is what gives the broth a thicker texture. Next time I might even add an extra potato. When I bought the sausage my market only had it in 1 1/2 lbs and I ended up using all of it because I was so hungry and it wasn't too much for the soup to handle. I can't wait to eat the leftovers!

LOVE this soup! I used sage sausage and cut back on the red pepper flakes. Hubby's allergies were getting the best of him so he even ate a bowl (and he's not a soup eater)!

Very good and easy to make. I substituted the kale for the spinach.

This soup is quite possibly the best soup I've ever had. Very easy and fast to make which is a big plus. I used turkey Italian-style sausage and kale instead of spinach. Thank you for a terrific recipe that will go into the permanent file at our house.