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Take one spoonful of this pizza soup and it tastes just like your favorite pie, in bowl form! Serve with crusty bread for a satisfying and delicious meal.
With our love for artisan pizza recipes, I’m surprised it’s taken us this long to think this idea: pizza soup! I mean, who wouldn’t want all the flavors of your favorite pizza wrapped up in a cozy bowl? The broth is flavored with pizza sauce, tomatoes, and a little Parmesan to make it creamy.
The toppings swim along inside: bell peppers, garlic and mushrooms, making for a savory pop that surprises you in every bite! Serve with garlic toast, grilled cheese or simply crusty bread and it’s a meal you’ll want to make over and over—and over!
Ingredients in pizza soup
Alex and I have been obsessed with artisan pizza since our honeymoon to Italy years ago. We’ve spent a over decade creating our master pizza dough recipe and Margherita pizza by learning from professional pizza chefs. So what better challenge than to take all that know-how and distill it down into a soup?
This pizza soup is for when you want all the flavors of pizza but none of the hassle. The broth tastes so delicious that after a spoonful you’ll exclaim, “That tastes just like pizza!” (Promise. We did.) Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make recipe:
- Pizza sauce
- Canned crushed tomatoes, fire roasted if possible
- Vegetable broth
- Olive oil
- Parmesan cheese
- Red onion, garlic, bell pepper, mushroom
- Dried oregano and fennel seeds
Use purchased or homemade pizza sauce
Much of the pizza flavor in this soup recipe comes from using pizza sauce to flavor the broth. Here are a few things to keep in mind when shopping:
- Grab a high quality jar of pizza sauce, organic if possible. Check the ingredients on the back to make sure there’s not too much added sugar or preservatives.
- Or, make homemade! You can also make your own pizza sauce. Our homemade pizza sauce recipe is a fan favorite: it takes just 5 minutes in a blender and tastes sensational!
Fire roasted tomatoes add complexity
Here’s another tip for the best flavor in this pizza soup: use fire roasted canned tomatoes, canned tomatoes that have been roasted over an open flame. This makes the flavor taste sweet right out of the can, unlike most canned tomatoes.
Fire roasted tomatoes are sold by several different brands and are easy to find in most grocery stores here in the US. If you can’t find them, substitute high quality canned tomatoes (like San Marzano).
Fennel seeds lend a meaty flavor
Last flavor tip: don’t be tempted to leave out the fennel seeds! You should be able to find them in the spice aisle in your grocery. Fennel seed is a spice that’s used in sausage, so it makes your brain think of meat. It adds as meaty, savory flavor to this soup that cannot be replicated!
Variations and mix-in ideas
The vegetables in this soup act as pizza toppings, so just like with a pizza—you can customize them to taste! It’s easy to add more vegetables to make this soup even more filling or to add protein. Here are some more ideas:
- Chopped pepperoni
- Cooked sausage
- White beans
- Spinach
- Sliced black olives
What to serve with pizza soup
Once you’ve cooked up a pot of pizza soup, the best part is figuring out what to serve with it! There are so many great ways to accessorize it to make it a full meal. It’s great for any season, but especially warming in fall or winter. Here are some ideas:
- Crusty bread: Serve with artisan bread like a sourdough or no knead bread.
- Croutons: Mix up a recipe of homemade croutons to add on top.
- Cheese toast: A favorite! This cheese toast has mayo, mustard and gooey cheese.
- Garlic bread: Try our garlic bread, or even easier garlic toast.
- Grilled cheese: Try avocado grilled cheese or pesto grilled cheese dippers.
Dietary notes
This pizza soup recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.
Easy Pizza Soup
Take one bite of this pizza soup, and it tastes just like your favorite pie in bowl form! Serve with crusty bread for an outrageously delicious meal.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Soup
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 red onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 medium portobello mushroom caps
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 15 ounce jar pizza sauce (or Easy Pizza Sauce)
- 28-ounce can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
- 1 quart (4 cups) vegetable broth
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, plus more for the garnish
- Fresh basil, for the garnish (optional)
- 1/2 recipe Homemade Croutons, crusty bread, garlic bread or garlic toast, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Dice the bell peppers. Destem and chop the mushroom caps into bite-sized pieces.
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, mushrooms, and peppers and sauté for 4 minutes, until translucent. Add ½ teaspoon kosher salt, the garlic, oregano, fennel, and red pepper flakes and cook 2 to 3 minutes until fragrant and the veggies have softened.
- Add the pizza sauce, canned tomatoes and their liquid, and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the cheese and simmer 5 more minutes until it is melted. Taste and add additional kosher salt if necessary.
- Serve warm topped with homemade croutons, additional Parmesan cheese, and fresh basil leaves (or simply serve with crusty bread or a gluten free bread substitute).
More soup recipes
When pizza and soup collide, it’s a treat! Here are a few more of our favorite soup recipes and pizza pies:
- Enjoy cozy and rustic vegan potato soup or white bean soup.
- Try irresistibly hearty lentil soup or taco soup.
- Go easy with vegetable soup or fancy with French onion soup.
- Go Italian-style with Tortellini soup or pasta e ceci.
- Opt for ultra creamy broccoli potato soup.
I love these recipes of yours, I have tried several of them, but pizza soup appealed to me the most. Not only my wife and I liked it, but also my beloved children. But some ingredients are expensive for us and I think anyone who has a family understands how important it is to shop wisely. We often have to buy from current flyers, for example, I found a pizza sauce for this recipe in Freshco flyer a few days ago https://foxeca.com/freshco
Very nice, Thanks
Has anyone added pasta to this soup? We want to try that to make it pizza-ier! Tips, please!
That would be good! Add an extra cup of water and 3/4 cup of pasta after the 10 minute simmer. Continue simmering until the pasta is cooked.
This is really good. I am carb conscious so didn’t include any bread. I subbed some chickpeas instead and that made it more hearty. This will go into my soup rotation for sure! Thank you!
This looks amazing! Your suggestions on making it vegan?
You can easily make it vegan! Just remove the Parmesan from the broth — it will still taste delicious! Garnish with the croutons for a nice crunch.