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This cozy tomato dumpling soup is filled with dumplings made of ricotta and Parmesan cheese and flavored with fresh basil.
I first saw this soup recipe in a cookbook from my mother-in-law. The thought of a tomato dumpling soup sounded so intriguing that it stuck in my mind. Luckily, we have fresh basil at our local farmers market in the winter, thanks to the wonders of hydroponic growing.
Alex and I decided to use an upcoming dinner with dear friends as an excuse to pair local winter basil with a warming soup, and it was a huge hit. It’s tangy and comforting, punctuated by doughy savory dumplings. Here’s a few tips and the recipe!
Tips for tomato dumpling soup
What’s not to love about dumplings? They’re homey, comforting, and in the middle of tomato soup they’re like a deconstructed sort of pizza. The recipe is easy enough for a weeknight, but splashy enough to work for a special dinner. Here are a few notes about this tomato dumpling soup recipe:
- Making tomato dumpling soup is truly simple: just saute minced garlic, then add tomatoes, veggie broth, and chopped basil and simmer.
- Man, these dumplings are SO GOOD. They’re made simply with flour, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and egg. If you’d like, you can substitute in up to ⅓ whole wheat flour for a heartier flavor.
- After mixing the dumpling dough, you place them right into the soup to cook. It’s so fun to watch them turn from dough blogs into delicious dumplings!
More cozy tomato soup recipes
Once you’ve made one delicious tomato dumpling soup, it’s hard not to want to make another! We’ve got several delicious and cozy soup recipes here, so here are a few variations on the theme:
- Tomato Basil Gnocchi Soup is a similar concept, but it uses store-bought gnocchi, basically little pasta dough-balls!
- Tomato Artichoke Soup is one of our fan favorite deliciously cozy tomato soup recipes, It adds artichokes to give it a slight tang, and homemade garlic croutons.
- Creamy Vegan Tomato Soup is another fan favorite, made creamy using cashews and no dairy. We like to garnish with star-shaped toasts!
Dietary notes
This tomato dumpling soup recipe is vegetarian.
Tomato Dumpling Soup
This cozy tomato dumpling soup is filled with dumplings made of ricotta and Parmesan cheese and flavored with fresh basil.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 garlic cloves
- ½ cup basil leaves, chopped, plus additional for serving
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- ¾ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, divided
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, plus additional for serving
- 2 eggs
- 1 ⅓ cup all purpose flour
Instructions
- Mince the garlic. Chop the basil leaves.
- In a large pot, add the olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes; sauté about 1 minute, until just starting to brown. Add canned tomatoes and their liquid, vegetable broth, chopped basil, ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 7 to 8 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, the Parmesan cheese, eggs, flour, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper. Stir until a dough forms. Roll the dumplings into small balls (about 48). After the soup has simmered, place the dumplings in the soup and cook until solid, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Thinly slice (chiffonade) a few extra basil leaves, and grate some Parmesan cheese. Serve the soup warm garnished with basil and Parmesan.
Notes
Adapted from Quick Vegetarian Main Dishes by The Pampered Chef
This soup is delicious. I am a both a dumpling and tomato soup lover so this is the perfect combo. Thanks for a great recipe.
Delicious! The only thing is the dough was super super sticky for me, to the point it was hard to roll into a ball. I don’t know if I just needed to add more flour or what! Flavors of everything were great though.
I used to make this recipe all the time before I knew I was GF & was really missing it. I tried it once before with a GF flour (don’t remember what) & it failed miserably with the dumplings just falling apart into mush bits. I tried it again tonight with 1 cup bobs red mill general purpose GF flour & 1/3 c a GF bisquick mix, & I boiled the dumplings in water (cook them until they float, 5 mins or so) & then added them to the soup to serve. It turned out perfectly! Next time I may try cooking the dumplings in the soup again, but I wonder if the rolling boil of the water is what helped hold them together. Anyways it’s perfect & delicious & GF!
Oh we are SO glad to hear this! This is a fabulous tip for people who are GF and want to make this recipe. Thank you for sharing this!
I can’t say enough good things about this soup-delicious, satisfyingly, and goes together quickly and easily. I sprinkled flour over dumplings after making them which mak soup a bit thicker, Delcious!