This pizza soup recipe is all about bringing the flavors of pizza to a hearty, comforting bowl of soup. It’s a quick, homemade meal that’s perfect for those busy weeknights when you’re craving some serious comfort food.
Table of Contents
Pizza soup can have an overpowering pepperoni taste and even become greasy because of the pepperoni. But that’s definitely not the case in this recipe! The pepperoni is only added at the end so that it’s not greasy, and you can still enjoy the pepperoni flavor as much as you like.
If you enjoy this pizza soup, you should definitely try my deep dish pizza recipe, which offers a Chicago-style pizza you can make at home. Alternatively, opt for a convenient option by making my crockpot pizza. And if you’re in the mood for a classic pizza, my easy pizza dough recipe is a winner.
This recipe was found in my favorite local Amish cookbook. My family loves pizza and being that it’s soup season, I thought I would give this recipe a try. I love the flavors together. The texture reminds me of chili mac but with pizza flavor.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Warm and Comforting: There’s nothing quite like a bowl of hearty soup to warm you up on a cold day. This recipe is the definition of comfort food
- Pizza Flavors in a Bowl: Who doesn’t love pizza? This soup combines all the delicious pizza flavors in the form of a comforting and easy soup.
- Quick and Easy: This recipe is a time-saver. It’s ready in under 40 minutes, making it perfect for busy weeknights.
- Surprisingly Healthy: Despite its pizza inspiration, this soup is packed with veggies like carrots, potatoes, and peas, making it a healthier option without sacrificing flavor.
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Key Ingredients
- Ground Beef: This will add a hearty, meaty flavor to the soup.
- Onions: They will provide a savory base note and a bit of texture to the soup.
- Green Onions: These will add a fresh, slightly sharp flavor to the soup.
- Water: This is the base of the soup, and will help all the other ingredients cook together.
- Carrots: They will add a touch of sweetness and a pop of color to the soup.
- Potato: This will help to thicken the soup as it cooks, and add a bit of heartiness.
- Salt: It will bring out the flavors of the other ingredients and make the soup more savory.
- Dry Elbow Pasta: This will cook in the soup and add a fun, unexpected twist to the recipe.
- Pizza Sauce: This is the star ingredient that will give the soup its pizza flavor.
- Frozen Peas: They will add a pop of sweetness and a bit of texture to the soup.
- Pepperoni: When used as a garnish, it will add a spicy, savory flavor to the soup.
- Brown Sugar: It will help to balance out the acidity of the pizza sauce and add a touch of sweetness to the soup.
- Pepperoni and Mozzarella: When used as a garnish, they will add a traditional pizza flavor to the soup.
Equipment
- 5-Quart Stock Pot – You’ll need at least a 5-quart stock pot to brown the ground beef and combine all the ingredients for your pizza soup. This is the main piece of equipment for this recipe.
How to Make Pizza Soup
Preparation
To start, brown the hamburger in a stock pot. While it’s cooking, add the onion and green pepper. Once it’s brown, drain the grease.
Step 1 – Cook the Base
Next, add water, carrots, potatoes, and salt to the pot. Let it cook for 5 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.
Step 2 – Add the Pizza Soup Ingredients
After 5 minutes, stir in the pasta, mushrooms, pizza sauce, peas, and brown sugar. Let the mixture simmer for 30 minutes to develop a rich, hearty flavor.
Step 3 – Garnish and Serve
After 30 minutes, your pizza soup is ready. To add a classic pizza flavor, garnish it with pepperoni and mozzarella. The heat of the soup will melt the cheese and pepperoni. Serve the pizza soup warm.
Expert Tip
To ensure your pizza soup cooks evenly, stir the soup every 10 minutes while it’s simmering.
Recipe Variations
- Add Pepperoni While Cooking: To make the soup richer, you can add the pepperoni while cooking. It’ll also infuse the flavor of the pepperoni into the soup more. Depending on the brand of the pepperoni you purchase, it can add a greasy texture to the soup.
- Omit Peas: Don’t like peas? No problem! Simply omit it from the recipe or replace with any other veggie you and your family enjoy.
- Extra Cheese: While the recipe calls for mozzarella as a garnish, feel free to stir in some parmesan or even some cheddar for a cheesier soup.
What to Serve With
- For a hearty and comforting meal, serve your pizza soup with a side of fresh, crusty bread. The bread is perfect for dipping into the soup and soaking up all the delicious flavors.
- If you’re hosting a casual get-together, set up a soup bar with a variety of toppings like extra pepperoni, shredded mozzarella, and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Let your guests customize their pizza soup.
- Just like my favorite pizza burgers, pizza soup is a kid-friendly recipe, so it’s a great idea to serve it at a children’s birthday party or a family gathering. You can even let the kids help with the toppings, making it a fun and memorable cooking activity.
Make Ahead Instructions
You can easily make the pizza soup entirely ahead of time and refrigerate it for up to 3 days. Plus, you can also freeze it! Simply allow it to thaw and then reheat it when you’re ready to enjoy.
Recipe FAQs
Pizza soup is a hearty and flavorful soup that incorporates all the classic flavors of a pizza, such as pepperoni, mozzarella, and pizza sauce. It’s a comforting dish that’s perfect for a cozy night in.
Yes, you can. While this recipe calls for ground beef, feel free to substitute it with ground Italian sausage. You can also use ground turkey or chicken for a lighter alternative.
Pizza sauce is the best option for this recipe as it gives the soup that classic pizza flavor. However, if you don’t have pizza sauce on hand, you can use marinara sauce as a substitute. Just keep in mind that the flavor profile of the soup will be slightly different.
Storing and Reheating
- Storing: Allow leftovers to cool to room temperature. Then, simply transfer it to an airtight container. It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freezing: This soup also freezes well if you’d like to save it for later. Once it has cooled, transfer it to a freezer-safe container. It can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Thaw: When you’re ready to enjoy your frozen pizza soup, simply move it from the freezer to the refrigerator. Let it thaw for 24 hours.
- Reheating: Reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat. Stir it occasionally until it’s warmed through. This should take about 10-15 minutes.
More Soup Recipes You’ll Enjoy
Serving Size
- What to Expect: This pizza recipe yields a hearty and satisfying soup that can serve 8 to 10 people.
- How to Scale: If you’re expecting a larger crowd or just want to have leftovers, you can easily double the recipe. Just make sure your pot is large enough to accommodate the increased quantity. Follow the rest of the instructions as directed, and you’ll have a delicious pizza soup for a larger group.
Pizza Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ Cup onions chopped
- ¼ Cup green onions chopped
- 3 Cups water
- 1 Cup carrots diced
- 2 Cups potato diced
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 Cup dry elbow pasta
- 4 Cups pizza sauce
- 1 Cup frozen peas
- 6 oz fresh mushrooms sliced
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- Pepperoni and mozzarella to garnish
Instructions
- Brown and cook the hamburger in a large (at least 5 quart) stock pot. While browning, add the onion and green pepper. Drain the grease.
- Add the water, carrots, potatoes, and salt to the stockpot with the cooked hamburger mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the pasta, mushrooms, pizza sauce, peas, and brown sugar. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
- Garnish with pepperoni and mozzarella and serve warm.
I was checking out some of your recipes, and came across this one. I’m wondering how can it be called pizza soup? It’s a vegetable soup with pizza sauce in it instead of tomatoes. To me, a pizza soup has NO peas, carrots, pasta, potatoes in it. You don’t have that on a pizza. I have a wonderful, flavorful pizza soup that I have made for the last 25 years, and everyone raves about it! If you want a pizza flavored vegetable soup, you could try this one. No offense to you, your recipes are good, but it all depends on one’s taste! Please don’t take this the wrong way, you like it, but I wouldn’t. That’s what makes it fun!
It’s called pizza soup because that’s what the Amish call it in their local recipe book I have. Agree with you that every recipe can be changed and altered to fit a family’s taste. That is what making cooking fun! 🙂
This soup was so thick. I used 2 jars of pizza sauce and the e cups of water. I had to keep adding water. It tasted very condensed. The pizza sauce was think, and I should have only added 1 jar. The jars were only 14 oz, so I figured I needed 2 jars for 4 cups of sauce. We just couldn’t eat it. It was too tomato tasting. All of those ingredients wasted. The picture looked good on the recipe, and it sounded good, but…..I learned. Is there someway to just add tomato sauce and Italian seasoning? That would have been a lot better!
You can adjust the recipe to your family’s tastes. Our family liked the flavors of tomato. It can also be adjusted based on the type of pizza sauce you use. Strong flavored pizza sauces will impact how it tastes as well.