Easy 30-Minute Pizza Soup

Easy 30-Minute Pizza Soup — 🍕😍🎉 Enjoy a big bowl of comfort food with hearty soup that mimics your favorite pizza! Complete with pepperoni, meatballs, a tomato-based broth, and topped with mozzarella, Parmesan, and garlic toast croutons for the “crust”! Easy enough for busy weeknights and sure to be a family FAVORITE!

Easy Pizza Soup Recipe

Who doesn’t love pizza? I mean what’s not to love when it’s loaded with toppings like pepperoni, sausage, and brimming with cheese.

Guess what? This easy pizza soup recipe combines everything you love about crave-worthy pizza and a comforting bowl of soup, and rolls them into the best of both worlds!

There’s plenty of juicy meatballs and tempting pepperoni, and I like to top my soup with both mozzarella and Parmesan cheese

Also, to mimic pizza crust, I use toasted garlic bread or croutons which not only give extra pizza flavor, but they add a bit of crunchy texture which is nice with soup.

However, my two favorite things about this pizza soup with pepperoni and meatballs are that it’s a one-pot recipe AND it’s a 30-minute meal recipe.

It’s a perfect soup for chilly winter nights, especially on busy weeknights when you need to get dinner on the table fast with something everyone enjoys.

This pizza soup is definitely a family favorite with kids and adults alike.

Ingredients in Pizza Soup with Pepperoni and Meatballs

To make homemade pizza soup, you’ll need the following easy-to-find and very common fridge and pantry ingredients including the following:

• Olive oil
• White or yellow onion
• Green or red bell pepper
• Garlic
• Reduced sodium beef broth
• Marinara sauce
• Tomato paste
• Italian seasoning
• Granulated sugar – – I find a teaspoon or two of sugar really helps balance the flavor profile and makes the soup much more pleasant. It’s the same principle as adding sugar to any kind of red sauce or pasta sauce in Italian recipes.
• Cooked meatballs
• Pepperoni slices
• Garlic toast or large croutons, for garnishing
• Shredded mozzarella cheese, for garnishing – Use a block of cheese, and grate it yourself. Pre-shredded varieties contain anti-caking agents that prevent them from melting
• Parmesan cheese, for garnishing
• Fresh parsley, optional for garnishing
• Crushed red pepper flakes, optional for garnishing
• Salt and pepper, optional and to taste

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How to Make Pizza Soup in 30 Minutes

Making pizza in a soup pot or Dutch oven on the stove is easy and so fast. 30 minutes is all you need for this comfort food recipe.

Follow my easy and straightforward instructions:

1. Add the olive oil, onions, and green pepper, to a large Dutch oven and saute over medium-high heat for 3 minutes before adding the garlic and sauteeing another minute.
2. Add the beef broth, marinara, tomato pasta, Italian seasoning, sugar, pepperoni, meatballs, stir to combine, and simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. If you’re going to toast garlic bread in the oven, do it now.
4. Otherwise when you’re ready to serve the soup, add the garlic bread or croutons.
5. And garnish with the cheeses and optionally add parsley and/or red pepper flakes, and season with salt and pepper if desired before serving.

What to Serve with Easy Pizza Soup

Twelve Superfoods Salad

Strawberry, Avocado, and Kale Salad with Strawberry-Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Apple, White Cheddar, and Spinach Salad with Honey-Apple Cider Vinaigrette

BLT Chopped Salad with Homemade Creamy Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Garlic Bread for Pepperoni Pizza Soup

There are a few ways to go with the bread that tops the soup which mimics “pizza crust” and adds some very welcome crispy and crunchy texture.

1. Garlic Bread or Toast – Either use frozen garlic toasts that you thaw, or use store bought fresh from your grocer’s bakery section, or make your own garlic bread using French bread, garlic seasoning, and butter – but whatever you do, make sure to bake it until it’s crispy, crunchy, and lightly golden browned.
2. I suppose you can simply use unbaked or untoasted French bread but it’s not quite as enticing as warm and crusty bread is!
3. Finally, I suggest using large, extra-large, or jumbo croutons. I actually have better luck buying the store-brand at my local grocery store than online ordering.

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5 from 8 votes

Easy 30-Minute Pizza Soup

By Averie Sunshine

🍕😍🎉 Enjoy a big bowl of comfort food with hearty soup that mimics your favorite pizza! Complete with pepperoni, meatballs, a tomato-based broth, and topped with mozzarella, Parmesan, and garlic toast croutons for the "crust"! Easy enough for busy weeknights and sure to be a family FAVORITE!

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 servings

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Equipment

• 1 Large Soup Pot

Ingredients  

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• ▢ 3 or 4 pieces garlic toast or 18 large croutons, or as desired, for garnishing; divided
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1 small white or yellow onion, diced small
• ▢ 1 green or red bell pepper, seeded and diced small
• ▢ 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• ▢ 32 ounces reduced sodium beef broth
• ▢ 32 ounces marinara sauce, two 16-ounce jars
• ▢ 6 ounces tomato paste
• ▢ 2 to 3 teaspoons Italian seasoning, or to taste
• ▢ 1 to 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, or to taste*
• ▢ 26 ounces cooked meatballs**, easiest to use a bag of frozen meatballs that are thawed before using
• ▢ 6 ounces pepperoni slices, halved or quartered (or use mini pepperoni)
• ▢ Salt and pepper, optional and to taste
• ▢ 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, for garnishing; divided
• ▢ ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, for garnishing; divided
• ▢ 2 tablespoon fresh parsley, optional for garnishing; divided
• ▢ Red pepper flakes, optional for garnishing

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Instructions 

• If you're going to bake garlic toast, garlic bread, French bread, or similar do it now according to package directions which likely means preheating your oven to 350F and cube the garlic toast now into 1 1/2-inch cubes (or do it after baking if desired), and bake for 5 minutes, flip, and bake for 5 more minutes. Get started on the rest of the recipe while it toasts. If you're using croutons, no need to bake or toast anything and just start the rest of the recipe.
• To a large soup pot or Dutch oven, add the olive oil, onions, bell peppers, and cook over medium-high heat to saute for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until vegetables are softening; stir frequently.
• Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant; stir continuously.
• Add the beef broth, marinara sauce, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, sugar*, and stir to combine.
• Add the meatballs**, pepperoni, and simmer for about 15 minutes; stir occasionally.
• Taste the soup and if it needs salt, pepper, or more sugar, add it now. Tips – If the soup tastes at all flat or bland, it likely needs salt. if it tastes acidic or has too much of a bite, it needs more sugar. Pepper is always nice to give flavor without adding spiciness.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and evenly distribute the baked garlic toast or croutons over the top of each bowl as desired.
• Garnish as desired with the mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, and optional red pepper flakes to taste, and serve immediately. Soup will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days and in the freezer for up to 4 months. Reheat gently in the microwave. Store any garlic toasts or croutons airtight at room temp and apart from the soup or they will get soggy and disintegrate into the soup. See Notes for Slow Cooker*** instructions.

Notes

*Sugar – You may wonder why you need to add sugar? That’s because tomatoes are acidic and in pizza soup there’s 32 ounces of marinara sauce and 6 ounces of tomato paste. Plus the beef broth can have a bit of a bite.

I find a teaspoon or two of sugar really helps balance the flavor profile and makes the soup much more pleasant. It’s the same principle as adding sugar to any kind of red sauce or pasta sauce in Italian recipes. However, always add to taste (and slowly). Start with 1 teaspoon in step 4 and then after simmering if you think it needs more, add it.

**Meatballs – Use previously cooked meatballs. I find it easiest to use frozen meatlballs that I thaw before adding to the soup. Beef, turkey, pork, sausgae, chicken, or your favorite protein is fine. I like using two bags of Trader Joe's Turkey Meatballs.

***To make pizza soup in a slow cooker, saute the onions, peppers, and garlic together on your stove. Transfer the mixture to a large 7 to 8-quart slow cooker, and add everything else (except the garnishes). Slow cook on LOW for 4 hours or on HIGH for 2 hours, or until done.

Everything you’re adding has already been cooked so it’s really just a matter of simmering and letting the flavors marry. Then garnish and serve!

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 521kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 29g, Fat: 38g, Saturated Fat: 14g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 17g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 101mg, Sodium: 1494mg, Potassium: 1150mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 1040IU, Vitamin C: 15mg, Calcium: 163mg, Iron: 4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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