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This nourishing tomato soup with pasta is so comforting and requires only basic pantry staples. It’s incredibly simple to make, yet rich and full of tomato flavour.
It makes a 1-pot family meal that’s meatless, delicious and economical!
Yes, making a big bowl of comforting soupy pasta just by reaching into your pantry is possible. This is actually my goal with most recipes I make for The Clever Meal: simple, delicious, affordable meals made for real life.
For this everyday recipe, start by sautéing the onion until soft and sweet, then add in awesome garlic, convenient dried basil and turmeric.
These pantry staples give a delicious twist with depth and flavor, and turmeric is also packed with incredible health benefits!
Then add good quality tomato sauce (aka tomato passata here in the UK) followed by broth, a touch of tomato paste, your fav chunky short-cut pasta and cook everything in one pot.
Yes, it’s that easy!
And magically you’ll have a pot full of comforting, thick tomato soup with pasta to enjoy!
List of the ingredients
- Good-quality tomato sauce (aka puree or passata, I use this brand)
- Short-cut pasta (orecchiette, ditaloni, shells…)
- Olive oil
- Onion and garlic
- Tomato paste
- Ground turmeric
- Broth (or water)
- Fresh or dried basil (use both if you wish)
- Salt & pepper
How to make tomato soup with pasta
(Note: this is a quick description with step-by-step photos, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Saute’ the diced onion in olive oil.
- Stir in garlic, dried basil and turmeric. If you use only fresh basil, add it at the end.
- Stir for 1 minute to enhance all the flavors.
- Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, broth or water, salt and pepper.
- Stir in pasta.
- Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
- Cook everything in one pot, stirring frequently.
- Taste, adjust the seasoning, stir in chopped fresh basil if you use it and serve… doesn’t it look YUMMY? 😍
Recipe notes & tips
Tomato soup with pasta ingredients
Tomato sauce: aka tomato passata (for my UK/Australian readers). Good quality tomato sauce is the key: its rich, smooth texture makes the tomato pasta soup more luscious. My fav brand is Mutti.
Pasta: use your favorite chunky pasta cut like orecchiette (we love it!), shells or ditali and cook it until al dente. The recipe is also great to use up a mix of dried pasta leftovers that you might have in your pantry ; ).
Tomato paste: it adds more flavor, but you can skip it if you don’t have it.
Onion and garlic: they make the flavor base. You’re more than welcome to add some diced carrot and celery and start with a proper soffritto!
Turmeric: I find that this golden spicy works very well with the tomato sauce, and it adds depth of flavor and health benefits. You can skip it if you don’t like or if you don’t have it.
Basil: basil and tomatoes make the perfect combo. You can use shredded fresh basil at the end, it’s absolutely perfect, but also convenient dried basil works fine. Feel free to use both if you wish, but reduce by half the dried basil in this case.
Broth: I use low-sodium vegetable broth, but regular vegetable broth or even chicken broth is fine and adds more flavor if you don’t keep it vegan. But feel free to use just plain water if that makes your life easier.
Olive oil: you can use butter instead of olive oil if you wish, but a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil at the end is great… just saying. : )
Salt & pepper: add more salt if you need to adjust the seasoning, and serve with freshly ground black pepper if you like.
More recipes with canned tomatoes?
If you stock-pile canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, this collection of 34 recipes with canned tomatoes is perfect to use this convenient pantry staple.
Here are a few more of my favorite everyday recipes:
For more easy one-pot meals, don’t miss these collection of one-pot pasta recipes!
If you make this tomato soup with pasta or if you have any questions, let me know! Leave a comment, send me a message, or rate it. I would love to hear from you!
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Tomato Soup with Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil or butter
- 1 onion, diced (any colour)
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- ½ Tbsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp dried basil (or a handful of fresh basil leaves)
- 3 cups (720 ml) tomato passata (puree)*
- 3 cups (720 ml) low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- ¾ tsp fine salt, or according to taste*
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- ½ lb (8oz/240 grams) short cut pasta (orecchiette, shells..)
To serve (optional)
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2-3 Tbsp shaved or grated parmesan, to serve
Instructions
- Warm the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the diced onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is turning translucent (5 minutes).
- Add the garlic, the turmeric and the basil, and stir to enhance all the flavors for about 1 minute (if you use fresh basil, keep it aside and add it at the end).
- Add the tomato sauce, broth, tomato paste, salt and pepper (¾ tsp of fine salt is fine is you use low sodium vegetable broth, but if you use regular or chicken broth it's better to adjust the seasoning at the end).
- Stir in the pasta and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook the pasta keeping the lid half way. Stir often.
- The soup will nicely thicken while the pasta is cooking, but trust your judgement and add extra broth if needed of if you prefer a thinner consistency when the pasta is done. Turn the heat off, taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking if needed, and stir in the thorn basil leaves if you use fresh basil.
- Divide into 4 bowls and serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, black pepper and grated/shaved parmesan cheese if you wish.
MyNameIs-
Hi! I’m waiting to try out this recipe :)) I was wondering if you should have the pasta cooked, aldente, or completely uncooked??
Katia
Hi! The pasta is uncooked, it cooks slowly into the tomato soup, the recipe says “cook the pasta keeping the lid half way. Stir often”.
Enjoy! x
Alex
I made this last night, it was so simple and even my picky husband loved it. Thanks!
Katia
That’s awesome! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback, Alex : )
Kelly
For such a wildly simple recipe this is an outstanding soup! I made it vegan (no cheese, veggie broth etc.) and used 4 cups of broth, all of the large size (792 ml I think), more tomato paste and a bit larger quantity of spices to account for that bigger portion. Truly; try this recipe… so very easy but loaded with flavor. I served it with nice, brown bread. Great meal!
Katia
I’m super happy to hear that, Kelly!
Thanks so much for sharing your great feedback with us, it’s so appreciated. x