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Italian Tomato Soup with Pasta
Italian tomato soup with pasta is hearty, comforting, and full of rich tomato flavour, with tender pasta simmered in a savoury broth with herbs and vegetables. It’s simple to make, filling enough for lunch or dinner, and has that lovely rustic quality that makes a bowl of soup feel like a proper meal. Finished with parmesan and plenty of black pepper, it’s especially good with crusty bread on the side.
Italian Veggie Soup
When I’m craving something hearty but not heavy, this Italian soup with pasta is my answer. It’s packed with vegetables, tomatoes, and pasta – the kind of simple, wholesome recipe that fills you up without weighing you down. I love making a big batch to reheat through the week, especially on cooler nights. It’s easy, comforting, and full of rustic Italian flavour, perfect for anyone who wants a nourishing bowl of soup that’s as satisfying as it is simple.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 brown onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium-sized carrot, finely diced
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- 4 tbsp sundried tomato pesto
- 2 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- Maldon sea salt flakes
- 4 cups hot vegetable stock
- 1 cup dry pasta, such as risoni or ditalini
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the sun-dried tomato pesto and cook through for 2 minutes.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, bay leaves, and stock and bring to a heavy simmer. Once simmering, cover and reduce the heat to low for 15 minutes.
- Uncover and remove the bay leaves. Use a stick blender to blitz until smooth.
- Bring the soup back to the boil, then add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions, or until al dente.
- Serve with a sprinkle of fresh basil leaves.
Notes
- This is a brilliant, hearty soup that comes together quickly and tastes like it's been simmering all day. The sun-dried tomato pesto is the secret weapon that gives it a depth of flavour well beyond a standard vegetable soup.
- The classic mirepoix base of onion, carrot, and celery is the foundation of a great soup. Take your time cooking it down properly for 10 minutes before adding anything else. Rushing this step means less flavour in the finished soup.
- Sun-dried tomato pesto adds a concentrated, deeply savoury richness that regular tomato paste simply can't replicate. If you don't have it, a tablespoon of regular tomato paste and a handful of finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes works as a substitute.
- Blitzing the soup until smooth before adding the pasta gives you a beautifully thick, glossy base that coats the pasta as it cooks.
- Risoni or ditalini are ideal for soup as they're small enough to fit on a spoon and cook quickly. If you don't have either, any small pasta shape works well.
- Cook the pasta in the soup rather than separately. It absorbs the flavour of the broth as it cooks and helps thicken the soup slightly with its starch.
- Be aware that the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as the soup sits. If you're making it ahead or expecting leftovers, cook the pasta separately and add it to individual bowls when serving to prevent it from going mushy.
- I use this large heavy-based pot for soups. It distributes the heat evenly and is wide enough to use a stick blender without splashing.
- This soup keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat gently on the stovetop, adding a splash of stock or water to loosen it if needed.
- This soup freezes well without the pasta. Cool completely, portion into freezer-safe containers, and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight, reheat on the stovetop, and add fresh pasta when ready to serve.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 288Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 1141mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 7gSugar: 11gProtein: 9g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Serve this with
- Serve with my Garlic Bread for dipping into the rich tomato broth. The buttery, crisp bread turns a simple bowl of tomato and pasta soup into a wonderfully comforting dinner.
- Pair with my Cheese and Bacon Muffins for a hearty lunch. The savoury, cheesy muffins are brilliant alongside the bright tomato soup and give you something substantial for dunking.
- Add a Caprese Salad on the side for a fresh Italian-inspired meal. Juicy tomatoes, basil and bocconcini complement the soup while adding plenty of cool, fresh texture.
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Italian Tomato Soup with Pasta
When Inspiration Hits
This Italian Tomato Soup with Pasta came to life purely out of necessity and one of those “use what you’ve got” kind of moments. It was a rainy day, which if you’re familiar with Brisbane means a complete deluge, and I wanted something hot and comforting. I wasn’t about to trek to the shops in wet socks, so I rummaged through the fridge and pantry to see what I could pull together. Onions, carrots, celery, garlic, a jar of my homemade sundried tomato pesto, a tin of tomatoes, and some gluten-free ditalini I’d picked up on a whim from Harris Farm – the pieces started to come together.
I started, as I often do, with a classic soffritto. That magical mix of onions, carrots, and celery always feels like the beginning of something good. Once they were soft and fragrant, I added the garlic and a generous spoonful of pesto for richness. Then came the tomatoes, a bit of water, and the pasta. It all simmered away into this velvety, tomato-rich hug in a bowl. One taste and I knew it was one for the blog. It felt like sunshine in soup form – warm, flavourful, and just what I needed to lift the mood of a gloomy day.
That’s the thing about soup – when it’s good, it feels like more than just a meal. This one was so good I scribbled the ingredients down before I even finished eating. Because when inspiration strikes and it turns out this delicious, it would be downright rude not to share it with you!
How Recipes Come to Life
Most of my recipes fall into one of two camps: either they’re a recreation of a classic that I’ve researched and refined, or they’re born out of a spontaneous moment in the kitchen. This Italian Tomato Soup with Pasta was the latter – a perfect example of cooking by feel, mood, and what’s already in the cupboard. I think the best recipes often come from that kind of spontaneity. When you’re not bound to a plan, you’re free to follow the flavour.
That doesn’t mean it’s always perfect the first time. I always jot down the ingredients I use, and if something doesn’t quite hit the mark, I make notes about what to change next time. Maybe it needs more lemon, a splash of cream, or an extra pinch of salt. But occasionally, I get lucky and hit the balance straight away – and when that happens, it’s magic. This soup was one of those lucky moments. It came together easily, tasted like a hug, and didn’t need a single adjustment.
And once I’ve cooked something I love, I photograph it, write it up, and pop it into the archive. Some recipes are so simple they feel almost silly to write down, but I remind myself that what feels simple to me might be exactly what someone else needs. That’s the joy of sharing food. You never know who it’ll inspire or comfort.
Keeping It Real with Food Photography
Let’s be honest: food photography is not my strong suit. I take all my photos outside on the balcony using my phone, some random linen from Target, and whatever daylight I can wrangle. If it’s cloudy, it’s cloudy. If it’s too bright, well, we’re just going to pretend it’s artistic. I used to stress about getting the perfect shot, but these days I’m all about keeping it real.
I’m not interested in food that looks intimidating or too pretty to eat. I want you to see a photo of my recipe and think, “Yep, I can totally make that.” No fancy filters or professional lighting. Just me, a bowl of something delicious, and whatever props I can grab from the kitchen drawer. It’s not glamorous, but it’s honest.
I usually take one good photo, maybe two if Rose isn’t trying to jump on the table, and call it a day. That’s all you really need to know what you’re aiming for. The food speaks for itself, and honestly, I’d rather spend time eating it than photographing it. If you want food that looks as good as it tastes, but doesn’t require a ring light and a food stylist, then you’re in the right place.
Frequently asked questions
Why blend the soup before adding the pasta? Blitzing the soup until smooth after the initial simmer gives you a thick, glossy, deeply flavoured base that coats the pasta as it cooks rather than a thin broth with vegetables floating in it. It also means the pasta absorbs the concentrated tomato and pesto flavour as it cooks directly in the blended soup, which makes every bite more interesting than pasta cooked separately and added at the end.
Can I make this ahead? Yes, but cook the pasta separately and add it to individual bowls when serving rather than cooking it in the soup if you’re planning on leftovers. Pasta cooked directly in the soup will continue absorbing liquid as it sits and will turn soft and bloated by the next day. The blended soup base without pasta freezes beautifully for up to three months.
What can I use instead of sun-dried tomato pesto? A tablespoon of regular tomato paste combined with a handful of finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes gets you close. The sun-dried tomato pesto is doing a specific job here though, adding a concentrated, deeply savoury richness that plain tomato paste alone doesn’t have, so it’s worth using if you can find it.
Ingredient breakdown
Olive oil
The fat the soffritto cooks in over a full ten minutes at the start. Nothing complicated here, just enough to coat the vegetables and get them softening without catching on the bottom of the pot.
Brown onion, carrot, and celery
The classic mirepoix trio that forms the flavour foundation of the soup. All three go in together and need a proper ten-minute cook over medium heat until completely soft before anything else is added. This is the stage where the sweetness and depth of the finished soup is built, and rushing it produces a noticeably flatter result. Finely diced so they cook evenly and blend completely smooth when the stick blender goes in.
Garlic
Three cloves of minced garlic added after the soffritto has softened, cooked for just a minute until fragrant before the pesto goes in. A supporting flavour here rather than a starring one, adding savoury depth that runs through the whole soup.
Sun-dried tomato pesto
The ingredient that makes this soup taste like it has been simmering for considerably longer than it has. Four tablespoons of sun-dried tomato pesto cooked through for two minutes before the liquid goes in, adding a concentrated, deeply savoury richness that plain tomato paste can’t replicate. If you’re using the recipe from this collection, you’ve already got it covered.
Tinned diced tomatoes
Two tins forming the bulk of the soup base. They simmer with the stock and bay leaves for fifteen minutes before being blitzed smooth, which gives them time to break down completely and meld with the pesto and soffritto into something cohesive rather than tasting like separate ingredients in the same pot.
Bay leaves
Two bay leaves simmer in the soup for the covered fifteen minutes and come out before the blending. They add a quiet, slightly floral background note that would be noticeable by absence even if you’d never identify them by name.
Vegetable stock
Four cups of hot stock added with the tomatoes and bay leaves, forming the liquid that the soup simmers and then blends into. Hot stock keeps the temperature consistent and doesn’t interrupt the simmer. A good quality stock makes a real difference because once the soup is blended the stock flavour is fully integrated rather than sitting separately.
Dry pasta
Risoni or ditalini are the ideal shapes because they’re small enough to fit on a spoon and cook quickly directly in the blended soup. The pasta absorbs the flavour of the concentrated tomato base as it cooks and releases starch that thickens the soup slightly. Cook it to al dente because it will continue softening slightly as the soup sits.
Fresh basil
Scattered over the top just before serving, adding a bright, fragrant note that lifts the rich, concentrated tomato base. Fresh basil only. Dried basil scattered over a finished soup adds nothing worth having.
Maldon sea salt flakes
Season after the stock goes in and taste again after blending because the concentration of flavour changes once the soup is smooth. The sun-dried tomato pesto and stock both bring saltiness so taste carefully before adding more at each stage.
