Pizza Soup

Reasons You’ll Love This Soup

• Absolutely delicious! I think it’s good to start here because this soup is filled with your favorite pizza flavors and will satisfy any pizza craving without any gluten!
• Healthy. There’s no need to feel any guilt after eating this soup. Nope! It’s low-carb and gluten-free.
• Easy to prepare. Everything gets cooked in one pot, making preparation and cleanup a breeze.
• Make-ahead. This pizza soup recipe only gets better by the day, making it perfect for once-a-week meal prep. It also freezes great, so make an extra batch to freeze for a quick healthy lunch or dinner down the road.

Ingredients

Here are all of the ingredients you need to make this delicious gluten free pizza soup recipe.

• Italian chicken sausage. This is raw sausage, not smoked, cooked chicken sausage. You can find raw chicken or poultry sausage in the meat section next to the other Italian sausage, or ask your butcher. The chicken sausage will likely be sold as links, so you’ll remove the casing before using it in the recipe. Most chicken sausage is naturally gluten-free but it’s important to check labels or ask your butcher to make sure. 
• Pepperoni. What’s pizza without pepperoni? You can use stick or sliced pepperoni in pizza soup. Cutting the slices or stick into quarters creates bite-sized pieces for the soup. You can also use turkey pepperoni to lower the saturated fat and calories.
• White onion and garlic cloves. This adds to the flavor of the soup. 
• White mushrooms. Mushrooms bulk up this pizza soup recipe. Read below for more veggie options.
• Italian seasoning. I recommend making this homemade Italian seasoning recipe if you can; it adds incredible flavor to everything! However, you can also use a high-quality store-bought Italian seasoning or swap in 1 teaspoon of dried basil and 1 teaspoon of dried oregano.
• Chicken broth. For best results, use a high-quality organic chicken broth. Also, make sure the chicken broth is labeled gluten free; this is one of those ingredients that can contain hidden gluten.
• Diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. This trio creates a rich tomato broth that’s out of this world. Some recipes call for pizza sauce, which you can swap for tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, but I only suggest this if you’re using a homemade gluten free pizza sauce recipe. I don’t recommend jarred or canned pizza sauce.
• Shredded mozzarella cheese. Topping a hot bowl of pizza soup with shredded mozzarella brings it to the next level!

How to Make Pizza Soup

• Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Place the chicken sausage in the pot and cook until almost cooked through – breaking up the sausage as it cooks. 
• When the pink color in the sausage is just about gone, add the pepperoni and cook together until there is no pink left, about 3 minutes. Remove the sausage and pepperoni from the pan and place them into a bowl.

• Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the same pot and saute the onion until translucent and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until fragrant.
• Sir in the mushrooms and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

• Stir the Italian seasoning, sausage, and pepperoni into the mushrooms, onion, and garlic.
• Pour the chicken broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and paste.
• Bring the soup to a boil, reduce it to a simmer, and cook for 45 minutes. Give it a taste and add salt and pepper, if needed.

Ladle into individual bowls and serve with shredded mozzarella.

How to Make Crock Pot Pizza Soup

Unfortunately, this is not a dump-and-go slow cooker recipe. For best results, you need to start the recipe on the stove.

• Follow the stovetop directions for cooking the sausage, pepperoni, onions, garlic, and mushrooms. You can use a large skillet instead of soup pot.
• Stir the tomato paste into the pan with the sausage and pepperoni until it blends with the ingredients. This helps the tomato pasta cook evenly in the slow cooker instead of staying in a piece.  
• Add the cooked ingredients to the slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients. Cook it on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8 – 10 hours. 
• Add salt and pepper, if needed.

Substitutions

• Swap in pork sausage. If you’re not concerned about fat, you can use Italian pork sausage instead of chicken sausage. You can purchase Italian pork sausage links (remove the casings or ground Italian pork sausage.
• Bulk of the veggies. Any vegetable you like on pizza you can use in the pizza soup recipe. Our favorite pizza toppings are Bell peppers, black olives, green olives, banana peppers, red onion, portobello mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, and artichoke hearts. Also, you can leave the mushrooms out if you want.
• Serve over gluten-free pasta. Any small gf pasta would go great with this pizza soup recipe. Don’t add the pasta directly to the pizza soup; instead, cook it on the side and add it to bowls when you’re ready to eat it.
• For extra cheesy flavor sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese, romano cheese, or even asiago cheese.
• Stir in fresh basil at the end for a burst of fresh flavor.
• Spice it up by adding 1/4 to 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes.

Serving suggestions

This easy pizza soup recipe is a meal on its own. But if you want to enjoy it as a soup and salad combo, this Gluten-free Caesar Salad made with delicious gluten-free caesar dressing is delicious. Or serve it with this gluten free garlic bread.

Make-ahead tips

This pizza soup recipe stores and reheats excellently, so it’s perfect for weekly meal prep and freezer cooking. I recommend storing the soup in individual containers for easy portioned-out lunches and dinners.

For the week: After the pizza soup cools, spoon it into large or small airtight containers. Individual containers work best if you’re planning on taking this for lunches. Store in the fridge for five days and either reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.

For the freezer. After the pizza soup cools, spoon it into 1-2 cup airtight containers, so it’s easier to reheat for individual lunches or dinners. You can also use 1-cup silicone trays like Souper Cubes to freeze soup into portions. See my freezing soup tutorial for more tips.