Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza Soup
Simmered all day, this is a delicious deconstruction of a sausage & pepperoni pizza without the crust, served in a hearty soup for a winter's day.
My Number One Fan found this from a website called afarmgirldabbles. I admit, I never considered taking the ingredients from a pizza and configuring a soup out of one, but this is pretty much what a sausage pepperoni pizza tastes like without the crust. It's very rich and filling. My Number One Fan modified the recipe on several counts, but most notably, using turkey pepperoni rather than traditional, which reduced the fat content and calorie count.
The cheese is added last, with the Parmesan cheese going into the soup and the Mozzarella cheese going on top of the soup in the serving bowl. If you have soup crocks or earthenware soup bowl, add the Mozzarella on top of the soup and pop them in a 375°F oven for 3-4 minutes.
Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground Italian sweet sausage, bulk
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 6-oz can button mushrooms, drained (like, Green Giant)
- 3 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 14.5-oz tomato sauce (like, Hunt's)
- 1 14.5-oz can petite diced tomatoes (like, Hunt's)
- 1 4-oz can diced mild green chilies (like, Old El Paso)
- 1 6-oz can tomato paste (like, Hunt's)
- 1 cup chicken stock (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
- 1 cup water
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried crushed rosemary
- 5 oz mini turkey pepperoni (like, Hormel)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (like, Kraft)
- 2 tbsp mozzarella cheese, grated, per serving of soup
- chiffonade of fresh basil for garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat the crock pot, by filling it with hot tap water, put the lid on, and set the unit on high heat for 30 minutes to an hour. Drain when ready to use.
- In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, sauté the sausage until all pink is gone, about 5 minutes.
- Add the onions and sauté until slightly caramelized, about ten minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Transfer the sausage and veggies to the pre-heated crock pot, then add all remaining ingredients except the Parmesan, mozzarella and basil to the crock pot.
- Simmer on high for 2 hours, then low for 4 hours.
- When ready to serve, stir the Parmesan cheese into the soup.
- Top each serving of soup with the mozzarella, garnished with the basil chiffonade.
Notes
- If bulk Italian sausage is unavailable, you can buy Italian sausage links. Slice them open lengthwise and remove the sausage from the casings. Discard the casings.
