CREAMY TOMATO BASIL GNOCCHI SOUP

Tender potato pasta dumplings swim in a creamy but dairy-free tomato base with fresh basil in this decadent and delicious vegan tomato gnocchi soup.

A few years ago my husband and I considered opening a vegan restaurant in our town. It seemed like a great idea at first: there wasn’t a whole lot of vegan food around at the time, but our town is definitely the kind of place where you’d expect it to be in demand. We even went around and looked at some potential spots for our establishment, talked to other local business owners, that kind of thing. In the end, we decided not to because opening a place like that is a big investment and super risky. And at the time I already had a budding business: this blog, which conveniently was a lot less risky and required little initial investment to get started with.

Well the universe must have been spying on us because in the two or so years since we first toyed around with that idea, the amount of vegan food available within just a mile radius of where we live just about exploded.

We have so many options now! Haven’t even gotten a chance to try them all yet (I cook at home a lot, as you might have guessed).

Anyway, a couple of the vegan and vegan-friendly places we’ve been frequenting have been offering tomato soup lately, and that set me off into a bit of a tomato soup kick. I got inspired to make a version of my own.

Guys, this tomato soup on its own was super tasty, but add some gnocchi and fresh basil…this stuff was amazing. Whenever possible, I like to make my soup into a meal, and regular old tomato soup isn’t quite meal-worthy. That’s where the gnocchi comes in. Not only does gnocchi make the soup super satisfying, but the combination of the soup with little potato pasta dumplings is delicious as heck.

I made the soup itself extra creamy by adding some coconut milk. I know not everyone that reads this blog is down with coconut milk. If that’s you, feel free to sub your favorite non-dairy milk (cashew would be a good alternative).

If you have an immersion blender (even a cheap one like I have is a great investment) the soup ends up being an easy one-pot meal.

5 from 3 votes

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Creamy Tomato Basil Gnocchi Soup

Tender potato pasta dumplings swim in a creamy but dairy-free tomato base with fresh basil in this decadent and delicious vegan tomato gnocchi soup.

 Course Soups

 Cuisine American, Italian

 Prep Time 10 minutes

 Cook Time 30 minutes

 Total Time 40 minutes

 Servings 4

 Calories 435 kcal

 Author Alissa Saenz

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (14 ounce) cans fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk, plus extra, for drizzling on top (optional)
• 1 (16 ounce) package shelf stable mini gnocchi
• 2 cups chopped fresh basil (1 large or 2 medium bunches), plus more for serving (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Coat the bottom of a large pot with oil and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and sauté until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and sauté about 1 minute more, until very fragrant.
2. Add the tomatoes, broth and red pepper flakes. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces a bit. 
3. Either use an immersion blender to blend the soup, or blend it in batches using a food processor or blender, and then return it to the pot. Stir in the coconut milk and raise the heat to bring the soup back up to a simmer. Stir in the gnocchi and simmer for about 4 minutes more, until the gnocchi are tender. 
4. Remove the soup from the heat. If you'd like, you can thin it with a bit of additional broth or coconut milk at this point. Stir in the basil and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Ladle into bowls and optionally top with a drizzle of coconut milk and a sprinkling of fresh basil. Serve.