I love me some ravioli and I love me some tomato soup, but what I love even more is this Easy Tomato Ravioli Soup. If you’re in the market for a quick, easy tomato soup wrapped with Italian flavor I think you’ll love this little number.
Easy Tomato Ravioli Soup
With the help of a few pantry ingredients, you’ll have this hearty soup that reads like a meal on the table in no time. If you’re one to keep a packet of ravioli in the freezer (they’re such a nice save on a busy night) you might have everything you need to toss this soup together on a weeknight. And it’s going to taste like you slaved over it all afternoon.
About Easy Tomato Ravioli Soup:
The real trick to this soup beyond using a store-bought ravioli (fresh or frozen) is to take a good amount of garlic and onion, saute it to golden perfection and use it, along with Italian seasoning and Italian sausage to boost the flavor of a store-bought pasta sauce. I prefer to use Pasta sauce rather than canned tomato products because it’s going to give you a much smoother, longer cooked flavor in no time at all.
A little broth is going to bring even more flavor to the table and give your soup just the right consistency to simmer your ravioli. A minute or two before the soup is finished, add in some chopped kale. It’s so right in this! When finished, top with a little Parmesan, add a few fresh herbs if you have them and you’re set. While this soup is going to stand as a meal by itself, there’s never an issue at my house of adding a little sumpin’ sumpin’ on the side.
I was feeling fancy & served mine with some Oven Roasted Cherry Tomato Crostini and thought it was the perfect thing floating in the soup. Other great options would be some Italian bread, garlic toast or garlic knots or maybe these fabulous Parmesan Crusted Crostini. If you’d like to spend a few minutes the evening before, mix up my Easy Overnight Crusty Bread and bake it off while the soup’s being made. There’s nothing like homemade bread and soup.
What Kind & How Much Ravioli is Good in this Soup?:
This recipe calls for fresh ravioli, the kind in packets in the refrigerator section. Frozen is fine, just that first, and dried can be used if cooked first.
One of the versatile things about this soup is that you can get by with a smaller packet of around 9 ounces or use a larger 12 to 16-ounce package. If you keep a large bag of frozen ravioli, make sure you have two or three ravioli per serving. If you use a lot of ravioli, you might want to add a bit of additional broth. If you want to use a dried ravioli, even though you’ll cook it first, you’ll need a little extra broth, too.
As far as flavor? The short answer? Just about anything you want! Cheese is a no brainer, but I can’t think of a ravioli that wouldn’t work unless maybe it’s a seafood one although, with the hearty tomato soup base, it’s probably best to stick to a hearty rather than a delicately flavored ravioli.
If you’re looking for a vegetarian soup, use a vegetable and/or cheese Ravioli and use veggie instead of beef broth. And of course, leave out the sausage, although it will reduce the amount of soup very slightly.
- Use Cheese Ravioli for a no brainer option! Everyone loves cheese, amirite?
- Butternut Squash is marvelous in this soup.
- Spinach & Ricotta are a favorite.
- Any Mushroom ravioli goes beautifully with the tomato-y soup.
- My personal favorite? A good beefy ravioli and I’m kinda loving Beef Bolognaise.
Quick Easy Ravioli Soup with Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes Crostini
What About the Sausage?:
I just use a little sausage in this soup, mostly for a flavor accent. It isn’t really necessary, and you can omit the sausage for a vegetarian version of the soup, but it does bring a little extra to the party.
- My favorite sausage to use is a smoked link sausage, mild or hot Italian. I use one or two, so between four to eight ounces. It only needs a quick browning making it a fast option.
- If you want you can use fresh link sausages and remove the casings or a bulk Italian sausage in the same amount, four to eight ounces. You’ll need to cook it through with the onions at the beginning of the recipe.
- If your family isn’t into sausage or pork isn’t an option, you can sub in ground beef, instead.
Making Easy Tomato Ravioli Soup:
Now I told you this soup is easy. Chop your onion and garlic and set the garlic aside. In to your fave soup pot goes a tablespoon of oil, the sausage of choice and the onion. You’ll cook that down till the onions are tender and sausage is cooked through and/or browned, then add in the garlic and cook a minute longer until fragrant.
In goes half the pasta sauce and the Italian herbs and you’ll let them simmer for a few minutes in the hot pan until reduced a bit and darkened in color. That’s going to help take away some of that jarred pasta sauce flavor. Stir it often and don’t scorch it which could be easy to do!
You can add in a lot of the Italian Seasoning for a very robust flavor or back off a bit if serving anybody who isn’t in to as much spice or children. I like to use my Homemade Italian Seasoning Blend but any Italian seasoning will do.
Then in goes the remaining pasta sauce, the broth and once that’s simmering, the ravioli. Cook until the ravioli is heated through and cooked according to package instructions. I like to hold back about a cup of the broth until the ravioli is done and add it at the end if I think it’s needed because I like this soup thick and hearty. If you’ve used more ravioli or a dried ravioli, you’ll probably need all the broth and may wish to add a little more (or a little water) if it’s still too thick. When the ravioli is nearly done, drop in the kale; it will cook through in about a minute.
Shortcut Tomato Ravioli Soup:
The soup is fast and easy as is but you can shave a few minutes off pretty easily. Be aware that some of these shortcuts will affect the total cost of the soup and possibly the quality.
- Use a smoked sausage that only needs a quick browning.
- Skip the step where the pasta sauce is cooked down and slightly reduced.
- A favorite store-bought Italian seasoning can sub in for homemade.
- Fresh Ravioli cooks up especially quickly.
- Pregrated Parm isn’t a fave in the Frugal Household (see below) but is a fast & easy option.
Saving Money on Easy Tomato Ravioli Soup:
If you’re interested in bringing this soup on at the lowest possible cost, watch particularly for the basic items on sale. There’s really no need to pay full price for many of the items in this soup.
- Ravioli, fresh, frozen or dried is often on sale and if you’ve purchased fresh can be frozen right in the package. Pick it up at a low. This recipe is a great one to stretch a packet for a whole family.
- Pasta Sauce & Beef Beef Broth are pantry staples and if you use them, your pantry should always be well-stocked. Long before you run out, watch for sales, especially around holidays for the beef broth (often less on a great grocery store sale than at your buyer’s club) and in the fall for the pasta sauce. The idea is to never run out and have to pay full price.
- Sausages are often on sale and a great item to watch for at a great price in the fall. Pick them up at a low and chuck them in your freezer. They take up little room and can be used in so many ways. If you’re really frugal and pick up several packages on sale, remove from the original package and place the number you family will use for a meal in a Ziplocs, label, and freeze.
- Kale is often cheaper by the bunch rather than the bag, which can run 4 to 10 times the amount of the fresh. A bag may seem like a great deal because the bags are large and bulky, but it almost never is. Crunch the numbers. You’ll probably need a calculator and need to weigh the fresh because bags are priced by the ounce and fresh by the bunch. That being said, bagged is convenient and this is a great way to use up some of that bag! See What to Know About Kale for more information.
- A surprisingly expensive item can be the Parmesan. I often use Romano which has a bit more of an assertive flavor and costs less. More flavor/less money. I can get behind that! Pregrated not only dries up and loses flavor, per pound it’s so much pricier. You’ll likely have to divide the package price by the number of ounces and multiply that by 16 (16 ounces to a pound) to get the per-pound price and make a true comparison. Watch for “near deli” cheese on sale, often with coupons at the producer’s website or around where the cheese is sold (if you see them, pick them up and hang on to them for a sale). They are usually a dollar off. When your cheese goes on sale “buy one get one free” or “buy one, get one 1/2 price” use two coupons.
Easy Tomato Ravioli Soup
Easy Tomato Ravioli Soup
- Total Time: under 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
- Category: Soups
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 to 2 (4-oz) smoked Italian sausage, thinly sliced on the diagonal (or substitute four to eight ounces fresh Italian sausage or an equivalent amount of bulk sausage)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (24-oz) jar marinara sauce, divided
- 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1 (32-oz) carton low-sodium beef or chicken broth (hold back 1 cup)
- 1 package (9 to 12 ounces) refrigerated ravioli, your choice
- 2 to 3 cups of chopped kale leaves
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh basil, in chiffonade, for garnish, optional
- grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish, optional
Instructions
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven (use one larger than needed to control any spattering) and add sausage. Brown, turning as needed, and remove from pan. Add in onion and cook until softened, then add garlic and cook until fragrant. If using bulk sausage, add oil to pan and add the sausage and onion together. Once the sausage is browned and onion soft, add in garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add half the pasta sauce and the herbs and simmer several minutes stirring often until sauce is slightly reduced and slightly darker in color. Add the reserved sausage, remaining pasta sauce and broth, holding back about a cup bring to a simmer. Stir in ravioli, cook four to six minutes until heated through. A minute or two before the ravioli is heated through, add the kale and gently stir in. Add in the reserved broth to bring the soup to desired consistency.
Serve with fresh basil if available and grated Parmesan.
Keywords: Beef Stock, Italian, Italian sausage, Kale, marinara, Pasta, Ravioli, Soup
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I’ll be sharing my Easy Tomato Ravioli Soup at Fiesta Friday #311, co-hosted this week by Zeba @ Food For The Soul and at the Weekend Potluck at South Your Mouth.
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