3-Ingredient Tomato Gnocchi Soup Recipe

While we wish we had the time to make elaborate, slow-cooked meals every day of the week, it's admittedly often that we need meals that come together quickly and easily on a busy weeknight. We could always turn to our favorite frozen dinners from Trader Joe's, but even the most delicious curries and bakes can get tiring and don't hold a candle to meals that are made fresh or from scratch. The solution is a perfect in-between: A meal made on the stove, but requiring only a few pre-packaged ingredients.

Using just three ingredients, this tomato gnocchi soup recipe, written with developer Michelle McGlinn, creatively transforms jarred pasta sauce and fresh gnocchi into a rich, brothy, and satisfying soup. Similar to a minestrone or ribollita, the tomato base bursts with vibrant spicy flavor while the ingredients within provide it with plenty of substance. Featuring green, leafy spinach, spicy arrabbiata, and topped with crisped gnocchi croutons, this soup is filled with flavor and nutrients, and boasts a nice mix of textures from the combination of tender gnocchi within and crunchy gnocchi on top. Best of all, it comes together in barely 15 minutes — making it your newest weeknight hero, no freezer required.

The three ingredients you'll need to make tomato gnocchi soup are gnocchi, spinach, and a tomato-based pasta sauce. For this recipe, we used a spicy arrabbiata sauce, which is essentially a spicy marinara. It is thinned with water and seasoned with salt and pepper, and you'll also need a drizzling of olive oil to crisp the gnocchi and garnish the soup. As for the gnocchi, you can use fresh or shelf-stable gnocchi, as either will work well here.

Chop ¼ cup of gnocchi into small pieces.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pot over medium heat.

Add the chopped gnocchi to the oil and saute until browned, stirring constantly to avoid sticking, about 3-4 minutes.

Remove the gnocchi and set it aside.

Add the pasta sauce to the pot with the water. Bring to a simmer.

Add the rest of the gnocchi and cook until it's floating and tender, about 3 minutes.

Add the spinach, salt, and pepper and stir to wilt.

To serve, garnish with crispy gnocchi pieces and a drizzle of olive oil.

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This soup is a great way to prepare a warming and delicious meal without the need for a trip to the store. If you have the option to add more ingredients, though, this simple soup can easily be made more elaborate, while still sticking with the same base ingredients. Starting with the pasta sauce, you can add more savory flavor by thinning it with chicken or vegetable broth instead of water. You can also add a dry white wine or a smooth red cabernet while simmering, cooking off the alcohol flavor until it mellows into a flavorful acidic undertone. You can also add heavy whipping cream to make the broth creamy, or drop a rind of Parmesan into the broth for added richness.

You can also add more vegetables and seasonings for added texture and flavor. For example, sliced carrots, zucchini, and halved cherry tomatoes make great additions to the spinach, and kale can be swapped in as a leafy green for more texture. You can also add sliced and browned chicken sausage or crumbled Italian sausage for a meat-based protein addition. As for seasonings, try adding red pepper flakes, dried basil, or garlic for more flavor, and garnishing with fresh basil and Parmesan for one last touch of flavor.

Arrabbiata sauce is a simple tomato sauce that gets its iconic spicy flavor from hot chiles or, more commonly in America, red pepper flakes. It's a great sauce for swapping into dishes like lasagna for added heat, and can be used with a variety of pastas for simple, saucy, spicy dinners. In this recipe, it serves as a flavor base for a tomato soup, adding plenty of flavor without the need for many other ingredients. If you don't have arrabbiata sauce on hand, though, this recipe works well with other sauces, too.

You can start with marinara, which is essentially the base of an arrabbiata. To add spicy flavor, you can sprinkle red pepper flakes into the soup before serving. You can also use tomato sauces infused with basil, oregano, and garlic for flavor without spice, or get extra-creative (and protein-friendly) by using a meat sauce, especially one made with Italian sausage. If you don't have pasta or pizza sauces on hand, you can also make the broth using canned tomato paste and diced tomatoes, which will provide a similar tomato base, though you may want to add a little garlic, herbs, or spices.

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