Italian Zucchini soup is a delicious and simple way to enjoy zucchini when they are in season or anytime of year. This easy zucchini soup has all the flavors of Italy with garlic, onion and tomatoes which makes such a great compliment to the zucchini. This Easy Italian soup is definitely a recipe you need to try and perfect for when you have lots of zucchini to use up.
About this Italian Zucchini Soup
You may think zucchini should not have an entire soup dedicated just to itself but I am here to tell you that this soup tastes amazing and is loaded with so much flavor. The zucchini actually becomes more of a background flavor in this recipe.
This is a vegetarian zucchini soup recipe. There is no meat and lots of veggies.
If you love or need meat in your soup, you can easily add some ground sausage or Italian pancetta to the soup and it will be just as amazing. We sometimes make our baked Italian sausage and slice that up to go in the soup.
It is totally up to you! It is also really delicious with some homemade garlic ciabatta bread or a side dish of an Italian tomato ricotta galette!
Ingredients you will need for this easy zucchini soup:
- Zucchini
- Green peppers
- Crushed canned tomatoes.
- Garlic
- Onions
- Potatoes. I like using Yukon gold potatoes.
- Chicken stock. Always try to use stock and not broth for your soup. It tastes much better.
- Orecchiette pasta
- Kosher salt.
- Red pepper flakes.
- Parmesan rind.
- Dried Oregano
- Olive oil
About the ingredients in this zucchini soup:
This Italian zucchini soup has very few ingredients so you want to make sure you use all of them and don't leave any out. As I mentioned above, I prefer using chicken stock in all my soups because there is so much more flavor.
The pasta that I use for this soup is orecchiette (little ears in Italian) but you can use any small shape pasta that you like. A great alternative is Ditalini.
I always make my pasta for soups separately because the pasta will continue to drink up the soup broth until the pasta is mushy and the soup broth disappears. I show you how to make it separately that in the instructions below.
Great add-ins to this Italian zucchini soup:
Now I think this soup tastes amazing on its own but I know that many people need a little more cajoling to eat an all vegetable soup. Here are some of my favorite add-ins when I want a more indulgent zucchini soup.
- Italian sausage. To add this in just brown the sausage in your pan first making sure to remove the casing beforehand. Once the sausage is browned you can follow the recipe as is. I also like to make baked Italian sausage and add that in sliced up.
- Italian pancetta. I honestly cannot think of any dish that does not taste better with Italian pancetta. This salty Italian style bacon will add just enough of a meaty note to make meat lovers happy.
- More vegetables. Meat is not the only great add-in idea. I love adding more vegetables into this soup. Yellow summer squash, cabbage and even red and yellow peppers make great additions.
- Beans! Italian cannellini beans are wonderfully creamy and make a nice addition to this soup or any soup really. It also adds a bit of protein to round out the meal.
Different types of zucchini for this soup
Italians have many different types of zucchini that they grow and they are all delicious with this soup. My favorite Italian zucchini for this soup is and heirloom variety called Italian ribbed zucchini.
You can use any zucchini variety that you have on hand.
More Italian recipes
If you love this Italian zucchini soup, you may also like these:
You may also like these recipes:
- Penne all Vodka
- Italian Ricotta Pie
- Torta Tenerina (Italian Brownie Cake)
- Ravioli Sauce
- Italian American Meat Sauce
- Italian Chickpea Salad
Zucchini Soup (Italian Style)
Ingredients
- 3 medium zucchini cut into large dices (almost quartered)
- 2 green bell peppers large diced the same size of the zucchini
- 1 cup yukon gold potatoes large diced the same size of the zucchini
- 28 ounce canned crushed tomatoes
- 28 ounces chicken stock
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- ½ cup Freshly grated Parmesan for topping
- 1 Parmesan rind for soup
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ pound orecchiette pasta
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt plus more to taste
- 1 Bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a large heavy bottom pot over medium heat, add 2 tablespoon of olive oil and your red pepper flakes.
- Now add your green peppers and onion and sauté for 3 minutes.
- Add your garlic and zucchini and sauté for an additional minute.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, diced potatoes, salt, parmesan rind and Bay leaf and stir well.
- Let simmer for 15 minutes gently on low heat.
- Now grab a medium pot of water and bring to a boil.
- Add your orecchiette and cook until according to the manufacturers instructions for al dente.
- Drain your pasta and add it back to the pot.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoon of olive oil to the pasta and mix well.
- Set aside.
- Once the soup has simmered for 15 minutes, test the potatoes for doneness by trying to pierce them with a fork. If it pierces easily it is ready. if not, add a couple more minutes of cooking.
Assembling the zucchini soup bowls
- Scoop a heaping spoonful of the orecchiette pasta into a soup bowl
- Ladle your soup over the pasta until it covers the pasta.
- Top with a handful of freshly grated Parmesan.
- Enjoy!
Beth
It came out great. We did add the sausage you suggested since my husband would not eat soup without it 🙂 He loved it too.
Christine
This was really good! I did what the other suggested and added Italian sausage and it was a hit.
Bill
Made this zucchini soup exactly as the recipe said and it’s so delicious!
Anna
A great soup to use up all my zucchini in the garden . Very tasty
Jan
This was delicious and very easy to make.
kisitalian
Hi Jan. I'm glad you enjoyed it 🙂