This tomato gnocchi soup features tender potato dumplings in a rich, ultra-creamy tomato basil broth that's completely dairy-free. It's intensely flavorful, satisfying comfort food that's easy to make in just one pot — perfect for chilly nights when you want something hearty without the fuss.
Tomato soup might just be my all-time favorite comfort food. It’s been a staple since I was a kid, back when I was all about the canned stuff. These days I love homemade versions like my classic vegan tomato soup, vegan tomato bisque, and tomato orzo soup. But this one might be the best of them all. It’s just as delicious as the others, with one extra ingredient that makes it especially hearty: gnocchi.
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This soup would be delicious on its own. Fire-roasted tomatoes, garlic, and basil pack in tons of zesty flavor, while coconut milk adds a silky, creamy texture without any dairy. But add a package of mini shelf-stable gnocchi and it transforms into a full meal — and an incredibly satisfying one at that!
It’s also one of the easiest dinners to throw together. The gnocchi cooks right in the soup, so everything comes together in a single pot. With just a handful of simple ingredients and about 40 minutes (most of it hands-off), you’ve got a cozy, hearty dinner ready to go.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Olive oil. Olive oil is recommended, but any neutral high-heat oil will do.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Fire-roasted tomatoes. These will give your soup lots of smoky, zesty flavor. Regular canned diced tomatoes will do if you can't find fire-roasted, but the flavor will be more mellow and mild.
- Vegetable broth.
- Red pepper flakes. These will add some heat, and can be omitted for a milder soup.
- Coconut milk. Use full-fat coconut milk to make the soup as rich and creamy as possible. Light coconut milk will work if you'd like to reduce the fat and calorie content.
- Gnocchi. Look for mini shelf-stable gnocchi in the pasta aisle. Most brands are vegan, but check the ingredients to be safe.
- Fresh basil. Only fresh basil will do for this recipe — dried will not be the same.
- Salt and pepper.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Cook the onion. Heat your olive oil in a pot, then add diced onion. Cook it for about 5 minutes while stirring occasionally, until it starts to soften.
Step 2: Cook the garlic. Add minced garlic to the pot and sauté it with the onion for about a minute. Stir continuously to prevent burning.
Step 3: Simmer. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, and red pepper flakes. Turn up the heat and bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.
Step 4: Blend. I like to use an immersion blender, but you could also move it to a regular blender or food processor. However you do it, make sure you're careful when blending hot liquids.
Tip: Blend the soup to whatever texture you like — super smooth, or a bit chunky.
Step 5: Add coconut milk and gnocchi. Stir in the coconut milk, bring the soup back to a simmer, then add the gnocchi. Cook the soup until the gnocchi are tender — this should take around 4 minutes, but check the package instructions for guidance.
Step 6: Finish the soup. Take the pot off of heat, then stir in your basil. Give it a taste-test and add some salt and pepper. Adjust any other seasonings to suit your taste at this point.
Step 7: Serve. Ladle your tomato gnocchi soup into bowls and optionally top each one with a drizzle of coconut milk. I also like a sprinkle of vegan Parmesan cheese on mine, but that's totally optional!
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure! Just use a vegan gluten-free variety of gnocchi.
Not to me. The acidity of the tomatoes disguises the coconut flavor pretty well. Having said that, if you're sensitive to the flavor of coconut you may want to substitute a vegan heavy cream alternative for the coconut milk.
Yes! Just be careful, as frozen gnocchi are less likely to be vegan (many brands contain eggs), so check the ingredients. Also keep in mind that the cook times may differ. Refer to the package directions.
Leftover vegan tomato gnocchi soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. I don't recommend freezing it.
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Creamy Tomato Basil Gnocchi Soup
Equipment
- 1 Immersion blender or standard blender
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 (14 ounce/397 gram) cans fire-roasted tomatoes
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk, plus extra, for drizzling on top (optional)
- 1 (16 ounce/454 gram) package shelf stable mini gnocchi
- 1 cup chopped fresh basil, packed (1 large or 2 medium bunches)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with oil and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion. Cook the onion for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it becomes soft and translucent.
- Add the garlic and sauté it for about 1 minute, until very fragrant, stirring constantly.
- Stir in the tomatoes, broth, and red pepper flakes. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces slightly.
- Blend the soup, either using an immersion blender or by transferring it to a standard blender or food processor in batches, then returning it to the pot. Always use caution when blending hot liquids.
- Stir in the coconut milk, then raise the heat to bring the soup back up to a simmer. Stir in the gnocchi and simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes more, until the gnocchi are tender (gnocchi cooking times vary — refer to the package instructions).
- 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.
- Ladle into bowls and optionally top with a drizzle of coconut milk. Serve.
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Made this for dinner with a vegan grilled cheddar sandwich for the perfect comfort meal. It was easy and so delicious. The fresh basil really paired well with the roasted tomatoes. I used frozen cauliflower gnocchi and it worked great. Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe ❤️
Can I use a can of San Marzano tomatoes?
You can! The flavor won't be as smoky, but the soup will still be delicious!
Love this. Thanks for the recipe. I will be making this to freeze without the gnocchi & adding it after thawing (or not). It's great either way. Didn't have fresh basil so added some dried. This will also be my go to tomato soup recipe. I refuse to eat Campbell's & I haven't found an acceptable organic prepared soup. This is perfect since I can use ingredients of my choice & freeze it to have a "convenience food".
I'm glad you like it! It's actually my go-to tomato soup recipe too - I make it plain, with orzo, with veggies...all kinds of variations.
This was delicious! My partner and I ate the whole thing for lunch! I really like the flavor of coconut milk, and cook with it a lot, however in this recipe I did find it a tad overpowering. I think it would be perfect with about a third cup less. Definitely a scrumptious soup, and pretty easy to whip up.
SO yummy and so easy. Turned out amazing!
Yummy! This was a delicious, smokey, flavorful soup and the gnocchi adds a great texture. My food processor didn't blend the onions as good as I'd hoped but the flavor was so good that it didn't matter! Didn't have basil but that was fine :)
This is most likely my own personal preference that is influencing my 3 star review but I found the basil to be so overwhelming, it was just too much. I like using the the fire roasted tomatoes for the soup, I was pleasantly surprise , but I'm going to modify this recipe a bit to cater to my taste"less" taste buds 😂. No, in all seriousness, I do love herbs/seasonings lots, but unfortunately the fresh basil took over the entire dish , I will go much lighter next time. I will also add smoked paprika too (I did add a tad, but will add more).
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I made some slight adjustments because I couldn't find any fire roasted tomatoes where I live, so I substituted regular canned chopped tomatoes and added some liquid smoke to get that smoky flavour. I'll definitely keep this one in the weekly rotation!
Yay! Glad you like it!
How does this freeze? This sounds so yummy, but my husband does not like tomato soup, so I would probably be the only one eating it. Would you suggest freezing with the gnocchi or freeze beforehand and adding gnocchi when warming up after thawing?
I haven't frozen it, but I think it would work just fine! I think it would probably be best if you kept the gnocchi separate, but if that's too much of a pain I think freezing everything together would be fine. Enjoy!!
This soup is so good!! I even recommended it to my onmi family and they also love it. Thanks for the great recipe.
Yay!! Glad it was a hit! Thanks Nina!
This recipe is amazing! Absolutely love it!
I'm so happy to hear that! Thanks Jessica!
this was so good!! thank you for all your amazing recipes <3
Thank you! You are so welcome!
This turned out amazing. Thanks so much.
I'm so happy to hear that!! Thanks Alexandria!
Mmmm... I think Isa Chandra has a pesto gnocchi soup in her Isa Does It book. I love how you each kind-of did your own spin on it! Looks so tasty!
Funny about the vegan restaurants! My husband and I lived in an apartment, and literally RIGHT after we moved out, a vegan restaurant opened within walking distance! What the heck? And in the old town I worked in, a vegan restaurant opened up as well! Sadly, both are healthy light vegan fares, but the one I went to was really tasty regardless. I haven't tried the other place yet. Probably a good thing you didn't open a restaurant, they are REALLY time consuming.
That's so funny...I ALMOST went with pesto! But then I got my hands on a nice big bunch of fresh basil and plans changed. I think vegan places must be popping up all over. One of the nice things about our town is that we've got all the vegan options covered - raw, healthy plant-based AND comfort food. :)
Quick question on the gnocchi. Did you use fresh or frozen? I have frozen and was figuring that I might want to add a couple of minutes to ensure they are warmed thru. Great recipe! I will share on IG when I serve it. Thanks!
I used shelf-stable gnocchi, but I think frozen would work too, and I think giving them a few extra minutes to cook is a good idea! Enjoy!!
Where do you get your mini gnocchi?
I got mine at Wegmans (their brand), but I've seen it at lots of other supermarkets. You could sub regular size gnocchi if you need to. :)
Ignore previous message. I would add dal this recipe. My iPhone 6 loves to substitute strange words.
Lol. Autocorrect strikes again!
This sounds amazing and I plan to try it. DaI might substitute cilantro for basil. And both herbs work so well with tomatoes.
I hope you enjoy it! I think cilantro would be delicious!
Wow tried this tonight and it was just what I needed. I have been craving Italian food and this was quick and delicious. I love gnocchi, tomatoes and basil, the combination is great.
Yay!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Maria!
Are we talking coconut milk like the box of silk coconut milk? Or we talking the can of coconut milk like Goya or Thai kitchen brand?
I used canned coconut milk - Thai Kithchen I think! You could sub a boxed variety, but I don't think it will come out quite as rich and creamy.
Oh!!! If only I'd seen this BEFORE I went grocery shopping. I'm making up next week's list right now to accommodate this for dinner one night. I only recently discovered the joys of making really good tomato soup from canned tomatoes, and I feel like my world got bigger, lol. I also discovered this: https://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/quickish-ricotta-dumplings-in-tomato-broth-recipe.html
(I use tofu, a big dab of hummus, some garlic, and nutritional yeast to make vegan ricotta.) I think I just need to buy shares in a canned tomato company, because my annual summer harvest just doesn't last long enough.
You know, for years I would only make tomato soup with fresh tomatoes, thinking that fresh was always the way to go, but I actually PREFER canned! And I'm all about fire roasted because I think the smoky flavor is awesome. :)
Hi! I recently moved to Switzerland from the US and fire roasted tomatoes are no where in sight. Ideas on what to add when using regular canned tomatoes to get the right flavor?
You could try adding a bit of smoked paprika to replicate the smoky flavor of fire roasted tomatoes. :)
Living in Germany, adding smoked paprika was my first idea, too. I'll be having this soup for dinner tonight. I'm usually baking dry gnocchi in a skillet until crispy before adding them to the soup. Just an idea...
I have made recipes requiring fire roasted tomatoes, two ways to accomplish this, chop up tomatoes, drizzle garlic infused olive oil to cover the tomatoes, broil them until you see some char occurring. How much? Your call, but be careful not to go to far, it's about flavor and not turning into an inedible mess. The other way I make them, is to add to the chopped tomatoes a couple cloves of fresh garlic and chopped red and yellow bell pepper, add some salt and pepper to taste,, This will work well into your soup and know one will know the difference, except they will be impressed that your culinary offering is totally from scratch! Well, if you make the gnocchi too, but close enough.
No serving size listed.Nutritional info doesn't mean much without it.
There are 4 servings, so the nutrition info is for 1/4 of a batch - approximately 1 1/2 cups, but it'll vary a bit from batch to batch.