I get so excited to make our Tomato Soup Recipe every year! My favorite time to make it is the very end of summer leading into fall. I’m able to find the best, super ripe and sweet roma tomatoes this time of year, which makes the best tasting tomato soup.
Our homemade tomato soup takes a little bit of time to make, but it’s totally worth it and very easy to make! My mouth waters every time I think about this soup! It’s incredible on its own, with a gooey grilled cheese (classic!) or with our buttery garlic bread!
How to Make Delicious Tomato Soup
Process
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread tomato halves onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Roast tomatoes.
- While tomatoes are in the oven, melt the butter in a large pot. Add onion and sauté.
- Stir in the garlic and thyme and sauté.
- Add crushed tomatoes, basil leaves, dried basil, and sugar. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir the mixture and reduce the heat to medium or medium-low and simmer.
- Pour broth and roasted tomatoes into the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Continue to simmer soup, stirring occasionally.
- Carefully pour hot soup into a blender.
- Place a clean dish towel over the closed lid and blend until smooth.
- Pour soup back into the pot.
- Stir in the cream until fully incorporated.
- Simmer tomato basil soup for 2 to 3 minutes before ladling into bowls. Top each serving of tomato soup with fresh basil leaves. Serve.
Tools You Will Need
- cutting board
- knife
- measuring spoons
- dry measuring cups
- liquid measuring cups
- mixing bowl
- wooden spoon
- blender (if using)
- large pot or Dutch oven
Fresh vs Canned Tomatoes for Our Tomato Soup Recipe
I mentioned earlier that I love using fresh roma tomatoes at their peak ripeness for our recipe and it’s true! Fresh roma tomatoes are my first preference because they have amazing flavor (that become even more concentrated and delicious once they’re roasted).
That doesn’t mean you can’t get amazing results with whole canned tomatoes. I love that high quality canned tomatoes are so readily available. The flavors are also already nicely concentrated, so the roasting step can be skipped all together (which will save you about 45 minutes!). Just add a 28 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes to the pot, as you would with the roasted tomatoes.
Overall, the most important aspect of out tomato soup recipe is to use high quality tomatoes that have great flavor!
Why This is the BEST Tomato Soup Recipe!
- We roast our tomatoes, which really concentrates the delicious, sweet and acidic tomato flavor!
- We add basil (both fresh and dry…just trust us on this one) to our soup and it’s hard to find a better combo than tomato and basil!
- We add a touch of cream which adds a subtle, rich and creamy flavor to this extra cozy tomato basil soup recipe.
- The our homemade tomato soup truly has the best tomato forward flavor that’s super smooth, creamy, well balanced with the basil, and will warm you right up!
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions
Make Ahead
Our tomato soup recipe can be made up to 5 days in advance. Cool the finished soup, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use. To reheat, pour soup into a pot and simmer over medium-low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
Freezing
Our soup can be frozen for up to 3 months. Cool the finished soup (leaving out the cream) transfer to an airtight container and freeze until ready to use. To thaw and reheat, transfer container of soup to refrigerator and thaw overnight. Once soup has thawed (a little frozen is okay), pour it into a post and simmer over medium-low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Once heated through, stir in cream simmer for a few minutes and serve.
Variations
- As I mentioned earlier, you can totally swap the fresh tomatoes our for canned ones.
- We love the tomato-basil combination of flavors, but if you’re more of a purist, you can omit the fresh and dried basils from the recipe, for more of a classic tomato soup.
- If you want a slightly healthier version, you can omit the cream and replace it with whole milk or plain yogurt.
- If you have an immersion blender, you can use that to puree the soup instead of a blender.
More Delicious Soup Recipes You Will Love
Tomato Soup Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 1 ½ pounds Roma tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- salt and pepper to taste
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Spread tomato halves onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Roast tomatoes for about 45 minutes.
- While tomatoes are in the oven, melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat.
- Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and thyme and sauté for another 5 minutes.
- Add crushed tomatoes, basils and sugar. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir the mixture and reduce the heat to medium or medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Pour broth and roasted tomatoes into the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Continue to simmer soup, for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Carefully pour soup into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour soup back into the pot and stir in the cream until fully incorporated.
- Simmer the soup for 2 to 3 minutes before ladling into bowls.
- Top each soup with fresh basil leaves. Serve.
NOTES
- As I mentioned earlier, you can totally swap the fresh tomatoes our for canned ones.
- We love the tomato-basil combination of flavors, but if you’re more of a purist, you can omit the fresh and dried basils from the recipe, for more of a classic tomato soup.
- If you want a slightly healthier version, you can omit the cream and replace it with whole milk or plain yogurt.
- If you have an immersion blender, you can use that to puree the soup instead of a blender.
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
tag @SpoonForkBacon and #SpoonForkBacon on Instagram
I have made this exact recipe 4 times now since it was posted and twice in the last week. Didn’t make any changes. I used an immersion blender which kept some texture and am totally ok with that. So wonderful and satisfying during the winter months. ESP with fresh baked bread
This is delicious. I just made it and it was so easy. Thank you. Definitely a keeper with this one :)
We love the soup, but how did you make that yummy looking garlic/cheese bread pictured with it? Love the texture on the top of it – please share!
Hi! That’s actually our garlic bread recipe, which is new, and will be posted tomorrow! If you subscribe to our newsletter, you’ll be alerted via email when it’s live! :)