Tomato Soup

The best classic tomato soup is made extra flavorful with a little roasting beforehand and then cooked with aromatic vegetables and seasonings. The perfect comfort food and side dish to a grilled cheese sandwich!

Every once in a while, I’m really on the ball and a recipe turns out right the first time. Not that I mind tweaking and playing, mind you, because that’s half the fun of cooking.

But it’s just the best feeling when — at the end of roasting and sauteing, and adding a little of this and a little of that — you take a spoonful from the pot and go, “Now, that’s nice,” right out of the gate.

This tomato soup was like that. Of course, I did have a head start, as I spend eight months out of the year completely fixated on tomatoes.

After you’ve been through a few years of canning the season’s tomatoes, their aroma is permanently ingrained in your nose brain, and from there it’s not a far leap to daydream about recipes and flavor profiles.

Ah, yes. San Marzanos. Canned tomatoes might seem a little blasphemous, but in the winter when tomato soup cravings are at their peak, homegrown heirloom tomatoes are just no where to be found.

So, you should go with the next best thing, and that’s the San Marzanos. Or your own homemade canned tomatoes, if you have them. I also like the Pomi brand, which comes in a cute little 26 oz. aseptic box. You’ll never look at Hunt’s or Heinz the same way again (sorry, Hunt’s and Heinz).

Tomatoes, basil and garlic, ready for roasting.

Roasting the tomatoes and garlic ahead of the soup-making heightens their flavors and brings out their natural sugars, to create a rich, full-bodied soup.

A little mirepoix gets the saute party started in the soup pot.

Word to the wise: see those things in the background on the left? Those are actual baby carrots. True baby carrots are crispy and sweet, through and through.

The things advertised in those mind-numbingly dumb baby carrot commercials are actually full sized carrots whittled down to their cores to look like baby carrots. And those cores are often hard and bitter.

So, if you’re having problems getting the fam to eat those [air quotes] baby carrots, that’s why: They’re not truly baby carrots. Can you tell that those commercials irk me to no end? I grows carrots; I know what baby carrots are supposed to taste like.

And here endeth today’s lecture on baby carrots.

The tomatoes are nicely roasted and ready to go. These tomatoes, btw, are whole, peeled tomatoes.

It’s what I had on hand, so I just crushed them a little during straining to release more juices, and then roasted as normal. They’ll break down further during cooking and will puree up just fine.

Chopped or crushed tomatoes will let you skip the squeezing step in the recipe (and also skip the part where you look down at your shirt a half hour later to see speckles of tomato juice and seeds all over).

Mirepoix plus roasted tomatoes and garlic = deeply aromatic SoupLove.

Twenty minutes later and … ta da! … pure tomato soup goodness in a bowl. Serve with your favorite breadsticks or grilled cheese sandwich.

It almost makes winter worth it.

Karen xo

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Tomato Soup

Classic tomato soup is the best comfort food ever!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: tomato soup

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 260kcal

Author: Karen Gibson

Ingredients

• 28 ounce can chopped tomatoes
• 2 heaping tablespoons fresh basil (leaves only), chopped or fine chiffonade (measured after chopping)
• 2 cloves garlic sliced
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided
• 2 stalks celery diced
• 2 small carrots diced
• 1 yellow onion diced
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 or 2 tablespoons heavy cream half and half or milk, optional
• salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Strain the chopped canned tomatoes, reserving the juices, and place in a mixing bowl*. Add basil, garlic, balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Toss or stir gently to mix. Spread tomato mixture onto a foil-lined (for easy cleanup), rimmed baking pan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a stock pot or large saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, and onion, cook until softened, 8-10 minutes. Add the roasted tomato mixture, the reserved tomato juices, chicken broth, bay leaf, sugar and butter. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Remove bay leaf. Puree with a hand-held immersion blender until smooth, or blend in a regular blender, working in batches. Add dairy**, if using, stirring well to blend. Taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary.

Notes

*If you're dirty-dish-averse, you can do the mixing part right on the prepared baking sheet. Just be gentle so you don't rip the foil or fling tomatoes to and fro.

**This soup is pretty smooth and creamy as it is, without milk or cream. However, if you're a creamy-tomato-soup addict like SoupAddict, add 1 tablespoon of dairy or dairy substitute at a time until it reaches your desired level of creamy goodness.

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcal

Nutritional information, if shown, is provided as a courtesy only, and is not to be taken as medical information or advice. The nutritional values of your preparation of this recipe are impacted by several factors, including, but not limited to, the ingredient brands you use, any substitutions or measurement changes you make, and measuring accuracy.