Best Tomato Soup Recipe
Posted Feb 19, 2021, Updated Mar 02, 2024
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The best homemade tomato soup recipe – this roasted tomato basil soup is easy to make with fresh tomatoes, irresistibly creamy & bursting with flavor. It’s a healthy and cozy way to warm up on cold winter days. Follow our step-by-step instructions & watch the video to learn how to make tomato soup from scratch!
In my opinion, tomato soup with grilled cheese is the ultimate comfort food. Chilly days make me want to grab a spoon and dive into a bowl of fresh, warm tomato soup – and this recipe is the best of the best!
This roasted tomato basil soup is easy to make with fresh tomatoes, irresistibly creamy & bursting with flavor. It’s a healthy and cozy way to warm up on cold winter days. It’s also a perfect recipe to use fresh garden tomatoes and basil during the late summer months.
Follow our step-by-step instructions & watch the video to learn how to make tomato soup from scratch.
Tomato Soup Recipe: Ingredients and Substitutions
As always, I recommend making this tomato basil soup recipe exactly as it’s written, however we’ll discuss the ingredients and possible substitutions.
- Tomatoes. Choose a vine-ripened, naturally sweet tomato variety for the best flavor.
- Onion. a sweet yellow or white onion are the best choices.
- Garlic. jarred minced garlic can be used in place of freshly chopped.
- Olive Oil. Any neutral oil works well, my second and third choices would be avocado oil and canola oil.
- Fresh Basil. This can be omitted but I do not recommend it.
- Salted Butter. Unsalted butter works well.
- All-purpose flour. To make this creamy tomato soup gluten-free, use an all-purpose gluten-free flour.
- Granulated sugar. brown sugar or honey are good substitutes.
- Vegetable broth. Chicken broth is a great substitute for vegetable broth.
- Heavy cream. This is optional, but recommended. The cream cuts the acidity of the tomatoes and makes this tomato soup recipe delicious. Whole milk or half and half are great substitutes.
How to Make Tomato Soup
This homemade tomato soup recipe is very easy to make. As always, we’ll walk through how to make tomato soup step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Being making this easy tomato soup by combining tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a large bowl. Toss the ingredients with olive oil, salt and pepper and stir until evenly distributed.
Next, spread the tomato mixture onto a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the tomatoes from the oven, stir, and roast for an additional 15 minutes, broiling during the last 3 minutes so that some of the tomatoes get lightly charred.
One the tomatoes, onion and garlic are roasted, add the mixture to the container of a high-powered blender (Vitamix), making sure to scrape all the contents from the baking sheet into the blender. Add fresh basil and blend the mixture on high speed until smooth (about 50 seconds).
Make a Roux
My favorite way to thicken soups, stews, gravy, etc. is by making a roux, which is how we do it in this tomato soup recipe. Begin by melting the butter over medium-high heat in a large pot.
Then, add flour to the melted butter and whisk to combine. Cook until butter and flour mixture is golden brown (30-60 seconds).
Once the roux is ready, add the broth and sugar to the pot and whisk to combine.
Next, add the blended mixture to the pot and whisk to combine. If desired (for a creamier soup) add ¼ to ½ cup heavy cream. Cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, taste and adjust salt and pepper as desired.
Serve
Once the soup is ready, serve it warm with your favorite bread and toppings, and definitely make this grilled cheese sandwich! Here are some suggestions:
- Bread. dip pieces of crusty no-knead bread or pretzel bread into the tomato basil soup.
- Make homemade croutons or cornbread croutons and serve on top of the soup.
- Use this homemade whole wheat bread to make a delicious grilled cheese sandwich to dip into the roasted tomato soup.
- These homemade dinner rolls are a great companion to this creamy tomato soup.
- Add a swirl of cream, a dash of freshly chopped basil or a spoonful of parmesan cheese to the top!
- Have a “soup night” and make some of these soup recipes as well: potato soup (seriously the best), chicken noodle soup, sweet potato soup and butternut squash soup.
Store
Store any leftover roasted tomato soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.
How to Freeze Tomato Soup
To freeze, let the soup cool to room temperature. Then, transfer it to freezer-friendly containers and freeze for up to 2 months. I recommend freezing it in individually-sized portions or at least in portions that you’d eat in a sitting as a family.
Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat.
Tomato Soup Recipe FAQs
If you make this recipe I promise this soup will taste amazing. You can add a pinch of sugar, fresh herbs (like the basil in this recipe, additional heavy cream, salt and pepper to adjust it to your liking.
You do not need to peel tomatoes, especially because the tomato mixture is blended until it’s smooth.
The roux thickens this recipe. However, you can thicken tomato soup in a few ways:
1) Cook it uncovered until some of the moisture cooks off and it thickens.
2) Add a combination of 1 TBS water and 1 TBS flour or cornstarch and cook uncovered.
3) Add 1 to 2 TBS of tomato paste and cook until thickened.
Full-fat dairy like cream or half and half helps reduce the acidity of tomato soup.
To freeze, let the soup cool to room temperature. Then, transfer it to freezer-friendly containers and freeze for up to 2 months. I recommend freezing it in individually-sized portions or at least in portions that you’d eat in a sitting as a family.
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Best Homemade Tomato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 pounds tomatoes, fresh, cut into 2” pieces
- ½ onion diced (1 cup)
- 5 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup fresh basil
- 2 Tablespoons salted butter
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- Optional: ¼ to ½ cup heavy cream.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet, set aside.
- Combine tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and stir until evenly distributed.
- Spread tomato mixture onto prepared baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven, stir, and roast for an additional 15 minutes, broiling during the last 3 minutes so that some of the tomatoes get lightly charred.
- Add roasted tomato mixture to the container of a high-powered blender, making sure to scrape all the contents of the baking sheet into the blender.
- Add fresh basil and blend mixture on high speed until smooth (about 50 seconds).
- In a large pot, melt butter over medium-high heat.
- Add flour to melted butter and whisk to combine. Cook until butter and flour mixture is golden brown (30-60 seconds).
- Add broth and sugar and whisk to combine.
- Add blended mixture to the pot and whisk to combine. If desired (for a creamier soup) add ¼ to ½ cup heavy cream. Cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, taste and adjust salt and pepper as desired.
- Serve warm with croutons, chopped fresh basil, etc.
Video
Notes
- Tomatoes. Choose a vine-ripened, naturally sweet tomato variety for the best flavor.
- Onion. use a sweet white or yellow onion.
- Olive Oil. Any neutral oil works well, my second and third choices would be avocado oil and canola oil.
- Salted Butter. Unsalted butter is a good substitute.
- All-purpose flour. To make this creamy tomato soup gluten-free, use an all-purpose gluten-free flour.
- Granulated sugar. brown sugar or honey are good substitutes.
- Vegetable broth. Chicken broth works well.
- Heavy cream. Whole milk or half and half are great substitutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made it for my church’s Lent service, I placed it in a crock pot to stay warm during the service. When I went up to get a bowl full, my crockpot was empty and I had to eat some else soup instead. As I gathered my crockpot 28 different woman wanted my recipe. It was a hit at the Lent service. I showed them the recipe online. Easy to make and not a drop of soup was leftover.
Wow!!! What a huge compliment Joyce! I’m so glad you were able to make so many people happy with this recipe!
I made this today and followed the recipe and I don’t really like tomato soup but this was delicious. The flavour is unlike any tomato soup from a can and from now on I know what to make when I have extra tomatoes to use up. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
This soup is outstanding honestly. I’ve made it a few times now. Thank you.
I did everything according to recipe except I used dried basil and it still came out amazing. Also I used 1/4 cup heavy cream. I will be making this many more times.
I made this soup today. OMgoodness it was delish. I didn’t have fresh basil (and live 20 km from a big grocery store) so I used my own dried basil and it was just fine. The soup is so rich and thick that the added cream isn’t absolutely necessary but it definitely takes this over the top. I would serve this to my friends for lunch in a heartbeat…can you imagine it with grilled cheese croutons on top. YUM!!!!
According to my son, “Mom, this tomato soup is really good. It’s like Panera but better.”
This was such a simple recipe. So easy to make. Definitely going on the make again list. 😋🤤😍
Wow – better than Panera is a huge praise! Way to go momma!
This is a keeper for my family. I did choose to add the tomato paste to thicken and an additional tsp. of brown sugar. Thank you for a great recipe!
Hi Laura, This recipe looks amazing and I’ve read all the reviews which testify to it being delicious. My husband loves tomato soup and he is in bed recovering right now so I want to make it. However, I don’t have fresh tomatoes. Can I use high quality canned crushed tomatoes and if so how might I adapt it to bring out a similar flavor? Using a bit of tomato paste perhaps? Thank you.
This recipe is so good, and the direction are so helpful. I’ve also made a vegan version using vegan butter, and then coconut milk stirred in and that was awesome too. Thanks so much!!
i have made this recipe quite a few times now. it is so good.. i wanted to test out how well it might freeze. so i put just a serving in the freezer. it was in the freezer for about a month. after it thawed it had *separated* – lots of clear liquid. i tried heating it up to see if it would mix back up.. it just would not. not a big deal. and others may have a different experience with freezing. hubby asked me this morning if i would make a batch of “that really good tomato soup” soon. so while he is at work i am making him a pot of this delish yummy soup.