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Our homemade Tomato Soup is a delicious way to enjoy the last garden tomatoes before the frost. Or, make this soup with canned tomatoes other times of the year.
Homemade Tomato Soup
Everyone needs a good, hearty homemade Tomato Soup in their recipe collection – and we’re sharing ours with you today!
This thick, delicious, creamy tomato soup is one of my favorite soups of all-time. It’s full of fresh tomato flavor (of course) as well as fresh garlic, basil, thyme and parsley.
But what really adds the perfect finishing touch to this soup is a small pinch of red pepper flakes added at to the soup – it lends a gentle heat that really complements the fresh tomato and herb flavors.
We made our tomato soup with a variety of fresh garden tomatoes – the perfect way to use up those end of summer tomatoes before the first frost. But you can also used canned plum tomatoes during the off season.
Why You’ll Love Homemade Tomato Soup
- It’s thick and creamy and loaded with fresh tomato flavor, plus the perfect amount of herbs and spices.
- It’s a great way to use up an abundance of fresh garden tomatoes – especially when you’re racing to pick them before the first frost.
- If you don’t have garden tomatoes, you can make this soup with canned tomatoes as well.
- This soup freezes well so you can always enjoy fresh summer flavors any time of the year.
Reader Review
“Made this recipe with homegrown tomatoes. I simply love it and since my tomatoes are so plentiful, I will make a second batch, freeze it, and have it during the winter when my garden has gone dormant. Oh! And yes, it is wonderful with some cheesy ciabatta bread.” -Emily
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Tomatoes – We used a variety of tomatoes from our garden to use them up, but if you are specifically buying fresh tomatoes for this recipe, choose Roma/plum tomatoes as they have a higher proportion of flesh to seeds. Or, you can buy canned and diced plum tomatoes with juice.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Onions – Yellow onion is preferred but a sweet onion will also work.
- Celery
- Fresh Garlic
- Fresh Herbs – Basil, thyme, and flat-leaf Italian parsley
- Dried Spices & Herbs – Bay leaves, kosher salt, ground black pepper, red pepper flakes
- Vegetable Broth – Make homemade or buy jarred or canned broth.
- Tomato Juice – Make homemade tomato juice or buy bottled juice.
- Tomato Paste
- Granulated Sugar
- Butter – We typically cook with unsalted butter. If you use salted, reduce the amount of added salt. Butter is added at the end of the recipe to give the soup a nice smooth finish.
- Heavy Cream (optional) – Add to make this soup even creamier.
- Grilled Cheese Sandwich – Also optional but highly recommended. Cut this sandwich into strips and dip it into the tomato soup while eating!
Special Tools You’ll Need
- Two Large Bowls
- Large Strainer/Colander or Food Mill
- Large Heavy Bottomed Pot or Dutch Oven
- Cutting Board & Sharp Knife
- Various Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Cooking Twine – To tie fresh herbs together in a bouquet.
- Wooden Spoon
- Tongs
- Immersion Blender
How do I make homemade Tomato Soup?
- Peel the tomatoes and strain out the seeds. (See recipe card below for specific steps on how best to do this.)
- Saute vegetables in the soup pot. Add prepared tomatoes and herbs. (Herbs should be tied together in a bouquet.)
- Add vegetable broth, tomato juice, tomato paste, sugar, and seasonings.
- Simmer soup for 30 minutes.
- Remove the herb bouquet and any obvious tomato skins from the soup.
- Add more fresh basil and butter, then use an immersion blender to puree the soup.
- Add additional tomato paste if you’d like a thicker soup. Add cream if you’d like a creamier soup. (Optional Steps)
- Serve immediately with grilled cheese sandwiches on the side.
Additional Cooking Notes
- If you use canned tomatoes instead of fresh, your tomato soup will likely be a darker color than what is shown here in our photo.
- You can add more stock to your tomato soup if you prefer a thinner consistency.
- Add a little bit of heavy cream at the end if you’d like to make this a cream of tomato soup! (Note that we did not add cream to our version shown in the photos.)
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make Tomato Soup ahead of time? Yes. This soup reheats very well.
- How do I reheat Tomato Soup? You can microwave individual servings in the microwave, or reheat in a pot on the stove. If the soup gets too thick, feel free to add in additional vegetable stock to thin it out a bit. If you’ve added cream to your soup, avoid boiling the soup.
- How do I store any leftovers? Cool, then pour the soup into a covered container. Refrigerate for up to three days.
- Can I freeze this soup? Yes, this soup freezes well. You may need to re-blend the soup a bit after it thaws but it should come back together nicely.
The Tomato Soup recipe originally appeared on A Family Feast in October 2014. We’ve updated the post and photos, but the delicious recipe remains the same.
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Tomato Soup
Our homemade Tomato Soup is a delicious way to enjoy the last garden tomatoes before the frost. Or, make this soup with canned tomatoes other times of the year.
Ingredients
3 pounds fresh garden tomatoes, see note below for prep (or if using cans, two 28 ounce cans plum tomatoes, diced with juice)
1/2 cup good-quality extra virgin olive oil
2 cups diced yellow onions
1 cup peeled and diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 bay leaves
1 cup chopped fresh basil, divided
2 large thyme sprigs left whole
2 large sprigs Italian flat-leaf parsley, stems left on and left whole
1 cup vegetable broth
2 5.5-ounce cans tomato juice
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
5 tablespoons tomato paste, divided
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup heavy cream, optional
Your favorite grilled cheese sandwich, cut into sticks for serving, also optional
Instructions
- If using fresh tomatoes: The skins of plum tomatoes cook down enough in this soup so that you don’t need to peel them but you do need to remove the seeds as they will make the soup bitter. The easiest method is to have two bowls; one small bowl with a strainer and one bowl large enough to hold the cleaned tomatoes.
- If you are using plum tomatoes, nip off the end and cut in half lengthwise. Then with your thumb or index finger, scrape the seeds from each half into the bowl with the strainer. If cutting larger round tomatoes, cut out core and cut them in half horizontally. Then over the bowl with the strainer, reach up and scrape out all the seeds. Place the cleaned tomatoes into the larger bowl without the strainer. Finally move the seeds around the strainer to get out any last bit of juice and discard seeds. Take the liquid left in the bowl and add to the large bowl with the tomato halves. With three pounds of tomatoes, you should end up with a little over 2 pounds of cut up tomatoes (weighed on a scale). This is equal to about six to eight cups (a little more or less is fine).
- In a medium to large Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot, add olive oil, onions, carrots, celery, garlic and bay leaves. Cook over medium high for five minutes. Add tomato halves with juice (or canned).
- Add half of the fresh cut up basil. Tie whole thyme and whole parsley together with twine and place in pot.
- Add broth, tomato juice, sugar, 3 tablespoons tomato paste, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, cover and cook 30 minutes.
- Remove and discard bay leaves, thyme and parsley. Depending on the variety of tomato, you may also need to pick out tough skins. Using a pair of tongs, simply reach in and remove all visible skins which have now peeled off the tomato halves. The process of removing the skins is easy and can be done in under five minutes.
- Add second half of basil to the soup and stir in the butter. With an immersion blender, blend soup until completely pureed.
- At this point, if you like the soup very thick, add the remaining two tablespoons of tomato paste and cook for another few minutes. If you’d like it thinner, omit the last two tablespoons of paste.
- Also adding cream is optional as a personal preference. We left it out.
- Serve as is or with grilled cheese sandwiches. (We cut our sandwiches into sticks for dunking)
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Notes
The best tomatoes to use for this soup are plum-type tomatoes because the skins are thin and the seeds are few, but any tomato or combination of tomatoes will work. Also note: The instructions written above assume that you are using fresh tomatoes. Feel free to skip to step #2 if you are using canned.
Avoid using grape or small cherry tomatoes since they have a lot of skin and seeds and only a little pulp.
Recipie is delicious! thank you so much! Please please tell us where you got those wonderful soup bowls! they are wonderful!
Hi Jake – glad you enjoyed the soup! We bought the bowls a few years ago from Crate & Barrel…I don’t think they sell them anymore however… 🙁
Made this recipe with homegrown tomatoes. I simply love It and since my tomatoes are so plentiful,I will make second batch, freeze it, and have it during the winter when my garden has gone dormant. Oh! And yes, it is wonderful with some cheesy chiabatta bread.
Thanks Emily! So glad you enjoy the soup!
This is a delicious soup! I wouldn’t change anything. I made extra to freeze and will look forward to that on a cool fall day.
Thank you Leslie!
Heaven!! I don’t even like tomatoes but this soup is heavenly!!
Thanks Aimee! Glad you liked it!
We adored this soup!
Thanks Michelle!
I just made this recipe…it is so good!
I was able to use up a huge pile of tomatoes from my garden, thank you!
I’ll be trying this out on my 3 year old son tomorrow…hoping he loves this more or at least as much as the canned version!
Thanks so much Andrea! Fingers crossed your little one will like the soup! 🙂
Oh. My. God. I’ve just eaten this amazing soup with my dad. And we are blown away! (Although I didn’t add the celery because my dad doesn’t like them and I forgot the tomato juice..) This soup is definitely going into my repertoire. Thanks so so so so much for this recipe!
Thanks Kiki – So glad you enjoyed the soup!
Thank you so much for giving an approximate cup quantity on this Tomato Soup recipe. I don’t have a scale and I buy tomatoes in a 1/2 bushel basket so if I don’t have cup measurements I’m stuck. Will be trying this soon. We’re nearing the end of tomato season here but I think I have enough to try this soup.
Linda
You’re very welcome Linda! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! It was wonderful. Made it for dinner tonight and severed with avocado bacon grilled cheese. Was a huge hit!
Thank you Melinda! We’re glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Loving this bowl full of comfort! Homemade tomato soup is the best!
I agree Anna! Thanks for visiting us today!