This recipe for homemade, creamy tomato soup is full of fresh basil and fire roasted tomatoes. It's comforting, cozy, and SO simple to make!
This tomato soup is basically my go-to easy lunch or dinner recipe when the weather gets cooler! It's so simple to make and perfect for dunking a big, fat grilled cheese.
Before I started making homemade tomato soup, I really was always just kind of unimpressed with tomato soup in general. But my one of my (many) sisters-in-law was always raving about how homemade tomato soup is the best thing ever, so I finally decided to give it a try.
And whoa. I will never go back to canned tomato soup. Not that I was eating canned soup anyway since it's always annoyingly loaded with gluten. But guys, canned tomato soup does not even compare with this soup.
Speaking of my sister-in-law, she MADE this adorable little speckled bowl I used for these photos. Isn't it just so cute?? You can check out her cute Facebook page HERE so you can be updated when she ever adds more stuff to her shop.
But how do you make homemade tomato soup anyway?
It's so simple. I just saute some garlic and onion and then add some chicken stock, fresh basil, and tomatoes. I have used fresh tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and diced tomatoes. Honestly, it turns out great either way. My go-to is canned diced fire roasted tomatoes though.
Once I have simmered it for at least 20 minutes (sometimes I simmer it up to a few hours), I puree it with my immersion blender. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can definitely use a regular blender or food processor in a pinch!
Once it's nice and smooth, add your heavy cream and season to taste with salt and pepper! Then make some nice crusty grilled cheese sandwiches for dunking.
A few notes about substitutes:
1. If you don't have fresh basil, you can definitely use dried basil (about a teaspoon). I don't love dried basil (sorry, is that snobbish?), so I would sooner sub a few generous tablespoons of basil pesto.
2. If you need to make this recipe dairy free and/or vegan, you definitely can! I would sub the heavy cream with full-fat canned coconut milk and you can always use vegetable stock instead of chicken.
3. As I mentioned before, you can use any tomatoes for this recipe. If you are making this with fresh tomatoes, you will want to use 10-12 whole tomatoes, or about 2 lbs.
4. If you prefer, you can roast the fresh vegetables in the oven. I use a dutch oven and bake the garlic, onion, and fresh tomatoes (if I'm using fresh) at 425ºF for about an hour!
My kids even love this soup! I'm always so surprised. But nobody loves it more than Samuel.
Since I usually don't measure ingredients when I make this soup, it turns out slightly different every time. This time I wrote down exactly what I did for you guys and was nervously wondering if I had forgotten anything.
I asked Samuel, "Does it need anything? Is it creamy enough? Is the flavor good? Come on, be honest and tell me if you can think of anything that could improve it."
"It's absolutely perfect," he said, "Don't change a thing."
Well of course, I always DO change things. In this video I made it using fresh tomatoes and a bell pepper and also roasted it in the oven instead of on the stove. You can see options for this variation in the recipe notes
Also, if you love this cute tea towel you see in the video, you can buy it from Gingiber. It makes a great Thanksgiving hostess gift. They also have the CUTEST aprons. Make sure to use my 20% off coupon code: YAMMIE20
I am also in love with my little pumpkin beeswax candle, which you can also see in the video. I ordered it from my dear friend Sarah's new beeswax candle making company, Lux Christi Candle Company. They have so many cute designs.
yum! That bread too...What did you use. I have made homemade tomato soup as well. So good.
ReplyDeleteMy husband made the bread! He loosely follows the recipe from the Tartine cookbook!
DeleteCan you substitute the heavy cream with milk or half and half?
ReplyDeleteYes! Either will work!
Delete