This luscious, thick, richly flavored tomato basil soup packs a double punch of tomato using roasted fresh and canned tomatoes! A thick, creamy, four-season soup!
This creamy tomato basil soup isn’t just good for the summer, it’s a spectacular winter dish as well.
We all know that soup serves well in the winter (who doesn’t want a bellyful of hot soup on a snowy winter night?!), but this recipe is especially nice for warming up cold hands and bodies. It has just a little bit of kick—not enough to be spicy, but enough to get your blood pumping again after a winter freeze.
The soup already has some incredible depth in its array of flavors. But using fresh ingredients takes this dish from superb to outstanding. If you have tomato plants in your backyard, even better! Even people who “don’t really think gardening their thing’ will be able to find fresher ingredients in the summer. Just check your local market!
For a heartier, meatier tomato soup, I hope you’ll try our busy day soup or beef tomato macaroni soup next!
If you’re looking for a dish with a delicious tomato base, but is much heartier, and more like a complete meal, you can’t miss with my family’s American goulash or American chop suey. Both of these recipes have been past down in our family for generations.
While they’re very similar to each other in taste, they have their differences. American goulash came from my family and American chop suey came from my hubbies family!
TOMATO BASIL SOUP INGREDIENTS
- Tomatoes: I like Roma tomatoes in this recipe. They tend to have fewer seeds and seem to be easily found year ’round at most supermarkets.
- Oil: I use olive oil. If you don’t have any on hand, you can use any neutral-flavored oil.
- Salt + Pepper: This gives the foundation of seasoning.
- Onion + Garlic: I use yellow onion and fresh garlic. These aromatics must be sautéd before proceeding with the recipe. Sautéd onions and garlic have a slightly sweeter flavor, are significantly more mellow, and have a more balanced aroma. If you skip this simple step your aromatics will have an off-putting raw pungency with a sulfurous flavor and aroma.
- Butter: Adding the butter to the olive oil when sautéing the aromatics, gives the dish a lovely, subtle richness.
- Canned Tomatoes: I use canned Roma tomatoes. I like Cento, San Marzano tomatoes best.
- Basil: This recipe uses a generous amount of fresh basil. The basil and the amount of it used, really separates the delicious flavor of this soup from all the other recipes out there. During summertime, basil is great straight out of the garden. When it’s not in season, I buy it at Trader Joe’s in large containers. Yes, the quantity of basil in this recipe, 4 cups, is correct.
- Thyme: I use fresh time in this recipe. This is a super easy herb to grow in your garden and it lasts through the winter where I live. Just be sure to plant English thyme for the classic thyme flavor.
- Chicken Stock: Homemade is always best, but I often use commercial chicken stock from a carton, for ease and preparation time. I like to use a low-sodium stock so I have more control of the overall sodium in the soup.
TIPS
- Let’s Talk Texture: This recipe creates a wonderful, homestyle, chunky tomato basil soup.
- Thin It: If you prefer a thinner soup, use chicken stock to thin out the recipe a little.
- Food Mill: I love my food mill. It’s an amazing tool. Running this soup through a food mill creates a silky smooth refined texture. Don’t bother skinning the tomatoes—the mill will do it for you. It should take out most of the tomato seeds as well! Here’s the one I use (this is an affiliate link. If you use the link I will make a very small commission. It really helps me keep this website going! Thanks so much for your help!)
- If you want to keep it slightly chunky and dense, only pass 1/2 or 1/3 of the cooked soup through the food mill.
- No Food Mill? If you don’t happen to have a food mill you can use a stick blender (affiliate link) or blender.
- Bisque Anyone? Using a little heavy cream with this recipe can make an excellent tomato basil bisque. To make that tomato basil bisque vegan, substitute coconut milk for heavy cream.
- Spice It Up!! Those who love spice can add extra red pepper flakes to really heat this soup up. Be careful though! I wouldn’t add too much extra until you’ve tried the original recipe. The simmering process really spices up the ingredients. Too many additional red pepper flakes could make this recipe too spicy for your taste!
HOW TO MAKE TOMATO BASIL SOUP
- Bake the tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Saute the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
- Stir in the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock.
- Stir in the roasted tomatoes including the accumulated juices.
- Bring to a boil and simmer.
- Mash the soup using a stick blender. Serve.
***See the full instructions below.
STORING + FREEZING + MAKE-AHEAD
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? This soup can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Can You Freeze This? Yes! This soup freezes well. It’s important to cool it completely in the fridge, overnight is best, before you freeze it.
- Make-Ahead Tips: You can make the soup, cool it, then keep it covered in the fridge for a day or so. This allows the soup flavors to intensify and marry. It’s actually even better when made a day before serving. I often make a double batch and freeze the half. Then I have a quick meal ready whenever I need it!
- You can also freeze for 4-8 months. Simply thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat.
- Food Safety: If you’d like more food safety info check out this article.
SERVING RECOMMENDATIONS
Staying with quick and simple recipes, I love to serve this with my super easy drop Bisquick biscuits, unbelievably tender (though fragile) Bisquick rolled biscuits, cat head biscuits, butter swim biscuits, sweet, cakey Bisquick cornbread, authentic Southern cornbread, sweet corn bread, beer bread, homemade Olive Garden breadsticks, garlic and herb Parker House rolls, Lion House rollsor my absolute favorite garlic bread!!
We also like to accompany this with a crisp, fresh salad. We love this with our 1905 salad or Mediterranean salad.
MORE REALLY DELICIOUS SOUP
- Amazing Chicken Noodle Soup
- Pasta Fagioli Soup
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Vegetable Beef Soup
- Italian Sausage Soup
- Lasagne Soup
- Vegetable Beef Soup
- Chicken Taco Soup
- Sausage And Bean Soup
- Turkey Carcass Soup
Tried This Recipe?
It’s so helpful to me and other readers in our community if you leave a review and a star rating on the recipe you make. I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tomato Basil Soup
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ripe Roma tomatoes cut in half
- 1/4 cup Plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
- 2 cups yellow onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 (28-ounce) can plum tomatoes, with their juice
- 4 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 quart chicken stock
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF (204ºC).
- Mix together the cut tomatoes, 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Cook in a preheated oven for 45 minutes or until nicely browned.
- Sauté the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the remaining 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and butter, over medium heat, in a large 8-quart stockpot, until the onions begin to brown.
- Stir in the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme and chicken stock. Stir in the roasted tomatoes, including any juices that have accumulated on the baking sheet. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for 40 minutes. Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade or blend with a stick blender. Adjust seasonings and serve.
Notes
- Let’s Talk Texture: This recipe creates a wonderful, homestyle, chunky tomato basil soup.
- Thin It: If you prefer a thinner soup, use chicken stock to thin out the recipe a little.
- Food Mill: I love my food mill. It’s an amazing tool. Running this soup through a food mill creates a silky smooth refined texture. Don’t bother skinning the tomatoes—the mill will do it for you. It should take out most of the tomato seeds as well!
- Here’s the one I use (this is an affiliate link. If you use the link I will make a very small commission. It really helps me keep this website going! Thanks so much for your help!)
- If you want to keep it slightly chunky and dense, only pass 1/2 or 1/3 of the cooked soup through the food mill.
- No Food Mill? If you don’t happen to have a food mill you can use a stick blender (affiliate link) or blender.
- Bisque Anyone? Using a little heavy cream with this recipe can make an excellent tomato basil bisque. To make that tomato basil bisque vegan, substitute coconut milk for heavy cream.
- Spice It Up!! Those who love spice can add extra red pepper flakes to really heat this soup up. Be careful though! I wouldn’t add too much extra until you’ve tried the original recipe. The simmering process really spices up the ingredients. Too many additional red pepper flakes could make this recipe too spicy for your taste!
Hey Patti. Oooops that was a bit of a typo. I haven ‘t posted the chicken stock yet, I’m sorry!