Easy Homemade Tomato Soup From Simple Ingredients

Tomato soup is proof that simple food can still be really good.

You don’t need fresh tomatoes from a summer garden to make a good pot of soup. Canned tomatoes work beautifully, and they’re available all year.

This recipe is creamy, comforting, and easy enough for a weekday lunch.

And yes, grilled cheese belongs next to it.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans crushed tomatoes, 28 ounces each
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Optional:

• Fresh basil
• Parmesan cheese
• Red pepper flakes

Start With the Onion

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.

Add the onion and cook until softened.

You don’t need to brown it heavily.

Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.

Add the Tomatoes

Pour in the crushed tomatoes and broth.

Add the basil, sugar, salt, and black pepper.

Stir everything together.

Bring the soup to a gentle simmer.

Let it cook for about 15 to 20 minutes.

This gives the flavors time to come together.

Blend the Soup

If you have an immersion blender, blend the soup directly in the pot until smooth.

If you’re using a regular blender, be careful.

Hot soup creates steam, and steam needs somewhere to escape. Work in small batches and follow your blender manufacturer’s instructions for hot liquids.

You can also leave the soup slightly chunky if that’s what you prefer.

Make It Creamy

Return the blended soup to low heat.

Stir in the heavy cream.

Don’t let it boil aggressively after adding the cream.

Taste and adjust the seasoning.

If the tomatoes are particularly acidic, a small amount of sugar can help balance the flavor.

What Goes With Tomato Soup?

Grilled cheese is the obvious answer.

But there are other options too.

Try:

• Garlic bread
• Toasted sourdough
• Crackers
• A simple green salad
• Crusty bread
• Cheese toast

For a heartier meal, add a small sandwich.

Can You Make It Without Cream?

Absolutely.

The soup is still delicious without it.

For a dairy-free version, use olive oil instead of butter and leave out the cream.

You can also blend in a small amount of cooked potato or white beans for extra body.

Fresh or Canned Tomatoes?

For this particular recipe, canned tomatoes are practical.

They’re consistent, inexpensive, and available throughout the year.

If you have excellent fresh tomatoes during tomato season, you can certainly use them, but don’t feel like you need to wait until summer.

Can You Freeze Tomato Soup?

Yes.

Let it cool properly before transferring it to freezer-safe containers.

If you plan to freeze a creamy version, the texture may change slightly after thawing.

For the smoothest result, you can freeze the soup before adding the cream and stir the cream in after reheating.

Make a Bigger Batch

Tomato soup is one of those recipes that makes sense to double.

Have some for lunch.

Save some for dinner.

Freeze the rest.

Then one cold day when you don’t feel like cooking, future-you gets a pretty nice surprise waiting in the freezer.

Simple Food Done Right

There’s nothing complicated here.

Tomatoes, onion, garlic, broth, seasoning, and a little cream.

But give those ingredients some time together and they become something much more satisfying than the ingredient list suggests.

Add a grilled cheese sandwich and you’ve got one of those lunches that needs absolutely no explanation.