This homemade tomato soup recipe starts with homegrown tomatoes simmered with onions, garlic, and seasonings. Served with fresh basil and chopped bacon, it’s a nutritious, comforting dinner or lunch.
Every year I have big plans for tomato season on the farm. And just about every year, they end up running wild.
That’s just what real life looks like sometimes. I think people often want to start a garden but feel overwhelmed with trying to learn a new skill or wanting everything to be perfect.
Well, I’m far from the perfect gardener, and yet we still enjoy so many lovely fruits and veggies. We get loads and loads of tomatoes, even if the suckers aren’t pruned or some don’t get staked at the right time.
Don’t be afraid to start… just start. You can even grow tomatoes in pots on a balcony. It’s worth it. Homegrown food always tastes better.
When you have loads of fresh ripe tomatoes, you need to make this fresh tomato soup recipe. It’s such a cozy and filling soup. If you’ve never made tomato soup with fresh tomatoes, you need to try it.
It has a completely different taste compared to the canned version. I’ve never been a big fan of canned soup, but this soup is fresh and bright.
Why you will love this fresh tomato soup:
- It is an amazing and healthy way to use up all those fresh garden tomatoes.
- Add a handful of fresh basil to turn it into tomato basil soup.
- Double the recipe to have easy lunches throughout the week.
- This recipe can easily be adapted to other dietary needs. You can easily make it vegan by using vegetable broth, or make it gluten free (see tips below).
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Tips:
- An immersion blender makes making this homemade soup really easy. If you do not have one, you can just use a regular blender and blend the soup in batches. Be careful not to overfill the blender and place a towel over the lid to prevent burning your hand.
- Caramelizing the onions will add loads of flavor, don’t skip this step.
- This is the perfect summer time recipe when you have loads of garden tomatoes and fresh ingredients available.
Can you make this gluten free?
Yes, just omit the flour. The soup will be a little runnier, but still delicious. You also may be able to thicken it with a cornstarch slurry, adding it after the soup has been blended. I have never tried it with this recipe, but have used this method to thicken other recipes in the past.
What can I add to tomato soup to make it taste better?
Fresh herbs are a great way to give more depth to tomato soup. Adding cooked bacon or a dollop of sour cream enhances the flavors and adds richness.
Something else that is delicious is adding a little bit of sugar. It can help balance out the acidity of the dish.
What can I eat with tomato soup?
Grilled cheese sandwich
Garden salad with croutons.
BLT – We like to make our BLTs on sourdough cheddar waffles
Sandwiches
Baked potatoes: load them up with your favorite toppings
How do you thicken tomato soup?
You can thicken tomato soup by adding flour to the onion and oil mixture to create a roux. For those that are gluten sensitive, you could substitute einkorn flour. Those that cannot tolerate any gluten may be able to use cornstarch to thicken the soup.
Ingredients:
- Olive oil or butter
- Onion
- Garlic
- Italian seasoning – Dried or fresh
- Einkorn flour – or also use all-purpose flour
- Tomatoes: Any variety will work. I like san marzano tomatoes
- Chicken broth or vegetable broth. I like to make my own chicken stock in the Instant Pot.
- Salt
- Black pepper- freshly ground
- Chopped fresh basil
- Extra toppings: crumbled bacon, red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, homemade croutons, or even a drizzle of heavy cream to make a creamy tomato soup.
Tools you may need
Large pot or dutch oven
Garlic press – one of my favorite tools in the kitchen
Cutting board
Knife
How To Make Tomato Soup From Scratch
In a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat, add diced yellow onions and oil and sauté for about 5 minutes or until they begin to become translucent. I like to brown the onions a bit to add even more flavor to the soup.
Using a garlic press, add garlic cloves to the onions. You can also use a knife to finely dice the garlic.
Add herbs and cook one more minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Sprinkle in the flour over the onions and garlic, and stir well for another minute or two. This creates a roux, which helps thicken the soup. Make sure to cook the roux to remove any flour taste at the end.
Add in chopped tomatoes, broth, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes.
Blend with an immersion blender. This is the easiest way, but you can also ladle the soup into a blender and blend smooth, working in batches and pouring back into the pot. Cover the blender lid with a towel to help prevent burning hands with the steam escapes and reduce the risk of the soup spurting out the top.
Ladle your delicious soup into bowls and add in any toppings you would like. Cooked bacon, croutons, cheese, and fresh herbs are some of our favorites.
Find more of my favorite soups:
- Homemade Creamy Chicken And Gnocchi Soup
- Chicken Marsala Soup
- Sausage Sauerkraut Soup
- Creamy Chicken And Wild Rice Soup
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- Roasted Red Pepper And Tomato Soup
- Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
- Hearty And Healthy Potato Soup Recipe
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars!
Fresh Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil or butter
- 1 onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning or 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon einkorn flour can also use all-purpose flour
- 10 medium tomatoes about 2 lbs, chopped
- 2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Chopped fresh basil crumbled bacon (optional)
Instructions
- In a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat, add diced onions and oil and sauté for about 5 minutes or until they begin to become translucent.
- Using a garlic press, add garlic to the onions. You can also use a knife to finely dice the garlic.
- Add herbs and cook for one minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.
- Sprinkle in the flour over the onions and garlic and stir well for another minute or two.
- Add in chopped tomatoes, broth, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes.
- Blend with immersion blender.
- Ladle into bowls and add in any toppings you would like.
Notes
- When adding flour to create the roux, make sure to cook the roux to remove any flour taste at the end.
- Using an immersion blender is the easiest way, but you can also ladle the soup into a blender and blend smooth, working in batches and pouring back into the pot. Cover the blender lid with a towel to help prevent burning hands and reduce the risk of the soup spurting out the top.
Melanie Martin says
So cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at this recipe in your previous video before this was posted! I can’t wait to try this with my homegrown tomatoes. That will be about a month from now, as I only have about three ripe so far. 🙂 Thanks to your recipes and tutorials, I am enjoying my own yogurt and sauerkraut (and saving money.) I think up next to try is the cucumber mango salsa!
Peggy says
I just made this, what a great soup I will definitely make again !
Ann Marie Heasley says
Adding this to our family favorites, it was delicious!
Shannon Jensen says
Sooo good!
Sherri says
Do you know if this soup can be canned?
cheryl says
omg i made this and it took me back to many many years ago when i use to make it, the basil made it soo good
Cari says
I made this today for lunch and we all enjoyed it. Great flavor. I will be making this again. I added the fresh basil as a topping– very good!! Thank you!
Carrie says
We made this tonight with tomatoes and basil from the garden – and it was delicious. All the kids loved it. I also made croutons out of sourdough bread that I made from your recipe that was going stale. Thanks for a great recipe – I will definitely make again! 🧡
joyce janssen says
Can you puree the tomatoes first to avoid messing with them when they are hot
Lisa says
You could, but you also want to puree the onions and garlic as well to make it smooth. If you don’t mind the texture variations then I’m sure it would be fine.
Holly says
May I use tomatos that I chopped and froze? I had a ton of tomato’s this year…mostly yellow tomatos, but some red as well.
Lisa says
Yes for sure! I’ve used frozen tomatoes multiple times.
Karen says
Enjoy your blog so much, inspires us all. Noted in the Costco run with sister how pleasant it is to see two sisters able to discuss the different ways they do things differently with no “one-uping, or one sister always opinion dominating” very refreshing as many points of view on how to use many products, and the different ways each of you uses different products. Thanks!
Lisa says
Thank you so much!