Roasted Tomato Basil Soup is the most delicious way to use those beautiful garden tomatoes! Bold rich flavor from the roasted tomatoes and garlic is blended with fresh basil and a touch of cream, perfect for grilled cheese dunking! Freeze extra tomato soup and preserve your tomato harvest all winter!
When the garden is overflowing with tomatoes and we've eaten our fill of fresh Pesto BLT's and Garden Fresh Salsa, a pot of roasted tomato garlic soup with a grilled cheese sandwich is the perfect rustic meal!
And if you aren't into canning loads of tomatoes, freezing tomato soup is the perfect way to preserve your garden. Pulling out a jar of homemade frozen soup in the winter is so much better than opening a can! Try this end-of-season Zucchini Corn Chowder too!
If you have Lots of Garden Fresh Tomatoes, check out these 21 Ways to Use Garden Tomatoes without Canning, or try these other recipes!
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Ingredients
With just a handful of simple basic ingredients, the flavor of the tomatoes shines through!
- Fresh Garden Tomatoes - This is a garden use-up recipe for when you have a bounty of gorgeous tomatoes! Summer tomatoes are so much more flavorful than grocery store tomatoes in the winter, and their flavor only intensifies as they roast! I used 18 medium sized tomatoes, an assortment of varieties that totaled almost 4 pounds. The variety of tomato really doesn't matter, so use what you have. I also threw in a handful of cherry tomatoes, which is completely optional.
- Onion and Garlic - These get roasted right along with the tomatoes. The onion should be cut into large chunks so it can roast without burning. Use a half head of garlic, about 3 to 5 cloves and leave them in their skin as they roast. Whole roasted garlic takes on an incredible flavor after you peel those softened cloves out of their charred skin.
- Salt, Pepper, and Sugar - Season your tomatoes generously but simply! Just salt and pepper to bring out their flavors, and just a pinch of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. You can leave the sugar out if you like.
- Heavy Cream - Add heavy cream as you blend the soup for a rich and velvety texture. If you want to keep the soup lighter, you could use half & half or milk.
- Water - A bit of water is used when blending to reach the desired consistency. I used a half a cup, but this will vary depending on how much liquid is in your tomatoes. I blended up all my tomatoes with just the cream, then added the water to the empty blender and ran it for just a few seconds before pouring the last bit of tomatoey water into the soup.
- Fresh Basil - A favorite summer herb, hopefully your garden is growing plenty of basil to accompany those tomatoes! A few sprigs of fresh basil, added to the blender right at the end, are the perfect finish to your soup!
See recipe card for quantities.
Variations
This tomato basil soup is rustically simple with just a few ingredients in addition to the tomatoes, but there are plenty of additions and ways to make it your own.
- Additional Veggies to make your Tomato Soup Heartier and More Filling - In addition to all those tomatoes, you could easily add a carrot or zucchini to the roasting pan. This won't alter the flavor too much but adds nutrition.
- Adding Protein - Add a can of white beans, such as great northern or cannellini beans when blending the soup. You will likely need to use more water to adjust the consistency. This is similar to my Tomato Soup with White Beans recipe, a winter favorite that uses canned tomatoes instead of fresh.
- Variations to the Heavy Cream - Substitute half & half or milk to make this soup a bit lighter. You could also a non-dairy milk that is mild in flavor.
Instructions
Step 1 - Start by washing your tomatoes, cutting off the top stem end and cutting them into large pieces. This can be in half or quarters, depending on the size.
Cut a small to medium size onion into quarters, and leave your garlic whole and in the skin. If your onion is very large, use half.
Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and sugar. Toss well with your hands to coat and spread evenly on a large sheet pan. Keep your tomatoes with the cut side facing up.
Step 2 - Preheat your oven to 425°F convection bake and roast the veggies for about 45 minutes.
Step 3 - Add the roasted tomatoes and onions to a blender, including all the liquid from the pan. Peel away the garlic skins and squeeze out the softened garlic cloves too, along with the heavy cream.
You will likely need to blend the soup in 2 batches so you don't overfill your blender.
Step 4 - Blend as smooth or as chunky as you like! Pour the pureed soup into a soup pot as you do another batch.
Step 5 - Add fresh basil and blend again. You can totally puree the basil or blend it less so you can see those little green specks.
Step 6 - Add water as you blend until you reach the desired consistency. This will depend on your preference, and the amount of liquid in your variety of tomatoes.
You can also add the water to the empty blender, I used a half a cup, to rinse every bit of tomatoey goodness into your soup.
Keep your soup pot over a low burner as you finish pureeing and serving your soup. It is, however, cooked and ready to eat!
Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches, crusty bread, extra basil, or Parmesan cheese shavings.
Tip: Use water to adjust the consistency of the soup. You could also use chicken or vegetable stock if you like. Depending on how much liquid is in your tomatoes, this amount can vary. You may not need any, or you may use about ½ cup like I did.
Storage & Freezer Instructions
Storage - Store your garden fresh tomato soup in airtight containers in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Microwave or reheat over low heat on the stovetop.
Freezer - Freezer tomato soup is a great way to preserve your tomato harvest while avoiding the canning process! I like to freeze soup in glass jars for perfect individual servings that you can pull out all winter. Freeze soup for up to 4 months. A few precautions when freezing in glass jars:
- Use any glass jars, they do not need to be canning jars.
- Allow soup to cool slightly before adding to jars.
- Only fill jars ¾'s full to allow the soup room to expand as it freezes.
- Cool completely in the fridge first before moving to the freezer.
- Thaw overnight in the fridge before microwaving or reheating on the stove. Never submerge a frozen jar in hot water, it will crack.
- Glass doesn't like sudden temperature changes, so following these steps will avoid cracked jars. If a jar does crack, throw it out, do not try to save the soup!
- I like to label jars with masking tape and a sharpie with the name and date!
Make Ahead Instructions - This roasted tomato soup is great to make ahead and keep in the fridge all week to heat up for lunches!
What to Serve With Tomato Basil Soup
Roasted tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches is by far and away the best combination! It makes it a meal for lunch or dinner!
You can also serve tomato soup with:
- Baguette or Overnight Homemade Bread!
- Croutons on top
- Paninis - a grilled cheese with deli meat
- Panzanella Bread Salad
- Cheesy Honey Skillet Cornbread with Zucchini and Peppers
- Make it a soup and sandwich night with Italian Subs with Giardiniera or BLT's with Cheese and Avocado!
Recipe FAQs
If your soup is too thick, you can very simply add water to thin it. You could also add another liquid like more heavy cream, milk, chicken or vegetable stock, but really water will do!
If your blended soup is too thin, that simply means there is too much water in it. Simmer it over a low burner and stir often so the steam can escape and the soup will reduce and thicken.
You can really use any kind of tomato variety for this soup. Use what you are growing in your garden. Plum or Roma tomatoes are great for roasting, but really any variety of tomatoes will work. You can even throw in a handful of cherry tomatoes.
No! You can roast your tomatoes, skin, seeds and all and blend it together for this soup! Freezing tomato soup is a quick and simple way to preserve tomatoes that is often much easier than the canning process.
Yes! Just cut off any bad spots! Tomato soup is actually a great way to use up your garden tomatoes when they are threatening to go bad before you can eat them fresh. Cut off any black or soft spots, but use your judgement, if the whole tomato has gone bad, don't put it in your soup!
More Favorite Recipes for Garden Tomatoes!
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Roasted Tomato Basil Soup from Garden Fresh Tomatoes
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Print Pin RateEquipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 4 pounds tomatoes any assortment of about 12 to 18 medium to large sized tomatoes, plus some cherry tomatoes if you like
- 1 yellow onion peeled and cut in quarters
- ½ head garlic with skin left on
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 grinds fresh black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup water more or less as needed
- ½ cup fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F convection bake.
- Wash tomatoes, cut off the top stem spot and remove any bad spots, and cut them into large chunks (halves or quarters). Cherry tomatoes can be left whole. Lay them on a large sheet pan with the onion pieces and garlic head with its skin on.
- Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle evenly with salt, pepper and sugar. Toss well with your hands to coat. Spread everything evenly on the sheet pan with the cut sides facing up. Roast for 45 minutes.
- When the tomatoes are nicely roasted, remove the garlic from its skins and add everything to a blender including all the drippings from the pan and the heavy cream. This will likely need to be done in 2 or 3 batches. Blend until you reach the consistency YOU prefer, this could be anywhere from chunky or very smooth. Adjust the consistency by adding water if needed. See notes below.
- Add the basil to the soup and blend again until incorporated, again blend it as smooth or with as many green flecks as you like.
- Return the soup to a pot as you get each batch blended, set over low heat.
- Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches or crusty bread for dunking.
Notes
- If your oven does not have a convection bake setting, it is fine to just use regular bake. Convection bake just means the fan is blowing which will help dry out and intensify the flavor of the tomatoes.
- Use any combination of tomato varieties for this recipe. Plum or Roma tomatoes are nice for soup but really any kinds will work. Use about 3.5 to 4 pounds. For me this was 18 medium sized tomatoes plus a handful of cherry tomatoes. This recipe is forgiving, not using the exact amount of tomatoes will still turn out fine, you will just need to adjust the amount of water you use when blending to get the consistency you like.
- Roasting Time could vary depending on the type of tomatoes you use, your oven, and how small you cut them. If they seem to be drying out and burning, take them out early. If after 45 minutes they seem quite watery and without toasty roasted edges, go ahead and roast them a bit longer.
- Use Water to Adjust the Finished Soup - The water is used to adjust the soup to the right consistency. You may use all of it, or you may not use it at all. The amount of liquid in your tomatoes will cause this to vary. I blended all my tomatoes with the cream but without the water and transferred the soup to a pot. Then I added the half cup of water to the empty blender and blended it to clean out every last bit of tomato. I then added this tomatoey water to the soup, stirring as I added it until it was the consistency I liked (which was ½ cup of water). If you add too much water and the soup is too thin, just simmer over low heat and stir to allow the steam to escape to thicken.
- A Panini Press makes quick and easy grilled cheese sandwiches!
Jean Penshorn says
Delicious! What a great way to use the tomatoes now that I’m tired of canning them. Did you freeze this with the cream? And it thawed out fine? Thanks.
Meryl Downing says
Hi Jean, so happy you liked it! Yes you can freeze it with the cream and it thaws fine.
Kelli Carlson says
The picture doesn’t have seeds. How did you remove them?
Meryl Downing says
Hi Kelli, the seeds are not removed, they are just blended well in the blender, undetectable!
Karen Mitchell says
This was absolutely the best tomato soup I've ever made! Will definitely make again!
Meryl Downing says
Thank you Karen! I've been making it a lot lately with my garden tomatoes! So glad you liked it!
Josephine Carey says
Thank you for a great recipe! I was very lucky to get a beautiful bounty of tomatoes this year but there's only so much sauce I can eat, lol. One addition- I Sautéed some mirepiox because i find it further helps reduce the acidity and then I blended everything together with my immersion blender and used veggie broth instead of water. Came out delicious and will definitely make many times! Thanks again!
Meryl Downing says
Thank you Josephine, so glad you liked it! Extra veggies are a great addition!
John Rice says
Great recipe and the instructions are perfect.