This Creamy Tomato Soup is easy, comforting, and has a rich flavor profile. Watch the easy video tutorial and you’ll be craving a bowl of tomato soup paired with a gooey Grilled Cheese Sandwich.
You can make this tomato soup creamy or chunky if you prefer, but we love creamy soup recipes from Creamy Sweet Potato Soup to our velvety Carrot Soup and definitely Creamy Potato Soup.
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My husband never loved tomato soup until he tried this Creamy Tomato Soup. The addition of parmesan and just 1/2 cup of cream makes it so satisfying. It’s also a quick and easy 30-minute soup that keeps well in the fridge. We love it all year round and whip up a batch any time we are craving Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
Tomato Soup Video Tutorial
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Ingredients for Tomato Basil Soup
Since this is a tomato-based soup, it is important to offset the acidity with some key ingredients. We use a combination of cream, parmesan, and a little sugar to balance the soup.
- Butter – use unsalted butter to sautee onions
- Yellow onion – it seems like a ton of onion but it dissapears into the soup adding a balanced sweetness
- Garlic – you’ll need 1 Tbsp minced from about 3 cloves
- Crushed tomatoes – with their juice, preferably San Marzano tomatoes
- Chicken stock – for the best flavor use homemade chicken broth
- Basil – chop and add 1/4 cup fresh basil, plus more to serve. Basil leaves are easily bruised so chop by stacking a bunch of leaves then roll them into a log and cut into thin strips.
- Sugar – It’s just 1 Tbsp, but necessary to combat the tomato acidity.
- Black pepper – start with 1/2 tsp and add more to taste
- Whipping cream – adds a creaminess to the soup and offsets acidity.
- Parmesan cheese – adds saltiness to the soup and balances acidity. Adding parmesan adds enough salt and I usually don’t add more.
How to Make Tomato Soup
- Saute Aromatics – heat a non-reactive pot over medium heat. Melt in 4 Tbsp butter then sautee onions until softened and golden (10-12 min). Add minced garlic and saute another minute.
- Make the tomato soup base – stir in two 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes with their juice, your chicken stock, chopped basil, sugar and black pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, partially cover and simmer 10 minutes.
- Blend if desired – use an immersion blender in the pot or blend in batches using a blender (be careful not to overfill the blender with hot liquid) and return soup to the pot.
- Add cream and parmesan – stir in the heavy cream and shredded parmesan. Return to a simmer and season to taste if needed.
- Serve – ladle into warm bowls and garnish with more parmesan and basil.
Pro Tip: If you prefer a chunky soup with bits of tomato (like our Broccoli Cheese Soup), you can skip the blending step and proceed with adding cream and parmesan then season to taste.
Important: Use a Non-Reactive Pot
Since this soup is tomato-based it is important to use a non-reactive pot. Avoid aluminum, cast iron, and copper which are all made of metals that can react with tomatoes and make the soup taste metallic.
Non-reactive pots that work well include: Stainless steel, enamel-coated cast iron, ceramic, and glass. We used our 5 1/2 Qt enamel-coated dutch oven pot.
Common Questions
You can use canned whole peeled tomatoes, but crush them by pulsing in a food processor before adding to the pot. Be sure to season to taste if substituting.
You can substitute the fresh basil with about 1 Tbsp of dried basil for the soup. I suggest adding dried basil when you add the crushed tomatoes to give them a chance to soften. Dried herbs work great in soups, but should not be used for garnish.
You’ll need to make your own crushed tomatoes which can be a time-consuming process. We find it is much simpler to buy crushed tomatoes.
We love chicken bone broth because it has a great depth of flavor, but you can substitute it with vegetable broth to keep this a vegetarian soup.
Make sure you aren’t using a reactive pot (see above) and add more sugar and cream to taste to balance the acidity.
How to Serve Tomato Soup
- Grilled Cheese – tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches are the perfect match (try dipping the sandwich into the soup).
- Parmesan – add shredded parmesan while the soup is hot so it melts over the top.
- Fresh Basil – sprinkle the top with thinly sliced basil.
- Croutons – sprinkle crunchy croutons over the soup.
- Toast – simple toasted bread or crostini (like we made for Bruschetta) are great for dunking into the soup.
More Comforting Soups
If you love this Tomato Soup, then you won’t want to miss these cozy soup recipes from our easy Chicken Noodle Soup to luxurious Beef Stew. There’s something here for everyone.
Creamy Tomato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 yellow onions, (3 cups finely chopped)
- 3 garlic cloves, (1 Tbsp minced)
- 56 oz crushed tomatoes, (two, 28-oz cans) with their juice, preferably San Marzano
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more to serve
- 1 Tbsp sugar, or added to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, or to taste to combat acidity
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus more to serve
Instructions
- Heat a nonreactive pot or enameled dutch oven over medium heat. Add butter then add chopped onions. Sauté 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden. Add minced garlic and sauté 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add crushed tomatoes with their juice, chicken stock, chopped basil, sugar (or add sugar to taste), and black pepper. Stir together and bring to a boil then reduce heat, partially cover with lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
- You can leave your soup with a chunky consistency, but if you like a blended/creamy soup, use an immersion blender to blend the soup in the pot to desired consistency or transfer to a blender in batches and blend until smooth (being careful not to over-fill the blender with hot liquid and pulse a few times initially to get it started), then return blended soup to the pot over medium heat.
- Add 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese and return to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed and turn off the heat.*
- Ladle into warm bowls and top with more parmesan and chopped fresh basil.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
So good!!! Made it twice in one week!!! Love it❤️❤️❤️❤️
No pic. But have made twice in a week. Sent recipe to daughter in law. She made it as well. Said it is as good as La Madeline’s in Fort Worth Texas. Out if the park great
That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you!
I made this recipe yesterday. Did not use San Marzano tomatoes, and probably could have adjusted the cream and sugar more. I made a double batch for a soup supper, used dried basil, and pureed it with a stick blender. I really liked the pureed texture. I know you said the recipe refrigerates well; I’m curious if anyone has tried to freeze some, and how it holds up given the cream in the recipe. Because I made a double batch, I had quite a bit left over. Would appreciate any feedback, with this regard.
Hello Karla, thank you for sharing. We’ve kept this in the refrigerator for about 3 days or so. Soups with cream generally don’t freeze well. I haven’t tested freezing this myself, but one of my readers has frozen it without the cream, and then adds the cream when reheating and serving.
Thanks, so much, for a prompt reply, and the advice, Natasha!
This recipe looks so good! Can I make it in a crock pot? I need to take a soup to a soup supper.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Hi Gerri! I have not tested this recipe in a crock pot to provide those instructions. I search through the comments below and did not see any feedback from any of my viewers regarding this. If you experiment, please let us know how it turns out. I’m sure you can make it as instructed in the recipe and then transfer it to a crockpot to keep it warm for your event. I hope that helps.
Gerri, I just made this soup for a soup supper yesterday. I cooked it on the stove top and then transferred to a crock pot to keep it warm. Rather than serving with the fresh basil garnish, I had some shredded parmesan and sour cream on hand for participants to use.
I had to make a substitution using passata, as I didn’t have enough tomatoes. The recipe was easy and delicious. Thank you!
Hi, I am wondering how much crushed tomato to add? It says 28 oz then in parenthesis (two, 28-oz). Do I need one or two 28-oz cans if I am making 4 servings? Thanks!
Hi Haleigh! Unfortunately the notes in parenthesis doesn’t covert when you scale the recipe up or down, only the actual ingredient list. You are using 28ounces if you’re making half the recipe (4 servings).
This was ridiculously easy and amazingly delicious. Full disclosure, I had to tweak a bit since I’d run out of heavy cream, so I substituted with a dollop of full fat sour cream, and adjusted the seasoning to taste afterwards. It was excellent. Next time I’ll make it with cream and will use the blender for a more velvety finish. Five stars, thank you!
Hi Lise! I’m so glad it still turned out great for you. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for that cheat! I made it before checking the fridge to realize I was out of cream! I’ll use sour cream. Also I didn’t have yellow onions so used up my red onions and leeks!
Delicious!!! I used San Marzano whole tomatoes as that’s what I had on hand. I do think quality of tomatoes matters in anything like this so good call out to use these. Didn’t have chicken broth so used vegetable bone broth. Followed everything else to a T. Sugar, cream, good Parmesan. Sprinkled some baking soda at the end to help with acidity. Immersion blended at the end and topped with more grated parm. So yummy. Thanks for this keeper.
Thanks for sharing that with us, Tricia. I’m glad that you liked the result using the substitutions that you used.
This was not good at all. The acidity kills everything. Definitely needs more rounding out and better balancing of flavors.
HI Alex, I tried to point out in a couple of places in the post and in the recipe card, but just in case you missed it: “Some crushed tomatoes can seem tangier. If the soup seems too acidic or sour, you can add more heavy cream and sugar to taste.” I hope that helps for next time.
100% disagree Alex. It was an outstanding recipe followed exactly as written.
I love this soup! It is creamy and so flavorful It’s perfect for a cold, snowy day.
I agree! Comfort in a bowl. Thank you for the feedback.
Love, love, love this tomato soup recipe. I’ve been making it for 6 months now about once a month because my family loves it. I use one can of crushed tomatoes and one can of diced tomatoes because my husband likes a little bit of tomato chunks in his soup. I’ve used half and half when I don’t have any heavy cream. Still comes out great. I also use a 1/2 cup of Parmesan as well.
Thank you for sharing your results, Laura!
It tasted great! Followed the recipe as listed.
Loved all the flavors 👌🏼
Thanks, Cindy. Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
First time making this and it came out good. It was a little flat and watery when I followed the recipe as written (I’m sure it depends on tomatoes and chicken stock used). I ended up increasing cream (3/4 cup), parmesan (1/2 cup), pepper (1 tsp), sugar, (2 tbs), and salt to taste. Final result was delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
You’re welcome, Al! Thanks for sharing.
Hopefully this review will save someone the trouble of making this soup. Terrible. We couldn’t eat it-I just threw it all out. Made it to the letter initially(an experienced cook), but had to add more salt, sugar, cream and milk. Still an awful soup. Unable to get rid of the tanginess from the tomatoes-probably the amount is too much, one could try to use less. Really question the 5-star reviews I read….
Hi Callie, this has been a very popular soup on our site. Did you substitute any of the ingredients in the recipe? I’m curious what brand of tomatoes you used and if you used crushed tomatoes as called for in the recipe. Normally the cream and sugar in the recipe is enough to offset the acidity but I do recommend above to add those to taste to combat acidity since not all canned tomato products are created equally. For a sweeter flavor profile, you might enjoy our Roasted Tomato Soup better from our New Cookbook.
Quick no fail soup.. didn’t have fresh basil so used dried – an oversized tablespoon – delicious
Thank you for sharing, Andrea!
Evidently not an experienced cook to give this foolproof recipe such an awful rating – sounds with all your additions you ruined it
Looks delicious, shredded pepperjack is good too. Looking forward to our summer garden tomatoes instead of canned.
A summer garden is the best! We can’t wait too!
Looks delicious. Instead of parmesan, shredded pepperjack is good too.
Sounds great, Diane! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi Natasha, I’m wondering if I could use my garden grown fresh tomatoes to make your soup? If so, how many pounds do you think I would need?
Thank you!
Hi Dale! See my note in the common question section above.
Could this be considered tomato bisque if not what can be added to make it a bisque?
thank you
Hi Peter, A bisque is slightly thicker and creamier, this recipe has some cream which gives it the defining traits of a bisque and technically it can be considered that, but typically a tomato bisque has more cream, is thicker. Adding more cream may do the trick. I hope you love this recipe.
Can you freeze this soup recipe? I like to make bigger batches and then freeze them in individual portions.
Hi Robert! We’ve kept this in the refrigerator for about 3 days or so. Soups with cream generally don’t freeze well. I haven’t tested freezing this myself, but one of my readers has frozen it without the cream, and then adds the cream when reheating and serving
I made this soup today and it turnewd out so so delicious. I cut the recipe in half since it was just for me and 8 servings would be just too much. I did use all the Garlic and fresh Basil though because I like both of their flavors. I know I will make this again and I’m wondering if it freezes well so that next time I could make a bigger pot 🙂
Hi Peggy! I’m glad you loved this soup.
! We’ve kept this in the refrigerator for about 3 days or so. Soups with cream generally don’t freeze well. I haven’t tested freezing this myself, but one of my readers has frozen it without the cream, and then adds the cream when reheating and serving.
I have several cream souos that I have frozen and they were fine and I had no problems with them.