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
OMG, this soup is SO GOOD! i always thought home made tomato soup was really hard. i made my first batch last weekend and I’m currently simmering my 2nd batch! thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Marie! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
Natasha – made this soup this morning, and wow, was it delicious. I used Hunt’s brand of San Marzanos, and it was pretty acidic – but hey, no problem – all the comments about a pinch of baking soda was MAGIC – it lost the acidity and made the perfect soup. Thank you for all of your work!
Aww, you’re so nice! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
I’m one of those cooks who read other recipes then I create my own. I had a tomato soup I perfected, even wrote it down, but then I couldn’t find it after I moved from Colorado to Florida. I found your recipe most compatible with my family’s taste. However, I made some substitutions and additions. I’ll be brief, I used crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste, scallions, and fresh garlic. I minced everything in my food processor along with fresh mushroom, shredded carrots and fresh basil, parsley, and cilantro. I substituted sugar with Marsala, and coconut milk for heavy cream. I also added vegan sour cream for extra creaminess. For spice, I added white pepper, celery salt, sage, cumin, curry, and turmeric. I cooked in a crock pot overnight, served with shredded parmesan and crispy bacon crumbled. Thanks for the tasty ingredients.
Hi there, thanks for sharing that with us. Good to know that the substitutes that you used worked well! Thanks for the review and for sharing that with us.
Since becoming Gluten-free. I do not use canned soups. This recipe is quick and flavorful. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for the review, Patricia!
Sounds like you made a whole different recipe, why don’t you publish your own instead of altering this one a ton and commenting on it? Sorry it’s a pet peeze to comment on something that they didn’t even make, almost as bad as rating something 5 stars, only to read comments that say this looks so good, can’t wait to try it!
Thanks for addressing that; also a pet peeve of mine. If someone significantly changes the recipe, then they really aren’t rating the recipe as posted. Better not to post at all. p.s. Made this last night (as per recipe) & it turned out terrific!
I made it and it was fantastic! I subbed Gouda for the parmesan, Gorilla Glue for the chicken broth( watered down of course) crushed the tomatoes by hand and then threw them in the garbage. Added butternut squash and handful of dog food as my husband likes the crunch.
Turned out great ! 😉
I’m glad you loved it, Susan! The butternut squash sounds delicious! 🙂
Hi. My husband can’t have heavy cream. Can I substitute lactaid milk?
Hello there, I saw someone else commented and shared this “Use almond milk and corn starch since i cannot have heavy cream. It is perfect. ” I hope it helps!
I used Cento crushed tomatoes and the soup was excellent, not too tart as others have mentioned. I paired this with tuna melts, which turned out perfectly. Thank you for a delicious soup recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Stacy!
Could we substitute vegetable broth for the chicken stock on non meat eating days? I still try to abstain from meat on Fridays.
Any other vegetarian suggestions to substitute for the chicken broth?
Hi Ron, I think that will work. I haven’t personally tried that yet but I imagine that will be okay. If you try that, please share with us how it goes.
I just made a broth using rinds from gouda (I think it is more common to use parmesean rinds, but gouda is what I had), and I am about to try using it for this recipe! I’ll let you know how it goes!
Hi Ron, when I make this soup, I always use vegetable broth (we have a vegan family member). I also add Almond milk in replace of the heavy cream and avoid the parmesan. We also don’t eat meat on Friday. Hope this helps!!
I usually love strong, and or very spicy flavors, so I was surprised that I found this soup too tart. As per your suggestion, I added another Tblsp. of sugar and another 1/2 cup cream, and it was still too tart for me. Not wanting to blow the calories and sugar content up, I then used 1.5 tsp. baking soda, and this did the trick. I am not rating this recipe. I’ve never had a bad recipe from you, and this could totally be me and my taste buds, but I do think the baking soda suggestion is worth mentioning. The soup is delicious with the baking soda addition.
I wonder if it could be the brand of tomato you used? I haven’t had that experience either but that could be why. Using baking soda is interesting – I hadn’t heard of that but it makes sense.
I did see that several of your other commenters had the same problem, but not many. It is curious. I used Furmano tomatoes, and I’ll switch brands next time to see if there’s a difference, but I am keeping the baking soda option in my notes for others.
I made a half batch and immediately regretted my decision to do so. I followed the directions as written but cut the ingredients in half. I’ll be serving this with warm yummy grilled cheese sandwiches for my Beloved tonight on this very cold day.
Sounds like a good plan. I’m sure you will be making more of this soup moving forward. Thank you for sharing!
Made this for lunch after my son hinted last week he would like grilled cheese and tomato soup. I didn’t have crushed tomatoes but just put the whole can in a blender and pulsed a couple of times and voila crushed tomatoes. You can crush by hand as well. Added a little more sugar as my tomatoes were quite acidic.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
tried it and i is good. seems like its a lot of onion. could i cut back on it??
Hi Stephan, we believe we found the perfect balance, but you can reduce the onion if you’d like. A reader of mine mentioned omitting it all together since they don’t like onion, but that will impact the flavor. I hope this is helpful!
Hi Natasha! I’ve cooked several of your recipes and loved ALL of them. I’m so excited to try this one tonight! I will be pairing it with your grilled cheese! Yum!
Thank you for your fantastic feedback, Paulinna! I’m so happy you love my recipes! This tomato soup is so cozy and perfect for chilly December! I hope it warms you up and you love it!
This recipe for easy tomato soup looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it. With some items being scarce at the grocery stores right now, all I could find were whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes in the can. How can I get these ready to use in the soup, instead of the crushed tomatoes?
Hi Arlene, we used San Marzano tomatoes. We used crushed though, so maybe you can help them along by crushing them, but that may work!
It was tasty! Just a question, though. I’m not in the U.S. What are crushed tomatoes like there? Our crushed tomatoes are like a very, very thick tomato sauce with no chunks. We have diced tomatoes here and I’m wondering if our diced is closer to your crushed. 🤔 As a result, my soup turned out very tangy and I had to double the cream. If you could let me know, I’d appreciate that!
Hi Marie, I used diced tomatoes the last time I made this soup and it worked great. If yours is more of a sauce, then I recommend using diced tomatoes in the can with their juice.
Made it for my kids with some grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a hit!!
The best combination! I’m so glad you and the kids enjoyed it, Karine!
Came out delicious will be keeping this recipe as a fav.
First time making tomato soup.
I’m so glad this was a hit!
I added roasted bell pepper . It turned out great . Original recipe is great . is my new go to recipe for tom soup.
Hello Jose, I’m happy to hear that the recipe turned out great! Thank you for sharing that with us.
Don’t have any whole tomatoes right now, can I use San Marzano tomato puree?
Hi Crystal, I haven’t tested it that way but I have used canned diced tomatoes with great results. You would have to adjust seasoning to taste.
My whole family loved this soup! It is now my only tomato soup recipe. Thank you!
That’s perfect! Thank you for sharing that with us, Linda.
Made this last night and it was good. Followed recipe except omitted onions cuz we don’t like them. I added more cream and sugar. It was still very acidity. I guess I’ll have to add more sugar and cream.I got some serious heartburn from the acidity. 😟
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Juanita! I haven’t had that experience, but with all things tomato that may happen.
The quality of tomatoes is where that issue is. Not all can tomatoes are created equally. And the butter and onion do make a difference so if you leave them out it changes the recipe.
You can add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda instead of more sugar. It will bubble up a bit, and take out acidity. No more than 1/4 tsp or your soup will taste flat.
Look for quality tomatoes, San Marzano is top quality, and so much less acidic than others. They cost more, but there’s a good reason for that.
I’m like your husband, I’ve never been a fan of tomato soup. (probably because I don’t even like tomatoes!) But then Natasha rolls in and makes something that looks fabulous and I think to myself …… I’m just going to try it! And today I did just that. OMG, guess who loves tomato soup??!! This is beyond good! Thank you so much!
Yay, glad you finally tried it! I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try, Tracey.
Omgosh, this is the cutest review! I’m going to make it now for sure b/c of your response! Thanks for sharing!