This Fresh Tomato Soup recipe uses garden-ripe tomatoes and fresh ingredients (no cans or pastes here)! It’s such an easy homemade tomato soup that’s perfect for using up those those juicy summer tomatoes.
We can all agree that tomato soup is basically the best soup ever, right? You eat it when you’re sick, or lazy, or happy, or cold (or best of all, when you’re craving grilled cheese for dinner and need a side dish). It’s the queen of tomato recipes.
But I always assumed tomato soup was something you just bought in a can and heated up. Boy was I wrong! This tomato soup recipe is so easy to make from scratch. You just need a handful of ingredients and some garden ripe tomatoes!
Reader rating
“Love this recipe. Made the first batch as is. Had a few more veggies from the garden to use up so for batch 2 I added 1 cup each corn (cut off cob), green beans, and sliced okra. Made the soup as written and added extra veggies at the end and cooked an additional 20 minutes. Probably the best veggie soup I have had in a long time.” —Lisa
Ingredients in Fresh Tomato Soup
- Fresh Tomatoes: We’re celebrating the deliciousness of sweet, ripe tomatoes by using only fresh tomatoes in this soup! Any variety will do (read more about tomato varieties here).
- Onion and Garlic: The flavor foundations of any good soup.
- Vegetable Broth: Use broth instead of water to infuse this tomato soup with even more flavor.
- Fresh Basil: What grows together goes together, so fresh basil works beautifully with tomatoes!
- Honey: The sweetness of honey balances out the sourness of the tomatoes. You’ll just need a little!
- Spices: I love using smoked paprika and just a pinch of salt and pepper, but you can add your favorite spices as well.
How to Make Homemade Tomato Soup
Making this soup is so easy, and with just one pot there aren’t many dishes to clean up! You’ll start by chopping up all your tomatoes. Roma tomatoes work well here, but you can use any variety of tomato you have on hand (or in your garden!)
We’ll cook those with some onion and garlic until they break down into a chunky sauce, then blend until smooth. I prefer to use a handheld immersion blender here so that I don’t have to transfer everything out of the pot, but a countertop blender works just as well.
Then simply season with basil, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and honey (the sweetness helps cut through the acidic tomatoes) and serve!
I love to top my tomato soup with pan-fried homemade croutons and a drizzle of heavy cream or Greek yogurt (though topping your soup with chickpeas or even popcorn also works deliciously).
Variation of this Tomato Soup
- Creamy tomato soup: After blending the soup, rather than adding more broth to reach your desired consistency, add a splash of cream. Alternatively, whisk a dollop of cream cheese into the soup at the very end, just before serving.
- Tomato soup with carrots: At the same time as you add the onion into the pot, add a handful of chopped or shredded carrots.
- Spicy tomato soup: At the same time as you add the onion to the pot, add 1/2 of a finely chopped jalapeno.
- Basil Bomb: Drizzle a bit of basil oil onto each bowl of soup right before serving for maximum fancy factor!
Got Fresh Tomatoes?
In case your summer garden has given you more tomatoes than you know what to do with, here are a few more of our favorite tomato recipes:
- Fresh Tomato Marinara Sauce
- Tomato and Roasted Pepper Romesco Sauce
- Summer Veggie Salad with Tomato, Cucumber, and Feta
- Baked Feta with Roasted Tomatoes
- Tomato Gazpacho
Or for another no-cook Italian recipe, be sure to pair this soup with our Avocado Bruschetta or Bruschetta Pizza!
Ingredients
- 7 cups chopped tomato about 1kg
- 1 Tbsp olive oil 15 mL
- ½ cup chopped sweet onion about ½ onion
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups vegetable broth divided
- 1 large sprig fresh basil
- 1 tsp honey 5 g
- ½ tsp each smoked paprika, salt, and pepper
Instructions
- Cook Tomatoes: Dice your tomatoes and set aside. Heat oil in a medium pot over medium/high heat. Add onion and garlic, cooking until onion softens and is fragrant. Stir in chopped tomatoes and continue cooking, uncovered, until tomatoes have mostly broken down, about 10 minutes.
- Blend: Add 1 cup of the broth then blend the mixture until smooth (using either a handheld immersion blender or by carefully transferring the mixture to a countertop blender). Return soup to the pot and add more broth, as needed, to reach a consistency to your liking.
- Flavor: Stir in basil, (stem and all) honey, and seasonings, cover, and cook for 5 more minutes. Fish out the basil before serving.
- Serve: Serve warm, optionally topped with croutons* and drizzled with cream.
Lia says
Love it!
Sarah says
So happy to hear! Enjoy! 😀
Guni Dalal says
Do you have a recipe for tomatoe soup that is not blended? What do you think if skip the step of blending and just it chunky for this recipe? Thank you!!
Sarah says
You could definitely just leave it chunky and skip the blending step! You might just mash them up a bit to break them down.
Jana L Benfer says
Excellent base to work off of. I was looking for a recipe that didn’t require any canned paste. An abundance of tomatoes in my garden, and due to covid, not in contact with enough friends to share! Recipe as is was very good, did not need very much broth, as I prefer my soup thick, and omitted the honey. Second round, I added a couple chopped carrots, a red bell pepper, and a few celery stalks, and cayenne pepper. No broth at all. I ate two bowls! I think next time I might take the time to peel and seed the tomatoes first. This recipe lends itself to unlimited variation. Now I need to learn to can so I can have soup this winter! Thanks!
Sarah says
So happy to hear this could help you use some of those summer tomatoes (and the substitutions sound delish!) 😀
Fran Gullikson says
Is it possible to can this soup after it’s cooked? Either in a hot water bath or a pressure canner?
Sarah says
I haven’t tried so I can’t say for sure, but I would think yes!
Joann says
This is amazing. It’s winter but I am using my canned tomatoes from this summer. Great recipe.
Lisa says
Love this recipe. Made the first batch as is. Had a few more veggies from the garden to use up so for batch 2 I added 1 cup each corn (cut off cob), green beans, and sliced okra. Made the soup as written and added extra veggies at the end and cooked an additional 20 minutes. Probably the best veggie soup I have had in a long time.
Sarah Bond says
I’m so happy to hear it, Lisa! Enjoy! 😀
MomO9 says
What to do with all of those volunteer grape and cherry tomatoes in the garden? 7 CUPS of TOMATOES! I have NEVER had such a delicious tomato soup in my life! I did double the honey but followed the recipe otherwise.
DONNA says
ABSOLUTLY Delicious! I made recipe exactly and added 1/4 cup whole wheat rice at the end. I also puréed the tomatoes only briefly to make the soup a little chunky! Wonderful tasty soup!!
Sarah Bond says
So glad to hear it, Donna! Enjoy! 😀
Gloria Ann Shirley says
Wondering whether freezing the marinara sauce or tomato soup will cause them to lose flavor.
Sarah Bond says
It shouldn’t impact the flavor as long as its stored well (airtight and not freezer burned!)