Name: Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 27 min
Total time: 37 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter; 1 medium onion, roughly chopped; 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped; 1 (28 ounce) can diced or whole tomatoes with juices (tomato sauce also works in this); 3 sprigs of fresh basil; 4 cups chicken stock; 1 chicken broth cube or teaspoon of chicken broth concentrate, optional; 1 Tablespoon soy sauce; 1 cup heavy cream; Salt & pepper (to taste); 2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Homemade Tomato Basil Soup – On a cold day, there’s nothing better that a warm bowl of homemade soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. Combine just a few ingredients together, simmer, blend, and serve in under 30 minutes. I have instructions here for BOTH the stovetop and the Instant Pot to help you win and weeknight dinners.

Tomato Basil Soup is a simple and easy to make classic comfort food recipe. When it comes to comfort food, soups are always at the top of my list. They are like a warm hug in a bowl. During the fall and winter months, soup is on our weekly meal plan at least once a week. If you like soups, you may also like these other recipes – Instant Pot Beef Pho, Pumpkin Soup, Thai Coconut Soup, Bacon Cheeseburger Soup, Finnish Salmon Soup, and Leftover Chicken Soup.

grilled cheese dipping into tomato soup — Is there any better way to enjoy a bowl of hot tomato soup?

Before I talk about this recipe, I feel like I should mention that my husband has a real disdain for tomatoes. As a general rule, he refuses to eat anything with this red vegetable that the rest of us love! The only exceptions to his rule are fresh or roasted tomato salsa and now, I can add, this tomato basil soup recipe. Recently, I’ve even made a convert out of my mother-in-law that hates everything tomato based.

How To Make Tomato Soup

Here’s what you will need

Unsalted butter
Yellow or white onion
Garlic
Tomatoes – fresh plum/Roma, canned, and roasted all work – canned tomato sauce also works in a pinch
Fresh basil
Chicken stock

Soy sauce – not normally something you see in this soup, yet I think it really rounds out the flavor
Heavy cream
Salt & pepper (to taste)
Parmesan cheese
Chicken broth cube or concentrate (shown below) – this is optional but it adds a deeper flavor and a bit of salt

better than bouillon — This is a real help in the kitchen. It’s concentration bouillon that you just add water.

Stove Top Instructions Using a Dutch Oven or Stock Pot

1. Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
2. Add chopped onions and sauté for 5-6 minutes until they just start to brown.
3. Add in the garlic and cook for one additional minute.
4. Next, add tomatoes with juices, fresh basil, chicken broth, and broth concentrate or broth cube, if using, to the Dutch oven.
Note: fresh basil is best in this recipe, but you can use dried basil. Use 1 teaspoon of dried basil to start. You can add more if you like.
5. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
6. Remove soup from the heat and use an immersion blender or high speed blender to blend the soup until smooth. Note: If using a blender, allow soup to a bit more than if using an immersion method.
7. Stir in soy sauce, heavy cream, and season with salt and pepper as needed.
8. Ladle soup into bowls and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and additional basil if desired.

How Do I Make This in an Instant Pot?

Follow the stove top recipe above using your Instant Pot’s sauté function. Then after you’ve added your tomatoes, secure your lid, and adjust the simmer time from 20 minutes to 10 minutes on manual high pressure with a quick release at the end. Follow the blending instructions before serving.

Can I Use Fresh Tomatoes?

Fresh garden tomatoes work really well in this recipe. I recommend using ripe Roma or plum tomatoes. Before adding fresh tomatoes you should remove their skins. To do this, cut an “x” at the bottom of each tomato and add to a pot with boiling water. Give them about 10 seconds in the boiling water and remove them to a bowl with ice water to cool quickly. This will make it easy to peel the skins. Add the peeled tomatoes and cook according to the recipe.

bowl of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich

Yield: 6

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 27 minutes

Additional Time 5 minutes

Total Time 37 minutes

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 (28 ounce) can diced or whole tomatoes with juices (tomato sauce also works in this)
3 sprigs of fresh basil
4 cups chicken stock
1 chicken broth cube or teaspoon of chicken broth concentrate, optional
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup heavy cream
Salt & pepper (to taste)
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Add chopped onions and sauté for 5-6 minutes until they just start to brown.
Add in the garlic and cook for one additional minute.
Next, add tomatoes with juices, fresh basil, chicken broth, and broth concentrate or broth cube, if using, to the Dutch oven.
Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove soup from the heat and use an immersion blender or high speed blender to blend the soup until smooth. Note: If using a blender, allow soup to a bit more than if using an immersion method.
Stir in soy sauce, heavy cream, and season with salt and pepper as needed.
Ladle soup into bowls and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and additional basil if desired.

Notes

If you'd like to make this in an Instant Pot - Follow the stove top recipe using your Instant Pot’s sauté function. Then after you’ve added your tomatoes, secure your lid, and adjust the simmer time from 20 minutes to 10 minutes on manual high pressure with a quick release at the end. Then follow the blending instructions before serving.

Also this soup frezes well and keeps well frozen up to 4 months.

How Can I Make This Vegan?

This soup can easily be made vegan with a few simple changes.

Replace chicken broth with vegetable broth
Omit chicken broth cube or concentrate
Omit parmesan cheese
Replace heavy cream with full fat coconut cream

Can This Soup Be Frozen?

Yes! This soup is easy to freeze and keeps in the freezer for 3 to 4 months. I will also make this ahead of time for camping trips and hit up on site.

What to Serve with Homemade Tomato Basil Soup?

My kids would say a grilled cheese with cheddar on whole wheat bread would be the obvious choice. Yet, I think you can’t go wrong with some fresh baguette like it’s shown in some of the pictures or a slice of homemade sourdough. I did get on that sourdough bandwagon in 2020 and use this sourdough bread recipe a few times a week. It always comes out perfect. I like to top this with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese too. It adds another layer of flavor.