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This Tomato Basil Soup is a vegetarian comfort food favorite! It’s smooth, creamy, flavorful, and pairs perfectly with this easy grilled cheese. This easy soup recipe is easy to make and made up of pantry staples!
Creamy Tomato Basil Soup Recipe
I’ve had a lot of good tomato soup in my day. And this Tomato Basil Soup is right up there with all of my favorites. It’s rich and creamy, without any added dairy! It’s loaded with so much tomato flavor, aromatic veggies, and fresh basil.
Bonus: it’s easy to make and consists of basic pantry staples! This soup is also vegetarian and can easily be made vegan with just a couple modifications.
Soup lovers, get ready for this one!
Ingredients Needed
This creamy tomato basil soup is packed with simple yet healthy ingredients!
Tomato Soup
- Oil or Butter: butter gives the soup slightly more flavor, but oil keeps it vegan. Use whatever works for you!
- Garlic: use fresh garlic for the best flavor.
- Onion, Carrot, and Celery: the classic addition of veggies to so many soups to create an aromatic flavor base.
- Canned Tomatoes: you’ll use both crushed and diced canned tomatoes. Don’t drain the cans! The liquid becomes part of the broth.
- Seasonings: you will need a simple blend of Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- Vegetable Broth: a flavorful soup base.
- Fresh Basil: I highly recommend sticking to fresh basil in this soup. It adds so much freshness and flavor.
- Parmesan Cheese: this is optional, but does give the soup a little something extra.
Easy Grilled Cheese
- Bread: you can use homemade all-purpose sandwich bread or any bread you like.
- Butter: spread on each slice of bread to give it that delicious golden-brown color.
- Cheese: I use a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar.
How to Make Tomato Basil Soup and Grilled Cheese
This tomato basil soup recipe takes just 10 minutes to prep!
- Sauté aromatics: In a large soup pot or dutch oven, heat oil or butter. Add garlic and veggies and cook until fragrant.
- Add soup ingredients: Add the tomatoes, ½ the basil, spices, and veggie broth. Boil over medium-high heat then reduce and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Blend: Transfer the soup to a high-speed blender, add the remaining ¼ cup of basil and optional parmesan. Blend until smooth.
- Make grilled cheese: Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread. Melt butter in a skillet then add two slices of bread, butter side down. Top one slice of bread with cheese, then add on the second slice of bread. Cook until the cheese is starting to melt and the bread is golden, then flip and continue to cook until the other slice of bread is golden brown.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish the soup with basil, parmesan, olive oil, croutons, or pesto and serve with the finished grilled cheese.
What Tomatoes to Use for Homemade Tomato Soup?
In a perfect world, we’d have all of the fresh tomatoes in the world to make tomato soup. But depending on where you live and the season, that isn’t always a reality.
For this recipe, I use canned tomatoes. They still taste fresh and have delicious flavor, and they’re a heck of a lot more convenient to incorporate into soup! Pantry meal for the win!
What is the Best Cheese for Grilled Cheese?
Any melty cheese is great! I use a combination of cheddar and mozzarella, but you can totally use whatever cheeses you like. Try Monterey Jack, Gruyere, gouda, havarti, you name it!
Tips and tricks
- Use fresh basil. The flavor of fresh basil just can’t be beat.
- Grate your own cheese. While pre-shredded cheese will work, I recommend grating your own if you have time for it. It melts and tastes better!
- Use a high-powered blender. An immersion blender will work but it will take longer to reach the same consistency.
- Make it creamier. Add a splash of heavy cream or half-and-half OR keep it vegan with a splash of full-fat coconut milk.
- Spice it up. If you love a kick of spice, try adding cayenne or red pepper flakes.
- No basil? No problem! If you can’t find any basil you can leave it out and the soup will still be delicious.
Garnish/Serving Suggestions
Once the grilled cheese is made, I recommend serving this meal right away!
I love to top a bowl of hot soup off with more fresh basil, additional parmesan, a quick drizzle of olive oil, croutons for a bit of crunch, or pesto for a flavor twist.
If you’re looking for more ways to bulk up your meal, try serving your tomato soup and grilled cheese next to a pile of roasted veggies or garlic bread!
Garnishing with basil? Here’s how to chiffonade basil:
- Place a few leaves of basil one atop each other stacked up.
- Roll up the stacks into a tight circle/cylinder.
- Hold the cylinder of basil and use a sharp knife and cut very thin slices of the cylinder crosswise. This will result in long thin slices of basil perfect for garnish!
How to Store
Leftover tomato soup will last in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To reheat, thaw in the fridge if frozen then simmer on the stove until heated through. If the soup has thickened, add one tablespoon of broth at a time until your desired thickness is reached.
Serve next to fresh grilled cheese!
More Comforting Vegetarian Soup Recipes
- Healthy Broccoli Soup
- Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup
- Lightened-Up Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Vegan Cauliflower Soup with Ginger and Turmeric
- Vegan Spicy Noodle Soup
Easy Tomato Basil Soup
Ingredients
Tomato Soup:
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or butter
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 large onion diced
- 3 large carrots diced
- 3 stalks of celery omit if you don't have a high-speed blender
- 1 28- ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 14.5- ounce can of diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt more as desired
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper more as desired
- 1 cup of vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup fresh basil chopped
- Optional: 1/4 cup grated parmesan
Easy Grilled Cheese:
- 1 batch of the All-Purpose Sandwich Bread or bread of choice
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 slice cheddar cheese or 1/4 cup grated
- 1 slice mozzarella cheese or 1/4 cup grated
Instructions
- In a medium soup pot or dutch oven, heat oil or butter over medium heat. Add in garlic, onions, carrots, celery, and cook for about 10 minutes, until onions are translucent and veggies are soft and fragrant, but not browned.
- Add in the tomatoes, 1/2 of the basil, spices, and vegetable broth. Save additional 1/4 cup of basil.
- Bring to a boil over medium high heat, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Transfer soup to a high-speed blender, add remaining 1/4 cup of basil and optional parmesan if adding. Blend until fully smooth. You can use an immersion blender but it will need extra blending! Taste and adjust salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot.
- Make your grilled cheese. Make sandwich bread if making your own and let cool.
- Spread 1 tablespoon butter on one side of each slice of bread.
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter.
- Add two slices of bread, butter side down. Add the cheese to one side of the bread, and top with other piece of bread.
- Cook until bread is golden and cheese is beginning to melt, about 2 minutes.
- Flip and continue to cook until cheese is melty and both sides are golden brown, about 30 to 60 seconds more.
Nutrition
This post was originally sponsored by AllModern and Le Creuset in 2016. All opinions are 100% my own and I only work with brands that I 100% stand behind and personally use.
I’ve made this once and we loved it! Do you think it would freeze well?
I think, yes! Planning on freezing a batch soon to test.
Can this be done in the instant pot?
Do you think an immersion blender would work rather than transferring to a blender?
Yes but you’ll have to blend for a while to get it this smooth!
Tomato soup is my favourite. I don’t like creamy soups. This is perfect for winter.
– Charmaine
http://charmainenyw.com
Oh I just love a good tomato soup in the winter!! So cozy and comforting! 🙂