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A popular restaurant favorite – Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
Back in the day when I worked as an office manager, a couple of my co-workers talked about a local restaurant and the wonderful tomato basil soup they served on occasion. While I never tried that recipe, I did get ‘tomato soup on the brain’ and set out to make our own at home. I wanted our tomato basil soup to be restaurant-quality, cream-free, and meatless with a lot less sodium. This required a cooking method that would impart tremendous tomato flavor without tasting like a can of stewed tomatoes.
Roasting vegetables builds terrific flavor.
I took my inspiration from a recipe in Delicious Soups by Belinda Williams where the tomatoes, garlic and onion are oven roasted before being added to the soup pot. This method makes a big difference in the flavor.
Even though garden fresh tomatoes will have to wait until summer, I was happy to find these Roma Tomatoes at a reasonable price in our local grocery store. I started with 18 tomatoes or about 3.5 pounds. Any nice ripe tomato will do such as these Roma or plum.
Roasting tomatoes and onions is easy to do!
Slice the red onion into quarters, slice the tomatoes in half, add 6 cloves of garlic and toss the whole thing in 1/3 cup of olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and roast in a moderate (350 degree) oven. Slow roasting brings out the sweetness of the tomatoes.
The roasted vegetables are pureed for a smooth and creamy base.
Toss 1/4 cup of fresh basil, 6 tablespoons tomato paste, the roasted onions and roasted tomatoes in a good blender. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the blender and discard the skins.
The ultimate tomato sauce or soup!
Blend until the mixture is almost smooth. I think this would be perfect to toss with pasta, spread on a pizza crust, or just eat with a spoon. Add a little Merlot and I think I have another recipe!
Roasted Tomato Basil Soup is a snap to pull together.
Pour the puree into a soup pot and add 3- 4 cups of vegetable stock, depending on desired consistency. Season with a little granulated sugar, crushed red pepper, fresh thyme, salt and pepper and heat just until hot – do not boil.
Garnish and serve
Serve garnished with fresh basil, ground black pepper and a little grated Parmesan. A big hunk of an oven fresh toasted baguette doesn’t hurt either!
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Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
Ingredients
- 3 ½ pounds fresh, ripe Roma tomatoes or Plum tomatoes
- 2 large red onions quartered
- 6 whole garlic cloves skin on
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 6 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves packed
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- fresh ground pepper
- sea salt
Optional garnishes:
- fresh basil julienned (sliced in thin ribbons)
- grated Parmesan
- extra drizzle of olive oil for serving
- sliced baguette for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Core the tomatoes and slice in half. Add the tomatoes, quartered red onion, and whole garlic cloves to a large bowl. Drizzle with ⅓ cup of olive oil, toss to coat. Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet with the tomatoes cut side up. Sprinkle the vegetables with sea salt and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and slightly caramelized.
- In the carafe of a blender add ¼ cup basil leaves, crushed red pepper, sugar, and tomato paste.
- When the tomatoes are roasted add them to the blender along with the roasted onion. Squeeze the garlic cloves into the blender discarding the skin. Pour any pan juices into a large soup pot and set aside.
- Blend the tomato and onion mixture until smooth and creamy.
- Pour the puree into the soup pot and add 3 cups of vegetable stock. Add up to another cup of vegetable stock or until you reach the desired consistency.
- Stir in the fresh thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Heat on medium until hot - do not boil.
- Serve garnished with a drizzle of olive oil, basil and grated Parmesan if desired.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Well there you have it … another meatless Monday meal that doesn’t make you feel like something’s missing! Why meatless? As we get older it’s harder to keep those cholesterol numbers down so as much as as we can, we try to eat healthy, get a little exercise and behave. Oh yes, we’re still saving room for dessert!
Here are a few more recipes you might enjoy:
Tomato Cobbler
Tortellini Tomato Soup
Spicy Summer Tomato Jam
Latisha Renee Stevens says
Looks super yummy! What type of blender do you use? Thanks!
Tricia Buice says
We love our Ninja Blender – so much so we gave both our kids one for Christmas last year. Thanks!
michael says
The Roasted Tomato Basil Soup looks awesome Tricia!!! We love this soup, Debbie makes it a lot this time a year!! Enjoy your Sunday! 🙂 Michael
Tricia Buice says
Thanks Michael – Soup would be great today with this ice storm – March 1st already – perhaps spring is not far behind!
Susan says
I’m definitely bookmarking this one to make in the summer when tomatoes are abundant at the farmers market! I really sounds delicious and your photos are making my mouth water 🙂
Tricia Buice says
Me too Susan – this is a tasty soup and I can’t imagine how much better it would be with fresh from the vine summer tomatoes – love it!
Sam @ My Carolina Kitchen says
Wow, roasting everything made all of the difference in the world. Roma tomatoes are my favorite winter tomatoes for reliability and taste. More often than not, they are better than the locally grown Florida tomatoes we find at our local farm stand.
Sam
Tricia Buice says
Thanks Sam – I agree that Romas are a good winter tomato – sometimes I just can’t wait for summer garden fresh fruits!
Elizabeth | threebeansonastring.com says
Tomato basil soup is perfect for a snowy day like today, Tricia. I love the photos in this post. You managed to make a simple bowl of soup look so inviting!
Tricia Buice says
Thanks Elizabeth! Have a lovely weekend.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
This is one tomato soup I wouldn’t need a cheese sandwich with. 🙂 My God it looks SO good.
Tricia Buice says
Thanks Maureen – can’t wait to see more about your trip to Sidney. Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic says
This looks delicious and so perfect for the cold weather!
Tricia Buice says
Hello Bianca – hope everything is going well – thanks for stopping by!
Kitchen Belleicious says
love that this is roasted with all those yummy extras like the onion and garlic!
Tricia Buice says
Roasting made all the difference – yummy stuff!
Abbe @ This is How I Cook says
I hated tomato soup as a kid, probably because my mom always made it from the can. Now my absolute favorite is tomato soup, but I have never made it like this. Starting tomorrow that is going to change! This looks phenomenal!
Tricia Buice says
Funny how our tastes change as we get older Abbe! Have a wonderful weekend:
2 Sisters Recipes by Anna and Liz says
Delicious, delicious and even more delicious !! We can eat this soup all week long and never get tired of it. So easy too! Great job Tricia and hope you are staying warm too! 🙂
Tricia Buice says
I know you love tomatoes like we love tomatoes – thanks so much!
Monica says
I missed this yesterday! Tricia, this looks too amazing!! It is 5 degrees right now and I’m getting ready to make a far less exciting red lentil soup today. I love to get roasted tomato soup when I see it out somewhere. It is such a treat and the idea of making it at home always seemed kind of complicated. I can see it’s well worth the effort to do it. I would not miss the meat here whatsoever! I think your Meatless Mondays are working out beautifully. Stay warm…hope there’s some soup left!
Tricia Buice says
Thanks Monica! Red lentil soup is one of my favorites! Stay warm and hope you get to try this soon!
tanna says
Now, THERE’S a tomato soup recipe! Oh, that sounds so flavorful… and healthy! Gotta love that. Thank you, Tricia! blessings and hugs ~ tanna
ps I love that soup spoon… and the burlap… and the rough wood… very beautiful. 😉
Tricia Buice says
Thank you Tanna – it is a very tomato-y soup!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
That looks like a wonderful soup and I can just see how much flavour there is to it from the ingredients! I love roasting vegetables and always throw in some onions because they are so delicious!
Tricia Buice says
It is a richly flavored soup – so satisfying. Have a great week Lorraine!
Betty says
Don’t you love how roasting really brings out the flavors of those tomatoes? I know this soup would rival any soup found in a restaurant! It looks absolutely perfect. And as good as it is with winter tomatoes, can you imagine how good it will be with vine ripened ones fresh from the garden? Yum! 🙂
Tricia Buice says
I do love roasting all vegetables. The days of boiling are gone! Hope you’re having a good week Betty.
Becky Green says
Oh my Tricia! This looks SO GOOD! I WILL have to try this one! Yes, I know how those cholesterol numbers are…..:( Thanks for coming over to visit! 🙂 The news media isn’t talking too much about the issue, “Net Neutrality.” But, every so often, you hear about it…. I think it’s like the Health Care Issue….we’re going to loose! Anyway, I showed my husband this recipe….he thinks it looks GOOD too! 😉
Tricia Buice says
Thanks Becky – hope you give it a try soon!
sue|theviewfromgreatisland says
I love the garnish on this soup Tricia, it would make such a healthy light dinner, with that baguette and some wine, of course!
Tricia Buice says
It was a delicious dinner, and fabulous lunch and who knows – maybe dinner again! So full of flavor and not at all boring!
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
This looks FANTASTIC! Saved it for the tomato season.
Tricia Buice says
It is very wonderful, fresh, delicious and healthy – hope you give it a try Angie!
Beth says
Great recipe! Unfortunately, living in Toronto means I may have to wait a while until the best of the tomatoes are ready. Thanks for sharing this gorgeous recipe.
Tricia Buice says
Hope you get to try it when the tomatoes come in – I know I’ll make it again and probably morph the cooking process into a few more recipes! Love this stuff 🙂