The easiest Tomato Basil Soup EVER and it's so fresh & vibrant. Ready in just 10 minutes and made with only 4 ingredients (plus salt, pepper & optional olive oil).
The flavour of this Tomato Basil Soup is fresh, vibrant and pure. The only ingredients are tomatoes, onion, garlic and basil (plus a little seasoning and optional olive oil).
It's so simple and quick to make. In fact, from start to finish it can be ready in 10 minutes, and as it's cooked so quickly, with no stock, milk or cream added, the amazing fresh flavour of the tomato and basil remains fresh, vibrant and aromatic. It's definitely one of my favourite soup recipes!
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Ingredients
Here is what you will be needing to make Tomato Basil Soup:
The ingredients list is very short. We're talking just fresh tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, onion, garlic and seasonings. You can use any variety of fresh tomatoes such as plum tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, cherry, grape, vine, beefsteak etc, or a combination.
Success Tip - The better the tomatoes you use, the better your soup will taste. This is a great recipe to make when you can use homegrown or local tomatoes in summer.
How To Make Tomato Basil Soup
In just 10 minutes and a few simple steps, you could be tucking into a bowl of this fresh and delicious Tomato Basil Soup. It's so quick and easy. Here's how it's done:
- Sauté the garlic and onion
- Add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes until hot and just starting to break down.
- Add the basil and seasoning.
- Blend with an immersion blender in the pan or transfer to a blender (if doing this you might need to work in batches). Blend until smooth. There is no need to cook the soup any longer once the basil is added. Certainly don't let it boil or you will lose much of its flavour.
Success tip - The only liquid you need for this soup comes from the tomatoes. There is no need to add any extra. Cooking the soup this way ensures the flavour stays super fresh and undiluted.
Variations
Prefer a creamier tomato bisque-style soup? Stir through a little store-bought vegan cream, light coconut milk, homemade cashew cream or even a little cashew milk just before serving and allow to warm through.
If you are looking for a creamy tomato soup made from canned tomatoes give my Instant Pot Tomato Soup a try. It includes stove top instructions.
Serving Suggestions
Wondering what goes with Tomato Basil Soup? I love to serve mine with a drizzle of vegan cream or good extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of cracked black pepper. A side of bread and butter or a grilled cheese sandwich would not go amiss. Other accompaniments that work well include:
- A scattering of vegan croutons
- Vegan ricotta or Parmesan cheese
- A swirl of kale pesto
- Thick wedges of Miracle No Knead Focaccia, Sourdough or Light Whole Wheat Bread
- No Yeast White Bread or Yeast-Free Spelt Bread
How To Store Tomato Basil Soup
Tomato Basil Soup is great fro meal prep. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. Reheat gently in a pan or in a microwave. The soup can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before heating through.
Tomato Basil Soup Recipe FAQs
No. Just chop them up and throw them in. By the time it's blended you don't know they are there anyway!
Not for this recipe. It relies on the flavour of the fresh tomatoes too much. The recipe would need a complete overhaul to work well with canned tomatoes. I recommend you try this recipe instead (it says Instant Pot but has stove top instructions too): https://avirtualvegan.com/instant-pot-tomato-soup/
I would add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste/puree and 2 to 3 teaspoons of white or cane sugar. Sugar enhances the flavors of food just like salt does and works especially well with tomatoes. It also helps cuts any bitterness. Tomato paste will thicken the soup so you might need to add a drop of water or vegetable broth/stock too.
There are only about 280 calories in the entire pan of this soup. It is very low in fat and calories. You can even make it completely fat-free by omitting the olive oil and sautéing the onions and garlic in a drop of water instead. I've been told it works very well for people following Slimming World and Weight Watchers.
If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it by leaving a comment and rating below! And be sure to join my mailing list for more deliciousness!
Recipe Video
Recipe
Easy Tomato Basil Soup
Author:Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil , (for oil-free use a little bit of water)
- 1 medium onion , diced
- 3 large cloves garlic , minced
- 7 cups (49 oz / 1.4 KG) chopped fresh tomatoes , (large, cherry, grape, or a mixture)
- 1 large handful fresh basil , roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt , or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper , or to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put the oil in a large pan and heat on medium.
- Once the oil is hot add the onions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until translucent and just starting to turn golden on the edges. Then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, stirring frequently.
- Add the chopped tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until the tomatoes are simmering and just starting to break down. The smaller the tomato pieces, the quicker this will happen. Larger chunks might take a couple minutes more.
- Remove from the heat and add the basil, salt and pepper then blend with an immersion blender in the pan, or transfer to a blender, blend then return to the pan for a minute or two to warm up again.
- Serve immediately.
June says
Quick to make, very tasty, brilliant, able to use up a glut of tomatoes
Nathalie says
Absolutely delicious!! I used six containers (pints?) of grape tomatoes. The flavors and texture are perfect! Will definitely make this again!
Dawn says
I used tomatoes from my garden I had frozen. I slipped the peels off the tomatoes, squeezing them into a bowl. I ended up with about 9 cups of tomatoes so I used a large onion and four cloves of garlic. I cooked the soup for about 15 minutes using an immersion blender to make it smooth. I then added salt and pepper and a can of coconut cream. Tore some fresh basil from my garden over the soup before serving. It is a fantastic soup and so simple. Looking forward to making it many times before the tomatoes disappear. Next time, I may roast the tomatoes first for a deeper tomato flavor.
Maddie M says
I just made this and it was so quick and easy! I wanted a fast vegan tomato soap but all of the others ones took more than an hour. I did not put the onions (not a big fan) and it was still amazing! This is now going to be one of my go-to recipes for soup
Kara Jueckstock says
I made this last night and was shocked!! I can't believe I have been suffering with canned tomato soup for so long when this is so easy to make and flavorful!! The thing that took me the longest was chopping everything and waiting for the tomatoes to break down, but it was a very low-effort dish that turned out delicious. I will never be buying canned tomato soup ever again!
It was a bit thick, so I did add some chicken broth about halfway through the breakdown process and it worked out to have a really nice consistency.
Thanks so much!
Lisa says
I roasted the ingredients except for basil, it gave it more flavour will definitely make it again
Teresa Jesionowski says
I made this soup several times this summer. It is excellent. It was especially good with a blend of heirloom tomatoes from my sister-in-law's garden. I also froze 9 cups of this soup for winter. Thanks so much for a great recipe. Also I went oil-free and used an immersion blender. Thanks again!
Nancy says
Easy and delicious. Doubled the garlic because that is what we like. Thanks for posting this recipe!
Noelle Mesa says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I just found it abs I made it for my husband tonight for dinner and he absolutely loved it 😍 I didn’t use oil at all to sauté so this was oil free. I couldn’t tell the difference and usually tomato soups use cream to make it creamy but I found using my Vitamix made it creamy and smooth just fine. I love how easy and quick this recipe was and the few ingredients needed. Well done!
Melanie McDonald says
I'm really pleased you both enjoyed it and thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review. It's much appreciated!
Alan Leith says
I made this soup for my wife's christmas lunch starter and it was great! Followed the recipe / method, only change was to add a dessert spoon of sugar which took away the slight bitterness of the fresh tomatoes which were slightly under-ripe......usual supermarket standard.
Kim B. says
Can't wait to try this with my own fresh tomatoes and basil! That being said, hubby and I overbought tomatoes (not knowing each of us grabbed a mambo container from Costco) and I'm sick of salsa. I weighed tomatoes, and didn't have enough fresh basil so I resorted to the Garden Gourmet "tube" basil found by the veggies. They had no bulk fresh, and I wasn't paying $4.99 for ONE bubble pack. Internet told me one handful of basil equals about 8 tbsp chopped. So it took the whole 4oz tube. Even with all of these very sorry substitutions this soup is great and I actually printed the recipe for our keepers binder. Thanks for a great recipe!
Samantha says
I used one 28 ounce can of tomato sauce, 3 14-ounce cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes and 3 cans of garlic and celery diced tomatoes. Sautéed a tablespoon of minced garlic with two cups of frozen diced onions then added the tomatoes and simmered. Then I added two handfuls of chopped fresh basil and salt and ground pepper to taste. I didn’t even need to blend it. The consistency was perfect. Served it with harvest bread grilled cheese and my family raved about it.
Zhoonoh says
The recipe is disappointingly bland and flat. Sorry.
Pi says
I made this a few weeks ago and am in LOVE! I can't remember if I used my Blendtec or an immersion stick blender so there were pieces of skin. Trying it again with blanching the skins off first! This was so good. I did use fresh basil.
Kim B. says
You can (and should!) adjust the seasonings and basil amount based on the quality and timing of the tomatoes. Maybe you were looking more for a cream based? Reading the ingredients, this is def meant as a pure tomato/basil recipe and not the creamy kind with added cashew cream, etc.