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).
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FEATURED COMMENT:
"Oh my goodness, this soup is SO easy and SO delicious!! I didn't change a thing from the original recipe, and it turned out absolutely perfect!"
- Susan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ More reviews →
The easiest Tomato Basil Soup and a real reader favourite with over 100 5-star reviews!
This is the soup recipe you need if you want the flavour of your tomatoes and basil to really shine! 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, cream, or liquid of any kind added, the amazing fresh flavour of the tomato and basil isn't diluted and remains super fresh, vibrant, and aromatic.
This simple tomato soup, my tomato fritters, and my cherry tomato sauce are my favourite recipes to make during summer when we have loads of homegrown tomatoes to use up.
Mel x
Important Tip!
This soup's ingredient list is very short and simple. We're talking just fresh tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, onion, garlic, olive oil, and seasonings.
Because of this, the quality of the ingredients you use is important.
The better the tomatoes and basil you use, the better your soup will taste. You can use any variety of fresh tomatoes, such as plum, Roma, cherry, grape, vine, beefsteak, etc, or a combination. This is a great recipe to use up lots of homegrown or local tomatoes and basil in summer. But if you use tasteless out-of-season tomatoes and basil, your soup will not be at its best.
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 may 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.
The only liquid you need for this soup comes from the tomatoes themselves. Don't add any extra. Cooking the soup this way ensures the flavour of the tomatoes and basil stays super fresh and undiluted.
Serving Suggestions
Wondering what goes with Tomato Basil Soup? I love to serve mine with a drizzle of 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
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 Vegan Tomato Soup recipe.
I would add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste/puree and 2 to 3 teaspoons of white or cane sugar. Sugar enhances the flavour of food just like salt does, and works especially well with tomatoes. It also helps cut 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.
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 Vegan Tomato Soup or Instant Pot Tomato Soup a try.
Recipe
Easy Tomato Basil Soup
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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 just to warm up again. Don't heat it up too much or for any more than a couple of minutes, and certainly don't let it boil, or you'll lose the lovely fresh basil flavour.
- Serve immediately. I love to top mine with a drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil and lots of cracked black pepper!
NOTES
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sheena mcgougan says
i tried using your recipe and have a lovely fresh tasting simple to make soup the only thing is i never thought there was much of a taste of basil should i put more in.i put it in when soup was hot should i have waited till cooler.any tips will be greatfully received thanks
Melanie McDonald says
As per the recipe you should add the basil right at the end as you blend the soup. Cooking it will lessen the flavour. You can add as much basil as you like though. Or maybe add an additional teaspoon or two of dried basil while cooking the tomatoes for an extra layer of flavour. Basil really does vary in flavour too depending whether you grow it yourself or buy it, and whether it's in season or not. In the height of summer when freshly picked it's really potent! Hope that helps!
sheena mcgougan says
at last a nice simple recipe no going out buying loads of ingredients i am trying it tomorrow ,will post then and thanks sounds yummy
Melanie McDonald says
Hope you enjoy it, Sheena!
Keith Zundel says
Kids did not like it at all, adults did like it, but it doesn't have that "oomph" of flavor.
Beth Snevely says
I just made this and really enjoyed it! I can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow! Thanks for an easy and delicious recipe.
Sally says
I have everything on hand except fresh basil. Can I substitute dried basil?
Melanie McDonald says
You could as long as you're ok with the soup not being as good. Adding the fresh basil right at the end after cooking is what makes this soup special. It's got such few ingredients that every layer of flavor is important. Dried basil unfortunately won't do the same job.
Kinsee says
How many cups is a serving for this recipe? The nutrition facts say they are for one serving but how much is one serving? Thank you! It looks delicious. I’m excited to make it
Melanie McDonald says
The number of servings is at the top of the recipe card. This one is 6 servings. So one serving is ⅙ of the entire recipe.
Janice says
As a rule I'm not crazy about tomato soup, but my husband is, so I made your soup. It was quick and easy and delicious! So glad that I have this wonderful and easy soup to add to my soup rotation. I didn't have enough fresh tomatoes. so, I used some canned crushed tomato, it turned out so good! Maybe next time I'll try and add a little homemade cashew cream to make it cream of tomato soup.
Isha says
So good and so easy.
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.