Print

Creamy Tomato Soup

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

The hearty vegetarian Creamy Tomato Basil Soup is filled with bold flavors but made with just a handful of simple pantry ingredients. It takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish and requires very little prep work. This meatless meal will quickly earn a spot in your family’s monthly rotation!

Ingredients

Scale

Garnish:

Instructions

  1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
  2. Add onion along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute, stirring frequently for 3-4 minutes.
  3. Add garlic, thyme, sage, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Saute for another minute.
  4. Add a splash of the crushed tomatoes to the pan to deglaze the pan and scrape the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan. 
  5. Add tomatoes, pesto, and vegetable broth to the pot.
  6. Turn heat up to medium-high, cover, and bring to a gentle simmer.
  7. Then reduce heat to medium-low and gently simmer, covered for about 10 minutes. 
  8. Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream.
  9. Garnish with fresh basil, Homemade Croutons and shaved Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Notes

If you can’t get your hands on crushed tomatoes, you can use tomato puree, whole canned tomatoes, or even diced tomatoes. The texture of course will be different depending on what kind of tomato you use. If you use one that has large pieces of tomatoes, just use a high-speed blender or an immersion blender to blend the soup before simmering and adding in the heavy cream. The crushed tomatoes will give you that smooth texture already so there is no need to blend.

For the best flavor, I recommend using my Homemade Basil Pesto recipe in this soup. However, if you don’t have time for homemade, this is my favorite store-bought pesto brand.

Feel free to stir in a half-cup or so of shredded Parmesan cheese when you add the heavy cream to give the soup a bit more nutty flavor. It’s not necessary but it will add another dimension of flavor and if you’re a cheese lover like me, I think you’ll enjoy it!

If you are someone who saves Parmesan rinds in the freezer, this is a great recipe to use them in! Add a frozen Parmesan rind just before bringing the soup to a simmer. Then simmer the Parmesan rind in with the soup and remove just before serving. Again, not completely necessary but it will add another layer of flavor!