Easy Creamy Vegan Tomato Soup Recipe
This vegan tomato soup recipe comes together in 25 minutes with just 10 ingredients! The secret to this quick and easy family dinner is canned tomatoes, which means this meal is a breeze – even on a busy weeknight!
You Will Love This
- It’s simple! The ingredient list is short and sweet for this homemade creamy tomato soup. And so is the prep time. Canned fire-roasted tomatoes make this soup a breeze to throw together at the last minute! If you’re a fan of quick and easy soup recipes be sure to check out my Vegan White Chickpea Chili, Vegan Olive Garden Gnocchi Soup, or Vegan Lentil Tortilla Soup.
- It’s quick and easy! Just 25 minutes from start to finish and much of that time is just letting the soup simmer! The ease of this vegan tomato basil soup makes it one of our family’s favorite weeknight dinners!
- It’s not loaded with preservatives! Have you read the label on your favorite brand of canned tomato soup? Not good! This soup is filled with real ingredients so you can feel good about feeding it to your family.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Olive Oil – This is our family’s favorite brand of olive oil. Try to find something cold-pressed and organic.
- Yellow Onion – You could also use white onion in place of the yellow onion in this vegan creamy tomato soup.
- Fresh Garlic – If you’re in a pinch you could use ½-1 teaspoon garlic powder in place of the freshly sliced garlic, but I highly recommend keeping a head of garlic in your pantry for days when you need a hearty vegan soup or Tuscan pasta.
- Vegan Basil Pesto – This is my favorite brand of vegan basil pesto. You can also use my easy basil pesto recipe and substitute nutritional yeast for the Parmesan!
- Dried Oregano & Thyme – You could use Italian seasoning in place of the dried oregano and dried thyme in this creamy tomato soup.
- Sugar – You can replace the sugar with your favorite sweetener, but just a bit of something sweet helps to balance out the acidity from the tomatoes. The coconut milk will also help with this.
- Fire-Roasted Diced Tomatoes – I love to use fire-roasted diced tomatoes because they add such great depth of flavor, but regular diced tomatoes would work just fine as well.
- Vegetable Broth – You can also use veggie stock in place of the broth. And if you’re not worried about it being vegan you can use chicken broth as well.
- Full-Fat Canned Coconut Milk – This is our favorite brand of coconut milk. You want to make sure you’re using a full-fat canned coconut milk – not coconut milk from a carton or light coconut milk.
Instructions
Saute onion in a large pot along with salt and pepper for about 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and thyme, and cook for another minute.
Stir in pesto, sugar, tomatoes, and vegetable broth.
Turn heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Carefully transfer soup to a high-speed blender and blend for about 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy.
Pour soup back into the large pot and stir in coconut milk, reserving a couple tablespoons for garnish if you’d like. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with remaining coconut milk, fresh chopped parsley, and homemade croutons.
Blending Soup
- It’s important to exercise caution when blending hot liquids in a blender! Because the liquid is hot it will give off steam. If you put the lid on the blender and seal the hot liquid inside, when you start to blend the lid of the blender will inevitably fly off, spraying hot soup everywhere!
- To remedy this situation you can leave the pour spout or the center hole of the blender lid (depending on which model you have) open and place a clean kitchen towel over the opening while you are blending.
- This will ensure that any soup gets caught by the kitchen towel and will allow the steam a chance to escape so you don’t end up with kitchen cupboards covered in soup!
Tips
- This vegan tomato soup recipe is perfect for meal prep! The flavors in this soup just get better with time and it will stay food in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. To reheat, just transfer to a saucepan and cook over medium heat until warmed through. Then season to taste with salt and pepper.
- If you want a thicker tomato soup, try using 2-3 cups of broth instead of the full 4 cups. You can always add more broth as desired. I like a creamy, dip-able tomato soup but I realize that some prefer a stick-to-your-spoon thick tomato soup!
- If you’re not worried about this soup being vegan, feel free to use regular basil pesto (which is traditionally made with Parmesan cheese) and you can also sub heavy cream for the coconut milk. However, I actually prefer the taste of the vegan ingredients in this soup even though I don’t follow a plant-based diet.
- A high-speed blender is REALLY helpful for this recipe! A regular blender will work just fine too but you won’t get quite as smooth a consistency. We have a Ninja blender and absolutely love it! It works great for soups like this and also for smoothies and sauces.
FAQ
It’s not as hard as you might think! Onion, garlic, and dried herbs sauteed in olive oil give the soup an aromatic base, then comes the basil pesto, canned tomatoes, and veggie broth. Blend it all up then add coconut milk and you’ve got a creamy, delicious vegan tomato soup!
In this recipe garlic, onion, dried herbs, and basil pesto are the key ingredients that take this tomato soup to the next level. Fire-roasted tomatoes all add another layer of flavor to the soup as well as full-fat coconut milk.
Try these soups next!
Did you love this recipe?
Please leave a 5-star rating and review below!
Vegan Tomato Soup
This vegan tomato soup recipe comes together in 25 minutes with just 10 ingredients! The secret to this quick and easy family dinner is canned tomatoes, which means this meal is a breeze – even on a busy weeknight!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons vegan basil pesto
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 4 (15 oz.) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 13.5 oz. can coconut milk
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion along with a large pinch of salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and thyme, and cook for another minute.
- Stir in pesto, sugar, tomatoes, and vegetable broth.
- Turn heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer.
- Lower heat and simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Carefully transfer soup to a high speed blender and blend for about 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy. Be sure to leave the pour spout or center hole on the blender lid open and then cover the opening with a kitchen towel to prevent the lid from flying off and covering you in hot soup!
- Pour soup back into the large pot and stir in coconut milk, reserving a couple tablespoons for garnish if you’d like. Heat over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Turn heat to medium-low, simmer for 5 minutes.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with remaining coconut milk, fresh chopped parsley, and homemade croutons.
Notes
This creamy tomato soup is perfect for meal prep! The flavors in this soup just get better with time and it will stay food in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. To reheat, just transfer to a saucepan and cook over medium heat until warmed through. Then season to taste with salt and pepper.
If you want a thicker tomato soup, try using 2-3 cups of broth instead of the full 4 cups. You can always add more broth as desired. I like a creamy, dip-able tomato soup but I realize that some prefer a stick-to-your-spoon thick tomato soup!
If you’re not worried about this soup being vegan, feel free to use regular basil pesto (which is traditionally made with Parmesan cheese) and you can also sub heavy cream for the coconut milk. However, I actually prefer the taste of the vegan ingredients in this soup even though I don’t follow a plant-based diet.
A high-speed blender is REALLY helpful for this recipe! A regular blender will work just fine too but you won’t get quite as smooth a consistency. We have a Ninja blender and absolutely love it! It works great for soups like this and also for smoothies and sauces.
This recipe was originally published in January 2019. It was updated in February 2021 to include detailed instructions for making the perfect vegan tomato soup every single time!
Delicious
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Caitlin! Thank you for leaving a review 🙂
This is such a yummy soup! Even my veggie-hating friends like it. I’ve never been very successful at making my own soup, but this recipe was easy to follow and just so tasty. The only change I made was to only use 1/2 can of coconut milk to lessen the taste of coconut. Other than that I followed to a T and it was just perfect. Thanks so much for sharing.
Yay! That’s saying a lot of your non-veggie heads liked it! Thanks so much for leaving a comment, Leah!! I really appreciate it 🙂
This soup is awesome!! I used sun dried tomato pesto and the dairy free half and half just bc that’s what I had on hand and it was delicious! Even the 2 year old who NEVER eats any type of soup or casserole ate 1/2 a bowl so that’s a win for me! We literally only had a small bowl left over. We served it with vegan grilled cheese on a rainy day – perfection!
This soup pairs perfectly with a melty grilled cheese! And that sun dried tomato pesto sounds AMAZING! So glad that your 2 year old enjoyed it – I would definitely count that as a win too! Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!! 🙂
Made this for my mum after she threw herself lip-side down onto the pavement and couldn’t chew! This is absolutely delicious, a beautiful flavour and so easy! I love coconut milk x
Oh my gosh – I hope that your mom is on the mend!! That sounds awful 🙁 I’m so glad you were able to make this soup for her and that you both enjoyed it!! I’m a fellow coconut milk lover too!! Thanks for leaving a review Laura!
This recipe was super easy and soooooooooo delicious! How do I leave a picture of my dish?
I wish there was a way for you to leave a picture on this comment Ilene! That would be so helpful to other readers 🙂 Thank you so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!!
I’ve made this tomato soup several times now! It’s seriously my favorite and goes so well with some dairy free grilled cheese! Perfect quick weeknight dinner.
I could not agree more Erica! Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
This is the best homemade tomato soup recipe I’ve tried and love that it’s dairy free! I’ll definitely keep this one around. 🙂
Totally agree- you don’t even miss the dairy in this recipe!! Thanks for leaving a review Jessica – I really appreciate it!! 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! I really enjoy this soup a lot and I actually will be making it today for dinner again ? super delicious and easy, especially on cool days like today.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Jennifer! Especially enough to make it again 🙂 Easy, comforting recipes are the best way to enjoy winter!! Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
Does the coconut milk give it a coconut flavor?? Do you think cashew milk could be substituted?
You really can’t taste the coconut with all the herbs and garlic. Cashew milk would work but it might be a bit less creamy. Great question Kim!
Does this soup freeze well?
I wouldn’t see why not! I’ve read that coconut milk freezes well so I can only assume that this soup would as well. I would guess it would be good in the freezer for at least a couple months. Great question Madeline!
Hi. I have a question about an ingredient m, the basil pesto…what ingredients are included in the pesto? Do you have a separate recipe for the pesto? Thank you! Looking forward to making this recipe, it looks delicious!
Good question! I am actually working on a separate vegan pesto recipe right now! But until I post that…my favorite vegan pesto brand is Amore. It comes in a black tube and can be found at most grocery stores. Hope that helps! Feel free to reach out if you have other questions 🙂
This is THE BEST tomato soup recipe ever! Feel free to sub heavy cream if you’re not vegan to make it even more decadent.