Easy Tomato Soup (5 Simple Ingredients)
This Easy Tomato Soup recipe is creamy, delicious, and amazingly quick and effortless to make with just five simple ingredients: tomato puree, cream, basil, garlic salt, and pepper!
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Today's Easy Tomato Soup recipe almost never make it to the blog. And why? Because it's just so easy, y'all. I've been making it for years without ever writing down the "recipe." Alas, therein was the problem when, one recent day, one of my kiddos was home sick and requested a bowl but I wasn't there to make it. So I explained the few ingredients and the easy steps via text...but it just wasn't the same as when mama made it. 😉
The next time I made it, I measured everything out and wrote it down for the future reference of my kids and hubby. But in later mentioning the story to a friend, she said that she would like my transcribed recipe as well.
So I figured if my family and friends were clamoring for my Easy Tomato Soup recipe, maybe it's worthy of sharing here as well!
Ingredients
The best thing about this Easy Tomato Soup recipe is how great it tastes! But the next best thing is that it only requires FIVE simple ingredients (and two of those are salt and pepper!)... 😉
- Tomato purée. Tomato purée is the key to making this Easy Tomato Soup recipe so, well, easy. It's sometimes labeled strained tomatoes or passata. It’s typically sold in a 24-ounce glass jar, but you may only be able to find it in a 28- or 29-ounce can instead. Either will work, as the measurements are close enough that the ingredient amounts in this recipe shouldn’t have to be adjusted, although you can tweak them to taste. (And if you don't have any tomato purée on hand, that's okay, too. You can make your own purée using canned tomatoes...just scroll down for those directions!)
- Heavy cream. The obvious choice for a decadent tomato soup, but feel free to swap for half-and-half or whole milk if you wish to lighten things up.
- Dried basil. I like to measure my dried basil into my hand and give it a crush before adding it to the soup, which helps bring out the flavor.
- Garlic salt. Using garlic salt in this recipe instead of plain salt simply adds another layer of flavor. You could use garlic powder + salt instead, or leave out the garlic element and season your soup with solely plain salt. In all of these scenarios, just season to taste.
- Freshly ground black pepper. And plenty of it!
Optional Additional Ingredients
The only other potential ingredient you may want to stir into your Easy Tomato Soup is a pinch of sugar, which will help mellow the acidity if your tomato purée is particularly acidic.
But should you wish to fancy up your soup, yummy garnishes will do the trick! A few ideas:
- Freshly grated Parmesan.
- Drizzle of olive oil.
- Drizzle of heavy cream.
- Fresh basil chiffonade.
- Cracked black pepper or crushed red pepper flakes, for a touch of heat.
How to Make Easy Tomato Soup
(The below photos are intended to be helpful, but please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for FULL DIRECTIONS.)
The other amazing thing about this Easy Tomato Soup recipe -- as the name implies -- is that it's ridiculously effortless to make. Just three easy steps: stir, simmer, and tweak!
- Pour the tomato purée into a medium saucepan. Add heavy cream, dried basil, garlic salt, and pepper.
- Stir well, bring to a simmer, and then reduce the heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings. And that last part is key...tweak the ingredients until the soup tastes the way YOU like it! If you think it's necessary, add a little more cream or basil or salt or pepper until the flavors pop!
Garnish to your liking, serve hot, and enjoy!
How to Make Tomato Purée
You can make your own tomato purée starting with a can (or cans) of diced, whole, or crushed tomatoes, either regular or fire-roasted.
Simply purée them directly in the pot using an immersion blender!
Or pour the cans into a food processor or blender, purée until smooth, and then transfer to the pot to make your Easy Tomato Soup.
Adjusting the Recipe Yield
As written, this Easy Tomato Soup recipe yields a whole pot of soup, for 6 to 8 generous servings.
However, you can easily cut this recipe in half, starting with just one jar of tomato purée, to yield 4 to 6 small servings. This may be ideal if you’re dipping sandwiches into your soup rather than enjoying it as an entrée.
But to be perfectly honest, at my house, we often make single servings of soup. With three busy kids, we have a lot of everyone coming and going at different times. And one of my kids in particular loves making himself a bowl of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch on the weekends!
How to Make a Single Serving
Should you wish, it's super simple to make one serving of this Easy Tomato Soup recipe, rather than an entire pot.
• Pour 1 cup tomato purée into a small saucepan.
• Stir in 2 tablespoons heavy cream, 1 teaspoon dried basil, ½ teaspoon garlic salt, and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
• Heat on the stove as directed.
Alternatively (and this is what my family usually does!), you may combine the above ingredients in a microwave safe bowl, cover (to prevent tomato soup splatters!), and place in the microwave. Heat for 30-increments, stirring in between, until heated through.
Using the microwave can be a quicker and easier option when dealing with single servings. 🙂
So who's ready for a cozy bowl of soup!
This Easy Tomato Soup recipe is scrumptious whether served alongside a hot or cold sandwich, with thick slices of French bread for dipping, with a side of simple crackers, or perfectly plain.
It's a tasty classic that can be enjoy year-round. And it couldn't be any easier to make!
More Easy Soup Recipes
Easy Tomato Soup (5 Simple Ingredients)
Video
Ingredients
- 2 (24-ounce) jars tomato purée
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 2 Tablespoons dried basil
- 1 Tablespoon garlic salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Pour the tomato purée into a medium saucepan. Stir in the heavy cream, dried basil, garlic salt, and pepper.
- Bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to low, stirring and cooking for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking, adding more cream, basil, salt, and/or pepper, if necessary. Serve hot.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- Tomato purée is sometimes labeled as strained tomatoes or passata. It’s typically sold in a 24-ounce glass jar, but you may only be able to find it in a 28- or 29-ounce can instead. Either will work, as the measurements are close enough that the ingredient amounts in this recipe shouldn’t have to be adjusted, although you can tweak them to taste.
- Alternatively, you can make your own tomato purée starting with a can (or cans) of diced, whole, or crushed tomatoes (regular or fire-roasted). Puree directly in the pot using an immersion blender. Or pour the cans into a food processor or blender, puree until smooth, and then transfer to the pot to make the soup.
- You can cut the recipe in half (using just one jar of tomato puree) to yield 4 to 6 small servings. This may be ideal if you’re dipping sandwiches into your Easy Tomato Soup rather than enjoying it as an entrée.
- Or you can make a single serving of soup by pouring 1 cup tomato purée into a small saucepan and stirring in 2 tablespoons heavy cream, 1 teaspoon dried basil, ½ teaspoon garlic salt, and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Heat on the stove as directed. Alternatively, you may combine the above ingredients in a microwave safe bowl, cover (to prevent tomato soup splatters!), and place in the microwave instead, heating for 30-increments and stirring in between until heated through.
- You may swap out the heavy cream for half-and-half or whole milk if you wish to lighten things up.
- Stirring in a pinch of sugar will help to curb the acidity if your tomato puree is too acidic.
- Optional garnishes could include freshly grated Parmesan, a fresh basil chiffonade, or crushed red pepper flakes for some heat.
what to use instead of pepper as my daughters are allergic to pepper, paprika, peppers etc.?
Hi Paula! In that case, I'd just leave the pepper out...I don't really think you need to sub anything for it. 🙂