Creamy Tomato Soup

Last winter, I made versions of this creamy tomato soup over and over again. Thankfully, I love this comforting soup (especially when paired with a grilled cheese sandwich!), and I never grew tired of it. But why did I have so many frozen tomatoes to begin with? Because I had a freezer full of what we call “so-so” tomatoes that I’d frantically frozen during the summer months. 

This summer, with Casey’s help in our farm kitchen, we’re not waiting until winter to make this soup! You can make our creamy tomato soup using fresh tomatoes from your CSA share, the farmer’s market, or garden, but we do recommend using homegrown, oh-so-tasty tomatoes if possible. Don’t have fresh tomatoes? No problem. You can use canned tomatoes instead if needed.

Keys to this soup:

• We use an herb bouquet of fresh thyme and oregano to add flavor to this soup. You can make your own herb bouquet by using kitchen twine to tie together sprigs of thyme and oregano, as pictured above.
• To reduce acidity and liquidity of the tomatoes–and make this soup sweeter and smoother–we roast the tomatoes ahead of time.  
• The longer you cook this soup, the thicker and sweeter it will be!
• You can also use a touch of baking soda to counter the acidity of the tomatoes.
• Frozen tomatoes work great in this soup too. Check out Casey’s method for roasting and freezing tomatoes here.

Print Recipe

Creamy Tomato Soup

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Course: Soup

Keyword: tomato soup

Servings: 6 people

Equipment

• soup pot or Dutch oven

Ingredients

• 70 ounces fresh tomatoes quartered and roasted (see method below). You can also use 56 oz canned tomatoes.
• 4 sprigs oregano, fresh *see note*
• 4 sprigs thyme, fresh *see note*
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 onion, medium sliced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1-4 tbsp sugar the amount will vary on the acidity of the tomatoes
• ¼ tsp baking soda this will help tame the acidity in the tomatoes
• 2/3 cup heavy cream

Instructions

The Herb Bouquet

• Tie together oregano and thyme sprigs with kitchen twine. Set aside.

Pre-Roasting Tomatoes

• Preheat oven to 450 F. Core and quarter tomatoes. Spread on sheet pan. Roast 40 minutes to an hour. Set aside.

Making the Soup

• Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or soup pot. Once butter is hot, add onion. Saute over medium heat 8-10 minutes. Add salt and garlic. Saute 1-2 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, chicken stock, 1 tbsp sugar, baking soda, and herb bouquet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. If time, cook longer to reduce acidity and get a sweeter soup, up to 2 hours.
• Remove herb bouquet. Transfer soup to blender and puree, working in batches if needed. Return pureed soup to pot and bring to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Taste and add more salt and sugar if desired. Let simmer until soup is at desired consistency, 10-20 minutes more. Remove from heat. Add cream and a sprinkling of freshly ground pepper.
• Serve with fresh, crusty bread or crunchy croutons.

Notes

If you prefer a more herbaceous soup, top with some chopped basil or parsley. 

*Note: Often when you're using fresh herbs in a soup, the instructions will have you tie them together with butchers' twine to create an herb bouquet. The bouquet makes it easy to take out the herbs when the soup is done cooking or when it needs to be pureed. The blog post has a picture of our herb bouquet for this soup.