The Perfect Comfort Food: Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
Growing up, tomato soup was by far my favorite. It’s hard to think of any comfort food that beats a big bowl of creamy tomato soup with a side of grilled cheese. It just brings me straight back to my childhood.
Keys to Success:
To make the perfect creamy tomato basil soup it’s essential to use canned san marzano tomatoes. Although typically fresh veggies are optimal while cooking, certain recipes require canned tomatoes for the right balance of flavors.
San Marzano Tomatoes have the right balance of sweetness and tartness that will elevate your tomato soup and make it taste like you got it straight from a restaurant.
I also love to use (and recommend using) heavy cream or evaporated milk in this dish to get the perfect creamy texture. If you’re vegan though, feel free to use canned coconut milk instead. Preferably, full-fat canned coconut milk since you need a pretty thick milk to get the right texture for this dish.
Optional: Serve with Grilled Cheese
You may not need to eat a grilled cheese with your creamy tomato basil soup, but it sure makes the experience even better! My favorite way to make grilled cheese is using: (1) sourdough bread, (2) a cheese cheese blend, and (3) and butter to toast the grilled cheese.
Add your cheese between two slices of sourdough bread and cover the outside of the slices with layer of butter. Then, heat the grilled cheese over a skillet on medium or medium-low heat. I also recommend covering the grilled cheese with a lid while you cook it on the skillet. This will trap the heat under the lid and help the cheese melt all the way through to the center of the grilled cheese.
Cook the grilled cheese until it’s golden and crispy on both sides, and serve alongside your soup.
Garnish:
This is also optional, but I love to garnish my creamy tomato basil soup with some extra cream. For aesthetic (and flavor) reasons, I like to mix the heavy cream or evaporated milk with a little bit of sour cream to thicken it up. This is so when I pour the cream over the soup, it will float on top and look stunning right before serving! You can also add some extra basil for garnish too.
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Creamy Tomato Soup
Materials
- 2 tbsp Butter (I used vegan earth balance butter)
- 1 c Yellow Onions chopped
- 2.5 tbsp Garlic chopped
- 1.5 tsp Dried Basil Leaves (Or a Handful of Fresh Basil Leaves)
- 1 tsp Dried Oregano
- 1/4 tsp Dried Thyme
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Red Chili Flakes
- 28 oz San Marzano Tomatoes
- 14 oz Veggie Broth
- 1 c Water
- 1/3 c Evaporated Milk (Or heavy cream)
Instructions
- Sauté your onions in butter until translucent.
- Add in garlic and cook for another minute or so, until fragrant.
- Add dried basil, oregano, thyme, and red chili flakes and cook for another 30 seconds to a minute.
- Add in your canned tomatoes, veggie broth, water, and salt, and let the mixture simmer for about 30 minutes on a low heat.
- Blend the mixture together with an immersion blender, and then add in your cream, mix well, and serve.
Grilled cheese is never optional with a tomato soup 😋 loved using fresh basil from my garden for this recipe!