Classic Tomato Soup (Lightened Up!)
You're going to love this classic tomato soup recipe! It's super creamy, yet light (no cream). You probably have all the ingredients in your pantry already!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 1, 2024
This soup is everything I want tomato soup to be! It’s rich and creamy, yet doesn’t weigh me down. It’s bursting with amazing tomato flavor, yet it’s made from canned tomatoes.
That’s right, canned tomatoes. The season for ripe tomatoes (summer) is not the season for tomato soup (fall through spring). It’s a real conundrum, and this homemade tomato soup recipe is the perfect solution.
I developed this recipe for my cookbook, and wanted to bring it to life here on the blog as well. I bet you have all of the ingredients in your kitchen right now.
Tomato soup is perfect for rainy days. It’s even more perfect with a grilled cheese sandwich. Are you ready?!
Why You’ll Love this Tomato Soup
Here are four reasons why this tomato soup recipe will become your new favorite:
- This recipe offers classic homemade tomato soup flavor, and it’s made with basic pantry ingredients. Winning!
- It’s rich and creamy, yet cream-less. It uses a combination of white beans (I promise you can’t taste them) and butter to achieve this feat.
- This soup is special diet-friendly. It’s gluten free, since it doesn’t need any flour for thickening. It’s also easily made vegan—see the recipe notes.
- You can turn this recipe into tomato basil soup, if you have fresh basil on hand. It couldn’t be easier.
How to Make the Best Tomato Soup
This recipe is so easy to make! If you’re serving more than a couple people, I recommend doubling the ingredients.
1) Cook chopped onion in olive oil until tender, then add tomato paste.
Every great soup starts with an onion! Once it’s tender, we’ll stir in a dollop of tomato paste and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Tomato paste offers deep tomato flavor and adds a lot of intensity to this soup.
Tip: You can freeze leftover tomato paste in an air-tight container for several months.
2) Add whole canned tomatoes and vegetable broth, and gently simmer for 30 minutes.
Next, we’ll add one big can of whole tomatoes. Did you know that whole tomatoes are the highest-quality canned tomatoes? Canning companies reserve the less ideal tomatoes for diced and crushed varieties. Don’t worry about breaking up the tomatoes as they cook, because we’re going to blend them next.
This is the perfect time to clean up the kitchen or kick back with a glass of wine. You know which one I’m rooting for.
Tip: Stock up on Muir Glen tomato products, because they consistently taste the best.
3) Transfer the soup to a blender, and add a few more essential ingredients.
I always recommend using your stand blender for soups (vs. an immersion blender), because stand blenders produce much creamier soups.
Now, we’re going to add a few key ingredients: Great Northern beans (for creamy texture), butter (for amazing rich flavor), a little sugar (it balances the acidity of the tomatoes), salt and pepper. I don’t add sugar to savory dishes often, but just 1 teaspoon makes a big difference.
Tip: This recipe won’t use up a whole can of beans. You can freeze the leftover rinsed and drained beans in a resealable bag (silicone or Ziploc) for future batches of soup.
4) Blend until completely smooth, and serve.
There’s nothing better than tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. You could also enjoy this soup with a big green salad. I actually think it would go great with this lentil and carrot green salad.
Watch How to Make Tomato Soup
Tomato Basil Soup Variation
This is so easy and delicious. Once you have blended your soup, simply add a handful of fresh basil leaves and blend until they’re broken into tiny bits.
If you’ve ever had Nordstrom’s tomato basil soup—this option tastes like a more fresh version of it. Yum.
Please let me know how your soup turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Looking for more creamy, lightened-up soups? Here are a few more favorites to bookmark:
- Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup
- Creamy Roasted Carrot Soup
- Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Classic Tomato Soup
You’re going to love this classic tomato soup recipe! It’s super creamy, yet light and magically cream-less. Make this easy recipe tonight! Recipe yields 4 modest bowls; if you are serving a crowd or want leftovers, simply double the recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 large can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, with their liquid
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup cooked Great Northern beans or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into a few pieces
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or brown sugar, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- For the tomato-basil variation (optional): 10 to 15 fresh basil leaves, to taste
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or soup pot, warm the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender and turning translucent, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the tomatoes and vegetable broth and stir to combine. Increase the heat to medium-high, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes, reducing the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer, and stirring occasionally.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. Carefully transfer the mixture to a blender, being sure not to fill past the maximum fill line (blend in batches if necessary). Add the beans, butter, sugar, and several twists of black pepper. Securely fasten the lid and blend the soup until smooth, being careful to avoid hot steam escaping from the lid.
- Since canned tomatoes vary in flavor, I always end up tinkering with this soup a bit at the end. Taste and, if necessary, add a little more sugar (to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes), pepper, and salt (I usually add another ¼ to ½ teaspoon).
- If you’re adding basil, add it now. Briefly blend again, and serve hot. This soup keeps well for up to four days or so. You can freeze leftovers for up to 3 months.
Notes
This recipe comes from my cookbook, Love Real Food.
My favorite canned tomatoes: I always recommend Muir Glen tomatoes for their superior flavor. Plus, they’re organic.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Replace the butter with 1 tablespoon additional extra-virgin olive oil.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Great recipe! I reduced the fat by using 1 TBSP extra-virgin oil oil and 1 TBSP butter to sauté the onion, and omitted the extra butter later. I left out the sugar. I used some baking soda (1/2 tsp ?) to reduce the acidity and take the edge off the tomatoes. I saw someone else comment she used carrot for sweetness. No basil either. I loved the creaminess from the cannellini beans. I did have a major disaster. My blender leaked! (I took a photo. It’s priceless.) I did have some soup not in the blender. I warmed it up tonight and used my immersion blender. Delicious! The brand of canned tomatoes I used is Shop-Rite Organic (in purée) imported from Italy. Quality seems good. I used my Foley food mill to remove seeds from the whole tomatoes, but it was a chore. I think I’ll try crushed tomatoes in purée. What do you think?
Thank you for sharing, Penny! I’m so sorry to hear your blender leaked. I’m glad you were ok and still able to enjoy this soup.
I can’t say enough about this soup. It is easily the the best soup I’ve ever eaten. It’s the second time I’ve made it and it’s just as good as the first time. I’m not a vegetarian so I did add two pieces of previously cooked bacon which I chopped and added to the onions.
I’m thrilled that I can eat a creamy, delicious soup that is so tasty.
Thank you, Nadine! I’m delighted you think so. I appreciate you taking the time to review.
Creamy perfection! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Mary!
Perfect tomato soup! This is already a new family staple. I make as big a batch as I can in my stock pot!
I can’t say enough about this soup. It is easily the the best soup I’ve ever eaten. It’s the second time I’ve made it and it’s just as good as the first time. I’m not a vegetarian so I did add two pieces of previously cooked bacon which I chopped and added to the onions.
I’m thrilled that I can eat a creamy, delicious soup that is so tasty.
From my very first taste, this soup has become one of my favorite meals. I cannot thank you enough for your incredible recipie Kate. 10 stars if i could!
This soup was excellent! My husband and I are eating vegetarian for nearly four months and the biggest problem we have is that he HATES beans! But in this soup, he knows they’re there and cannot taste them and loves the texture they provide. This goes into my family recipe book! Thank you!
The best tomato soup I’ve ever made… I’ve used home grown cherry tomatoes (instead of canned), oven baked it first before adding it per instruction. Thank you for the recipe, Kate!
You’re welcome, Josel! I appreciate your review.
Not a fan of tomatoes in general, but had a craving for a quick soup on this rainy english day. Modified with basil leaves, half a tomato in addition to a can of chopped as we didn’t have whole canned here and some thyme (as suggested by a user) . Had it with your grilled cheese recipe. It hit the spot! Thanks
Wow!! Awesome soup! Thanks for the recipe!
We used our homegrown yellow tomatoes and our soup looked golden and rich. Best ever!
As far as my husband was concerned, the only tomato soup was the Campbell’s variety. Sadly, not available currently! Your recipe is really easy and is now considered superior. Good grief. No adjustments necessary. Thank you so much!
Thank you Kate for this recipe. A total winner! Not only that this is easy to make but also absolutely delicious. I did two replacements just because I didn’t have enough ingredients in my cupboard. I replaced half of the tinned tomatoes I was missing with fresh tomatoes and the white beans with red beans – worked wonderfully too. Thank you and may you and Cookie stay healthy during home confiment.
A wave and a smile,
Marissa – Indonesia
Awesome recipe! The beans were an amazing replacement for cream. The recipe is super forgiving and was everything I craved.
I love this soup and so does my whole family! Since I found it I’ve started keeping a constant supply of tinned tomatoes and tomato paste in my pantry so I can make it whenever I want. It’s such a quick, simple, and delicious recipe. Especially now that so many of us are relying on pantry staples, it’s just perfect.
I’m glad it’s a family hit, Rowan! I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and that you keep ingredients in your pantry at all times. That’s great!
Cookie and Kate can do no wrong. Literally every recipe I’ve made is perfection. No tweaks necessary for any recipe, including this one. I’m writing this as my toddler and I gobble this up. This is a perfect stay-at-home recipe. I was skeptical it would be creamy enough but it is perfect.
Might have converted me into a tomato soup lover – it was delicious!
Love love this soup! I’ve never tried anything on your blog that I haven’t loved. I substituted canned tomatoes for real tomatoes (skins off) and white beans for a handful of potatoes. Turned out perfectly!
I’m happy to hear that, Brittany! Thanks so much for sharing.
OMG Kate! Love this soup… it is awesome! Not to mention since I am home and not working, I have made many of our soups, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, and now this. My husband has checked out a few of your recipes too, pancakes and wheat pizza. Yes, I have your latest book too! Please come to Chicago for a food sampling and your next book signing please, event bride would be happy to sell your tickets, I’m sure… thanks so much, U are the best !
I love that you are making so many recipes from my blog and book! Thank you for your support. Stay healthy and safe!
I love so many of your recipes, this has become a firm family favourite. I’ll sometimes add small elbow pasta to make it more substantial for the kids. It’s on rotation at least once per week. Thank you for everything you do!
Currently my favourite soup! Make it at least once a month!
Just made this and it’s definitely going in the meal rotation. A perfect rainy day-Sunday-meal. Looking forward to eating this all week with a vegan grilled cheese. Your recipes are consistently amazing! Thank you!
Delicious soup, loved it. Made it with fresh tomatoes. Will definitely make again. Thank you for great recipe.
Can I substitute fresh tomatoes, I have so many both full size and cherry tomatoes. Should they be cooked or scanned before use? Thanks very much this looks great
Hi Cathy! I’m jealous of your tomato surplus. :) I haven’t tried this recipe with fresh tomatoes. You could perhaps substitute 4 cups chopped tomatoes for the large can of tomatoes. Be sure to include the juices from the tomatoes, too, and perhaps cook the tomatoes longer than suggested here. Let me know how it turns out! If you want another use for fresh tomatoes, I love these recipes for panzanella, Caprese salad and Caprese pasta salad.
Wonderful recipe!
Made almost as suggested – no beans, homemade chicken stock, and used immersion blender.
Turned out perfect, so thanks so much!
You’re welcome!
The soup was fantastic!!! I wasn’t sure if I would use the rest of the can of beans and tomato paste so I used the entire can of bean and tomato paste. I think this made it even creamier. I made it for dinner and I thought I would have left overs for lunch, but the four of us ate it all!!!! You never let us down on your recipes!
I love it ❤ it’s really helpful to follow the instructions
Incredibly yummy!! I replaced the beans with half a cup of diced potatoes (as I can’t eat beans) that I added to the soup halfway so that they would have some time to cook well. The result was delicious. Another recipe that conquers my heart and stomach! <3
Wonderful to hear, Marta! I appreciate your review.
I made this today for my family. Everyone loved it. I opted not to use any sugar but did add basil. I will definitely be making this again.
Hi I don’t have canned tomatoes but I do have Tomato sauce. Will this soup recipe still work with sauce?
Canned tomatoes really work best here, but you could try it. Although your tomato flavor will vary.
Honestly I was a little skeptical of this recipe combining beans for tomato soup….but it AMAZING! I am obsessed. I used olive oil instead of butter to keep it vegan. Very quick and easy recipe. Love how the beans add creaminess and protein. I added basil to make it tomato basil soup :)
I’m glad you tried it anyway, Julia! Thanks for sharing your loved it.
So tasty and so easy!
I substituted the beans for kidney beans as I am trying to get rid of the cans in my cupboard and replaced the sugar with stevia and it’s so creamy and devine! Perfect for a winters eve
i’ve made this soup several times with chick peas as a substitute – tonight i’ll be trying it with a potato (like in your broccoli cheese recipe) instead, because i forgot to soak/cook chick peas last night and i’ve promised my husband that we’re having this for dinner. it’ll be a little less healthy, but i’ll let you know if he notices…
the potatoes did work, btdubs. but i switched back to chick peas as soon as i had ’em for the extra protein!
My soup did not turn out that thick and creamy what can I do about that? Also, it was really good apart from that.
– Natasha
Hi Natasha! I’m sorry to hear that. I wonder if you added too much liquid or your onion wasn’t very large. I’m happy you liked it!
i used vegan butter. only had kidneys beans on hand and that resulted in the soup littered with little dark specks of bean skin and it ruined the uniform color, and i couldnt blend it out. will use white beans next time. tastes great with garlic and vegan butter toast
I hope you still could enjoy the taste! Thank you for sharing, Rachel.
Absolutely delicious.
I used tinned chopped tomatoes because that’s all I had. I think the addition of beans is inspired. I added 1 teaspoon of dried oregano as I had a single teaspoon sachet in my cupboard.
This soup is so easy to make but best of all simply delicious.
A tasty soup – we enjoyed it and have some left for tomorrow. I made it in a soup maker – the quantities are just about right – and added a couple of elderly tomatoes from the fridge. Didn’t have cannellini beans, so rinsed the sauce from half a can of baked beans and used those instead. And fresh basil, of course.
Definitely worth doing again.
Easy, delicious and creamy. You are absolutely right as you can’t taste the beans. My little one loves it. Definitely doing this one again.” But with basil next time.
I am currently cooking this for the second time in 2 weeks as I ate the first batch so quickly. Lovely smooth texture and rich flavour. Love the addition of beans that you can’t detect at all. I added in chopped basil, not blended just before eating- takes it to another level. I do not own a blender but my stick blender worked just as well. I froze some of my first batch and it reheated perfectly from frozen. Flavour even better than eaten fresh actually. Thank you for the recipe!
I love that! Thank you for sharing how you adapted it, Allison.
This is my first time making tomato soup,and this recipe has made me swear off canned tomato soup period. Unbelievably delicious and flavorful, and so easy! Thank you!!
thanks kate,u share new idea for me.we are different curturaly from u. but i like to much i enjoy too much,may GOD bless u.
This was absolutely incredible! I loved topping my soup with Everything but the Bagel seasoning.
I love that! Thank you for sharing, Stella.
SO good! This was my first time making it from scratch and I am so happy with the results. Dare I say throw in a little pepperjack and it’s a copycat Isaacs pepperjack tomato!
I was out of white beans (and red) so I rinsed some mild chili beans and they worked perfectly. Maybe that’s where I got the pepperjack-type notes!
Either way, this is a staple now for me!
This soup was amazing! Easy to make. Contains ingredients I always have on hand. I left out the beans and added rice. Really creamy and delicious. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Naomi!
Best tomato soup ever! The bean idea is genius! I made a few changes and additions that I thought worked quite well.
– Roasted one entire red bell pepper in the oven for 30 min at 400 and added it (cut into pieces) at the same time as the tomatoes, stock, and everything else.
– While the pepper was roasting, browned the beans plus two cloves of garlic a little in a skillet with some butter before getting started on the soup. Removed garlic from the beans and added it to the onion right before the tomato paste. Added the beans at the end like you said to.
– Added a sprig of fresh thyme (removed before blending everything), about 1/4 tsp oregano, about 1 tsp dried parsley, and a small pinch of crushed red pepper when I added the tomatoes.
– Used slightly less butter than you said because of the butter I put with the beans and the olive oil and juices from the roasted pepper. Threw in a small handful of shredded Parmesan when I blended in the basil.
Because the red pepper is also sweet, I only needed a tiny bit of sugar. It turned out amazing! This is definitely going to be my go-to tomato soup recipe from now on.
Hi! Can I use butter beans instead of the Cannellini beans? I don’t have any to hand except dried Cannellini beans which will need to soak for 12 hours and cook for two… would butter beans still give a creamy flavour? Thanks!
Hi Edie, I don’t know if that will get you the same result as I haven’t tried it. Sorry! If you do, I would be interested in your result!
Thanks anyway! I am making it now, and I will give it a go with the butter beans. They are creamy, so even if they do not give exactly the same result I will give it a try
Hi can I make the tomato soup recipe with cherry tomatoes from the garden I have so much don’t know what to do with them thanks
Recently we decided we wanted to make tomato soup. I had narrowed it down to this recipe and one from the NY Times. In the end I went with this one because, first of all, I love Cookie & Kate’s Recipes. Second, I was intrigued by the addition of beans to make it creamy as opposed to heavy creams. Once again, Cookie & Kate came through. This soup is delicious. Definitely worth trying.
I’m happy this one won out and you loved it! Thanks for your rave review and confidence.
I absolutely love this recipe and this soup! Often sprinkle parmesan cheese flakes on top to eat.
How would I go about making this with fresh tomatoes? I will soon be overwhelmed with juicy beefsteak tomatoes from my garden and I am hoping to make tomato soup!
Hi Stephanie, I’m sorry I don’t have specific insight for you. I find the flavor is best here with canned tomatoes.You could perhaps substitute 4 cups chopped tomatoes for the large can of tomatoes. Be sure to include the juices from the tomatoes, too, and perhaps cook the tomatoes longer than suggested here. Let me know how it turns out! If you want another use for fresh tomatoes, I love these recipes for panzanella, Caprese salad and Caprese pasta salad.
This has been our favorite tomato soup recipe for a while, so when I was given a bag of homegrown tomatoes from a friend, I went back to this recipe because I know it’s a winner. However I knew I didn’t want to just use the raw tomatoes. What I ended up doing was roasting a baking sheet full of them in the oven at 400 degrees (cut in half and drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, with a few garlic cloves on there because yum roasted garlic) then adding them straight from the pan to the soup. I just cooked for 10 more minutes at that point (since the tomatoes were already cooked) and pureed with an immersion blender. So delightful!
I love this recipe, I make it all of the time and the idea of blending in beans for texture is genius. My 4 year old just asked me to make it for him and his 2 year old sister loves it too.
Wonderful to hear, Kate! Thank you for sharing.
I just made this tonight. Followed the recipe exactly. Still new to cooking. I put the fresh basil in and the soup was fantastic
This soup is delicious. I’ll admit, I was skeptical about the beans, but they worked really well to taste like a cream based soup without the cream. Too lazy to freeze leftover beans, so I just doubled the recipe and used the whole can. I did use the basil, though I’m not sure it actually needed it. As a moderate meat eater married to a lifetime vegetarian, your website is invaluable to my meal planning. Thank you for creating recipes I can use to feed both of us, as well as our friends and family.
Sooo easy and delicious. All the flavours go really well together!
I stumbled onto your blogs months ago and have tried out a number of your recipes and I gotta say I love them all! Thanks for the creativity and keep it coming!
With love from Melbourne!
WHOA! I have been blown away by this tomato soup. I’m so pleased that this was made with beans and not cream – you’d NEVER know! Possibly the best tomato soup I’ve ever had. I copied the recipe to a T (including the basil!).
*drooling*
I paired it with a pesto bread for dipping.
Genius to add white beans for creaminess! Some tomato soup recipes have lots of Saturated fat. Very nutritionally balanced recipe.