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.
I just made this recipe, and it was outstanding. I doubled the onion and sauteed it until it turned golden, replaced the butter with olive oil to make it vegan, used a whole can of rinsed white beans for creaminess, and added one and a half tablespoon of dried oregano, rosemary, and basil.
The only thing I would suggest it salting it to taste if your vegetable broth isn’t too high in sodium as I felt it was somewhat bland before I had seasoned it with herbs and extra salt.
Thank you for all you do, Kate, I served this with your crushed potato recipe, and they made an excellent meal.
Hi
Love this soup and make it for ourselves regular
We have a guest house here in Bulgaria and would like to offer this to our customers,can it be made and frozen ?
Many thanks
Hi Graeme! I believe this one would freeze well. Let me know what you think if you try it! I appreciate your review.
Kate! I love tomato soup but don’t love heavy cream for health reasons. This recipe is all of the good and none of the bad! Fantastic! Thanks!
So delicious and easy to make! I accidentally used a whole can of white beans (all I had in the cupboard) but it still tasted like creamy tomato soup rather than bean soup. Will definitely make again.
Thank you for sharing, Sofie! I’m glad you loved it.
Made for this dinner tonight and it was amazing. So nice to find a tomato soup recipe without heavy cream. It was very filling!
Thank you for your review, Catherine!
I love the idea of using the canellini beans to add depth and creaminess, as well as another nutritional layer. How clever!
Thank you! I hope you love it, Michael.
I made this with a few alterations on the first truly cold day in San Antonio, TX. The kids and I woke up to 45 degrees outside and about 64 inside!
I subbed the vegetable broth for chicken bone broth (high in collagen, minerals, and protein), added a tad more butter, and finished it off with about 1/2 cup heavy cream.
Served with the classic grilled cheese that I made under the broiler in the oven. I was delishious!!!!
Thank you for sharing, Jennifer!
I can taste the beans. I won’t be making this again. Thanks anyway!
Hi Denise, Sorry this one wasn’t for you. I appreciate your feedback.
OMG this is so delicious!! I just made it, and the only slight changes I made were to sub olive oil for the butter, and after blending everything together, I stirred in a couple handfulls of frozen sweet corn. SOOOO good!!
Thank you, Carolyn! I’m happy you loved it.
This was amazing! I used crushed tomatoes and it turned out great! My daughter is gluten free and loves tomato soup so this will be enjoyed frequently. Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Dawn! Thank you for your review.
A lovely recipe! I didn’t have any white beans the first go around so added a dash of cream. Second time around I added a bit of garlic.
Loving the book! Glad I purchased it xxx K
I’m happy you love this recipe and my book!
Great recipe and so easy to make. Glad you noted to use the blender instead of an immersion tool, something I would have instinctively done. So creamy without any stray onion or bean pieces. Used tomato puree and it still turned out wonderful.
The soup was amazing and we loved that it packed some extra protein with the addition of beans.
I couldn’t get over how easy this was! Such a great, healthy pantry meal. I made it basically as written, but I used crushed tomatoes since that’s what I had. It’ll for sure be in our rotation this winter.
I make soup all the time and I’m not sure I have ever made tomato. Love this recipe. Always looking to get a little protein or veggies in my kids and this is perfect! Beans add a little creamy texture without any cream. I used chicken broth instead of veggie. Otherwise, followed completely. Did a heaping teaspoon of brown sugar…..I could smell acidity from tomatoes! Do not skip the butter.
Delicious! I have made your pesto and risottos (many times – so easy in the oven) and figured it was time I said thank-you
I’m excited you have enjoyed it, Liz! Thank you for your review.
This soup is absolutely delicious! Every recipe I’ve made from your line up has been terrific. All of your dishes are consistently the best meals I’ve made. I can’t wait to try everything. Thank you, Kate!
Just made this and I can confirm it’s gorgeous! This is my third Cookie and Kate soup now and they’ve all been top notch. I followed the recipe exactly and for me the consistency was perfect, can’t wait to try more
Hooray! I’m excited to hear that. Thank you for taking the time to review.
This soup is amazing! Absolutely one of the nicest recipies ive ever found. Thank you so much for sharing!
You’re welcome, Sabre!
I never thought about adding beans to this kind of soup. It came out so creamy. My husband will not eat beans. He did not know their were beans in the soup. Wonderful recipe. Thank you so much.
I’d like to try this recipe but do not own a blender. Will a food processor work as well?
Hi! It can work, just may not get as smooth. I hope you enjoy it!
I’m so glad I found your website! We want to cut down on sodium (no more canned soups!) and eat healthier with less meat, so I decided to make homemade soups using less salt. The tomato soup was delicious! I made your minestrone soup, with kale, for tomorrow’s dinner.
We are dog lovers too, and I cook for our 2 Jack Russells. No salt at all for them, so I know that we can use less salt. Did you ever think about publishing recipes for dogs? We often eat some of the “dogs’ food” (boneless chicken breast) when I don’t have time to cook!
Welcome, Donna! I’m happy you found it too. I don’t publish recipes for dogs, sorry!
This recipe is awesome! I can’t wait to share it with my family (with due attribution, of course)! As someone who is an autoimmune diabetic, I really appreciate it when people make versions of recipes that include nutritional facts and alternative methods in them; it makes proper medication so much easier! You rock!
Delicious soup. I’ve made it quite a few times and the family loves it. I double the recipe and to keep the measures simple, I use an entire 6 oz can of tomato paste and a 15.5 oz can of drained cannellini beans. Leftover soup is always gone the next day. It’s also fun to taste test different brands of tomatoes. Thanks.
Hi!
I want to make this recipe but have no beans… any suggestions for things to use instead?
Hi Maya! The beans are really important to get this creamy without the cream. I don’t have a great alternative, sorry! You could try some more butter, but I can’t say how much without trying it.
It’s fine! I ended up getting some. I love your recipes!
Wonderful, Maya!
I was looking for a quality tomato soup recipe that delivered childhood snow day nostalgia “adultified” so-to-speak, and this soup certainly did deliver! I was amazed at how creamy and wonderfully thick the soup turned out – perfect for scooping up with my grilled cheese sandwich.
Thank you!
Wonderful to hear, Sarah! A great way to warm up on a snow day.
Delicious! Really tasty. Love the addition of the beans for heft and protein. We paired it with grilled cheese and salad for dinner. Yum!
The best combination! Thank you for sharing, Aviva!
Hey, Kate! Had to tell you what happened when making this. :)
My spouse came into the kitchen the *second* I was throwing the beans in, and they freaked a wee bit. They’re a milk drinking, dairy loving human. They didn’t think the beans should go into a tomato soup, but I told them your recipes are great, have worked in the past, and there’s nothing to worry about. Fast forward: while eating it, he said it was really good. *Bravo* on converting a standard recipe into something even better! :)
Hooray! I’m glad it all turned out, Virginia.
Thankyou. Really impressed my wife with this one (she’s a great cook). First time I have made soup… This one was delicious.
That’s music to my ears! I’m glad she loved it, Ian. I appreciate your review.
I’ve made this soup about 15 times now. It’s my go to dinner or lunch with a grilled cheese. The family loves it. So does my work….my boss tasted it and so far has had me make 2 batches for her. It’s soooo good!
That’s a delicious combinations, Esther! Thank you for your review.
I’m in the uk, and can’t work out the measurements for the tomatoes?! Our standard tins are 400g – please can you convert into cups or pints or litres ..
Thanks
Hi Joanne, Here is a good conversion guide.
This recipe is amazing! I can’t believe a can of tomato and beans turned into a beautifully creamy soup. I’d never made soup before and this was so quick and easy I can’t wait to make it again!
Wonderful to hear, H! Thank you for your review.
Followed the recipe to a t and it turned out delicious!!! Loved it.
Great to hear! Thank you for reporting back, Shannon.
I liked the soup recipe, & made 1 small change, Well its not small its kind of large but works. Up size the ingredients so you use an entire can of tomato paste, as well as the beans a couple large cans of tomato, I used the Aylmer type which are available here & have no salt added.
It made way to much for my wife & I even saving some for leftovers the next day the rest we put in single serving freezer containers & voila, soup ready to go !
This soup was delicious, thank you! And a hit with the whole family. Exactly the classic tomato soup I was thinking of. I bought the ingredients a few weeks ago, then forgot I used the northern beans for something else. I read through the comments and substituted with chick peas that I always have on hand, I love all your recipes. We’ve had at least one a week lately.
This recipe was really easy, even for someone like me who’s not great at cooking! This soup tasted so good, I couldn’t believe I cooked something this tasty! Thank you, Kate!
I’m delighted you loved it, Julia!
Made this soup twice and my family raves about it! Thanks for the recipe. I did have to make a couple modifications due to ingredients on hand. Didn’t have tomato paste so used the whole can of beans. Had Muir Glen tomatoes but not whole peeled so I used a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce. Also added fresh basil. Yum!
Hi Kate!
I made this soup tonight for dinner and it was a big hit!! I followed your recipe word for word except I added a little extra sugar and beans to compensate for the tartness of the tomatoes. I served it with grilled cheese sandwich. My husband and I loved the soup and I’m going to add this recipe to my weekly dinner rotation! Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe.
Best homemade tomato soup recipe I’ve found! Terrific not acidic, not sweet, just right! Thank you!
Thanks so much, Rex!
I had a craving for tomato soup and grilled cheese and found this recipe in your cookbook. All I had was fire roasted diced tomatoes so I used those, and this is hands down the best tomato soup I’ve ever had. The tomatoes I used ended up giving it a slight smoky flavor and oh my goodness…usually once the grilled cheese is gone I have to force myself to finish the rest of the soup but this time I licked the bowl clean. Yum.
The best combination! I’m glad you loved it, Brooke. Thank you for your review.
This is delicious for how easy it is. I used olive oil instead of butter and added fresh garlic and dried oregano. Also used an immersion blender– much easier I think. Served with sourdough grilled cheese.
Sounds delicious, Suzy! Thank you for your review.
Kate, I just wanted to let you know that this is my “Go To” recipe for Tomato Soup. It is delicious, satisfying and the perfect soup for a lunch or dinner with a salad or sandwich. I bought your cookbook for myself at Christmas and just made the Tuscan White Bean, Kale and Farro Stew. It was absolutely delicious and hearty for a cold and rainy day in Charlotte. I recommend your recipes all the time to my friends who are not Vegetarians but want something yummy and flavorful. Thanks so much for all your wonderful ideas! Cheers! Kaaren
Thank you! I’m delighted to be your go-to for recipes and that you love my cookbook. I appreciate your review!
Oh my, this recipe is delicious! It amazes me that it became so creamy with the beans. I’m going to be sure and share this recipe with my friends. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Nadine! I appreciate your review.
I tried the recipe for the first time today. I really liked it and will use this as my go to tomato basil soup recipe! I love the idea of using beans to thicken it. I only had organic diced tomatoes so I used those in place of whole tomatoes.
I appreciate the tip about being able to freeze tomato paste – thank you!!! Now I’ll no longer have to waste a whole can for 1-2 tbps needed in a recipe. With the leftover tomato paste I scooped out 1 tbsp servings to freeze individually on a cookie sheet to be used in the future. After they’re done freezing I’ll put them in a freezer bag.
That’s great to hear, Nicki! Thank you for your review.
Oh my, Kate. This is maybe the best tomato soup I’ve ever had- really! and with no animal products, even better. Rich, creamy, full flavored. And came together quickly, is cost thoughtful, especially in this time of food insecurity for way to many. I had to use dried basil and even with that it was so delicious! Thank you for an amazing recipe. ( And several others on your site!)
Can I used canned garbanzo beans instead?
Hi! They won’t achieve quite the same level of creamy or may not blend as nice since they tend to be a harder bean.
I absolutely adore this recipe. My 8 yr old son devours it! It is the best tomato soup I’ve ever had it made. While it is truly perfection as is, do you have suggestions on how to make it dairy free but still fabulous? Many thanks!
Hey Lorie! So glad to hear it. Yes, I do—please check the recipe notes!
Kate, Your tomato soup recipe is out of this world! Fantastic! Snowy cold day here in Chicago, so made a double batch of this. So flavorful and creamy. Your recipes are always amazing and I always make everything from your website exactly how you have it written. Thank you for sharing such wonderful dishes that always turn out.
I made this tonight and it’s so delicious! You can’t buy vegetable broth in the U.K. so i just used vegetable stock instead. I probably should have used a low sodium kind / shouldn’t have added in the salt as it was slightly on salty side for me.
But aside from that it was very yummy and super easy to make!
Great recipe! I never liked tomato soup but we all loved this one.
Wonderful! Thank you, Angelica.