Tomato soup
See this recipe step by step

Tomato soup

To make the tastiest tomato soup you’ll ever experience wait until the tomatoes are at their most ripe and juicy, around September

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4 for lunch or 6 as a starter

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian, Vegan, Low-fat

Method

  1. Firstly, prepare your vegetables. You need 1-1.25kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 12oz ripe tomatoes. If the tomatoes are on their vines, pull them off. The green stalky bits should come off at the same time, but if they don't, just pull or twist them off afterwards. Throw the vines and green bits away and wash the tomatoes. Now cut each tomato into quarters and slice off any hard cores (they don't soften during cooking and you'd get hard bits in the soup at the end). Peel 1 medium onion and 1 small carrot and chop them into small pieces. Chop 1 celery stick roughly the same size.
  2. Spoon 2 tbsp olive oil into a large heavy-based pan and heat it over a low heat. Hold your hand over the pan until you can feel the heat rising from the oil, then tip in the onion, carrot and celery and mix them together with a wooden spoon. Still with the heat low, cook the vegetables until they're soft and faintly coloured. This should take about 10 minutes and you should stir them two or three times so they cook evenly and don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
  3. Holding the tube over the pan, squirt in about 2 tsp of tomato purée, then stir it around so it turns the vegetables red. Shoot the tomatoes in off the chopping board, sprinkle in a good pinch of sugar and grind in a little black pepper. Tear 2 bay leaves into a few pieces and throw them into the pan. Stir to mix everything together, put the lid on the pan and let the tomatoes stew over a low heat for 10 minutes until they shrink down in the pan and their juices flow nicely. From time to time, give the pan a good shake - this will keep everything well mixed.
  4. Slowly pour in the 1.2 litres/ 2 pints of hot stock (made with boiling water and 4 rounded tsp bouillon powder or 2 stock cubes), stirring at the same time to mix it with the vegetables. Turn up the heat as high as it will go and wait until everything is bubbling, then turn the heat down to low again and put the lid back on the pan. Cook gently for 25 minutes, stirring a couple of times. At the end of cooking the tomatoes will have broken down and be very slushy looking.
  5. Remove the pan from the heat, take the lid off and stand back for a few seconds or so while the steam escapes, then fish out the pieces of bay leaf and throw them away. Ladle the soup into your blender until it's about three-quarters full, fit the lid on tightly and turn the machine on full. Blitz until the soup's smooth (stop the machine and lift the lid to check after about 30 seconds), then pour the puréed soup into a large bowl. Repeat with the soup that's left in the pan. (The soup may now be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost before reheating.)
  6. Pour the puréed soup back into the pan and reheat it over a medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until you can see bubbles breaking gently on the surface. Taste a spoonful and add a pinch or two of salt if you think the soup needs it, plus more pepper and sugar if you like. If the colour's not a deep enough red for you, plop in another teaspoon of tomato purée and stir until it dissolves. Ladle into bowls and serve. Or sieve and serve chilled with some cream swirled in. For other serving suggestions, see opposite.
Try

Choosing the best tomatoes

The best British tomatoes for making soup are Elegance, a deep-red classic tomato (often sold on the vine) with a thin skin and sweet, juicy flesh. Aranca are good on-the-vine cocktail tomatoes with a superb flavour and aroma, but if you prefer the larger beefsteak variety, go for Jack Hawkins. Plum tomatoes to watch out for include Santa, Jester, Mona Lisa and Baby Sweetheart.

Nutrition per serving for four

123 kcalories, protein 4.0g, carbohydrate 13.0g, fat 7.0 g, saturated fat 1.0g, fibre 4.0g, sugar 1.0g, salt 1.08 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2002.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 161-180

  • Binder photo Baza

    11 October 2011

    Baza rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Excellent and so easy. Dare I say it has that tinned soup tang with the tomato pruree, which I like. I have tried other recipes and been disappointed but this is the one I will stick with. Easy on the stock unless the tomatoes are well juicy. Even my wife likes it and recommendation comes no higher than that!!

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  • Binder photo Sue

    13 October 2011

    Sue commented on this recipe

    This recipe has got to be one of the best for tomato soup. I added a couple of cloves of garlic and a little more celery. I make it every week now. Trouble is, I am about to use the last of the tomatoes from the greenhouse so it won't be as cheap but even so I shan't stop making it. Thanks a lot.

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  • Binder photo Sue

    13 October 2011

    Sue rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo froglet

    13 October 2011

    froglet rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Great way to use up my glut of ripe tomatoes, tasted great, only needed to add 1pint extra liquid as tomatoes very juicy.

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  • Binder photo thomasdykes124

    14 October 2011

    thomasdykes124 commented on this recipe

    Cooked this recipe it made over 2 litre flasks full!!

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  • Binder photo KtDH

    25 October 2011

    KtDH commented on this recipe

    I couldn't find any decent tomatoes recently and used an 800g tin of tomatoes and an extra squirt of puree and the soup turned out lovely :)

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  • Binder photo KtDH

    25 October 2011

    KtDH rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    forgot to rate!

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  • Binder photo shirley p

    26 October 2011

    shirley p rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I made this with tomatoes from the garden, whilst the onion and carrot was cooking I roasted the cut tomatoes with half a chopped red pepper to increase the flavour, it also meant I didn't have to stew the tomatoes for 10mins. I did add a couple of small cloves of garlic with the onion and as others suggested only added 1litre of stock - it's always easier to add more. It was tasty and a lovely consistency.

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  • Binder photo Anju_is_in_the_kitchen

    01 November 2011

    Anju_is_in_the_kitchen commented on this recipe

    very good soup! would have been even better if i had been a little careful with the amount of salt i put in! but that said, i used the cheapest tomatoes in the supermarket and it still turned out really nice and flavoursome. prefer making soup like this than using a can of chopped tomatoes..nice one! thanks!

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  • Binder photo Anju_is_in_the_kitchen

    01 November 2011

    Anju_is_in_the_kitchen rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Sarah

    03 November 2011

    Sarah commented on this recipe

    I also found this soup a bit watery and not tomatoey enough.

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  • Binder photo Mrs Scott

    08 November 2011

    Mrs Scott rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Easy & tasty - I added a bit of cream, parmesan & basil...

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  • Binder photo WeeG

    10 November 2011

    WeeG rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Amazing soup! I just added a few extra tomatos, and substituted the veg stock for chicken stock for a bit of extra flavour :D

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  • Binder photo rachy888

    12 November 2011

    rachy888 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    So easy to make and gorgeous!!! I will be making it again and again Thank you

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  • Binder photo G.F. Recipes

    17 November 2011

    G.F. Recipes rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I followed this recipe to the letter and it was fantastic, the soup was nice and thick and tasted wonderful. i don't understand people who critisize other peoples recipes without trying them first, this was aimed at the person saying tinned tomatoes are better and there should not be carot or celery in the soup. I think fresh tomatoes have to be better than Tinned. if fresh soup was frozen and then later thawed out it would still be fresher than tinned. why make tomato soup from tinned tomatoes? why not go the whole hog and just buy a can of soup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think this is a great recipe and thanks for sharing it.

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  • Binder photo hippocollector

    18 November 2011

    hippocollector rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I am making this soup for the second time now. 1st time I froze it and used it as a starter for a 3 course meal. It was a little thin when i defrosted it so I added a little extra tomoato puree and a little cornflour to thicken slightly. Flavour was better than tinned! Made some home made croutons to go on top, it was a great success.

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  • Binder photo maurela

    18 November 2011

    maurela commented on this recipe

    The tomatoes were being sold for 3kgs for 1 euro, I couldn't resist such a bargain. Made lots of soup and froze it. The sample we tried was rather thin so will add potato when I use some more.

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  • Binder photo Jodie Rees

    20 November 2011

    Jodie Rees rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    I think I might try another tomato soup recipe next time, I found this one watery and bland. Maybe it was the tomatoes I used, I'm not sure. Didn't win me over any way.

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  • Binder photo Marlene Rae

    23 November 2011

    Marlene Rae commented on this recipe

    I made this soup, but, yes, I did add a couple of garlic cloves chopped up very small. After making the soup I gave a bowl full to a friend and he said it was the best I have made this year.

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  • Binder photo KH

    25 November 2011

    KH rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    This soup is ok but nothing special. Used over a kg of v ripe toms, chicken stock (500ml) and added a couple of cloves of garlic to the veg. The colour is quite orange, the flavour not very deep. It is a basic stock-cube based soup with plenty of tomatoes chucked in, but without a strong taste of tomato unfortunately. It will all get eaten, but not one I'd make again.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4 for lunch or 6 as a starter

Preparation and cooking times

Total time

Vegetarian Freezable

Vegetarian, Vegan, Low-fat

Ingredients

  • 1-1.25kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 12oz ripe tomatoes
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 small carrot
  • 1 celery stick
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 squirts of tomato purée (about 2 tsp)
  • a good pinch of sugar
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1.2 litres/ 2 pints hot vegetable stock (made with boiling water and 4 rounded tsp bouillon powder or 2 stock cubes)
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Nutrition per serving for four

123 kcalories, protein 4.0g, carbohydrate 13.0g, fat 7.0 g, saturated fat 1.0g, fibre 4.0g, sugar 1.0g, salt 1.08 g

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