Tomato soup
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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 4g, carbohydrate 13g, fat 7 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 4g, sugar 1g, salt 1.08 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2002.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 181-200

  • Binder photo Tina's Food

    30 November 2011

    Tina's Food commented on this recipe

    Just made this for friends .. it tastes fantastic and so easy to make ... would recommend it and it's good for people watching their waistline just don't add cream !!!

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  • Binder photo ozzy

    10 December 2011

    ozzy commented on this recipe

    I made this soup today, not that great would of been better off buying four tins of baxsters and watching tv.

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  • Binder photo MummyPixieMoo

    27 December 2011

    MummyPixieMoo commented on this recipe

    I made this as a starter for my family on Christmas day ! Absolutely LUSH !!!! Even my Dad loved it and he's a man and fussy ;) All my girls ate it up too ;D I doubled the recipie too . I'm making it again today . I didn't add the carrot or celery though . BUT WOW !!! Was 'Blaady Boutifal ' * Dad's words . Thank you ;D x

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  • Binder photo MummyPixieMoo

    27 December 2011

    MummyPixieMoo commented on this recipe

    I think that people need to follow the method and ingredient list properly before leaving negative comments . There's 98 per cent of positive comments here that followed the recipe and it turned out well so the negative comment leavers are either not following or can't cook ! Sorry ! Had to be said !

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  • Binder photo ShelleyCal

    15 January 2012

    ShelleyCal rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Linny

    18 January 2012

    Linny rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Nina Sinclair

    19 January 2012

    Nina Sinclair rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Followed recipe to the letter, but did add worcester sauce. My non soup eating son loved it as did my hubby. Will deffo make again!

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  • Binder photo xNinax

    20 January 2012

    xNinax rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    good recipe, I only used half amount of stock and a good dash (or three!) of port, I also added corriander and a tiny bit of garlic :)

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  • Binder photo dannithirsk

    31 January 2012

    dannithirsk rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I'm a nanny and made it for the children. The three year old insisted she wouldn't like it before she tried it. Two minutes later and she was asking for a second helping. Great recipe.

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  • Binder photo Nikki B

    31 January 2012

    Nikki B commented on this recipe

    A good recipe to use up a lot of tomatoes (I'm not fussy over using a mix of cherry, plum or whatever is available), but I tend to let it simmer for a little longer to thicken it slightly.

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  • Binder photo bellisima

    31 January 2012

    bellisima rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Whenever I've come across a recipe on goodfood with an amazing amount fo excellent reviews I've always been disappointed. UNTIL I tried this recipe!! I just loved the taste of the tomatoes and the sweet tanginess of it... but I dont have a blender so what I did first was blanche the tomatoes in hot water and then peel off the skin. Whilst the tomatoes were cooking I really mashed them up with my spoon and even though it was not as creamy as it would've been had i put it in a blender i kinda liked it slightly chunky. Also I added a bit of chilli which I think was probs me tampering a bit because it tasted better without to me...oh and I didn't use celery!

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  • Binder photo b2581

    12 February 2012

    b2581 commented on this recipe

    Wow! Loved this. Added a few chllli flakes for extra flavour!mmm

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  • Binder photo b2581

    12 February 2012

    b2581 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Amazing. Will def make again. Added a few chilli flakes for extra flavour!mmm

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  • Binder photo denis

    17 February 2012

    denis commented on this recipe

    I made this soup on wednesday while cooking my dinner, i added more carrots and celery and strained using a sive and the out come mmmmm, tasted just like Heinz. Will be making again and again, cant wait. Thanks

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  • Binder photo denis

    17 February 2012

    denis rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo loppy_loo

    22 February 2012

    loppy_loo commented on this recipe

    Just eating this soup. Left out the bay leaves as I didn't have any and didn't use any stock only a stock cube and there was plenty of natural juices from the tomatoes. Hubby likes it too. Quick and easy to make.

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  • Binder photo TracyJ

    27 February 2012

    TracyJ commented on this recipe

    Lovely soup, I added some Creme friache for a lovely creamy texture, also top tip - strain the soup! Although it doesn't tell you to, it removes all to pips etc and makes the soup super smooth!

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  • Binder photo TracyJ

    27 February 2012

    TracyJ rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I updated it by adding Creme friache and some Worcestershire sauce and I strained it.

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  • Binder photo Whathollybakednext

    29 March 2012

    Whathollybakednext commented on this recipe

    The best tomato soup ever! A few tweaks mind: No carrot No celery Add single cream! Try to get end-of-the-day tomatoes from the grocer, he'll give them to you cheaply.

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  • Binder photo Mike

    10 April 2012

    Mike rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fantastic soup - now one of the family favourites.

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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 4g, carbohydrate 13g, fat 7 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 4g, sugar 1g, salt 1.08 g

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