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 81-100

  • Binder photo droffej99

    31 July 2010

    droffej99 commented on this recipe

    Lovely tasty soup, excellent recipe. Next time though I'd take the seeds out when preparing the tomatoes as sieving the soup takes out some of the good pulp as well as the seeds.

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  • Binder photo droffej99

    31 July 2010

    droffej99 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Lovely soup, excellent recipe. Next time though would remove the seeds when preparing the tomatoes as pushing the soup through a sieve is messy, time consuming and takes out a little of the tasty pulp. I did blend the soup, but the seeds were still there. I used less stock than suggested, and it was really tasty.

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  • Binder photo spud

    31 July 2010

    spud commented on this recipe

    hi again did this recipey but put courgette in, instead of celery it was really whole some soup and was easy to make i used cherry tomatoes so you need to use less tomato puree. definatley worth the effort.

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  • Binder photo Rayne

    11 August 2010

    Rayne rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Yummy

    14 August 2010

    Yummy commented on this recipe

    Hi, I've made this recipe lots of times and love it! I generally make it without the onion and add more than the suggested 'pinch' of sugar. I also add some Worcestershire sauce just before serving. Brilliant recipe, thanks Jeni.

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  • Binder photo Marlene

    24 August 2010

    Marlene commented on this recipe

    My daughter is not a fan of soups, but really enjoyed this one. High praise indeed!

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  • Binder photo Marlene

    24 August 2010

    Marlene rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Caroline

    30 August 2010

    Caroline commented on this recipe

    Just made this soup after my Mother -in-law gave me a load of tomatoes from her allotment. It was quick and easy to make and tastes lovely. My 9 year old son said it's the best tomato soup he's ever tasted. Will certainly make it again.

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  • Binder photo nannie jen

    07 September 2010

    nannie jen commented on this recipe

    imade this soup last week absolutly lovely no more tin soup for my family only addition was before serving iadded drop of cream this made the soup lovelyand creamy .making it again today have to use those tomatoes some how!

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  • Binder photo stepharoo

    07 September 2010

    stepharoo commented on this recipe

    I made this today and added some red lentils in to thicken it a little. Lovely lovely, I'll definitely make it again!

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  • Binder photo stepharoo

    07 September 2010

    stepharoo rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I made this today and added some red lentils in to thicken it a little. Lovely lovely, I'll definitely make it again!

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  • Binder photo pete

    08 September 2010

    pete rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I added a couple of red peppers and a good handfull of basil at the same time as the tomato and left out the bay what a difference this made to the end product fantastic.

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  • Binder photo Yvette Marie

    08 September 2010

    Yvette Marie commented on this recipe

    Great tasty and easy

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  • Binder photo rachie

    11 September 2010

    rachie commented on this recipe

    Just made this soup using my own grown tomatoes added chilli flakes for extra kick....wow.also had home made bread to accompany it

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  • Binder photo rachie

    11 September 2010

    rachie rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    ooops forgot the rating

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  • Binder photo Jadzia

    12 September 2010

    Jadzia rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    A really delicious soup.

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  • Binder photo Clare

    12 September 2010

    Clare rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I had no intentions of making tomato soup when I woke up this morning, in fact I was going to make my christmas cakes but realised I didn't have all the ingredients. Looking around my kitchen to see what I could make instead, I saw the huge pile of tomatos from our allotment that needed using up and decided that I would make soup. So glad that I did as I have just had the most delicious lunch ever! This soup is so quick and easy to make and soooo tasty! In fact stop reading this and go and make some now! :-))

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  • Binder photo nomis5

    14 September 2010

    nomis5 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    So many tomatoes from the garden! This recipe used some of them up and tasted delicious. A bit more salt and pepper is needed.

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  • Binder photo junecan

    14 September 2010

    junecan commented on this recipe

    Made this soup today it is lovely but should I have took the skin off the tomatos

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  • Binder photo Pipin

    15 September 2010

    Pipin rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Excellent recipe for using up tomato glut in garden. I also collected the carrots and onion from the garden. The first time I made it it was a bit thin. Usually I cover vegetables with just enough liquid to cook them and adjust the thickness at the liquidising stage with hot water. Also, the second time, I added a diced potatoe and piece of diced celeriac root (instead of celery in the recipe), both from the garden. These two ingredients are starchy, so thicken the soup.

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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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