Easy Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup
Campari tomatoes were BOGO this week at Publix, and since tomato soup is my son’s favorite, I obviously took that as a sign. 🍅
I grabbed several packages with plans to make a big batch of homemade tomato soup but when it came time to actually make it, I really didn’t feel like dealing with a food processor or transferring hot soup back and forth from a blender. I wanted something I could roast on a sheet pan, dump into a pot and blend right there.
Enter the immersion blender.
I played around with my usual tomato soup ingredients and ended up with this creamy roasted tomato soup that was easy, super flavorful and required very little cleanup. The tomatoes, garlic, onion and red bell pepper all got roasted together at a high temperature, then I finish them under the broiler for just a few minutes to get a little char on everything.
That last step makes a HUGE difference!
The roasted vegetables go straight into hot chicken broth with fresh basil and white pepper, and then the immersion blender does all the work. A little heavy cream at the end makes it creamy without turning it into a bowl of cream that happens to have tomatoes in it.
Then, top it off with Parmesan and fresh basil and, if you’re in our house, grilled cheese is pretty much mandatory.
Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup
Makes 6 one-cup servings
Ingredients
3 pounds ripe tomatoes (we love Campari 🍅)
6 cloves garlic, peeled
½ onion, diced
½ red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and black pepper, to taste
¾ teaspoon dried basil
¾ teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups chicken broth
½ teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons fresh basil
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, for garnish
Thinly sliced fresh basil, for garnish
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 450°F.
Rinse the tomatoes and cut them into approximately 1-inch chunks.
Add the tomatoes, peeled garlic cloves, diced onion and red bell pepper to a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle everything with the olive oil, then season with salt, black pepper, dried basil and dried oregano. Toss everything together so the vegetables are evenly coated.
Roast for 15 minutes, give everything a good stir, then roast for another 10 minutes.
Now for the important part.
Switch your oven to high broil and broil the vegetables for 2 minutes. Stir, then broil for another 2 minutes.
Stand right there and watch them. This is not the time to unload the dishwasher or start scrolling Instagram. 😂 You want some of the tomatoes and vegetables to get dark and charred around the edges, but you definitely don’t want them to burn or dry anything up.
While the vegetables are finishing, bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large pot.
Add the entire roasted tomato mixture to the broth, including all of the juices on the baking sheet. Add the white pepper and fresh basil.
Using an immersion blender, carefully blend everything directly in the pot until smooth.
Pour in the heavy whipping cream and blend again until the soup is creamy and everything is completely incorporated.
Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.
Spoon into bowls and top with grated Parmesan cheese and thinly sliced fresh basil.
Don’t Skip the Broiling Step
You could technically just roast the vegetables and move on, but those last few minutes under the broiler are worth babysitting the oven for.
Getting a little char on the tomatoes, peppers and onions concentrates their flavor and adds a deeper roasted flavor to the finished soup. You aren’t trying to blacken everything. You’re just looking for those darker caramelized spots around the edges.
Why Campari Tomatoes?
I use Campari tomatoes all the time because they’re naturally sweet, juicy and usually have much better flavor than larger grocery store tomatoes, especially when tomatoes aren’t at their summer peak.
They’re also the perfect size for roasting when chopped in half.
That said, this isn’t one of those recipes where you have to hunt down one very specific tomato. If you have really good ripe tomatoes available, use them.
And if Campari tomatoes happen to be BOGO at Publix? Even better! 🙌
The Immersion Blender Makes This So Easy
If you make a lot of soups and sauces and don’t have an immersion blender, it’s a relatively inexpensive kitchen tool that’s definitely worth owning. With it, everything stays in the same pot. Just blend the roasted vegetables and broth until smooth, add the cream, give it another quick blend and you’re done.
What to Serve with Homemade Tomato Soup
For us, there is only one correct answer: grilled cheese.
Few things are better than dunking a crispy, buttery grilled cheese sandwich into creamy tomato soup. The perfect comfort food!
But you could also serve this with crusty bread, garlic bread, a simple salad or even half a sandwich for an easy lunch.
This is exactly the kind of recipe I love having in my back pocket for fall and winter. It uses simple ingredients, most of the work happens in the oven, there aren’t a million dishes afterward, and it tastes like you put considerably more effort into the meal than you actually did.
Those are my favorite kinds of recipes. ❤️