This Easy & Creamy Tomato Soup recipe comes together in just 30 minutes, making it a perfect easy weeknight meal. Add some fun flavor with a swirl of pesto! It's a vegan and gluten-free recipe the whole family will love.
Love soup? Check our this roundup of all of my favorite vegan soup recipes!
Ingredients Needed for Vegan Tomato Soup
The ingredients for this soup are pretty standard and it's likely you have many on hand right now. The key components include:
- Olive oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- One 28 oz. can high-quality whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 large carrot
- 1 cup frozen cauliflower
- Salt
- Dried basil and oregano
After a quick sauté of onions, veggies, and garlic you add in the canned tomatoes, some dried oregano and basil, and some water. Very simple!
How to Make Tomato Soup Creamy
The recipe below shows a few tips for the creamiest tomato soup. First, unsurprisingly, the soup needs to be blended after simmering. This creates a cohesive texture and melds flavors even more. Using an immersion blender makes this process particularly stress-free. If you don't have one, you may want to let the soup cool a bit before adding to an upright blender.
Secondly, frozen cauliflower is a very useful addition that gives the soup body and fiber. This is a similar technique used to thicken smoothies in place of ice cubes. I like to keep frozen cauliflower rice on hand for these occasions, but an equal amount of whole florets will work as well.
Tips for Making Soup with Canned Tomatoes
Tomato soup made with fresh tomatoes is certainly delicious, but only when tomatoes are at their peak of freshness (late summer for most people in the Northern Hemisphere). I am happy to say that soup made with canned produce can be just as delicious, if you find the proper brand.
The Best Kind of Tomatoes for Soup
Brand: For this recipe I used Bianco DiNapoli, which was voted the NY Times #1 Canned Tomato of 2020. These tomatoes are grown in Northern California and do not have the metallic/bitter taste that can sometimes accompany canned goods. If this brand is not available to you, I recommend Muir Glen or Cento.
Style: This recipe requires one 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (which typically come in a small amount of puree). Avoid purchasing diced tomatoes as these are often processed in a way that they are harder to break down. Whole peeled tomatoes from a reputable brand should break down easily with the back of your spoon, and process nicely when blended.
How to Make Tomato Soup with Fresh Tomatoes
If you are reading this during a time when tomatoes are in season, I recommend trying this recipe with fresh produce! Look for about 28 ounces, or 3.5 cups, of ripe, soft Roma tomatoes. If they have a thick skin you'll want to peel this before adding to the soup. Since canned tomatoes come in a puree, you may want to add a bit of tomato paste to mimic the body that a puree can provide.
Topping and Serving Ideas:
- Pesto (shown here)
- Cherry tomatoes
- Sesame seeds
- Croutons
- Grilled Cheese
- Fresh basil and parsley
- Garlic Rolls
Love tomatoes? Try one of these recipes next:
- Pesto Tomato Toast Tartine
- Grilled Veggie Party Sub with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
- Whipped Ricotta Tomato Toast
- Peach Tomato Caprese
- Cherry Tomato Pasta alla Vodka
- Sweet Corn Pasta with Basil and Tomatoes
More Vegan Soup Recipes
- Chickpea Orzo Soup
- Pesto Zuppa Toscana
- Beet Carrot Ginger Soup
- Miso Dumpling Soup
- Vegan Pantry Chili
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
I hope you enjoy this easy vegan tomato soup recipe! Be sure to tag me on Instagram and leave a comment below if you give them a try.
Creamy Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 TBS Olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 cup frozen cauliflower florets or frozen cauliflower rice
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 yellow orange, or red bell pepper, diced (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 small cloves garlic minced or grated
- 28 oz can high-quality peeled tomatoes
- 1-2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano
- 3 TBS nutritional yeast optional
- 1 cup cooked white beans optional
- ½ TBS organic cane sugar
- Pesto for serving (optional)
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, add a couple TBS olive oil. Saute onion for about 5 minutes, stirring, until slightly golden. Add cauliflower, carrots, and optional bell pepper and saute 2 minutes more. Add garlic and salt, stir, and let cook for 30-60 seconds.
- Add large can of tomatoes along with salt, dried basil, and oregano. Stir to combine and add 1-2 cups water. I normally do this by filling up my same tomato can with water and adding that. No need to precisely measure!
- Bring soup to a boil and then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in maple syrup and optional nutritional yeast, if using. If you have an immersion blender, now is the time to partially blend the soup so that it becomes more thick.
- If you don't have an immersion blender, let your soup cool for a few minutes and add it to a regular blender to combine. If you'd like, add some white beans now also.
Dan says
So tasty!
Emily says
I'm glad you liked it!!
Mario says
🙌ðŸ¼
Emily says
Thank you for reading!!