Smoky Roasted Tomato Soup
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You’ll never again be satisfied with canned soup after trying this smoky roasted tomato soup, with a plentitude of roasted vegetables, enhanced with smoked paprika and red pepper flakes.
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: The soup is so richly flavorful and nutritious, low in calories and sodium.
How long it takes: 1 hour, 20 minutes but most of that time is hands off
Equipment you’ll need: sheet pan, soup pan, immersion blender
Servings: 6
Tired of canned tomato soup’s blah flavor and unappetizing color? Did you know that a popular brand in a red can has 12 grams of sugar and 480 mg of sodium hidden in every serving? Yikes, and it’s not even very good.
You’re going to love this homemade smoky roasted tomato soup! It’s chock full of additional vegetables, which are roasted right along with tomatoes. The flavor is way beyond canned soup–you won’t even believe the difference! And there’s no cream or milk added.
Is anything better on a chilly day than a steaming bowl of tomato soup?
Grab a bowl of soup (I like to spoon it out of a big mug), snuggle into a cozy blanket, and curl up in front of the fireplace with a can’t-set-it-down book, and life seems perfect.
This hearty soup will warm you up from the inside out. (Especially if you get heavy-handed with the red pepper flakes like I often do.)
Drink it out of a thermos while you’re taking a break from snowshoeing or cross country skiing. Perfect!
About This Tomato Soup
Roasted tomato soup begins with fresh tomatoes. Maybe you have a garden full of tomatoes right now. This roasted tomato soup is a great way to use summer produce! It freezes well so you can store it up for later.
I love that there’s not a bunch of cream dumped into this tomato soup. It has a creamy smooth texture with no cream. It’s perfect for a healthy meatless lunch or dinner, or as a vegetarian or vegan entree. Perfect if you’re lactose intolerant or gluten intolerant, too, or if you’re doing Whole30.
Of course, if you want to stir some heavy cream into the soup, I won’t argue with you. In fact, I’ve included instructions for how to do that on the recipe card below.
I’ll run through the recipe here and give you lots of extra tips.
You’ll find the printable recipe card near the end of the post with complete instructions and nutrition information.
What You’ll Need
- Roma Tomatoes: Roma or plum tomatoes have more meat, and not as much juice or seeds. It’s the same type of tomato you would use to make spaghetti sauce or salsa. Roma tomatoes are red, small and firm, with a long oval shape.
- Onions: A couple of small yellow cooking onions are perfect. Another type of onion works fine too.
- Carrots: For natural sweetness to tone down the acidity of the tomatoes, carrots are roasted and added to the soup. They add nutrition as well.
- Garlic: Three cloves of garlic are added to the roasting pan (either in a foil packet or not). Sounds like a lot but roasting really mellows out the sharp flavor of garlic.
- Olive Oil, Salt, and Pepper: Added to the vegetables for the roasting process.
- Canned Whole Tomatoes: Yup, even more tomatoes!
- Broth: Either chicken or vegetable broth is fine. Look for low or no-sodium varieties.
- Dried Oregano: If you have fresh, that’s even more perfect!
- Smoked Paprika: The bold flavor of smoked paprika is essential to really drive home the smoky essence of this roasted tomato soup. It’s made by drying red peppers over a smoky fire and it’s so good! It’s very different than basic paprika.
- Red Pepper Flakes: For a little zing and heat! Add as much or as little as you like.
How To Make This Recipe
Begin by tossing the tomatoes, carrots, and onions on a sheet pan with a good dose of olive oil, salt, and pepper. The garlic cloves are roasted whole in a foil packet so they steam and get really soft (garlic is shown open for photos, but close it up so that it steams!). Pop it all into a hot oven until the veggies are soft and caramelized.
I could totally just stop right here and eat the roasted vegetables! Roasting brings out such great flavor in the veggies. I love roasted vegetables.
After the vegetables are roasted, put them into a large saucepan or stockpot, and add red pepper flakes, smoked paprika, and oregano, a can of tomatoes, and broth. Crush the tomatoes against the side of the pan with your spoon to break them up a little.
Simmer until everything is heated up and the veggies are really tender. It won’t take long, only about 20 minutes.
Use an immersion blender or a regular blender to puree the soup; or, if you prefer, don’t puree the soup. Quite honestly, it’s good either way, pureed or chunky. The longer you puree it, the smoother it will be.
Serve roasted tomato soup with homemade corn muffins or corn bread, or crackers and protein-rich edamame dip. Or a grilled cheese sandwich, of course, because tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches is a classic combination! Have you ever tried making grilled cheese sandwiches in your air fryer? Perfection!
Garnish the soup with grated cheese or homemade croutons! These crispy homemade Cheez-Its go really well with tomato soup.
FAQs
You won’t need to add anything to this smoky roasted tomato soup because it’s very flavorful. If you’re referring to canned tomato soup, try adding dried or fresh oregano or basil, smoked paprika, or red pepper flakes.
Tomatoes provide lots of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. One of the most important is lycopene which helps prevent many chronic diseases. Heating or cooking tomatoes actually helps your body absorb this important carotenoid (Healthline) so the answer is yes! Roasted tomatoes are healthy.
The easiest and fastest way to thicken tomato soup is to stir in a few tablespoons of instant potato flakes. Stirring in heavy cream will also thicken the soup slightly. Note: Stir in heavy cream over very low heat and don’t boil.
If you have a little more time, simmer the soup longer to allow excess liquid to evaporate.
Make-Ahead Ideas
The vegetables can be roasted at least a day ahead of time. After they’ve cooled a bit, put them into a covered container and refrigerate. When it’s time to make the soup, add the roasted vegetables to the pan and go from there. You’ll save about an hour of prep time at dinner.
I like to make a double batch of the soup. Cool, and put extra soup into airtight containers and refrigerate or freeze.
Storage & Reheating Tips
Leftover soup can be refrigerated for up to 5 days. Because it doesn’t have cream or milk, this soup is perfect for freezing, and will keep for at least three months. Thaw frozen soup overnight in the fridge before reheating, for best results.
To reheat, gently heat soup on the stove until warm, or fill a microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave.
More Tomato Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot Tomato Soup – creamy & easy to make!
- Healthy Creamy Tomato Soup – a pureed soup made with canned white beans
- Slow Cooker Tomato Basil Soup with Tortellini
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (9-10) Roma tomatoes, washed and sliced in half lengthwise
- 2 small onions, quartered
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 3 large cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 can (14.5 oz.) whole tomatoes, undrained
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth (reduced sodium, if possible)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (about ¼ teaspoon, more to taste)
- Suggested garnishes: shredded cheese, croutons, fresh chopped parsley or basil, or crackers.
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, optional (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the tomatoes, onions, and carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange tomatoes cut side up. Use small square of foil to make a small packet for your garlic. Place the foil packet on the baking sheet with the other vegetables. Roast for about 45 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.
- Add the roasted vegetables, canned tomatoes (crush them against the side of the pan with spoon), broth, oregano, smoked paprika, and red pepper flakes to a large stockpot. Remove garlic cloves from foil packet and add to soup.
- Cook over medium low heat until everything is heated and the carrots are tender (if they weren't from the roasting), about 20 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until it is smooth. You can use a blender or a food processor too, just be careful and do it in small batches.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Serve with desired garnishes.
Notes
- For a creamier soup, over very low heat, slowly stir in heavy cream. Do not boil.
- Soup can be garnished with shredded cheese, croutons, fresh chopped parsley or basil, or crackers.
- Nutrition information does not include garnishes or heavy cream.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Bree says
Too funny–I was just out on my porch taking pictures too. I am sure the neighbors also think I am crazy! This looks great :)
amanda @ fake ginger says
You know, I had a baby a few months back. You can deliver a bowl of this to my door. :P
Tara @ Chip Chip Hooray says
This sounds incredible–I am totally with you on the roasted vegetable love! What I wouldn’t give to have a big bowl of this right now…it’d be perfect!!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
Mmm those roasted tomatoes are lovely! Yum!
Amber @ Amber's Confections says
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who takes pictures on the balcony. I live in an apartment complex where all the balconies face one another and the parking lot. I always fear that my neighbors think I’m a crazy person with a weird obsession with my food. Sometimes I’ll even run back inside if I see one of them come out. I’ll wait for them to leave then dash back outside!
Rachel says
Yup, neighbors probably think I’m crazy as well considering I often am found taking photos of various food on the front porch while my pig is out eating the lawn and there’s a duck sleeping behind me. They just don’t understand! ;)
I looooooooove tomato soup! And I love that bowl you have it served in!
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel says
The photos are wonderful! Soup is absolutely a perfect cold day food :)
Bev Weidner says
This is my faaaaavorite soup, oh my lands.
Kathryn says
I can so completely relate to taking pictures in weird places. I have had to resort to photographing food in the hallway of my apartment block or in the car park before and I’m sure everyone thinks I’m insane! It was worth it for these fabulous pictures though, this soup looks delicious and I love the touch of spice!
Julie @ Table for Two says
Your hubby didn’t have any of it?! You had a lucky friend, then! I would’ve wanted at least 2 or 3 bowls of this. It looks awesome! I love tomato soup. Probably the number 1 soup I get whenever I go out and want soup and salad. A grilled cheese with your soup sounds so good right now…it’s only 840am too lol
Julia says
I’m sure my neighbors think the same of me… haha! Soooooo need to try this, especially since I somehow have a few pounds of tomatoes AND onions on my counter right now. Mmmm, I really love tomato soup!
the wicked noodle says
This is exactly how I make my roasted tomato soup! Sometimes I’ll use chipotle powder in place of the smoked paprika (or a combo of the two), or I’ll add a tsp or so of adobo sauce from a can of chipotles. But I spice up pretty much everything I make ;-)
Mackenzie says
This is the perfect weather for soup! The pictures are awesome, the recipe sounds delish. I will be making this.
Blog is the New Black says
Oooooh, WANT! I heart tomato soup!
Averie @ Love Veggies and Yoga says
the soup looks awesome and love the story of the neighbors/10am.
I know people think Im crazy when Im standing in the grocery store photographing something with my iphone…like why on earth would someone do that…simple: she’s a food blogger :)