Ina Garten’s Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
The best-rated Roasted Tomato Basil Soup. This recipe relies on fresh tomatoes and herbs rather than cream or milk. It’s rich and full of flavor.
More Soup Recipes! Classic comfort soups, such as Sicilian Chicken Soup or One-Pot Chicken Stew and fresh tomato basil soup never get old.
This is a 5-star rated recipe with over 400+ comments. It’s the best tomato basil soup recipe in my opinion. I first stumbled on Ina Garten’s fresh tomato basil soup recipe years ago. Ever since it’s become our go-to recipe.
It relies on seasonal ingredients such as plum tomatoes, fresh basil, and thyme. It’s thick and rich with an amazing depth of flavor. The recipe is truly perfect and I only made a few slightest changes to the original.
Tomato Basil Soup Recipe
Roasted tomato soup is all about the fresh tomatoes, which are oven roasted until sweet and caramelized, then simmered in chicken stock with ton of fresh basil. Not to mention the crushed red pepper flakes, which add a slight kick to the soup.
The soup is pureed in a blender instead of passing it through a food mill. You can also use a large food processor or even better an immersion blender.
The outcome is perfection! Super creamy (but without the cream) with ton of flavor from the fresh basil, garlic, and thyme.
Add-In Ideas:
Once you master this basic fresh tomato basil soup recipe, you can dress it up with additional flavors, such as:
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh herbs, such as basil, thyme
- Splash of something creamy
- Drizzle of fresh pesto
- Croutons
How to Make Tomato Basil Soup
- Roast the Tomatoes – Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Set aside.
Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and toss with 1/4 cup olive oil. Layer on the baking sheet in a single layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast for 45 minutes.
- Cook the Soup – Heat a large dutch-oven over medium heat. Add butter and remaining olive oil. When butter has melted, add the onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Add a pinch of salt, stir, and cook for about 10 minutes.
Stir in canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, roasted tomatoes, including the juices, and chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring the soup back to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes, uncovered.
- Puree and Serve – Transfer the soup to a blender and purée until smooth. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and drizzle of cream or dollop of sour cream. And don’t forget grilled cheese. It’s our absolute favorite.
How Do You Freeze Tomato Basil Soup?
What’s great about this soup is that you’re guaranteed a bowl of fresh tomato basil soup any time a craving strikes as it freezes so well. Here’s how you do it:
- Cool the soup completely.
- Ladle into quart size freezer bags, about 2/3 full.
- Seal tightly, squeezing out as much air as possible.
- Label, date, and lay bag flat to freeze.
- Thaw soup overnight in the refrigerator, reheat and serve.
These containers are also a great alternative to bags. Just leave about an inch of space between the soup and the container’s lid.
Tip! Hold back on any dairy or non-dairy milk or cream when freezing soup as it can easily separate when rewarmed. Simply add it in when reheating the soup.
What do You Eat with Tomato Basil Soup?
- Cheese Bread Puffs – made in a blender and kids love them!
- Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich – classic tomato soup side
- Avocado Caesar Salad with Cucumbers – perfect soup combo
- Parmesan Cheese Crisps – great way to add some crunch to the soup
- Grilled Steak Salad – it’s a delicious summer pairing
- Italian Prosciutto Sandwich – soup and sandwich is a great pairing
Video: How to Make Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
More recipes from Ina Garten! Try Ina Garten Scalloped Potato Recipe, Ina Garten’s Tuna Salad, or Ina Garten’s Turkey Lasagna Recipe.
PrintIna Garten’s Roasted Tomato Basil Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 40 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 mins
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
The best roasted tomato basil soup recipe on the internet! This recipe relies on fresh tomatoes and herbs rather than cream or milk. It’s rich and full of flavor.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 cups chopped yellow onions
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 (28 oz) can whole plum tomatoes, with juice
- 4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
- 4 cups chicken stock (homemade or store bought)
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Gently toss the tomatoes with 1/4 cup olive oil and layer on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast for 45 minutes.
- In a large dutch-oven, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of salt. Sauté until onions are translucent and start to brown, about 10 minutes.
- Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, roasted tomatoes, including the juices, and chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring the soup back to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes, uncovered.
- Transfer the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve with drizzle of cream or dollop of sour cream, fresh parmesan, and side of grilled cheese.
Notes
adapted from the Food Network by Ina Garten.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 228
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 186.4 mg
- Fat: 17.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.5 g
- Protein: 5.5 g
- Cholesterol: 11.2 mg
Keywords: comfort food, fresh, grilled cheese, healthy
This soup is amazing, I made it for the first time last season. I used amish paste tomatoes from my garden and followed the recipe from there. I struggle with the garlic because I don’t know how big a clove shoud be, but I have found that the more I use the better I like it, and i t burns for hours in my tummy. 🤗 I just now made my first batch for this season, I use my vitamix so it’s velvety not chunky. I had a small bowl before I added the chicken broth and canned tomatoes and now I’m torn. It was so much better to me without those items. (How can that be, it is perfect just as the recipe is written) It was thicker, but wow! I’m going to pressure can the soup I just finished making and make a new batch to freeze. This time I’m stopping before adding the broth and canned tomatoes. I am then going to roast some snack peppers in olive oil and puree them to add to my serving for dinner. I feel like this soup can be endlessly adjusted to make so many different amazing soups. Thank you, I never dreamed I would like fresh tomato soup without sugar. This is the best!
The best I ever made!!!
★★★★★
This is delicious. I doubled the recipe with fresh tomatoes,4 onions, 3 sweet Italian Peppers, 1 Poblano Pepper and 1 Jalapeno pepper, fresh picked from my garden. I omitted the red pepper flake.
I absolutely love this tomato soup. Can I cook some orzo and then toss it in there?
I think that would be tasty!
Oh how I have enjoyed this soup!!’ Made a big pit mid last week and already running to the store for ingredients to make more!! I love having a vacuum sealer to keep it fresh for a cold or rainy day to!! Yum!!!
★★★★★
I plam to make the roasted tomato soup soon. Just want to clarify … is it really 4 CUPS of basil leaves?
Correct!
Making this now! I subbed in some Campari tomatoes for the Roma, as they looked better. And I went ahead and roasted the head of garlic and the quartered onion with them too! My house smells amazing…
I hope you enjoy it!
Hi Kayta,
I love this recipe and have made it a couple times. I’d like to serve it to a group of friends on Friday and am wondering if I can roast the tomatoes a few days ahead to cut down on the preparation?
Thanks!
Hi Mary: I think it should be okay. Just make sure to scoop up all the pan juices with the tomatoes.
Just made this. Yielded 84 oz. plenty for me to share with another family. It’s fantastic. I added about a third cup of roasted red peppers.
It took a while, but well worth it!
Substituted crushed tomatoes with purée for the whole tomatoes.
You and Ina make this a better life for all who make it.
★★★★★
my son and I made this tonight because we were craving tomato soup and grilled cheese. I omitted the basil because I just don’t love it. this soup is amazing! it will for sure be in our fall and winter dinner rotation!
★★★★★
I’m not a huge fan of tomato soup because it can be heavy, but this is absolutely delicious! You really taste the fresh garden tomatoes. It doesn’t need a drop of cream or cheese in my opinion. I omitted the canned tomatoes (because I didn’t have them on hand) and only used three cups of broth. It turned out beautifully.
★★★★★
Great recipe! I mean….it turned out like a high-end restaurant quality bisque. I used up all my tomatoes (I used Romas) from my garden that were starting to go bad and it turned out amazing. Only item I changed was chicken stock. I used vegetable stock because we’re vegetarians.
I made 3X the recipe and plan on freezing in individual serving containers. We’ll look forward to this soup this coming winter.
★★★★★
Thank you for such a lovely feedback! So happy you enjoyed the soup.
I always make a double recipe. I use 4-5 lbs of vine ripened tomatoes to about 2-3 of Romas. That makes a total of 6 quarts of soup plus 1 pint.
Loved the soup! So delicious.
★★★★★
I see you didn’t like my coment because you didn’t publish it. Well, I don’t think it merited not being published, but suit yourself. If you don’t want to learn or be open to new or different points of view, I guess it’s your prerogative. But if you only publish coments that agree with you, you’re giving a false impresion to your visitors. Anyway, do what you want.
I try to answer every single comment published on my site and I do it myself and not rely on someone else. I’m sorry I didn’t answer your comment in a timely fashion to suit your time and needs. And no I do approve comments that are constructive and helpful to others.
Hi, thanks for sharing this recipe, it looks delicious. I have a question, though. Why do you use cups as a measureing unit for ingredients like fresh basil leaves? It makes no sense, as a cup of this ingredient might yield completely different amounts to different people, depending on whether they measure with tightly packed cups or loosely filled ones. It makes for a very confusing system, when you could just use grams, which are precise and exact.
I understand it is part of your culture and I have nothing against it. In fact, bear in mind that I only pointed it out in reagrds to an ingredient. But it is very inexact and can lead to all kinds of miscalculations. I hope you will consider using grams instead, at least for these types of ingredients that lend themselves to possible confusion. Thanks
Hi Marco: I agree, grams or ounces are probably more accurate here but most of my readers are US based and rely on cups for measurements. Not many have a food scale in their kitchen. So my recipes reflect that. I appreciate your input though.
Hi Katya, I have only just seen both of your replies to my messages. And I have to say, I’m sorry I wrote de second one. It was out of line and I would like to apologise. I must have been having a bad day. I am sorry.
Thank you for your reply, the time you dedicate to sharing your recipes and knowledge, and for this recipe, which my wife and I have both made a few times and enjoyed a lot.
Marco: I appreciate your comment. No hard feelings at all! Thank you for making my recipes and taking the time to leave me feedback.
Cooking doesn’t need to be exact. Baking I understand and agree with using weighted measures. Cooking? Eh. Not so much “part of our culture” than just understanding how ingredients work together in a soup.
★★★★★
So good! I added a quartered red pepper to the tomatoes while they were roasting- highly recommend! This is such an easy, forgiving, adaptable recipe.
★★★★★
This is SO good and simple to make. Topped with sour cream or shredded asiago cheese it is awesome. Perfect with grilled cheese. Printed to keep just in case!
★★★★★
It was the best recipe for roasted tomato soup I have made. But I would definitely use less basil next time, way too much.
★★★★★
Thank you!