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Tomato soup is one of the most popular soups in the world. Unfortunately, however, to most people the idea of tomato soup has become synonymous with the factory produced, condensed canned varieties. While condensed, canned soups are convenient, they greatly lack in flavour, and you never really know what is in them, with those cleverly worded ingredient listings featuring things like “spices” or “natural flavours”. Not to mention the questionable ingredients that are often listed such as MSG. By making it yourself you will know what is in it and it will taste far better!

This recipe is not designed to be quick and convenient. It is designed to make great tomato soup. It is meant to be a simple tomato soup that can stand on its own or that can be used as a substitution in recipes that called for a can of tomato soup as an ingredient. This does not mean,  however, that this recipe is designed to mimic the quality of the canned version. It is far more delicious! It will take some time but you will find it well worth it.

This recipe makes four servings.

-Ingredients-

2 28 oz (796 ml) cans of Whole Tomatoes (or about 4 pounds of fresh tomatoes, peeled)

The quality of the tomatoes will make or break the soup. Be sure to use tomatoes with a good rich flavour and that are not bitter. If using fresh tomatoes be sure that they are very ripe and have preferably been vine ripened. The type of tomato you use is not as important as the quality, but if you can find good Roma tomatoes that would be a great choice. You will need to de-skin the tomatoes before you use them in this recipe.

1 cup Chicken Broth

It may seem strange for there to be chicken broth in a tomato soup but it is actually very important to add some deep savoury notes to the flavour of the soup. Canned food companies achieve this by using MSG, yeast extract, and/or any variety of undisclosed secret ingredients. The broth I’m using is homemade but you can use a canned or boxed broth if you wish. Alternatively, you can add one cup of water and add a raw chicken leg to the soup for the first hour of simmering, then take out the chicken leg. It will have the same effect.

½ Small Onion, diced

The exact amount isn’t crucial. I measured it just for arguments sake and it ended up being about a heaping quarter cup worth of diced onions. Yellow or White onions or any other kind with a similar taste will work.

½ teaspoon Minced Garlic

I used a pre-minced, jarred garlic. If you are using fresh garlic, just crush one clove.

¼ teaspoon Basil

I’m using dried basil, but If you want to use fresh basil just use about one or two leaves.

¼ teaspoon Thyme

Once again, I am using the dried herb but you may throw in a small sprig of fresh thyme if you prefer.

3 tablespoons Butter

You may use extra virgin olive oil for a healthier option. I used butter because I think it gives a nicer flavour to this recipe, but extra virgin olive oil will work just fine.

2 tablespoons Flour

Salt to taste

I use sea salt but you can use any kind you like.

Black Pepper to taste

Freshly cracked black pepper is best because the oils that hold all the flavour are preserved in the peppercorns when they are left intact. Black pepper that is pre-cracked and stored in powder form quickly loses most of its flavour and maintains its heat only.

-Method-

Put all tomatoes into a blender and liquefy them. If you can’t fit all of the tomatoes at once do it in shifts and put blended tomatoes into a bowl.

In a large pot, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium to medium low heat.

Add ½ small diced onion and ½ teaspoon minced garlic to the pot.

Saute the onions and garlic over medium to medium low heat for a few minutes. You don’t want to put any colour on them. You just want to sweat them a little.

Once the onions and garlic have cooked for a couple of minutes (they don’t have to be completely cooked), add the liquefied tomatoes. If needed, sieve out the seeds.

Use a spatula to gently press the tomatoes through the sieve. They wont go through by themselves.

Add ¼ teaspoon basil, ¼ teaspoon thyme, and 1 cup of chicken broth. (the chicken broth looks chunky in the picture because it was slightly frozen)

Stir well.

Bring the heat up to high and stir the soup occasionally as it comes to a boil. This will take a few minutes.

Once the soup boils turn the heat down to low and allow the soup to simmer, uncovered, for three hours, stirring every 15 to 30 minutes as needed. The long simmer is needed to develop the flavour of the tomatoes, as well as to let some water evaporate.

Hour one.                                          Hour two.                                           Hour three.

After the three hour simmer you should have a thick, but not TOO thick, soup. If it is thicker than you think you want it there will be a fix in a little while… For now, the next step is to blend the soup in order to incorporate the onions completely, and make the soup very smooth. Do this in two to three batches and be careful. If you want to wait a few minutes and let the soup cool before you blend that is ok.

Now you will be making a roux in order to give the soup richness and more flavour. It will thicken it a bit too but if it is thicker than you like once you are finished with the following process feel free to add water to thin the soup. In a separate saucepan melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium to medium low heat.

Add 2 tablespoons of flour to the butter.

Whisk the flour and butter to combine.

Very quickly you will have a thick liquid called a roux. At first it will be a light creamy colour like in the picture.

Keep whisking the roux and let it bubble gently. Its important to keep the heat moderate because you don’t want to burn the roux. It will slowly begin to turn darker. This is good. You want it to become a nice light brown colour. This should happen after a couple minutes.

Once you have darkened the roux, add a small amount of soup (no need to measure, but about a quarter to a half cup will work) to the roux and whisk quickly.

It will thicken very quickly and will become almost like a wet dough.

The moment all of the soup that you have added to the roux is incorporated add a bit more soup. Whisk quickly to incorporate.

At this point you may add the rest of the soup to the roux mixture. Whisk and mix well.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for at least another couple of minutes so that the roux can work its magic and add texture to the soup.

At this point the soup is done. You have a few options of what to do now. You can serve it as is and it will be very nice, or you can let it cool and refrigerate over night and heat up the next day to eat. This extra step will allow the tomatoes to develop their flavour even further and the soup will taste even better. Another thing you could do is to simmer the soup for another hour or so until it is very condensed. You may then use it for a recipe calling for condensed tomato soup, or you can just freeze it in serving sized amounts and when you want quick tomato soup later on you can add water and cook it quickly.

At any time you can adjust the thickness by adding water to thin it, or by simmering to thicken. Also feel free to add cream or milk to make a lovely cream of tomato soup.

I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to serve tomato soup without grilled cheese, so be sure to have some at hand!

If your goal was to make a soup that tastes like Campbell’s, you may find that this, while close, is not quite right. I think that it tastes better, but this is just my opinion. This soup has a complex and savoury tomato flavour, which I find desirable. Campbell’s tomato soup is much sweeter. I do not think that this has always been the case. I know that they changed their recipe a few years back and I think that part of that change was that it became sweeter. I used to love Campbell’s tomato soup. Now the sweetness is repulsive to me. Anyway, if the current Campbell’s tomato soup flavour is what you are after, simply add sugar, a couple dashes at a time to this finished soup and taste as you go. Once it is sweetened sufficiently, it will be pretty close to Campbell’s tomato soup. The recipe as is, without added sugar, is probably closer to the old version of Campbell’s tomato soup.

-Printable Version-