A bowl of soup is just the right thing to warm you up on cold, cozy winter evenings when you want to snuggle up under your favorite blanket. But what do you reach for when you crave the same comfort during the warmer days? We have the right recipe for that! This homemade tomato basil soup is creamy, can be had cold, and is easily made with a handful of ingredients that are available in your kitchen or can be picked fresh from your kitchen garden.
How to Make Tomato Basil Soup?
You don’t need a lot of ingredients, equipment, or even time for this humble soup. What we prefer are fresh ingredients. Especially the tomatoes and basil. If you have access to a kitchen garden, pick your fresh tomatoes and basil as you start to prep for the soup.
Moreover, this soup can easily be stored for a couple of days in the refrigerator. But if you are in the mood for this soup in winter, we recommend having it hot. The recipe also makes it a vegan, ketogenic, whole 30-, and paleo-friendly soup and uses no dairy products. So how do you make it creamy? We use the gazpacho-inspired way, by slowly adding olive oil. Let us find out in the detailed recipe given below.
Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 kg tomatoes diced
- basil leaves
- 5 cloves garlic
- 0.5 kg yellow onion roughly chopped
- olive oil virgin
- black peppercorns freshly ground
- cumin powder
- salt to taste
Instructions
- To make tomato basil soup, place the saucepan on medium heat and add about a tablespoon of olive oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add peeled and crushed garlic cloves to the pan. Let the garlic turn slightly golden. Toss it around in the pan, if necessary.
- To this, add the onions and sauté till they turn translucent. You can use any onions for this, but yellow onions are preferable as they cook well in such processes.
- Thereafter, add cumin powder and peppercorns. Sauté this for about a minute.
- Once done, add tomatoes to the pan. Stir them till the tomatoes have softened, almost broken down and the mixture starts coming together in the pan. It is not necessary to deseed or peel the tomatoes, but you can do so if preferred.
- Add salt as per taste and stir it in well. Remove from heat.
- Meanwhile, roughly tear the basil leaves by hand and stir them into the pan. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes, or till it has cooled down a bit.
- Using a hand blender or a food processor, slowly start blending the mixture. Simultaneously, slowly start adding olive oil. Pour it from a slight height till you achieve a thick, creamy emulsion as desired.
- Serve this in a bowl. You can garnish as per your taste with croutons, toasted bread, basil leaves, or even parsley.
Notes
- You can obviously have the soup freshly prepared. But this is also useful if you are planning ahead. The tomato basil soup prepared using this recipe can be refrigerated for a couple of days. It is quite refreshing when it is served cold, but you can also microwave the required amount, if necessary.
- While tomato and basil are the stars, don't skip the garlic. Not only does garlic add a nice zing to your recipe, but it is also good for your health.
- If you don't mind adding a bit of dairy, you can top your soup with cheese or fresh cream. You can also add a small dollop of butter in the pan when you add oil.
Do you have a special soup that perks you up in summers? You can share it through our recipe submissions! Also, don’t forget to let us know how this recipe worked for you. We would love to hear from you in our comments section below.
