This Lighter Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup is made with fresh tomatoes, and it's a perfect way to use up garden tomatoes.
Can you believe summer is coming to an end? I can't, or at least I refuse to believe it. What makes it even harder to believe is the fact that this weekend has been the hottest our little corner of Wisconsin has seen all summer.
With late summer (and ahem...fall) comes a bounty of garden vegetables. My zucchini seem to be (sort of) tapering off the past week or so, but my tomatoes are turning red like crazy! I've got 4 or 5 different varieties. Some big, some small, some orangey, some pinkish, all delicious.
I've got a couple of favorite uses for tomatoes, neither of which really require much of a recipe. One is a simple Caprese salad. Tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, salt, and pepper. And can't forget a nice thick piece of crusty bread to sop up all the juices.
My all-time favorite is a bacon and tomato sandwich, a BLT sans lettuce if you will. I love it on nice soft, fresh whole wheat bread. Yum!
But today we're making something with slightly more advanced cooking skills: Lighter Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup.
A few years ago, I never would have even considered making cream of tomato soup from scratch. It just came out of a can. Maybe, if you were getting fancy, it might have rice in it.
But then I had a major soup cooking phase. I learned how to cook all kinds of soups from scratch, and they all came out tasting much better than the canned stuff. And much healthier too.
But this is the first time I've ever made Cream of Tomato soup with fresh tomatoes. I needed a recipe to use up the 5 pounds of tomatoes sitting around on my counter, plus all of the ones that are still out on the vine!
The ingredients to make tomato soup are fewer than I would expect: carrots, onion, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt, and pepper. Even the cream (well not really cream, more on that later) is optional.
But there is quite a bit of chopping involved, and tomatoes aren't exactly the easiest to chop, so the prep takes a while. The soup also has to simmer for 30-40 minutes, so make sure you have lots of time on your hands when you plan on making it.
When the soup is done cooking, you will puree it and, if you want, strain it. I did try the soup without straining, and, while it is still obviously edible, it was a bit seedy for my taste.
I was torn deciding whether to strain or not. On one hand, I like my soup on the chunky side. On the other hand, I'm just really not a huge fan of tomato seeds. Straining it ended up being the way to go.
The seeds and skins make for an unenjoyable soup, and it's definitely best to strain the majority of them out.
Now's where the "cream" in the cream of tomato soup comes from. Or at least in my lighter version. Evaporated milk. You know, the stuff that comes from a can. I use it for all my cream-based soups instead of heavy cream or half and half to drastically cut the fat and calories. You won't even notice a difference! Plus, it's pretty easy to keep a can of evaporated milk in the pantry in case of a last-minute creamy soup craving.
Now, one more funny story. It's a good one, I promise. The other night when we ate this soup, my 2-year-old refused to try it. In fact, she pretty routinely refuses to try any vegetables. Who would have thought...a dietitian's daughter not eating veggies!
While refusing to taste the soup, she repeatedly asked for a popsicle. So I made her a tomato soup popsicle.
She had mixed responses. At first, it was "not good", but then she warmed up to it and said "pretty good". In the end, she only ate half of it, and she hasn't asked for another popsicle since. But at least she tasted it!
Make sure to use vegetable broth for a vegetarian soup. Note that the fiber content will be less than what is shown in the Nutrition Information in the recipe below after straining.
Want more Tomato Recipes?
Lighter Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup Nutrition Notes:
Note that this soup is quite low in calories and protein. Serve it with a sandwich (grilled cheese is perfect) to make a complete meal.
To reduce the sodium content of this soup, use low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth. Note that this is also a great recipe to try MSG-salt.
Lighter Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 pounds fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- ¼ cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 12 ounce can 2% evaporated milk
Instructions
- Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and carrots and cook until soft, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the tomato paste, and cook until the tomato paste is browned and beginning to stick to the pot, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, pepper, and baking soda. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Note that when you add the baking soda, the mixture will froth and there will be a layer of foam on the top of the soup. Don't worry, this is normal.
- Remove from heat. Puree using an immersion blender (carefully). Strain the soup, using a fine mesh strainer, stirring and pressing pulp against the mesh to remove all liquid. Discard pulp (see note).
- Stir in evaporated milk. Return to medium heat to reheat. Serve with extra basil to garnish, and with croutons if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer: I try my best to make sure the nutrition information I provide is accurate to provide you with the best information possible. However, due to ingredient discrepancies and other factors, the above nutrition information should be considered an estimation only.
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