This 45-minute weeknight tomato soup turns humble supermarket grape tomatoes into a silky, dunkable bowl of comfort that’ll make you forget canned soup ever existed.
This isn’t SaedNews' only tomato soup — there’s an archived roasted-summer-tomato version that pairs with an open-faced grilled-cheese sandwich, and a more elaborate cream-of-tomato adapted from Cook’s Illustrated — but it’s different from both: a seasonless, dependable tomato soup I can throw together on any rainy day (and make those obligatory grilled-cheeses) in under an hour. The older recipes each have their virtues — the roasted-tomato one shines when tomatoes are at their peak, and the Cook’s Illustrated–derived version is lovely if you have the time and inclination to fuss — but over the last couple of winters this simple weeknight version has taken precedence in my kitchen. What makes it great for us:
– Use ordinary grocery-store tomatoes: If you, like me, often buy cherry or grape tomatoes and don’t always finish them, this is the recipe for you. I don’t mean fabulous, peak-season garden cherries — save those for snacking or salads — but the average, inoffensive supermarket grape tomatoes you find in winter. This soup argues that even mediocre off-season grape or cherry tomatoes outperform canned tomatoes in flavor and nuance; you’ll taste the difference in the bowl. And sweetness: many cream-of-tomato recipes add sugar, but I find that store-bought grape tomatoes often provide enough natural sweetness, so you might not need extra.
– A straightforward flavor base: The rest of the recipe is about layering simple, familiar flavors — onions sweated in butter until sweet and just starting to brown at the edges, sliced garlic, red-pepper flakes to preference, an optional splash of sherry, a hit of tomato paste, and whatever stock you like (vegetable or chicken). It simmers for about 15 minutes (the perfect time to make grilled-cheese sandwiches) and then gets puréed until smooth.
– Cream is optional: This was originally intended as a cream-of-tomato soup, and you can certainly stir in cream at the end to your taste. But the texture from the tomatoes and sweet onions is already so velvety and smooth that you may decide you don’t need the cream at all.
=– Easy to riff on: This isn’t just my weeknight tomato soup — it’s a flexible base I often adapt. Sometimes I add leftover cooked lentils (Trader Joe’s pre-cooked lentils are a fridge staple for me), or toss in some tortellini and a handful of spinach to wilt, finishing with grated Parmesan. It’s just as good with the French-onion-style grilled-cheese served on top as the roasted-tomato soup is.
(Aside: my new podcast with J. Kenji López-Alt, The Recipe with Kenji and Deb, launched recently; our first episode is about stovetop mac and cheese, and new episodes will drop every other Monday. This tomato soup will feature in Episode 4.)
Weeknight Tomato Soup
Yields: 4 full bowls (or 6 mug-sized portions) · Time: ~45 minutes · Source: SaedNews
3 tablespoons (45 g) unsalted butter
2 medium white onions, diced (about 2½ cups)
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon (15 ml) sherry (optional)
1¼ pounds (565 g) cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (about two 10-oz packages)
Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and red-pepper flakes, to taste
3 cups (710 ml) vegetable or chicken broth
1–2 teaspoons (5–10 ml) sherry vinegar to finish (optional)
¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream, or more to taste
In a 3- to 4-quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium–high heat. Add the diced onions and cook, stirring, until they’re soft and just beginning to brown at the edges — about 5–7 minutes. Add the sliced garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the tomato paste and cook it for 2–3 minutes (this deepens its flavor). If you’re using sherry, add it now and let it cook for a minute. Add the halved tomatoes and cook, pressing them gently with your spoon to break them down, for about 3 minutes. Pour in the broth and season to taste — a good starting point is 1 teaspoon kosher salt, several grinds of black pepper, and a couple of pinches of red-pepper flakes. Bring the pot to a simmer, cover, and let it cook at a gentle simmer for 15–20 minutes — a handy moment to make your grilled cheese sandwiches if you plan to serve them.
Carefully purée the hot soup either with an immersion blender right in the pot or by transferring batches to a standing blender, until completely smooth. (An immersion blender sometimes misses a few tomato skins, so run it around the pot a few extra times.) Taste and adjust seasoning. If you prefer a creamier soup, stir in the cream a little at a time until you reach your desired richness. For brightness, add about 1 teaspoon of sherry vinegar at the end, tasting and adding a second teaspoon if it needs more lift.
Ladle into bowls or mugs, finish with a grind of black pepper, and serve with grilled-cheese “fingers” for dunking.
Grilled-cheese fingers (one sandwich)
Spread the outside of two slices of sandwich bread with softened butter (or a very thin layer of mayonnaise — a little goes a long way). Fill with your choice of cheese; a good combination is one slice of American cheese for meltiness plus some grated sharp cheddar for flavor. Place the assembled sandwich in a cold heavy skillet, then turn the heat to medium–low. Cook slowly until the underside is a deep, even golden brown; flip and cook the other side to match. Slice into strips and serve alongside the soup.
