Tomato soup instantly takes me back to my childhood. A warm mug of homemade soup with a grilled cheese was my idea of a perfect cold day lunch. My friend Lindsey told me she adds fresh zucchini and carrots to her homemade tomato soup and after trying it I was hooked! So this is my version of vegan tomato soup and it always gets my kids’ stamp of approval.
As a parent, I want to recreate those memories for my kids yet also make sure they’re eating food that nourishes them, so I love the idea of packing this soup with veggies that don’t diminish the classic tomato flavor.
Table of Contents
Easy Homemade Tomato Soup Recipe
I know homemade soups often have a long list of ingredients with a whole lotta steps, yet don’t fear! My vegan tomato soup recipe has a fairly small ingredient list, using easy-to-find vegetables. It’s perfect for the beginner chef as well as easy to customize to fit your taste preferences.
- In a stock pot, warm some avocado oil over medium-high heat. Add in diced onion + a bit of salt. Cook, stirring often, for 7 minutes or until the onion starts to soften.
- Add in sliced carrots + celery and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir minced garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add chopped zucchini and cook for a few minutes, until it starts to soften. Since you are going to puree your tomato soup, no need to peel the zucchini.
- Stir in vegetable stock, diced tomatoes, and Italian herbs. Bring just to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables become very soft and tender.
- Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve with your choice of toppings (I like to add in cashew cream, fresh basil or ‘cheese’ sprinkle). If you’ve got a regular blender with a heat-safe container, you can puree the soup with that, just make sure you work in batches to avoid a soup explosion in your kitchen!
See how simple this vegan tomato soup recipe is? Now excuse me while I go make some…. I just got hungry.
Vegan Tomato Soup FAQs
No! Traditional tomato soup contains dairy in the form of cream or milk. My vegan recipe is honestly super creamy and doesn’t have any milk! I puree once everything is cooked through, then add a dollop of cashew cream (vegan sour cream) to bump up the cream level.
It can be! If you’re choosing a canned soup, read the ingredients… canned soup companies love sneaking in additives, preservatives and dyes to their soups. If you want to control what goes into your soup, then make it at home. My tomato soup recipe is loaded with a variety of vegetables yet is still super creamy and flavored like the tomato soup of my childhood.
I use Muir Glen brand diced tomatoes. They are organic and taste great! If you use fresh tomatoes I recommend using brandywine. They’ve got the best flavor for tomato soup.
How to Store Soup for the Future
Soup takes work to make. All the ingredients, chopping and cooking is exhausting! So when I make soup I always double the recipe so that I can freeze the extras. These frozen portions make super quick n’ simple meals for that future lunch or dinner you just don’t wanna make.
I freeze my homemade tomato soup in single servings for easy reheating. Using pint-sized, wide mouth mason jars, I pour the cooled soup into the jars to the freeze line (this is important so the glass doesn’t burst when frozen!). Make sure the soup is cooled completely before freezing; putting the jars into the fridge overnight before freezing is an easy way to ensure this.
If I plan ahead for lunch then I take the frozen soup jar out of the freezer and refrigerate overnight to thaw a bit. When I’m ready to reheat, I’ll pour the contents into a small pot to reheat. You can also stick that mason jar into a bowl of warm water to help the thawing process.
If you work in an office, then just toss that frozen container of tomato soup in your lunchbox. By lunch it should be ready to microwave and enjoy! Don’t forget to pack any toppings you wanna add 🙂
More Creamy Vegan Soups
Soups can be just as easy to take on-the-go as smoothies, if they’re pureed. These soup recipes are high on flavor and veggies, so you’ll get a filling meal quickly. Grab an insulated water bottle or thermos and add your warmed soup. If this vegan tomato soup to go intrigues you, then check out some of my other pureed soup recipes:
- Gazpacho soup: A fun soup that doesn’t need to be warmed to enjoy!
- Pumpkin soup: A creamy delight perfect for Autumn gatherings.
- Carrot ginger soup: Delightfully flavorful, this soup is a great lunch option.
- Roasted red pepper soup: The roasted peppers are an extra step but totally worth the flavor.
- Blended vegetable soup: Perfect for sick days, busy days or days where you just need some nourishing comfort.
Don’t forget to let me know in the comments how this vegan tomato soup turned out for you… it’s a Hansard family fav so I hope it can be on regular rotation for you too!
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Vegan Tomato Soup
Equipment
- stock pot
- immersion blender
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- â…› tsp sea salt
- â…› tsp black pepper
- 2 carrots peeled and sliced
- 1 ribs celery chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 zucchini sliced
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups diced tomatoes undrained
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
Toppings
- Cashew Cream
- fresh basil
Instructions
- Warm oil over medium-high heat in stock pot. Add onion and season with a little salt. Cook, stirring often, for 7 minutes or until the onion starts to soften.
- Add carrots and celery and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the zucchini and cook for a few minutes, until it starts to soften.
- Stir in vegetable stock, tomatoes, and Italian herbs. Bring just to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are very soft and tender.
- Remove soup from heat then blend using an immersion blender to puree soup. If you prefer it chunky, blend less.
- Season to taste with more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve with your choice of toppings.
Notes
- Fire-roasted tomatoes (canned) gives this dish a rich, robust flavor that I am obsessed with.
- Feel free to spice this soup up with red pepper flakes, paprika, or fresh chopped chili peppers.
- You can use olive oil or coconut oil in place of avocado oil.
- If you have a blender that is heat-safe, then you can use a regular blender over an immersion blender. If your blender container is not heat safe, then allow your cooked soup to cool down before adding to the blender in batches to blend. If you want to serve after blending, reheat to eating temp after pureed.
- To keep this soup nut-free swap out the cashew cream topping for a dairy-free sour cream of your choice.
My husband loves Tomato soups and he said this is his favorite! I think the other vegetables gave it a nice flavor, it sorta reminded me of a v8 juice. Definitely a keeper to make again.
Yayy! Glad we made your husbands “favorites” list and you think this ones a keeper, Ronda!
Another tasty soup! I loved that it still tasted like tomato soup even with the other veggies added.
Definitely not your average Tomato soup, yet is still tasty!
Another yummy soup! Yes it doesn’t only consist of tomatoes, but the other veggies give it flavor and body. And the tomatoes are still the main players in terms of flavor. Added my favorite Italian spices and also blended in more Basil. Cashew Cream takes it to the next level. This will definitely go in the rotation. Thanks for all the interesting recipes.
I definitely think the other veggies give it flavor and body too, Daria!
I’m not going to rate it because I am not a tomato soup fan, so it would not be fair to rate something low when I knew coming in it wasn’t my favorite type of soup. However, I wanted to to give a fair shake to each of the soups in the challenge. You never know. Maybe this would have been the one that converted me.
So, with all of the veggies it doesn’t really taste like tomato soup as much as a veggie soup to me. Not my favorite, but then again I didn’t expect it to be. I think I’m going to use it as a pasta sauce and make a zucchini lasagna with it.
Great idea to use it as a pasta sauce, let me know how it turns out!
The soup is supposed to be a tomato soup….it is more like a vegetable soup. My husband thought it was great, but it really should be called a vegetable soup. In following the directions the vegetables were not soft enough to be able to puree the vegetables thoroughly with my immersion blender. Had I put it in the vitamix it would have pureed. it had a good flavor, but once again not the traditional tomato soup.
Thanks for the feedback, Krya!
Love a bowl of creamy tomato soup. Adding starchy carrots makes it more filling!
Hi Yayoi! You’re so right, carrots definitely help make a simple tomato soup more filling!
Very good. I added sun-dried tomatoes after blending it and some roasted red peppers as well as some fresh basil, thyme and parsley.
Awesome ideas on both the sun-dried tomatoes and red peppers! Delish!
Loved the creaminess of this soup. I blending this in my Vitamix for creamy perfection. I did not make the cashew cream, but did add chopped basil as a topping. I would add fresh basil to the blender next time I make this soup, as basil adds to the flavor.
Very nice flavour! I roasted garden tomatoes, onions and garlic to use. I didn’t use cashew cream but it is very good without. I will make this again.
The cashew cream is definitely not needed, yet adds a little extra flavor! Glad you’ll be making this one again, Gwenda!
excellant–i cut recipe in half for i’m one person and a full recipe is to much.. for tomatoes i measured out 1 cup and the rest i included with the stock measurment worked well. i did use yogurt instead of cashew cream. inhances flavor of soup.
More of a puréed vegetable soup instead of tomatoe. The flavor was nice, but not as a tomato soup.
Thanks for your feedback, Caitlin! So glad you like the flavor of this one!
Soup is delicious. Cashew cream added wonderful touch. Easy to make. I used both leeks and onions. I made 3 times the batch so I could share. I’m glad I did. Simply delicious.
Hi Janie! So glad you tried this with the cashew cream, it definitely is a nice touch.
So creamy and delicious! I made the cashew cream as well, and the flavor was better than expected! Will definitely be making this again!
So glad you made the cashew cream too, Lori! Excellent addition for sure.
Love! Used up my tomato harvest.
Home-grown tomatoes are awesome for this one!
This was a great way to use up the tons of tomatoes from my garden! I used my garden tomatoes and roasted them instead of using canned diced tomatoes. Delicious!
Hi Becky! Home-grown tomatoes.. yum!!
Day 5 was the best yet! Lots of flavor. Thick and creamy. Yum!
Hi K.B.! This one is perfect for cooler fall weather, can’t wait to make it and enjoy in the Autumn!