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
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
- ⅛ 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.
Super tasty! Paired it with grilled cheese sandwiches and it was a wonderful meal on this cold rainy day!
Followed the recipe exactly with regard to timing, ingredients and amounts. Really amazing flavor! Used the emersion blender and it was still a bit “chewy”. Simmered another 20 minutes and used the emersion blender again with comparable results. Put in VitaMix on the “hot soup” setting but did not run for the full time as it was already hot (unknown timeframe). Result was a smooth, creamy soup. Not as “tomato-y” in flavor and color as I expected, but quite delicious and creamy without even adding the cashew cream. Will still do that though lol.
My husband and I enjoyed this soup with the cashew cream. It was truthfully “just ok” I felt it was missing something…..it tasted slightly bitter .
Had a good tomato taste. Was easy to prepare. I used the fire roasted tomato instead of plain. Next time I would add a little more spice.
Very tasty and easy to make! This will be a repeat in my house.
Delicious! I don’t really like tomato soup, but this was wonderful. Full of flavor. Not too strong. Family loved it. We will be making it again!
Souper simple soup! Instead of Italian seasoning (which I did not have) I just threw in some red crushed pepper and cumin. I put red crushed pepper in everything, so it is fine!
Took nearly as long to make the cashew cream as it did the soup!
This soup is easy to make and so delicious. My son even loves it. Be sure to make extra.
This was a hit! Two out of three kids loved it, always a win in my house. I did not add the cream, fresh basil hit the spot. This recipe will make a regular rotation in my house. Maybe if I had the cream for the other kid I will have a complete win.
This was so easy to make and very good can’t wait to try all the other soups
Since going Whole Food Plant Based, I’ve been looking for a tomato soup, tried a few, none really did it for me. This one hit the spot! I added a few more seasonings. Yum
Very tasty tomato soup, but I must confess. I used homemade lobster broth and added leftover mahi-mahi from last night. Sorry vegans…. The cashew cream also was a great addition
This was a very tasty soup and I love all the vegetables that were added. It’s definitely a way to hide veggies in a meal. My picky 10 year old son even loved it!
Thank you for creating a vegan tomato soup!
This Vegan Tomato soup is delicious, the whole family loved it.. We will definitely be making this again.
Delicious and forgiving. Sauteed ingredients plus fennel ( cuz I had it ) and added salted water and made broth( i did not have any on hand) out of the vegetables. Added diced tomatoes ,seasoned and simmered before blending. Its filling and yielded quite a bit .I love it with basil and will add Forager cashew yogurt for my daughter on a GFCF diet tonight. Thank you!