Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Published July 27, 2022. Updated July 30, 2022

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Is there a soup that says summer like a homemade roasted tomato basil soup does? In this version we oven roast the tomatoes, onions and garlic for more depth of flavor and it really makes the soup over-the-top delicious!

Serving of tomato basil soup shown close up in a white bowl with a grilled cheese to the side.

Fresh Tomato Basil Soup

This is how you do comfort food. A vibrant, healthy soup with a grilled cheese to accompany it.

This soup will likely become a highlight of summer dinners, and it’s a great way to use all those garden fresh tomatoes.

It requires minimal ingredients but yields such amazing results! The key ingredients include several pounds of gorgeously red ripe tomatoes, lots of flavorful fresh basil, and a fair amount of garlic for a perfectly fresh tasting soup.

Though there may be several steps the process is quite simple. You roast the tomatoes and aromatics, then simmer the soup on the stove, and finish by blitzing it all together with immersion blender. And then you’ve got yourself an undeniably delicious homemade tomato basil soup!

Want to make it creamy? Simply add 1/2 cup to 1 cup cream to the soup at the end. And feel free to toss in some parmesan cheese too if you can’t resist.

White pot filled with roasted tomato basil soup on a green cloth.

Tomato Basil Soup Recipe Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 lbs Roma tomatoes , halved lengthwise
  • 1 1/4 lbs grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
  • 4 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 8 cloves garlic , peeled and left whole
  • 2 small yellow onions, sliced just under 1/2-inch thick
  • 2 cups (28g) lightly packed fresh basil, divided
  • 5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  • Prepared grilled cheese or grilled cheese croutons (optional), see notes

Ingredients needed to make tomato basil soup.

How to Make Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with 3 Tbsp olive oil then season with salt and pepper (place Roma halves cut side upright).
  2. Place onion slices and garlic on a rimmed half sheet and toss brush with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil on all sides, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  3. Place baking sheet with tomatoes and half sheet with onions in oven (on oven racks set near center) and roast garlic 15 minutes (or until just golden) and remove, roast onions 30 – 35 minutes (until edges are golden brown) and remove, and roast tomatoes 40 – 45 minutes until slightly browned.
  4. Pour roasted tomatoes, onions and garlic into a large pot. Add vegetable broth and the basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
  6. Blend soup with an immersion blender or in small batches in a blender (only fill blender half full and remove center insert and cover with a kitchen towel).
  7. Serve warm topped with grilled cheese or grilled cheese croutons if desired.

Collage of six photos showing steps of roasting tomatoes and onions and garlic. Then shows soup in a pot before and after cooking. Roasted tomato basil soup being blended in a pot with an immersion blender.

Storage

  • Store soup in an airtight container.
  • Soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
  • Or freeze soup up to 3 months.

Helpful Tips

  • Use the best quality, freshest tomatoes possible for the best tasting soup. Tomatoes should be nice and red, and avoid squishy tomatoes.
  • If you don’t have an immersion blender you can puree the soup in batches in a blender. Just don’t fill more than 1/2 full, also remove the lids insert and cover with a kitchen towel before blending (so it doesn’t burst from heat build up).
  • You can purchase immersion blenders online if you are looking to own one (I highly recommend them, they are so handy). I have this one and this cheaper one.
  • It’s optional to remove the peels from the tomatoes after they’ve been roasted, though I’ve decided I do like the bit of char they have to them so I usually just leave them. If you blitz the soup up well they aren’t noticeable.
  • If you’d like you can leave the basil on the sprigs in the soup then remove the basil before blending the soup.

Two servings of tomato basil soup in serving bowls.

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Serving of tomato basil soup shown close up in a white bowl with a grilled cheese to the side.
4.92 from 24 votes

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

This soup requires minimal ingredients but yields such amazing results! When you combine several pounds of fresh tomatoes, several cups of fresh basil and a fair amount of garlic you know it's got to be good.
Servings: 6
Prep10 minutes
Cook1 hour 5 minutes
Ready in: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 lbs Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
  • 1 1/4 lbs grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
  • 4 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 8 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
  • 2 small yellow onions, sliced just under 1/2-inch thick
  • 1 1/2 cups (26g) lightly packed fresh basil, divided
  • 5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  • Prepared grilled cheese or grilled cheese croutons (optional), see notes

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with 3 Tbsp olive oil then season with salt and pepper (place Roma halves cut side upright).
  • Place onion slices and garlic on a rimmed half sheet and toss brush with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil on all sides, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Place baking sheet with tomatoes and half sheet with onions in oven side by side and roast garlic 15 minutes (or until just golden) and remove, roast onions 30 - 35 minutes (until edges are golden brown) and remove, and tomatoes 40 - 45 minutes until slightly browned.
  • Pour tomatoes, onions and garlic into a large pot. Add vegetable broth and about 3/4 of the basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
  • Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
  • Blend soup with an immersion blender or in small batches in a blender (only fill blender half full and remove center insert and cover with a kitchen towel). Serve warm topped with remaining basil (chopped).

Notes

For the grilled cheese or grilled cheese croutons:
  • Use 6 slices of hearty sourdough, wheat or white bread. Brush outsides of all slices with 1/2 Tbsp of butter on each. Sprinkle 1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded mozzarella or cheddar over non-buttered sides of three slices. Top with remaining 3 slices of bread with buttered side up. Cook in a skillet over medium heat, reducing to medium-low as needed, until bottom is golden brown. Flip and cook opposite side until golden. Cut in half if serving as a sandwich or if serving as croutons in the soup cool just slightly then cut into squares.
  • Optionally you can pull peels from tomatoes if preferred. You can also leave basil on the sprigs then remove sprigs before blending if desired.
  • For a creamy tomato soup you can add 1/2 cup to 1 cup heavy cream to the soup. For a cheesy flavor you can serve with finely shredded parmesan cheese.
  • Recipe makes about 9 cups soup. 
  • Grilled cheese not included in nutrition estimate.
Nutrition Facts
Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
Amount Per Serving
Calories 170 Calories from Fat 99
% Daily Value*
Fat 11g17%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Sodium 648mg28%
Potassium 702mg20%
Carbohydrates 17g6%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 9g10%
Protein 3g6%
Vitamin A 2635IU53%
Vitamin C 50.2mg61%
Calcium 57mg6%
Iron 1.6mg9%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

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116 Comments

  • Cat

    Hi there. This sounds so yummy – but I am just not a fan of basil. I’m thinking I am going to add spinach instead. What do you guys think about that?

    I plan to make this recipe this weekend and post the results on my website. I’ll certainly make sure to link back to your original recipe. Thanks for sharing! :)

  • MaryAnn Coy

    In Summer I use my electric skillet, with a broiler unit broiling is a little different than roasting, but the taste is the same and takes less time. So it doesn’t heat up the kitchen. I have an industrial strength extension cord to take to the porch on the 100°+ plus days. I also use my crockpots a lot. On Low they don’t generate too much heat like the stove. For lady not sure of tomatoe, have you ever had tomatoes straight from the vine, or farmers market? They are totally different from the tomatoes in the Produce Dept, even those that say vine-ripened. Maybe buy just one, especially an heirloom, if you ask they will point them out. If you liked the soup with the fresh Romas, you might like a fresh from the garden tomato. For the lady who can’t have dairy, I’m in the same boat, I use soy milk in place of milk and cream in recipes and there are vegan cheeses that taste pretty good. Oatmeal Bread is non gluten. Just read the label to ascertain. That there is no wheat flour in it, even when the label says no gluten. Great site lots of good soups and such. Enjoyed my afternoon here. I am on Pinterest.

  • Danielle

    I’m making this right now! I might add a little heavy cream. I’m all about creamy tomato soup.

  • Courtney

    This delicious soup is quickly becoming a “regular” in my kitchen! I’m doing a double batch today and I’m wondering if I should double the cooking time once it’s all blended and on the stove? Any advice?

    Thank you!!

  • linda heesemann

    can you just use regular garden tomatoes or do you need to use roma and cherry?

  • Olivia

    This is an amazing recipe. I think the roasting really brings out the flavor of the tomatoes and especially the garlic. One suggestion I have would be to line the rimmed baking sheet before you roast. I wish I would’ve because some of the tomatoes stuck and burned a bit along the edges. I don’t mind scrubbing the pan if it means I’m making this recipe! My family raved about it, including several picky eaters. Thank you for an amazing recipe! Planning on canning some next tomato season!

  • Whitney @ Whitney’s Real Recipes

    This looks amazing! Now that’s it’s Fall I’ve been craving a tomato soup and found this one on Pinterest. Sounds delicious and looks super easy which I love. Thanks for sharing!

  • Pam L

    I love tomato soup and this one sounded good, and it is good, however, I don’t think it is good enough to justify the amount of time, labor and mess that goes into it. I am not sure why there are cherry tomatoes in the recipe either as it was silly to ty and peel them and even though i peeled the larger tomatoes I ended up with a lot of peels int eh soup which I hoped would be taken care of by the immersion blender but they did not. Not wanting to get yet another kitchen appliance dirty I ran it through a large colander to get out the peels which was also harder than I thought it would be. I make tomato soup by blanching and peeling tomatoes and tossing everything into a pot to cook and then the immersion blender through it for a few minutes and it comes out nice and smooth. The taste was not that different.