Creamy Tomato Soup is a favourite of kids but the canned versions are often high in salt and sugar. Making your own is easy and you have control over what goes into the soup. The fresh taste is unbeatable and you'll never want canned soup again!
Why This Tomato Soup Recipe is Great for Families
- Nutritional - This soup is an easy way to up your vegetable intake, is low in salt and contains no added sugar. Perfect for kids and babies.
- Great for Those with Dietary Restrictions - Gluten-free (depending on stock used), dairy-free (without the optional topping), nut-free and vegetarian/ vegan friendly.
- Easy to Make - The soup takes around 40 minutes but most of this time is for simmering, requiring very little attention from the cook!
- Stores Well - Prepare this soup in advance for easy weekday meals. Suitable for freezing and re-heats well.
- Can be Packed for a School Lunch - Add to a thermos for a hot lunch out and about.
Tomato Soup Ingredients
- Onion: Added for the depth of flavour and sweetness.
- Carrots: Used to add sweetness. It helps to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes without having to add sugar.
- Garlic: For flavour
- Vine & Canned Tomatoes: The vine tomatoes add an amazing fresh flavour to the soup but they need to be fresh and ripe to achieve the most flavourful soup.
- Stock: Tomatoes have quite a high water content but stock is still needed. Vegetable or chicken stock can be used. Use homemade/low sodium stock if making for a baby.
- Fresh Basil: Fresh basil is a natural match for tomatoes, however, it can be missed out or replaced with other fresh herbs.
How to Make Tomato Soup
- Saute onion and carrots until soft and translucent (around 10 min)
- Add garlic and saute for a further minute.
- Add the tomatoes and stock and stir
- Simmer for 25 mins
- Add the basil
- Blend using a stick (immersion) blender. Alternatively, transfer the soup (cooled) to a blender (in batches) to blend
Fun Soup Toppings and Dippers
Adding toppings and dippers to a soup can really boost the kid appeal. Pictured, a creamy spiderweb (big spiderman fan in this house) has been added. Alternatively, you could try topping with
- Parmesan cheese shavings
- Grated cheddar cheese
- A swirl of pesto
- Croutons
For dipping why not try serving with crusty bread or grilled cheese (cheese toasty /jaffle).
Storage Instructions
- Refrigerate: Allow the soup to cool and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: Once the soup is completely cool it can be frozen, in freezable containers, for up to 3 months.
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Have you tried this recipe? I love hearing your feedback. Please rate and leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram @healthylittlefoodies.
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Tomato Soup
Low in salt and with no added sugar this is a perfect tomato soup for little ones
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Serves:4
Hover over "serves" value to reveal recipe scaler
Equipment
- Large Pan
- Immersion Blender (Stick Blender)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 Large Onion peeled and finely chopped
- 2 Carrots peeled and chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves finely chopped
- 800g (1.7lb) Vine tomatoes chopped
- 400g (14oz) Canned Whole Tomatoes
- 750ml (3 cups) Stock Vegetable or Chicken
- 10 - 15 Fresh Basil leaves or to taste
Optional Topping
- 2 tablespoon Cream
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pan, over a medium heat. Add the onion and carrot, reduce the heat to low and cook until softened but not coloured(around 10 mins)
- Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
- Add the tomatoes, stock and stir. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 25 mins. Alter the heat as necessary during cooking to maintain a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the basil leaves.
- Using a stick blender (immersion blender) or blender, blitz the soup until smooth. Taste and season (do not season if serving a baby)
Optional Web Topping
- To make the web, add the cream to a sandwich bag, snip off the end and use as a piping bag. Pipe a spiral of cream onto the soup. Drag the cream from the centre of the swirl to the end. Drag in different directions until it represents a web.
Video
Recipe Notes
BABY: If serving a baby/young child use homemade stock or low salt stock cubes. To make the soup thicker (for easier feeding) and more nutrient-dense try adding a (drained) can of cannellini beans just before blending.
STORAGE: Allow the soup to cool and transfer to airtight containers. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutritional information is a rough GUIDE only, calculated using an online calculator.
Nutritional facts
Calories: 177kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 929mg | Potassium: 811mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 7586IU | Vitamin C: 42mg | Calcium: 82mg | Iron: 2mg
* This post was originally posted Oct 30, 2015. It has been updated with new photos, process shots and recipe information.
Victoria
Absolutely loved this recipe, so quick and easy to make and very tasty!
Amy
So happy you enjoyed it, Victoria. 🙂
Emma
Delicious! Whole family love it x
Amy
Great! Thanks, Emma 🙂
John Delalla
I agree with you
Bronwyn
This recipe was a hit with my 3 yr old daughter and with a few dinosaur pastas my 4 yr old actually tried it too. Delicious.
Amy
Thanks Bronwyn, glad you kiddos enjoyed it. Good call on the dinosaur pasta!
Rachel
I made this soup and it is delicious!! My toddler loved it too (although my 4 year old refused to try it). It was really easy to make and tasted divine, really the perfect soup for a cold winters day! I Thanks for the recipe, will be trying some of your other recipes following this one's success 🙂
Amy
Thanks, Rachel! I'm so happy you liked it and hopefully, you find some other recipes to enjoy too. Thanks for taking the time to comment and rate 🙂
Katya P
Is it creamy?
Amy
Hi Katya, It is a creamed soup as in it doesn't have any "bits" but it doesn't contain any cream. You could add some if you prefer a creamier soup 🙂
Katya P
I made it last night and my daughter loved it! Didn't need any cream! I used fresh basil which made my kitchen smell amazing, but if I used dried basil would it be as good?
Sherin
How to make the veg stock at home
Amy
Hi Sherin, I have actually been meaning to post a recipe for this. Generally, I save all my vegetable scraps and freeze them, I then boil them up in plenty of water with some onion, celery and carrots. If you search homemade vegetable stock you should be able to find a detailed recipe.
Lucy
Can you freeze this and your other soup recipes? Thanks Lucy
Amy
I've never frozen it personally but wouldn't see any issues with doing so. Same with my other soups. Thanks!
Alison
Tomato soup is my favourite soup. Loving the swirls
Amy
Thanks Alison 🙂