Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup with Fresh Tomatoes
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Most tomato soup gets its body from cream or a butter-and-flour roux. This one uses neither. Instead, a couple of slices of torn bread go into the blender with the roasted tomatoes — and the result is a soup that’s thick and smooth, without any dairy. The key is roasting. Fresh tomatoes roasted at high heat concentrate their flavor and release sweet, savory pan juices that become the base of the soup.
This is my homemade answer to the Campbell’s tomato soup I ate constantly as a kid — the one that came out of the can in a weirdly perfect cylinder. Roasting fresh tomatoes with olive oil and a handful of aromatics gets you somewhere much better: Deeper flavor, real texture, and nothing you can’t pronounce.
If you love the combination of fresh tomatoes and bread, my Tuscan Pappa al Pomodoro is worth making when tomatoes are at their peak.
A few ingredient notes
- Tomatoes: I prefer Campari tomatoes here — they’re sweet, consistently ripe, and available year-round. Plum tomatoes, cluster vine tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes all work well too. Avoid large beefsteak types, which have more water and less concentrated flavor. Whatever you use, make sure they’re fully ripe and red.
- Onion: Yellow or white both work. Roasting brings out the natural sugars, which adds depth to the soup base.
- Bread: This is the technique that makes the soup work without dairy. Torn pieces of sturdy bread — a crusty Italian or country loaf, crust removed — purée into the roasted tomatoes and create a thick, smooth texture with no cream, milk, or roux needed. You’ll need about 1 packed cup, which is roughly one to two slices depending on the bread
How to make roasted tomato soup
Slice the tomatoes in half — small, ripe tomatoes roast faster and more evenly than large ones. Pack them snugly in the baking dish with olive oil, onion, garlic and thyme. A tight fit keeps the pan juices from evaporating. 
After 25 minutes at 425°F, the tomatoes should be soft, golden and bubbling in their own juices.
Transfer the roasted tomatoes and all the pan juices to a blender or food processor — don’t leave any of that liquid behind. Add the torn bread pieces and just enough broth to barely cover. The bread thickens the soup without cream or roux. Purée until the soup is thick and smooth.
Homemade Roasted Tomato Soup with Fresh Tomatoes
Equipment
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (1 kg) small vine-ripened tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil
- ½ of a large onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus additional to taste
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh garlic
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 slices fresh country-style bread, crust removed and the bread torn into small pieces (to make about 1 packed cup)
- ½-1 cup (250-500 ml) vegetable broth
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425 (212 C) degrees. Put 2 pounds small vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced in half, in a large baking dish or a pan that will hold the tomatoes snugly. Note: If you use a pan that's too large, the pan juices will evaporate more quickly in the oven. You actually want that liquid to make the soup
- Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, ½ of a large onion, sliced, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon grated fresh garlic, and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to the tomatoes.
- Toss everything together until evenly coated with oil. Top with 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, or sprinkle the dried thyme over the tomatoes, if you're using it instead.
- Roast the tomatoes 20-25 minutes. The tomatoes and onion should be soft and golden and the pan juices bubbling. Remove from the oven and cool 10 or 15 minutes.
- Transfer the tomatoes and all their liquid to a blender or food processor. Add 2 slices fresh country-style bread. Pour in just enough broth or water to barely cover the tomatoes and bread. The amount will depend on how juicy the tomatoes are after roasting.
- Remove the thyme sprigs. Puree until completely smooth or until the soup has the consistency you like (if your blender is more than ¾ full of the mixture, puree it in batches to avoid an overflow). Taste the soup and add more salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve warm in bowls, with some toasted bread slices drizzled with olive oil on the side.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- Refrigerator: Transfer the cooled soup to an airtight container and store up to 5 days. Warm up the soup in a saucepan on the stove, or in the microwave on medium-low power (stirring at 2 minute intervals).
- Freezer storage: Homemade tomato soup may be frozen up to 1 month. Use an airtight, leakproof container. Defrost the soup overnight in the refrigerator or transfer the frozen soup to a saucepan and reheat over medium-low heat.
- Add 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper or jarred roasted red pepper to the tomatoes and roast. Make it spicy with a pinch of cayenne or crushed red chili flakes.
- Stir in fresh basil leaves or pesto sauce for a classic basil and tomato combo. Grate Parmesan or mozzarella cheese over the hot soup.
- Add about 1/2 cup heavy cream (if you’re fine with dairy) or coconut cream after the soup is blended.
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
Leave a comment and star rating
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Maybe it’s just me but the prep time was more than 10 minutes. Cutting all those tiny tomatoes in half takes a while. Worth it though – very tasty soup.
This was a very simple to follow recipe with great flavor. I added a red bell pepper to the tomatoes just because I had one 🙂 If you’re gluten free, I don’t recommend using gf bread; use tapioca flour, like someone else suggested. Gf bread doesn’t break down like wheat flour bread would. Thanks for this great recipe. Will definitely be making it again 🙂
Thanks for sharing your tips! So glad you enjoyed the soup.
The BEST! I loved it and it was a hit with my dinner party. Yummy.
Wonderful!!
Can I use croutons or bread crumbs in place of bread?
Yes, you can substitute 1/2 cup of either dried bread crumbs or croutons.
This was so yummy. Very healthy and the smell during the roasting was amazing.
Very easy recipe and a great use for our garden tomatoes.
The recipe was well laid out and easy to follow while cooking instead of having to scroll all over the place.
Highly recommend.
Very happy you enjoyed it Amy!
Last night, after several attempts to make the soup, (me being lazy) I finally made it.
The recipe calls for small vine-ripened tomatoes sliced in half. I had three large slicing tomatoes and 10 or 12 vary small tomatoes. So I cut them into small pieces, after roasting they all went into a blender so size did not matter. It is easy to make with few ingredients and is delicious. If you like Cream of Tomato Soup I highly recommend it.
I had to make this recipe gf so I subbed tapioca flour for the bread.
This will be my go to recipe for homemade tomato soup. Turned out great!
Thank you for this recipe. I picked up 5 pounds of Campari tomatoes yesterday for $2 and wasn’t sure what to do with them. This soup is perfect!
I loved this recipe, although I used low sodium chicken broth since I didn’t have vegetable broth on hand.
Can you use homemade sourdough bread in this recipe?
Yes, absolutely!
Great soup, I made and it was delicious …thanks
Love everything you do!!!
Thank you for your soup recipes…
keep on rocking!
Great recipe!!! One question- do you transfer JUST the tomatoes, or the tomatoes, onion, and garlic to the processor?
Hi there Albert. Yes, the tomatoes and all the other good stuff goes in too. Sorry about the confusion!
Wow ive just made this for my family amd everyone went wild for it!! We had grilled cheese sandwiches with ours as that is a firm favorite of my husbands. The recipe was easy to follow and quick to make. Thank you this will become a firm favorite im sure!
I love to make homemade croutons with my leftover bread….almost any kind will work, However whenever I and at the market and can find day old loaves….I buy several loaves and spend the afternoon….cutting, toasting and freezing my nuggets of wonderful goodness…for salads,soups and gumbos…..Mmm delicious…
Hi Karen, Came here from pinterest. You have a wonderful space and the soup looks delicious.
Your Roasted Sweet Potato soup is a regular at our house. I’m looking forward to trying this one. It looks delicious.
That soup sounds lovely and your photos are so beautiful! And what a cool idea to use bread as a thickener.
What beautiful photos of a gorgeous soup! And what a fun thing to whip up in lieu of the Campbell’s soup. I wish I had seen this yesterday, as I made a Tomato and Basil Soup for my sister, and this might have been even more perfect. Definitely giving this a shot when I get home!
Oh I love that you thickened this soup with bread! Gorgeous photos!
Laura, thanks so much! I’ve been trying to get creative with the leftover bread I seem to always have in the kitchen.
Hi Erin – I hope you find another day to make more soup soon, although I’m guessing Tomato-Basil made your sis very happy!
Can you use any kind of bread?
Jessilyn, I recommend using a country-style loaf with an open, airy crumb like ciabatta, sourdough, a good baguette or Italian-style bread.