Homemade Creamy Tomato Basil Soup is one of those recipes that makes me think of my mom and grandma. But they never made tomato soup. At least not that I remember. They would always eat Campbell’s soup – my mom especially. She loved it, but I could never get behind it.
My mom always worked growing up. I think there was a short time where she stayed home with us, but I always remember her as a working mom. A lot of times she was like a single mom too because my dad worked until 9 p.m. every night as a car salesman. Every night, she made my brother and I dinner, but sometimes she would just eat some tomato soup.
Try, try, try again
As I grew older, I tried again. I attempted Panera’s Creamy Tomato Soup. And that changed something in me. I started enjoying it a bit. Then I decided to make a Creamy Tomato Soup with basil and that changed everything. I’m always a big believer that homemade food is some of the best food, but that’s especially true for my Creamy Tomato Soup with basil.
Roasting for success
My favorite way to make vegetables is by roasting them. It’s something I commonly do when making smooth vegetable-based soups For this Creamy Tomato Soup with basil, I’m roasting the tomatoes, onions and a whole head or two of garlic. You just really can’y beat the roasted flavor. It caramelizes everything to perfection and gives the soup a beautiful robust flavor.
The basil comes in after the roasting process and is simmered right along with all the other ingredients before it is blended.
I also use heavy cream in this hence the CREAMY Tomato Soup with basil. You can substitute with other milks if you like. But as long as you’re not vegan, I suggest using the heavy cream to get the whole flavor.
The full flavor depends on the tomato
This is one of those recipes that might turn out different each time you make it. That is in large part due to the tomatoes you use to make it. During the summer I use Heirloom tomatoes to make the Creamy Tomato Soup with basil. I use whatever I have growing or whatever I can find in the grocery store. If you want to learn how to grow more tomatoes better, click {HERE}.
If Heirloom tomatoes are not an options – as they often are not for me in late fall, winter and spring – then use Roma tomatoes. Generally reserved for sauce, Roma tomatoes will give you their best flavor once broken down and roasted. Plus, they are plentiful year-round.
Tips for making Creamy Tomato Soup with basil
- Use the best extra virgin olive oil you can find. Olive oil is actually a large part of this recipe and you want to use the best to obtain the best flavor.
- You will more than likely have to roast this in two bathes. I always do. I have one baking sheet in and then start slicing the ingredients for the other.
- For this recipe, I have a handheld emulsion blender that I use for this recipe. I suggest using this kind of blender because you want to be able to simmer all the vegetables together for a bit before blending. So using a stand blender straight away will make for extra, messier work.
- Use fresh basil. The basil goes into the Dutch Oven when all your other vegetables do and you want it to be fresh versus dried. You just won’t get the same flavor tossing in dried.
- Again, the Creamy Tomato Soup with Basil uses heavy cream but if you generally use other kinds of milk, feel free to try those too. If you want to keep it vegan, I would suggest trying almond milk. I’ve never done it before, but I think the flavor will work best towards cutting the tomato acid.
Thank you so much for visiting today, friends! You can find the full, printable recipe below. And don’t forget to check out the other soups we have here on the blog.
Oh and by the way, my mom saw me making this live on my stories on Instagram and texted me about how good it looked. Told you she likes her tomato soup. 🙂

Creamy Tomato Soup with basil
Equipment
- Hand blender
- Dutch oven
- Basting brush
Ingredients
- 15-20 tomatoes, Heirloom or Roma
- 1 1/2 large onion
- 1-2 heads of garlic
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup basil I tend to not chop the basil for this recipe and use whole stalks that I loosely cream into a 1/4 cup measuring cup. It all blends together.
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. Sea salt per baking sheet
- 2 Tbsp. of fresh cracked pepper per baking sheet
- Additional: Salt and pepper to taste, extra basil for topping, creme fraiche, thyme and additional olive oil.
Instructions
- Slice the vegetables and add them to a baking sheet. Slice the top off of the head of the garlic and add the whole head to the sheet too.
- Using a basting brush, cover each vegetable in olive oil on both sides - except the garlic. Just leave the garlic cloves up.
- Broil everything together for 20 minutes on the center rack of the oven.
- Flip everything over and broil for another 10 minutes.
- When done, the garlic should easily squeeze out of it's shell. Add those cloves to the Dutch oven.
- Remove any overly roasted portions of the tomatoes and onions. Often, I end up pulling off a lot of the tomato skins because they get difficult to grind up.
- Add everything to the Dutch oven and then add in the basil.
- Add in the cup of water and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
- After 10 minutes, shut off the heat of the burner and use the hand blender to blend the soup for a for minutes
- Once done, simmer again for another 5-10 minutes and then blend everything again to give a smoother finish. Do this until you have the consistency you like.
- Add in the heavy cream and simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately with extra basil, creme fraiche, thyme, additional olive oil or additional salt and pepper to taste.
YUM!!! Pinned this recipe to try sometime soon. Looks amazing!
Bob’s grandma made soup like this, it’s from an old German recipe. I was fortunate to have it once while she was living. I swear she kept one of the ingredients a secret.
I’m a huge fan of tomato soup, looking forward to trying this recipe.
I cannot wait to try this. I am a huge fan of tomato soup and this version looks amazing.
This soup would be perfect with my homemade bread. I will have to make it for Sunday lunch.
Creamy tomato soup is one of my favorites. I will be giving this one a try.
Ummm all of your recipes are making me so hungry. I’m def goin to try your tomato soup recipe!
I LOVE soup season!!! I’ve never made homemade tomato soup so I can’t wait to try with your recipe! It looks sooo delicious!
I’ve printed the recipe!! Wish me luck. I hope I can easily make this. The kids have been wanting to have some tomato soup
Wow! That looks absolutely amazing I really love to try this great recipe! I’m sure my family would love this.
I can’t wait to give this one a try. Nothing is better on a cold day than tomato soup.
Yummy! This looks delicious, I need to try this ASAP!
This looks amazing and I cant wait to try it. Adding to the grocery list today!
This soup looks really delicious, and this is so perfect for my cold weather today. Yum!
Yum, this looks delicious! I love basil in tomato soup, it adds a nice little kick of flavor.
This looks amazing! Sometimes there’s nothing I want more than a bowl of wonderful tomato soup! I love that you roasted the veggies for this. I can’t wait to try it!
This sounds warm and comforting as the weather gets colder.
This soup is screaming elegant to me. It looks like soups of royalties in stories I read. This looks really good too! I already know this is delicious!
I grew up on Campbell’s tomato soup. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I started making soup from scratch. I am excited to try this recipe, it looks so good!
That looks like a really delicious and tasty soup! I would love to share this recipe to my friends.
I love tomato soup! It pairs perfectly with grilled cheese. Will have to give your recipe a try!
I adore simple soup recipes and this tomato soup is no exception. It’s so creamy, light, and bursting with fresh flavors.
Yumm gimme all the soup!! I love tomato, so amazing i need to try this recipe
This is such a lovely recipe – my mum loved tomato soup too and it brings back some lovely memories!
I bet homemade is so much better than the tomato soup you buy in stores. It’s perfect for winter.
Yum. This looks like a great soup.
I never tried tomato soup with basil before! This soup looks delicious and I’ll surely give your recipe a try this season!😍
I love tomato soup and get it at restaurants whenever I see it, but have never made it from scratch myself. Must try!
Who doesn’t love the tomato flavor?! The addition of basil makes it irresistible!
This sounds amazing! I’ve never had a real homemade tomato soup and it would be fun to try making this. I’m sure it tastes much better than store bought.
That soup looks good. My husband is a huge fan of tomato soup. Thank you for the recipe!
this looks and sounds so delish and comforting.. we love tomato basil soup and i am going to try this out
Wow! This looks delicious and healthy. Very timely since we just harvested some basil. Would love to try this. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
It’s the soup season again. I love tomatoes soup. This recipe is awesome.
This got me craving for some soup right now! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
This looks so good!
Saving this for later! I love this soup!