So many tomatoes…. so little time!! With fall upon us I know it won’t be long for the first frost to follow. If you are anything like me, then you are realizing that you have too many tomatoes left on those tomato plants in your garden. I don’t want them to go to waste so it’s time to use em’ up. Here is my recipe for Garden Fresh Tomato Soup. This recipe is simple to make and the best part is that you can freeze it and savor those garden tomatoes all year long! I love adding recipes to my growing list of freezer meals and this garden fresh tomato soup is the perfect addition. It is easy, inexpensive and tastes awesome.
Garden Fresh Tomato Soup
Gather together all the tomatoes you want to use. For a double batch I used about 15 medium sized tomatoes.
Chop them up making sure to salvage any and all extra juices.
Mince up 4-6 cloves of garlic depending on how garlicky you like your soup.
Sautee that garlic with a few tablespoons of olive oil over low-medium heat. Add in some salt and pepper. Be careful not to burn the garlic, just cook it until it becomes translucent and fragrant.
Add in your chopped tomatoes. I got roughly 13 cups of chopped tomatoes for my double batch.
Simmer tomatoes for 15 minutes. Next remove from heat and add in 2 cups of chicken stock.
Let cool for about 20 minutes before adding it to a blender. Blend until you get a perfectly smooth consistency. It doesn’t take long.
Look how pretty it is. At this point you can separate it equally between 2 gallon sized freezer safe zip lock bags and place them in the freezer to be used in the dead of winter when you are craving something yummy and fresh from your garden.
When you are ready to eat, just thaw out soup, warm up on the stove and add in 1 cup of heavy-whipping cream (per batch/bag).
Stir it together and add in seasonings of your choice. We add in salt, pepper, celery salt, white sugar and brown sugar.
When heated through,top with some fresh basil and enjoy with what else than a yummy grilled cheese sandwich. Oh yeah baby!
Below is the recipe. I hope this inspires you to use up those blessed tomatoes all winter long. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 15 cups medium sized garden fresh tomatoes 13 chopped
- 4-6 cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 dashes celery salt
- Fresh basil
Instructions
- This recipe is for a double batch, which fills two 1-gallons bags. I make this much for my freezer meals. 1 batch is enough to feed a large family of 6-8, so keep in mind that the recipe is for double that amount.
- First chop tomatoes with skins intact. Make sure to keep as much of the juices as possible. Set aside.
- Mince up 4-6 cloves of garlic and sautee them in the olive oil over low medium heat until translucent in color and fragrant. Make sure not to overcook them. Sprinkle in a few dashes of salt and pepper.
- Add in the chopped tomatoes (roughly 13 cups) and simmer for 15 minutes over medium heat.
- Remove tomatoes from the heat and add in 2 cups of chicken stock. Stir and let cool for 20 minutes.
- Once the tomatoes have cooled enough that touching it doesn't burn you, add them to a blender. Blend until the consistency is smooth.
- Split soup into 2 freezer safe zip loc bags and freeze.
- When ready to prepare and eat, thaw and reheat tomato base and add in half the amounts of sugars, salts and pepper and cream since the soup is split in 2. If you are cooking up both just add it all in.
- Once heated through add some freshly chopped basil on top. Enjoy!
What brand of tomatoes did you plant. They sure are pretty
Thanks for sharing this recipe! How much sugar do you add?
Thanks-
I did 2 teaspoons white sugar and 2 teaspoons brown sugar but really it is all up to your taste! 🙂
Will Romas work for this recipe?
Absolutetly yes! Romas are perfect.
Has anyone canned this? If so, hot water bath for how long? I am running out of freezer space (good problem to have 🙂 )
Yes, good problem to have and no, I haven’t canned it yet!
Can this be hot water bath canned? I am running out if freezer space.
I haven’t tried canning it but I think by just using the tomato base it should be fine!
thank you. for some reason I didn’t see my first question posted. Looks yummy 🙂
Why do you wait until after thawing to add the seasonings? Couldn’t you do that before?
I like to add the seasonings in for soups when I am going to serve it so I can adjust them to taste. You could do definitely season before freezing, too, if you prefer.
Did you leave the tomato seeds or remove while chopping?
I left them in! They blended up beautifully! 🙂
Silly question…I froze bags and bags and more bags of tomatoes from my garden this summer. I’m VERY new to canning, and am unsure if I have the $ and time to invest in jars and canning sauces, soups, etc. right now.
My silly question is, can I thaw my tomatoes, use them to make something like this soup and then still be safe to freeze the soup? I don’t fully understand the rules of how many times things can be frozen/heated up.
Thanks!
Erin
I know this is awhile later, and you probably have your question answered. I always freeze my tomatos right from the garden. Then in the colder months I make my soups or pizza sauce. Makes more sense to me to heat up the house when you want it heated. Yes I use frozen tomatoes to make the soups and pressure can them. You shouldn’t water bath can tomato soup. Hope this is helpful. Happy cooking.
Sylvia
Ummm, this looks tasty! I am a big fan of tomato soup and (since it is the dead of winter) I am wondering if anyone has used canned tomatoes. Certainly not the same, I am sure, but my garden is covered with snow!
Thanks, Karrie for your fun and energetic posts! I pass this blog on to just about everyone!
Can’t wait for tomato season to get here!!!
yum!!
Yum! I love fresh, garden tomatoes.
My neighbor just gave me a ton of tomatoes, so this will be perfect. Can’t wait to make this!
Hi, Please clarify how much cream you add, this looks super yummy. The recipe says to add 1 C. of cream per bag, but it looks like on the bag it says 1/2 C. cream. Thanks!
I used a smaller bag for the picture. It is 1 cup of cream!
Can I add the cream before freezing? I’m very new to freezer meals and I’d like to freeze some individual servings, but then I’d end up using about 1/8 cup of cream every time. Thanks =)
You can sure try it, but I recommend doing it as listed because sometimes freezing cream can cause it to separate.
I just made this with my end of harveat time tomatoes and it is fabulous!! You can really taste the fresh tomato flavours – so yummy! Definitely going to keep this and make again. Yum!!
delicious !!! I just made this tonight with garden tomatoes I had froze. I also added a couple of Tbs of pesto to it. Really good on a cold night. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Just made this recipe from the mass amounts of tomatoes from my garden.
Phenomenal! It was perfect even before adding the sugar and half and half.
Thank you for sharing! I’m drowning in tomatoes (which is a nice problem to have!)
Can you use milk instead of whipping cream? I’m about to make a ton of this and I know if I give some to my mom, she will balk at having to buy whipping cream since she doesn’t cook at all.
Yes, you can use milk, but cream makes everything better! LOL.
Excellent soup! I used a mix of brandywine , san marzano, rose de bern, black, yellow pear tomatoes . i did de-seed the big ones into a bowl then strained that into the soup. Pureed them in my food processor after cooking. Since i was concerned it might be too thin I skipped the chicken broth but may add it when i heat it up. Added a punch of thyme and some parsley. But those were tge only additions/ changes.
The sample bowl was delicious!
Pinch not punch lol! And of course the grrr. Need proofread.
Why should you not do the water bath and pressure can instead I am new I this thank Bittany