Few foods give the cozy comfort of a bowl of creamy vegan tomato soup with a toasted sandwich for dipping. This full-bodied soup has a wonderful depth of flavor thanks to sun-dried tomatoes.
I didn’t grow up eating tomato soup. It wasn’t until I was in high school and over at a friend’s house that she introduced me to this simple, homey pleasure.
She’d take a can of condensed tomato soup, add a bit of milk to it, and heat it in a pot. While it was warming, she’d toast a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches. Then we’d convene to the living room couches, dunking our sandwiches while we talked.
After that, grilled cheese & tomato soup was a staple whenever I wanted something effortlessly cozy. Something about dipping that gooey sandwich into the soup made it better collectively than separately.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup doesn’t have to be a thing of the past, though.
This tomato soup recipe gives that old school favorite an upgrade.
Sun-dried tomatoes give it an extra depth of flavor, tomato paste amps up the richness, and a spoonful of nutritional yeast & spices elevates the soup into a dish both children and adults alike can enjoy.
What kind of tomatoes should I use?
Fresh tomatoes may be perfect on a vegan BLT. But for a quick & easy soup, I recommend using canned tomatoes for this recipe.
Scoring, boiling, and blanching tomatoes to remove their skins before making soup is really fussy. And who wants to be inside by a hot stove when you could have tomato soup in hand from start to finish in about thirty minutes?
I recommend using peeled whole tomatoes for this recipe.
While I love chopped fire-roasted tomatoes for things like vegan three bean chili, it can give too much of a burnt taste for a subtly sweet soup. So I prefer to opt for whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes.
Taste your canned tomatoes before using and make sure they don’t have a tinny taste, because if they do, that will stand out in a tomato soup where it’s all about the tomato flavor.
Even in canned tomatoes, tomato sweetness varies. So I’ve given a range of amounts of agave syrup for the soup. If your tomatoes are very sweet, you may not need any at all. And if they are less sweet, feel free to add up to a couple teaspoons full.
That little bit of added sweetness also balances the acidity of the tomatoes.
How to make tomato soup
Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe.
Start by sautéing onions & garlic in a soup pot until fragrant.
Then add the following:
- 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes with juices
- Water
- Bouillon
- Dried oregano
- Dried basil
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Nutritional yeast flakes
- Tomato paste
- Sun-dried tomatoes
Cook for 8 to 10 minutes on a medium heat. Then blend with an immersion blender until smooth. (Or carefully transfer to a standard blender, blend, and return to the soup pot.)
Stir in non-dairy milk, as well as agave syrup if additional sweetness is needed.
Cook for 5 to 10 minutes more. Then ladle the soup into bowls, and drizzle with sun-dried tomato oil.
Serve with vegan grilled cheese sandwiches. Or finish the soup with croutons for crunch.
More family-friendly soups I know you’ll love:
- Vegan tortilla soup with black beans
- Creamy gnocchi soup with sausage & kale
- Sweet potato peanut stew with chickpeas
- Vegan split pea soup
Creamy vegan tomato soup
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon organic canola oil or your preferred neutral-flavored high heat oil
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes including liquid
- ½ cup water
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube*
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ to 1 teaspoon salt
- Grind black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 Tablespoons drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes + additional oil for drizzling on top
- ¼ to ½ cup non-dairy milk Cashew milk is my favorite
- 1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup optional
Instructions
- Bring a soup pot to a medium heat with oil. Add onions & garlic, and saute for several minutes until translucent and fragrant.
- Add whole peeled tomatoes with liquid, water, vegetable bouillon cube, dried oregano, dried basil, ½ teaspoon salt, black pepper, nutritional yeast flakes, tomato paste, and drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes to pot. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes on a medium heat.
- Blend with an immersion blender. Or carefully move soup to a regular blender, blend, and transfer back to the soup pot.
- Add ¼ to ½ cup non-dairy milk, depending on your creamy preferences. Taste and add 1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup if additional sweetness is needed. If more salt is needed, add an additional ½ teaspoon or to taste.
- Continue cooking for 5 to 10 minutes longer for flavors to meld and tomato to mellow.
- Serve soup in 4 bowls and drizzle with oil from sun-dried tomato jar.
Notes
Nutrition
Content, recipe, and photos updated July 2020. Originally posted May 2018.
Dianne
Tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches has always been a favorite comfort food combo, but I haven’t had it in ages, and I’ve actually never made my own tomato soup! I’m looking forward to trying this recipe.
Ttrockwood
I love a good tomato soup!! I make mine with a lot of tomato paste and nutritional yeast too, then i blend in a can of cannelini beans to make it creamy and more filling (and more budget friendly than cashews!)
Cadry
That’s a good idea to use beans! I make a cauliflower queso with white beans & cauliflower, and it’s amazing how much creaminess you can get with those two ingredients. For this tomato soup recipe, I used store-bought cashew milk, which I buy for my daily coffee. A half gallon of cashew milk is about $3, and so 1/4 to 1/2 cup of it really isn’t that expensive. But hey, whatever works! 😀
Issabetta
Huge tomato soup fan here.I hurriedly went food shopping so I could be sipping this tomorrow evening.Thanks for the stove top directions.
Cadry
I’m so glad to hear that, Issabetta! As a huge tomato soup fan, I hope you enjoyed it!
Susan
I always loved canned tomato soup when I was younger (one of the brands available now is vegan!), though grilled cheese as a side is only something I have started doing in my senior years. I think when I was younger it was hot toast and butter. But nothing beats a melty cheesy sandwich!
Cadry
Yes, the pairing of a melty, cheesy sandwich along with tomato soup for dipping really can’t be beat. It’s a simple pleasure, but such a good one.
Ricki
What a yummy looking soup! Nothing quite as comforting as a bowl of steaming tomato soup. 🙂
Cadry
So true! Nothing says “cozy” like tomato soup.
Brittany Roche
Oh, I love tomato soup so much, and the addition of sun-dried tomatoes in this recipe is SO SMART! Sun-dried tomatoes make everything better!
Cadry
Absolutely! Sun-dried tomatoes amp up and deepen that tomato flavor in such a marvelous way.
Hedi
I am a massive fan of soups, mainly in the winter, but sometimes even on a nice summer evening on the terrace. Yours looks delish Cadry
Cadry
Thank you, Hedi! A warming bowl of soup certainly has a big draw in the winter, but yes, sometimes summer needs soup too. 😀
Trinity Bourne
OMG I totally love love love creamy tomato soup… you’re version looks so delicious!
Cadry
Thank you, Trinity! I’m glad to hear that you’re a fellow creamy tomato soup fan.
Jasmin | VeeatCookBake
yeah for tomato soup.. perfect for busy days. Great idea to puree them in a high speed blender. awesome
Cadry
Thanks! Got to love getting a healthy meal in a hurry.
Heather Johnston
Thank you for the delicious soup recipe. Recently I have made a lot of dietary changes and while I’m not vegan, vegan recipes are often very helpful! Tonight used the stove top method. My immersion blender wasn’t doing the job well enough for me so into the food processor with the soup! I agree with you that the whole tomatoes are best, but next time I may try crushed tomatoes. It was a great suggestion to taste the tomatoes before adding. Very common sense but I had never done that before!
Cadry
Thanks for all of the great feedback, Heather! I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup!