A delicious, rich , easy-to-make, veggie packed tomato soup. It’s got 3 secret ingredients that really makes this simple but elegant soup shine; The perfect cozy soup for a healthier January!
Happy January friends! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones. ❤️
I had an amazing time with both my family and my husband’s family. We first spent time in St. Louis visiting my family. Over the course of 3 days, we went to the St. Louis zoo lights, had an amazing dinner at the Kitchen Tavern in the Central West End (if you live in St. Louis, I highly recommend it!), baked an inordinate amount of Christmas cookies, ate an inordinate amount of Christmas cookies, saw a lot of old friends, indulged in fondue for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, and partied with my extended family for a festive Christmas Day party.
Then later on Christmas Day, we went to Bloomington, IL to visit my husband’s family and had the BEST Christmas dinner with the most amazing prime rib I have ever had. My father-in-law is a master on the grill!
The holidays are such a magical, family-oriented time of year, I am always a little sad when its over. However, after the holidays, I am always ready to get back to cleaner, healthier, and more nutritious eating for January.
Don’t get me wrong – I love indulging during the holidays. I think it’s important to spend time with family and friends and enjoy the homemade foods you love that you only get this time of year. But after about a month of eating mainly cookies and cheesy appetizers, my body starts to crave fruits and veggies again.
That is why you will see a lot of healthy, veggie forward recipes this January. But I promise that does not mean boring. These new recipes will still be packed with flavor and spice!
Today, I am bringing you a hearty and extra delicious tomato soup recipe. It’s all made in one pot (so super easy), packed with veggies (so super healthy) and full of flavor (so extra yummy).
Let’s get to cooking!
The only pot you will need for this recipe is a dutch oven or stock pot. One pot soups are the best, amiright!
Start by heating a tablespoon of olive and adding the onions and carrots. Both of these ingredients are the base of soup and will add depth of flavor and sweetness. Cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the onions and translucent and the carrots start to soften.
Next, add in the garlic and cook until fragrant. As you probably already know, I am a huge garlic lover. It adds such a warm, slightly sweet punch of flavor that helps brighten the soup.
Now it’s time to add my 3 secret ingredients. The first are sun-dried tomatoes. Sun-dried tomatoes have a richer, sweeter tomato flavor that helps intensify the tomato flavor in the soup. I cook them in the oil with the other veggies first to help rehydrate them and plump them up a bit.
Next secret ingredient is tomato paste. Add that to the bottom of the pan and cook out until it becomes a sort of rusty color. Tomato paste is also has a more concentrated tomato flavor that adds body and nuance to the soup.
Finally, I deglaze the pan with good quality balsamic vinegar. I know deglazing sounds like you are doing some super fancy and chef-like. But it simply means adding a liquid to allow the caramelized bits at the bottom of the pan to release. These brown bits, called fond, help add extra flavor to your dish. The balsamic also adds richness and acidity to the dish to help round out all the flavors.
I highly recommend this kind: Twisted Olive Aged Balsamic. It’s a little pricey, but so worth it as it’s sweet, thicker, and richer in taste than a less expensive kind.
Ok back to cooking…now add in the tomatoes and allow to cook for about 15-20 minutes. I used San Marzano tomatoes because they are the best plum tomatoes from Italy and have a sweeter less acidic taste. I used this kind.
Time to add the last ingredients: chicken broth, coconut sugar, salt and pepper, and basil leaves. Allow the soup to cook for another 20 minutes so all the flavors can lovingly marry together and becomes a beautiful, harmonious soup.
The final step is to blend the soup using an immersion blender or regular blender (if you use a regular blender, very carefully transfer the hot soup to the blender and blend until smooth). My immersion blender is one of my favorite gadgets in the kitchen. It makes blending soups, sauces, stews, and other dishes so easy. And it’s really fun to use. If you don’t have one, I highly recommend investing in one – you won’t regret it! I use the Cuisinart kind which you can get here.
The soup is complete. It’s rich and hearty, packed with big tomato flavor, and the perfect balance of sweet, savory, garlicky and acidic.
I highly recommend pairing it with a homemade grilled cheese or whole grain crusty bread – I made a grilled cheese with angelic bakehouse whole grain bread, all natural, fresh mozzarella, and a homemade pesto and it was magical with the tomato soup. A fresh, whole-grain warm crust peice of bread would also pair very nicely with the soup. Or you could even top it with some walnuts and a dollop of Greek yogurt if you want to avoid carbs. Either way, you will LOVE this soup!
Easy and Healthy Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 small onion diced
- 3-4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/3 cup sundried tomato
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon good balsamic vinegar
- 1 28 oz can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 6 basil leaves
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
- Salt to taste
Instructions
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n a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add carrots and onions and a healthy pinch of salt and cook for 3-5 minutes, until the onions are translucent and the carrots start to soften. Then add in garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Next, add in the sun-dried tomatoes and cook for a 1-2 minutes.
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Add in the tomato pasta and cook until it is rusty in color, about a minutes.
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Deglaze the pot with balsamic vinegar to help lift the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and add them to the soup (which creates extra flavor).
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Add in the tomatoes and their juices and cook for 15-20 minutes so the tomatoes break down and release their juices.
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Finally, add the chicken brown, salt and pepper, coconut sugar, and basil leaves and cook for another 15-20 minutes.
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Use an immersion blender or regular blender to blend all the ingredients and create a smooth soup.
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Taste the soup and adjust seasonings as necessary.
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Serve with crusty bread or grilled cheese. And ENJOY!
