It’s almost that time of year again… The time when we can warm up at lunch with a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup!
I LOVE this recipe that was given to me by my friend Anne…who got it from her friend Anne. (Yeah, like that’s not ever confusing.) Along with canning lots of tomato sauce and tomato juice and salsa, I love canning several jars of Anne’s tomato soup for the winter! (Wait, which Anne is that?)
Most of the tomato soup you’ll find at the store will have high fructose corn syrup or sugar in it…
This recipe has no sugar…which is amazing because it tastes so yummy and sweet! Once when Matt was eating some, he asked at least three times, “This really doesn’t have any sugar in it?” :)
Homemade Tomato Soup
5 pounds chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped onion
3 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Put everything in a big pot and cook it for about 3 hours. Then, put it into your blender and blend until smooth. Freeze it, or can it following these canning methods (25 minutes in the water bath).
I love having recipes like this that are so simple to make and healthy for my family!
Mmmmm…this one may be totally worthy of buying some canning jars! I am due with my first baby in 6 weeks and have been looking for easy meals to make. We LOVE homemade tomato soup. Comically, I never tried it until I was MARRIED (4 years ago) because I don’t like tomatoes. Never mind that I knew I liked tomato sauce, ketchup, etc. Now it is one of my favorites. With grilled cheese. Yummmm.
The soup sounds delicious.
I definitely agree with you about your bangs in that first picture. They are FABULOUS! :)
This sounds great! Thanks for sharing it. I’ve printed it off to make it this week.
Oh, yum! We love tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches! I’ve never made homemade though.
Does it matter if you use regular salt?
Sounds good!
I just canned 26 quarts of tomato soup Sunday night. It was a TON of soup, & I’m STILL tired from that adventure, LOL, but I’m glad to have it & will be very thankful the first chilly evening that I pull one out of the cabinet to fix for supper!
Nice blog you have. :) I don’t get online much, but when I do, I’ll try to come back. :)
JustJane
i already have canned tomato juice i canned but not sure how what to add to make it soup are to get it thicker.Thanks….
Hello Laura…thank you for sharing. About how many tomatoes equal 5 lbs? I have this huge box of tomatoes and have no idea what that might equal.
This soup was excellent!
I had never made homemade tomato soup before. The same day I read your blog post about this soup I was given some tomatoes from a friend’s garden; now I was fully prepared to make your soup. It was delicious! I will definitely make it again…and again.
Lindsay– I had two large tomatoes(slightly bigger than my fist) and four small tomatoes(Roma sized)and weighed them on my kitchen scale and that only equaled 3 lbs. Maybe you can “guesstimate” with that information. I just made a half batch.
Thank you for the nice, simple recipe! I made a quad batch, didn’t have enough onions, so threw in three banana peppers…flavor was good! I poured the soup through a metal strainer after blending it, too, because I didn’t want the seeds in it. I’m excited to try some soon in some goulash!!
I am so glad I found your site…and this recipe. My daughter’s and I absolutely love tomato soup, especially with grilled cheese sandwiches. I can’t wait to make a batch and be able to save it for the winter months. My girls will be happy to be able to help me make some soup since they like helping me can veggies. Thank you so much!!!
Made some of this wonderful soup a few months ago and canned it. We have already used half of them (didn’t have too many tomatoes to fix.) Some we have at as a soup. Others I used them as a base for my homemade spaghetti sauce. Absolutely love this easy recipe. I will most definitely make more next year!! Thank you Laura!!
Hi! Thanks for so many of your awesome recipes! I actually just started menu planning and used several of your recipes in my week one…so far all have been EXCELLENT and very easy for a busy family…my kids have loved them too! I made this tomato soup recipe today too…and it made enough for 3 hearty family size servings…I froz the extra 2 servings for a future date…
I did try making it with 1 cup skim milk to every 2.5 c. of tomato mixture. I always used to eat the Campbell’s version with a little milk mixed in…and it worked great with this recipe too…except HUGE BONUS that this soup is natural and has no sugar/high fructose corn syrup, etc…and still tastes GREAT! You can check out my post with lots of links back to your great recipes here…http://makingoverme.blogspot.com/2010/02/menu-plan-feb-15-21.html
Thanks again!
Hi Laura,
This recipe looks great and I cannot wait to add it to my canning repertoire this fall… assuming baby #2 due 9/15 doesn’t interfere with my grand canning plans this year :) Do you use a water bath canner for this recipe? How long do you process it for, and do you add any lemon juice to make sure it has enough acid? Thanks in advance!
You water bath it for about thirty minutes. I don’t add lemon juice, but you can if you want.
Congrats on the new baby!
There is no approved method for canning dairy products. This soup can be canned without the butter safely. https://nchfp.uga.edu
There is no approved method for canning dairy. This can only be safely canned without the butter. https://nchfp.uga.edu
How do you cook it- as in medium heat or high heat? or just bring to boil, then simmer for 3 hours?
I bring it to a boil, then simmer.
I really love to eat lots of different kinds of soup specially vegetable based soups.,~;
I wonder if you could cook this in a crockpot all day and get decent results?
No, I don’t think so because you have to leave the lid off to let some of the liquid steam off. I’m not very comfortable with the idea of leaving the lid off of my crock pot all day, although maybe it would be okay?
I’m trying it in the crockpot now. I will let you know how it turns out. I leave the lid cracked all the time when I make crockpot apple butter and it works just fine. I don’t have the lid all the way off, but tilted so some steam can escape.
I did make this in the crockpot and it did turn out. I am not sure if it turned out “right” since this is the first time I have made it, but the family loved it! I put all the ingredients in my crockpot, set it to low 8 hours and left the lid tilted so the steam could escape, like I do with my crockpot apple butter recipe I make. Then I left a note for my husband to “leave the tomatoes in the crockpot alone.” When I got home from work at 11:30 pm, I noticed that the lid to my crockpot was all the way on correctly. I think my husband was “helping” me by fixing the lid I “accidentally” left askew. Since It was 11:30 I just ladled the tomatoes into jars, put lids on them and left them on the counter to cool overnight. I didn’t want to put them in the fridge because they were too hot, and I didn’t want to stay up and wait for them to cool either. A few days later, I just opened one jar, dumped the whole thing in my vitamix blender, set it to the “hot soup” setting and let it go. While my vitamix was making my soup for me, I cooked some grilled cheese sandwiches. My whole family LOVED the soup! I guess all this to say…you can cook it in the crockpot if you want…it worked for me.
I too have a few questions that weren’t answered yet. Like how many tomatoes equal 5 lbs or how many tomatoes did you use? I would also like to know does it matter what “kind” of salt you use? I agree I’m loving this ideal being diabetic high fructose corn syrup or sugar is a no no for me. Thanks for making this SOOO easy that ANY one can do it!
There are approximately 15 tomatoes in 5 pounds. It really doesn’t matter what kind of salt you use, but real sea salt is much better health wise.
Hi Laura,
When you put the tomatoes in the pot, do they still have the skin on?
Yep, I’m lazy like that!
Hi Laura!
Great website! I’ve been into organic, all natural cooking myself for many, many years now and it’s great to see your passion for it as well! I too would like to know if you left the skins on your tomatoes when you put them in the pot. Keep up the great work, and thanks for some great recipes!
Yep, skin and all!
I made this a few weeks ago, a smaller batch using a bag of garden tomatoes a friend gave me. It was incredibly simple and delicious. I left the skins and seeds and no one noticed they were there!
This looks really good…I never knew making homemade tomato soup could be so easy! About how much soup does this recipe make?
About 4-5 pints I think.
Do you add any water to this recipe or is this all there is to it? Or should the chopped tomatoes be canned in water. For instance if I bought them canned. I am kind of new to this home made cooking thing, and want to give this a try. I am trying to get away from all HFCS foods. Anyway, thank you…
This is what I have so far:
Homemade Tomato Soup
5 pounds chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped onion
3 T. butter
1 1/2 t. sea salt
Put everything in a big pot, Bring it to a boil, then simmer for about 3 hours. Then, put it into your blender and blend until smooth. Freeze it, or can it following these canning methods.
This is all there is to it. If you’ve done all of the above already, go ahead and freeze it or water bath it: https://heavenlyhomemakers.com/canning-101
That is 3 tablespoons of butter right? not teaspoons..
Right, I need to go in and edit that! T. means tablespoon. t. means teaspoon
I’ll go fix that in the post!
You know…I still think you have no idea what I am asking. When you say bring this to a boil, what am I boiling these tomatoes in? Is it water….or what is it? The way this is explained is as if you just put tomatoes in a pot and bring them to a boil with the skins on them.
Okay, I see what the mix up is. Usually we boil stuff in water…got it! BUT, these tomatoes, with skins on all chopped up in a pot will boil all by themselves. JUST put the tomatoes in the pot (with the other ingredients) and they will juice up and boil all by themselves. No water needed. All the juice from the tomatoes themselves will come out of the tomato and little by little your pot of tomatoes will become soupy.
Did I get it finally? Thanks for clarifying your question!
Yep you got it…thank you so much, and I apologize for the hassle..
So I am assuming that if I did not have whole grown tomatoes straight from the garden and went out and bought canned chopped tomatoes, that the tomatoes would be canned in some kind of juice, or water. Maybe even the original tomatoes juice. I have never bought canned chopped tomatoes in my life.
Mmmm… I made some tomato soup with the end of harvest tomatoes last summer and it was soooo good! I added more basil and cooked it down a good bit, then mixed in some cream. WOW! That was amazing!
Did I read that you process the jars for 30 minutes?!?! That’s long! My salsa only goes for 10. How come it’s so long?
Not sure…probably because there’s a little butter in this soup.
The time difference is most likely because Salsa often has both sugar and vinegar in it which changes the pH and ‘preserving qualities’ whereas the soup only has the acidity of the tomatoes. :)
I know you said that you didn’t think you’d get decent results making this recipe in the crockpot but I wanted to let you know that I’ve done it that way twice (cooking on low for 5-6 hours) and my family has been happy with the results. I did not leave the lid cracked so maybe my soup is a bit thinner than yours but I think it’s yummy. Thanks for the easy recipe. It’s one I will come back to often!
Is there a specific tomato that you prefer (roma, beef steak)? I cannot wait till my tomatoes come in this year to try this out. I will let you know how it turns out…… Thanks
No…you know, my husband and I just plant a variety of different tomatoes (mostly heirloom) each year and mix ’em all up for our Tomato Soup and sauce. :)
I made a smaller batch using 1 can of diced (pureed) tomatoes. I added in some basil, as I really enjoy tomato basil soup. Add in some cheese toast and fruit….lunch!
Can you use commercially canned tomatoes as I have no fresh canned tomatoes? and about how many to make this recipe? Thanks for you help. I’ve just spotted your blog and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve made your taco seasoning. I’m going to try and start cooking fresh foods as the gardening seasoning is just beginning in my area.
Sure, I don’t know why that wouldn’t work!
I am just wondering if you can use this in recipes that call for a can of condensed tomato soup? I have several cassarole recipes that I would love to try this in, but it seems like it would make it too runny compared to the condensed stuff. My hubby just brought home a bunch of tomato plants and didn’t realize I already had bought some so we will have loads this year!
Yep, I use it all the time in this way!
Does this soup seem to simmer down to a smaller amount while cooking? I’m making half this recipe for lunch today for my husband and I and I only have enough ripened tomatoes for half a recipe. Should I still cook it for 3 hours, or half the time?
Thanks!
It may not take the full three hours, but I’m not sure about cutting the time in half necessarily. Since I’m so behind in responding to this question, how did it go?
My daughter and husband LOVE tomato soup!! However, they do not like skins or seeds. How could I make this (easily) without the skin and seeds? When I use my Kitchen Aid veggie strainer attachment, it removes all the skins and seeds easily but I am left with a very liquidy pot. I am afraid that it wouldn’t be as “creamy” as yours. Could I just can or freeze it and then add some whipping cream when I cook it up? Any ideas???
Maybe after you strain it you can cook it down a little more on the stove to steam off some of the liquid? And yes, I like your idea of adding some cream when you cook it – that sounds great!
Gotta love simple soups. I like adding some basil, garlic and red pepper flakes to mine.
Check out my recipe: http://www.handmeafork.com/2011/08/easiest-tomato-soup.html
Quick question. Can I do this in quart jars? We have a large family and I don’t use pint sized jars at all. I could buy some, if necessary, but would be easier if I could just do it in quart sized jars.
Yep, that will work fine!
I am so tempted to try this recipe we love tomato soup but my hubby is the one who makes the tomato soup around here, he does use my canned toms but I don’t want to step on his culinary feet, lol. I think he adds a lot more “stuff” so maybe this would be a great starter for his recipe. As I sit here I have toms cooking in the caner, I bought 50lbs from our local Amish food stand for $14 its such a great deal. Now I just have to see where I put all my jars I seem to be running our and know I have tons from an auction where I bought boxes full of jars for $1 they had about 20 jars each, just a little FYI for those looking for cheap jars, just check the rims for chips and cracks. Sorry for the long post, love your site.
ooooh! This is sooo good! Thank you for sharing! I tried a batch of it yesterday as a test run to see if we would like it and it’s a definite thumbs up all around here. Just getting ready to do a triple batch so I will have enough to fill a canner full (or close). Thanks again for sharing such a yummy recipe.
I make tomato soup regularly but always add a little fresh garlic, ginger, basil and a pinch of chilli. The taste is amazing especially if you use very ripe tomatos, so much healthier for you than purchasing in a store.
Yum, wish I had tomatoes to make this this week! Now, our little guy can’t have dairy, so is there any good way to make tsoup without butter? (or margarine, or nasty soy stuff) thanks for any ideas!
You could just skip the butter in this recipe. It should still turn out fine. :)
yay, less ingredients to have to have on hand! ;) thanks so much!
This is how I make mine, but I add cream and basil! YUMMO!
So I have always wanted to can it but wasn’t sure. I could add the cream to it when reheating on the stove, but will the butter in the soup can fine? I mean, it won’t spoil because it has butter in it??? I want to can it for food storage since my freezer is packed!
Thanks!
It’s fine…but skip it if it makes you nervous! :)
Inviting you the Carnival of Home Preserving on my blog today and every Friday. Hope to see you there. Laura Williams’ Musings http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com
This looks delicious. However, I would caution against canning it as written. Tomatoes are a borderline acidic fruit and onions are low acid. All current canning recommendations call for acidifying tomatoes before waterbath or pressure canning, even if you don’t add anything else to them (as is done here with the onions). It’s perfectly safe to freeze, but if you wanted to can this I would recommend finding a tested recipe that’s similar from a source such as Ball or Univ. of Georgia Cooperative Extension.
Here is a good discussion on canning tomato products safely, including several recipes: http://www.fcs.uga.edu/ext/pubs/fdns/FDNS-E-43-02.pdf
Great Recipe! Made a double batch the first time and it turned out great. I made a triple batch today and as I was about to seal and water bath the jars I realized I had forgot the butter. I just added the butter to the jars and continued the processing. The butter has floated to the top now. They seemed to have sealed fine. Have I messed up my soup or will it be fine when I heat it to serve? It’s not as pretty as the first batch, hoping it’s fine…
It should be fine!
I posted this already, but realized I forgot another question:
How long do I process by water bath: Tomato juice, tomato sauce and tomato soup and how much head space to leave for each one?
Thank you for your time and information.
I’d say 20-25 minutes of water bath process will do it. And I leave about a 1/2 inch of space at the top.
I made tomato juice while I was making spag. sauce, made extra & I just put it in a pot with the onion, salt & butter… do you think this will come out the same? I just shouldn’t have to blend it correct?
Yes correct, as long as I am understanding your question correctly. :)
Will the seeds and skin be really noticeable after the blender? Also, when should you add cream and how much cream? Would half and half work? How many pints or half pints should I expect to get? Do you process your jars? How long? I’d like to just use my hot water bath not my pressure cooker if possible.
THANK YOU!! I’m so excited to try this recipe!
The seeds and skin aren’t terribly noticable, but I now have a Victorio and love the results of using that! https://heavenlyhomemakers.com/victorio-food-strainer-and-sauce-maker-best-investment-ever-for-homemade-applesauce-and-tomato-sauce
You can add cream after you warm up your soup, just before you serve it. Add whatever amount you desire. The number of pints depends on how many pounds of tomatoes you use – I usually get about 6 with this recipe (if I remember correctly?). I hot water bath my jars for about 20 minutes.
I love the recipe. I will be trying it soon. I recently found your site and it is absolutely the BEST. Thank you for sharing all your wisdom.
This was great, Laura! Made it last night in our crock pot with organic tomatoes from a can. I did add additional salt to taste, but this is a first for us–a soup the whole family agrees is a good one. So thankful for its simplicity. I’d tried an intricate tomato soup recipe from Bon Apetite a couple of months ago with decent results–one kid liked it, one kid didn’t, husband here nor there. This, however, was what we needed. Nothing fancy…but no sacrifice on taste. Thanks again.
Could you use coconut oil instead of butter in this recipe? I know it’s strange but we don’t buy butter very often. Thanks!
That will work!
If you cook this soup for three hours and put it straight into your canning jars would t they seal? Would you still have to run them through a water bath to seal? You can tell I’m new at the canning thing! Love your site!
Yes, they might seal that way without a water bath, but I usually do a water bath anyway just to be safe. :)
I made several pints of this last year. I love it because I have a lot of cherry tomato plants and I don’t have to worry about skinning each tomato. I use this soup in place of the canned tomato soup in several of my casserole recipes. My niece uses it as a base for her pasta sauce.
I’m excited to try this! I may add a little basil and oregeno. I’m curious if you’ve ever tested the PH? I’m reading online that tomatos are iffy in a water bath and can be concern for botulism if not pressure canned because they are on the line with acidity. I really want to water bath and not just freeze. :) Love to know if this recipe has been tested for PH or if you’ve ever had any problems. Thanks!
I never have, but I’ve never had any problems. :)
Just wondering what you freeze this in? Is it jars? I think you are quite the fan of jars, but I didn’t know if there was concerns with freezing in jars.
Hi Mary – I freeze homemade spaghetti sauce and broth in jars all the time. Whether you use pint or quart size, just use the wide mouth and leave about 1″ headspace. They have straighter sides and as the contents expand during freezing it will just rise up along the straighter sides of the jar. (I’ve also used regular mouth jars, but I leave about 1/4″ – 1/2″ more headspace. That way the narrower neck of the jar doesn’t interfere with the expansion and you’re less likely to crack a jar.) Hope this helps you!
Just like Trudi said, it should be fine to freeze in jars. Just leave a little space and you are good to go!
Laura, to make soup do you peel tomatoes?
I actually run it through a Victorio now, so we no longer have the peelings in our soup! https://heavenlyhomemakers.com/victorio-food-strainer-and-sauce-maker-best-investment-ever-for-homemade-applesauce-and-tomato-sauce
So I wanted to make this with the last id my tomato harvest this year however I noticednthat the link for canning has no specifics on how long to can and this recipe isn’t specific either. I can guesstimate by looking in my blue ball book but would it be too difficult to include that info for someone who doesn’t have a book and is very new to canning?
I edited the post to include the information, thank you!
I’d go with 20-25 minutes in the water bath. :)
Pardon my ignorance, but I am new to this stuff.
What setting should the heat be for 3 hours? Low, medium, medium-high? Also, should I cover the pot while cooking? Thanks.
Medium heat, leave the pot uncovered. Hope your soup turns out well!
Thanks for the recipe! I have to recommend this for freezing, NOT water bath canning. Tomatoes need an acid (typically lemon juice or vinegar) added to them to make them safe for water bath canning. Adding onions and butter will decrease the amount of acid in tomatoes which have already been found to be below the safe acidic level for water bath canning.
the recipe looks fabulous though and I will be making some for my freezer with the leftovers from the 25 lbs I bought at the farmers market yesterday! Thanks for all you do Laura- you are a fun inspiration to my days!
Have you ever added milk when you go to eat? For a creamy taste?
Yes, sometimes. Yum!
I just finished canning every last tomato i could find…so how many quarts of already canned juice or diced tomatoes would you use for the equivalent of the 5 pounds chopped tomatoes?
Question…. If you can this do you just store it in the fridge or can you store at room temperature? Also, how long will it stay “fresh” for?
When I can it I store it in my pantry for several months. :)
On tomato soup do you peel tomatoes first?
I don’t peel them first. Some do prefer them peeled, but I have a high power blender (Blendtec) so the skins stay in and my soup is still smooth!
When I make this soup, how much water do I put in for 20 tomatoes
I don’t add any water as the tomatoes have plenty of water in them that has to cook off. :)
Add some celery , onions garlic and zucchini, along with some chicken broth and it is amazing!
What kind of tomatoes do you use.
I like romas best, but truly, I use whatever I get my hands on!
If you wanted to pressure can these how long would you process?
Do you know if the additional of celery would change the canning method?
I believe that would require pressure canning. :)