Are you looking for a tasty tomato soup recipe with a little bit of a twist? Then check out this recipe for tomato feta soup! This flavorful tomato soup is packed with creamy heavy cream, tangy feta cheese, and fresh basil. It is made with fresh tomatoes rather than canned tomatoes, so it is a great way to use any leftover tomatoes you have lying around! It is also gluten free, vegetarian, egg free, nut free, and keto friendly.
What is in this tomato feta soup
What is in this tomato feta soup? Here are the main ingredients in this tomato feta soup.
- Tomatoes. This tomato soup is made with fresh tomatoes rather than canned tomatoes. The tomatoes are roasted under the broiler to enhance their flavor then peeled to ensure the tomato soup has a nice, creamy texture.
- Vegetable broth. Vegetable broth is added to supplement the liquid from the tomatoes. If you are looking for recommendations for gluten free and vegetarian bouillon cubes, we highly recommend Edward & Sons Not Chik’n bouillon cubes. If you frequent our site, you will see us recommending them over and over again. They are gluten free, vegan, and taste exactly like chicken bouillon!
- Onions, celery, and garlic. Onions, celery, and garlic are the main aromatics that are used in this soup. The vegetables are cooked prior to being added to the soup then blended into the base of the soup along with the tomatoes and vegetable broth. We recommend using an immersion blender to blend the vegetables into the soup base so that you do not have to deal with the mess associated with pouring the soup into a stand blender.
- Heavy cream. Heavy cream is added to this soup after all of the ingredients have been blended together. The heavy cream gives the tomato feta soup a nice, creamy flavor and helps to cut through the acidity of the tomatoes. We prefer to use heavy cream instead of milk when we make tomato soup. Heavy cream is much less likely to curdle when you add it to warm soup.
- Feta cheese. It’s safe to say that you can’t have tomato feta soup without the feta cheese. Feta cheese is added to this soup after the soup has been cooked and the ingredients for the soup base have been blended together.
- Basil. Fresh basil is the final ingredient that is added to this tomato feta soup. The basil is shredded and added after the soup base has been blended together along with the feta cheese and heavy cream.
How do you make tomato soup from scratch
How do you make tomato soup from scratch? Here are all the steps you need to take to make tomato soup from scratch.
- Roast & peel the tomatoes. The first step for making tomato soup is to prepare the tomatoes. You should roast the tomatoes under the broiler for a few minutes. Roasting the tomatoes serves two purposes – it enhances the flavor of the tomatoes and causes the skin on the tomatoes to peel back so that it is easy to remove. After the tomatoes are done cooking, peel the skin off of the tomatoes and discard it.
- Chop & cook the veggies. The next step is to chop and cook any other vegetables you are adding to the tomato soup. You will want to use a high quality chef’s knife (this is the exact knife we use) to chop the veggies so that you can chop them nice and small without grinding them into mush. After that you should add all of the veggies to a large pot or dutch oven to cook. We use this dutch oven by Cuisinart to make all of our soups and we find it to be a great value for the price. If money is not an issue then we recommend upgrading to a Le Creuset dutch oven. Le Creuset is the cream of the crop when it comes to dutch ovens.
- Simmer the soup. After the veggies are nice and tender, add the vegetable broth, tomatoes, and the dried spices to the pot and let them simmer over low heat for 20 – 30 minutes.
- Blend the soup. After all of the ingredients for the soup base have been cooked, it is time to blend them together. Blending the tomatoes, vegetables, and broth together helps to thicken the soup and ensure that it has a nice, creamy consistency. We recommend using an immersion blender to blend the soup so that you can blend the soup in the same pot you cooked it in.
- Add the heavy cream, feta, and basil. After all of the vegetables have been blended into the base of the soup, it is time to add the cream, cheese, and basil.
Do you need to peel tomatoes for soup
In our instructions for making this tomato feta soup, we recommend peeling the tomatoes before adding them to the soup. But do you really need to peel tomatoes before adding them to soup? That depends on how thoroughly you plan to blend your soup.
If you plan to blend your soup for a long time until every chunk of vegetable has been broken down then it is not as important to peel your tomatoes. If you only plan to blend some of your tomatoes to help thicken the soup then you should definitely peel your tomatoes. No one wants large chunks of tomato skin floating around in their soup!
How to make tomato soup without a blender
In this recipe we assume that you have an immersion blender, blender, or food processor that you can use to blend the vegetables into the base of your tomato soup. But what do you do if you do not have a blender? How do you make soup without a blender?
If you do not have a blender then you can still make this tomato soup. you will just need to let the soup simmer for a much longer period of time – we’re talking a few hours. If you simmer the tomatoes for a few hours then the tomatoes will start to break down and dissolve into the soup base. Note that you might need to add extra water to your soup if you simmer it for a long time. We recommend adding at least 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of extra water.
How do you cut the acidity in tomato soup
Tomatoes are acidic so tomato soup can turn out very acidic if you do not add ingredients that counteract the acidity. How do you cut the acidity in tomato soup? Here are some ways to cut the acidity in tomato soup.
- Heavy cream. If you add heavy cream to tomato soup then it will help to balance out the acidity in tomato soup. That is why creamy tomato soup recipes are so common. If you want to make your tomato soup vegan friendly then you can use coconut cream rather than heavy cream.
- Baking soda. If you want to balance out the acidity of tomato soup without adding ingredients that will modify the flavor then you can also add a little baking soda to your soup. Baking soda is naturally very basic so it helps neutralize the acidity of the tomatoes.
- Add some sugar. Sugar will not neutralize the acidity of the tomatoes like baking soda will, but it will take some of the edge off of the soup.
Tomato feta soup
Ingredients
- 12 large tomatoes
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 stalk celery
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup feta
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Turn your broiler on high and let it preheat for a few minutes. Roast the tomatoes for 3 minutes under the broiler. Flip the tomatoes over and roast them for another 2 minutes on the other side.
- Peel the skin off of the tomatoes. You do not have to get every last bit of skin off of the tomatoes, just get as much as you can get off easily.
- Dice the onion and celery into small pieces and mince the garlic. Chop the basil into small strips.
- Heat a large pot over medium to medium high heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion and celery to the pot and cook them for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the oregano, black pepper, tomatoes, and vegetable broth to the pot with the vegetables. Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing the cornstarch with 1 tbsp of cold water then add it to the pot.
- Reduce the heat to low or medium low and cover the pot. Let the soup simmer for 20 - 30 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup. If you do not have an immersion blender you can wait for the soup to cool then add the soup to a stand blender or food processor.
- After you have blended the soup, add the heavy cream, feta, and basil to the soup.
Substitutions for this tomato feta soup
- Heavy cream. If you do not have heavy cream then you can replace the heavy cream with whole milk or light cream. If you use whole milk you should make sure to let the soup cool down before you add the milk to the soup base. Milk curdles much more easily than cream and if you add the milk to the soup when it is too hot, it will curdle.
- Fresh basil. If you do not have fresh basil then you can add dried basil to the soup instead. We recommend adding 1 tsp of dried basil to the soup when you use the oregano.
Other recipes you will love
If you are looking for another easy & delicious soup recipe then you should check out this recipe for potato & leek soup. This tasty soup recipe is dairy free, vegan, & paleo friendly!
