Tomato Soup
Updated November 8, 2023
Craig Lee for The New York Times
- Total Time
- About 1½ hours
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1¼ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
½ pound butter
1 pound onions (about 3 medium), cut into ¼-inch dice
½ cup all-purpose flour
4 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 ¼ cups chicken broth
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon celery salt
¾ teaspoon pepper
¾ cup half-and-half
2 tablespoons honey
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
38 grams carbs; 70 milligrams cholesterol; 403 calories; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 27 grams fat; 9 grams fiber; 819 milligrams sodium; 7 grams protein; 25 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add onions and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 20 minutes.
- Step 2
Add flour and stir until mixture is slightly thickened and pale gold, about 3 minutes; do not allow to brown.
- Step 3
Stir in the tomatoes and their juices, chicken broth, sugar, salt, celery salt and pepper. Raise heat to medium until the liquid bubbles, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot frequently.
- Step 4
Stir in half-and-half and honey. Remove from heat and purée using a hand blender, or allow to cool until no longer steaming and purée in batches in a stand blender. Return to medium heat just until heated through. Serve hot.
Private Notes
Comments
If you cook a few diced carrots along with the onions and tomatoes, you'll likely not need the sugar or the honey, as they will sweeten the soup perfectly. They will puree nicely with the rest of the ingredients.
Great recipe and well appreciated. Living in Italy, I adjust as follows: Reduce butter by half in favor of olive oil. Reduce sugar by half. Replace celery salt with a short stick of celery during sauté of onions. Replace half n half with whole milk. Serve it with grilled ham n cheese sandwiches and a salad.
To thicken without using flour, cook a cup of diced potato with the soup. When it's puréed you won't taste the potato. This also allows you to cut back a bit on the sugar as there is natural sweetness in the potato.
My husband always requests this in the summer when we are having fat bacon lettuce and heirloom tomato sandwiches for dinner. Sigh. It's a big hit. It's a also a forgiving recipe because it's easy to sub or add a few other things.
added 1/2 tsp of both basil and thyme and thought it elevated the dish!
This is a great recipe to use up garden tomatoes. Sometimes I roast them, equally delicious. I took the advise of others and used carrots for the sugar, real celery for the celery salt and potatoes to thicken. This last batch was 42 cups of fresh tomatoes, I don’t put the cream or milk in because I use freezer containers and freeze for winter then when we cook it off add some whole milk.