Secret Ingredient Tomato Soup
I don’t know if I’ve told you, but I’m a little bit of a tomato soup fanatic. I’ve made several tomato soup recipes for Budget Bytes over the past ten years, but this week I tried something a little different. This Secret Ingredient tomato soup has not one, but two secret ingredients that make it ultra rich, without using any dairy, or animal products at all, in fact. This super luscious, warm and comforting, thick and delicious Secret Ingredient Tomato Soup is 100% vegan.
Shown garnished with Easy Baked Homemade Croutons and fresh tyme.
What are the Secret Ingredients??
After the success of my Easy Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup, which uses puréed cannellini beans to thicken and make the soup extra creamy, I wondered how puréed beans would work in other soups. The cannellini beans did a great job giving this tomato soup body and richness, without having to use butter or cream.
The second secret ingredient is nutritional yeast. If you’ve never had nutritional yeast before, it’s a flakey dehydrated powder that has a slightly nutty or cheesy flavor (it also happens to be high in B vitamins!). The slight cheesy flavor of the nutritional yeast was the final magic touch that took the flavor of this soup over the top. The flavor is super subtle, but rounds out the base notes to keep the flavor deep and rich.
Can I Use a Different Type of Bean?
While I haven’t tried other varieties, I will say that cannellini are particularly smooth and creamy. I wouldn’t expect other beans to give quite as good results.
Can I Freeze This Tomato Soup?
Yes, this tomato soup should freeze beautifully. Just as a reminder, make sure to cool the soup completely in the refrigerator before transferring to the freezer. It’s always a good idea to divide the soup into smaller portions for faster cooling.
Secret Ingredient Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp dried rosemary ($0.03)
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper ($0.02)
- freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 3 oz. tomato paste ($0.27)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.04)
- 1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes ($0.89)
- 2 cups vegetable broth ($0.26)
- 1 15oz. can cannellini beans ($0.49)
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast ($0.06)
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste ($0.01)
Instructions
- Add the olive oil, minced garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, crushed red pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill) to a soup pot. Cook and stir the herbs and oil over medium heat for about one minute, or until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
- Add the tomato paste and brown sugar. Continue to stir and cook the tomato paste mixture over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the crushed tomatoes and vegetable broth into the pot and stir to combine. As the soup begins to heat through, add a can of cannellini beans (with the liquid from the can) to a blender and purée until completely smooth. Pour the pouréed beans into the soup and stir to combine again.
- Place a lid on the pot and allow it to come up to a simmer. Once simmering, turn the heat down to medium low and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
- After simmering for 20 minutes, add the nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Taste the soup and add salt to taste (about 1/4 tsp). Serve hot.
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Secret Ingredient Tomato Soup – Step by Step Photos
Start by adding 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 clove of garlic (minced), 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp dried rosemary, a pinch of crushed red pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper to a pot. Cook and stir over medium heat for about one minute, or just until it begins to sizzle and the garlic becomes fragrant.
Next, add 3 oz. tomato paste (just eyeball 1/2 of a 6 oz. can, or about 5 Tbsp) and 1 Tbsp brown sugar to the soup pot with the oil and herbs. Continue to cook and stir for 2-3 more minutes.
The tomato paste and oil mixture looks weird, and won’t really mix together, but don’t worry, you’re doing it right.
After cooking the tomato paste for a few minutes, add 1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and two cups of vegetable broth. Stir to combine and let it begin to heat through, still over medium heat.
Pour one 15 oz. can of cannellini beans, with the liquid in the can, into a blender and purée until completely smooth.
Pour the puréed cannellini beans into the pot with the tomato soup and stir to combine. Place a lid on the pot, and allow it to come up to a simmer. Once simmering, turn the heat down to medium-low, and let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
After simmering for 20 minutes, add 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Taste the soup and add salt to your liking (I added 1/4 tsp). You can also add more nutritional yeast for extra cheesy goodness, if you like!
It’s sooooo rich and delicious!!
I usually am not a big fan of tomato soup; however, this recipe exceeded my expectations! It was so good and my husband loved it :) I highly recommend it!
I didn’t like this soup but my husband thought it was fine. I could taste the beans and I just don’t want bean flavor in my tomato soup.
We love this soup! It’s so wonderfully herby and better than other recipes I’ve tried with cream. I have always doubled the batch, because why not use the whole can of tomato paste and have a little extra? I still usually only use one can of beans in a double batch. Thank you for this recipe!
Great Recipe!! Accidentally brought whole peeled tomatoes but it worked (took a wee bit longer).
Made this soup exactly as written last night and the whole family loved it! Does a great job adding a rich flavor/some protein without veering into unhealthy territory with heavy cream. Served with biscuits to dip in and YUM!
Would this be ok if I don’t have the nutritional yeast? Would you recommend any substitutes?
The only thing I can recommend that will give the soup a similar depth would be Parmesan, but if you’re trying to keep the soup vegan I would just make it without trying to replace the nutritional yeast. :)
Would it be possible to substitute the cannelli beans with navy beans? We have navy beans on hand but I wasn’t sure if it would give the same texture. Thank you!
We haven’t tried that swap but yes it should be fine. Let us know how it goes!
Worked perfectly! Thank you so much.
This soup was a big hit! I loved this recipe it as did my five-year-old son who usually rejects anything homemade. I did use diced tomatoes because that’s what I had in the pantry. The most surprising part of this was how easy the prep was. I will absolutely make this again.
Loved this recipe!! Made it exactly like the instructions except had to substitute in diced tomatoes because that’s what was in the pantry. Gave them a quick spin in the food processor and I was back on track. I added about 1/2 cup shredded fresh spinach to the bottom of each bowl before adding the hot soup. Perfect for a cold January day in the Midwest.
I can’t believe how much I enjoyed this soup. My husband and I are both not huge tomato soup fans, but it used things I had in the house so we gave it a shot. SO easy. SO fast. SO delicious. I followed the recipe to a T and made some fresh buns to go with. A totally balanced meal that we both agreed would be made again! My 2 year old loved it first round and then I tossed it on some pasta the next day as sauce for lunches and it was a secondary hit. I’m also a sucker for a meal that uses primarily (or entirely) pantry staples because its a great “oh shit its 4pm” meal!