The BEST TOMATO SOUP RECIPE to make again and again!

This is a classic tomato soup recipe and one that I come back to time and again. Now, I know that many of you may have your own recipes passed down to you from your mother or grandmother, but if you don't, I have got you covered. And even if you do, I kind of think you should give my version a try. If you're a longtime downshifter, you know that I have a thing for vegetable soups like my lentil soup, cabbage soup, butternut squash soup, and of course, my loaded vegetable soup. So it was about time that I shared this simple yet flavor-packed homemade tomato soup recipe with you that is so much better than any of those pre-made versions that you can buy from the store in a jar. So let me show you how to make it. To get started, you'll dice up one rib of celery and one medium carrot. Now, you can make a really simple version of tomato soup with just canned tomatoes, diced onion, and maybe some herbs. But if you want the best tomato soup, which is one with more depth of flavor, I do think the celery and carrot are key. They also impart a natural sweetness to the soup, which means that you don't need to plop in any added sugar, which again, lots of people seem to add, but I don't think it's necessary at all. But going back to the onions for a second, there is quite a bit of onion in this recipe, and you'll dice up two yellow onions, though you could use sweet onions or even a bunch of leeks as well. And then once those veggies are all diced up, just add them to a prep bowl, and you can mix everything together in one prep bowl as they'll all go into the pot on the stove at the same time. I also love a good garlicky flavor to my tomato soup, so I'm adding six garlic cloves. Now, because this soup will get blended at the end, there's no need to mince the garlic finely, so I just roughly chop the garlic on my cutting board rather than break out my garlic mincer for this one. Add two tablespoons of olive oil plus two tablespoons of butter, again, for a little added sweetness, to a large pot on medium heat. Dump in your bowl of diced onions, celery, and carrot, and then saute that for about four to five minutes or until the veggies have softened. Add the garlic, half a teaspoon of dried thyme, one and a half teaspoons of kosher salt, and half a teaspoon of ground black pepper, and stir that for another minute or so. In terms of tomatoes, I'm using two 28-ounce cans of San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes are grown in a way that produces a sweeter and more highly concentrated tomato flavor, and when you've got a really short ingredient list like we have today, the quality and type of ingredients you choose is key, so definitely grab San Marzano's if you can, though, of course, regular cans of whole peeled tomatoes work as well. Add two cups of vegetable broth or chicken broth, depending on if you're keeping this recipe vegetarian or not, and then stir everything together. With two cups of broth, this is a pretty thick soup, even when blended, so if you prefer a thinner consistency or just want your soup to go a little further, you can always add another half or full cup of broth. Bring that to a simmer, cover the pot, and then let it simmer for about 30 minutes on the stove. Tomato soup is often served with either croutons on top or a grilled cheese sandwich that you can dip into it, but instead of doing that today, I'm going to whip up my homemade parmesan crisps that can be crumbled and act as croutons on top, or you can keep them whole and dip them into the soup as you would a grilled cheese sandwich. Plus, they're just fun to make and taste oh so good. So to make them, grate about a cup of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and then mound about a tablespoon of grated cheese onto a parchment-lined baking tray. Once you've got the tray filled up, lightly pat each mound down a bit on top, and then bake them in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for about three to five minutes or until they're golden and crispy. They do cook very quickly, so make sure to set a timer or not get too distracted from the oven because you don't want them burned. But the good news is that they are so easy to make that you can definitely multitask and make them while your soup is simmering on the stove. Once they're done, let them cool completely so they're nice and crispy, then use a spatula to transfer them to a paper towel to blot off any extra oil, and then just set them aside for now. See, I kept you busy while the soup was simmering, and then all that's left to do now is blend it up. So there's two ways you can blend the soup. You can use an immersion blender and blend directly in the pot, and if you use this method, you will end up with a slightly chunkier soup, which is totally fine if that's your preference. I personally love a really smooth and blended tomato soup, so I'll transfer it to my Vitamix blender. And while I debated for a second about pouring this huge pot straight into my blender container, my common sense quickly kicked in that I have a habit of spilling things in the kitchen and really didn't want to spill red tomato soup down the front of me. So I opted for the more intelligent move, which was to carefully ladle the soup into the blender. Now, pro tip when you're blending it is to remember not to fill it past the max fill line, as it will rise as it blends, and to start on slow and then gradually increase the speed higher. But after that's nice and creamy in the blender into the texture that you like, you can pour it directly from the blender into bowls. Now, if you want to get fancy with the top, you can drizzle a little heavy cream and swirl that around, and then drizzle a little olive oil. I should also mention that if you prefer an ultra creamy tomato soup, or if you'd like to cut down on the acidity a smidge, you can also add a couple tablespoons of heavy cream to the blender while it's blending. Sprinkle a little fresh thyme on top for a beautiful contrasting pop of green and add some cracked black pepper. And if you've made the parmesan crisps, you can break one of those up and add it on top as you would croutons, or just serve them alongside the soup to munch on as well. I just say the more the better when it comes to those parmesan crisps, because they are just too good to pass up. Now, if ever there was a recipe that reminded me of my mom, it's probably this, because my mom loves tomato soup. She loves tomato juice. She loves kind of tomato everything, but she's a big fan of tomato soup. Absolutely delicious. The texture is perfect. Now, I love that it doesn't have cream, but again, if you want to add cream to kind of cut down a little bit on the acidity, you can pour just a couple tablespoons of cream and blend it into the soup before you pour it into the bowls. And while you can crumble your parmesan crisps on top, like I just showed you in that previous clip, you can also just kind of dunk them in. It's almost like my version of a grilled cheese sandwich. You just get this. It's so good. It is cheesy, tomatoey goodness, and that parmesan and the tomato soup just go so well together. I'm gonna drip. In terms of storage, this will last for about four to five days in the fridge, and this is a great soup to meal prep. Make it ahead of time and then put it into individual containers in your freezer, and then on a night when you don't want to cook and you just want something simple and easy and light and fresh, you can just reheat this easy tomato soup. Now, as I mentioned at the beginning, I have a ton of soups that are perfect for fall and winter on the downshiftology.com website. I have many on the YouTube channel as well, but there are far more over on the website, and I will include a link in the description below that has a roundup of all of my favorite soup recipes for you. I hope you guys enjoyed today's video, and if you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Let me know what soup recipe I'm missing that I don't have yet that you want to see next, and with that, I will see you guys in the next video.