Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup

Roasted garlic tomato soup is pure comfort in a bowl – rich, warming, and bursting with deep, caramelized flavors that’ll make your whole house smell like home. This isn’t your ordinary tomato soup from a can; we’re roasting fresh Roma tomatoes and a whole head of garlic until they’re golden and sweet, then blending them into the most soul-satisfying soup you’ve ever tasted.

Love More Soup Recipes? Try My Creamy Mushroom Soup or this Hearty Beef Barley Soup next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• It’s idiot-proof – If I can make it while half-asleep, anyone can
• Costs basically nothing – Eight tomatoes and some random pantry stuff feeds my whole family
• No fancy skills needed – Can you turn on an oven? Congratulations, you can make this
• Freezes like a dream – I hoard containers of this stuff like a soup dragon
• Even weird kids eat it – My friend’s son who only eats white food actually asked for more

Ingredients You’ll Need

For the Roasted Vegetables:

• 1½ pounds Roma tomatoes (about 8-10 tomatoes) – don’t get the fancy ones, regular grocery store tomatoes work fine
• 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise – yes, the entire head, I’m not kidding
• 1 yellow onion, cut into wedges – just hack it up, doesn’t need to be pretty
• ¼ cup olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

For the Soup Base:

• 2 cups broth (vegetable, chicken, or bone broth) – whatever you’ve got lying around
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano or 1½ teaspoons dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika – this is what makes people ask for your recipe
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes – skip if you’re feeding tiny humans
• ¾ cup half-and-half, optional – but seriously, don’t skip it
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

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Why These Ingredients Work

Roma tomatoes are the only ones I buy for this because everything else turns into watery mush. I made the mistake of using those giant beefsteak tomatoes once and ended up with expensive tomato water. Never again.

That whole garlic head sounds crazy until you try it. After sitting in the oven for half an hour, it tastes nothing like regular garlic – more like garlic candy that doesn’t make your breath smell terrible. My kids will eat the roasted cloves straight off the pan, which is both gross and impressive.

The onions turn into something completely different when they roast – sweet and jammy instead of sharp and tear-inducing. My toddler picks them out to eat first, which never happens with regular cooked onions. The smoked paprika was my attempt to copy a soup from this restaurant downtown. Took me three tries to figure out they just added a quarter teaspoon of this stuff.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• 2 sheet pans that aren’t warped beyond recognition
• Some kind of blender (fancy or basic, doesn’t matter)
• A pot that can hold soup
• Knife that cuts things without requiring therapy
• Basic measuring cups and spoons

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Preheat and Prep

Heat your oven to 450°F. Put one rack up high, one down low. You’ll switch the pans halfway through like you’re some sort of professional.

Step 2: Prepare the Onions and Garlic

Toss onion pieces with half the oil and salt on one pan. Stick those garlic halves cut-side down on the same pan. They’ll get all brown and sweet.

Step 3: Prepare the Tomatoes

On the other pan, coat tomatoes with remaining oil and salt. Make sure they’re all covered or some will be sad and pale.

Pro Tip: Don’t pile everything together like I used to do when I was being lazy. Crowded vegetables steam instead of roast, and you’ll get boring soup instead of magical soup.

Step 4: Roast the Vegetables

Put both pans in the oven for 15 minutes. Then switch their spots and roast another 15 minutes. You want brown edges and soft vegetables, not just warm ones.

Step 5: Cool and Extract the Garlic

Let stuff cool so you don’t burn yourself, then squeeze garlic cloves into your blender. They should squish out like little butter pillows.

Pro Tip: If garlic won’t squeeze out easily, it needs more oven time. Nobody wants raw garlic chunks in their soup – it tastes awful and burns your mouth.

Step 6: Blend Everything Together

Add tomatoes, onions, and all those brown bits from the pans to the blender with the garlic. Pour in broth, oregano, paprika, and pepper flakes. Blend until it looks like soup instead of chunky vegetable bits.

Step 7: Simmer and Finish

Dump everything in a pot and heat over medium-low. Don’t blast it on high heat or it’ll taste flat.

Step 8: Add the Cream and Season

Stir in half-and-half if you want creamy soup. Taste it and add salt and pepper until it tastes right to you.

You Must Know

Don’t take those vegetables out until they look actually roasted. I used to get impatient and pull them too early, then wonder why my soup tasted like nothing. You want dark edges and bubbling juices, not just hot vegetables.

Personal Secret: Scrape every bit of crusty brown stuff off those pans with a spatula and add it to the blender. That caramelized crud is pure flavor – don’t waste it by rinsing it down the drain like I used to do!

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Never try to blend hot vegetables unless you enjoy cleaning soup off your ceiling. I did this exactly once and spent forever scrubbing tomato chunks out of the light fixture. Let everything cool at least 10 minutes before blending.

Soup too thin? Simmer with the lid off until it thickens. Too thick? Add more broth. Soup doesn’t hold grudges – you can usually fix whatever went wrong.

I make huge batches now and freeze half because it takes the same effort to make a lot or a little. Wednesday dinner becomes a microwave situation instead of a whole kitchen production.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

My kid wanted spicier soup so I started roasting a jalapeño with everything else. Adds just enough heat to make it interesting without requiring milk chasers. I throw in fresh basil at the end when I remember to buy it before it turns into expensive green slime in my fridge.

Sometimes I dump in a can of white beans during the last few minutes if the kids are complaining about still being hungry. Suddenly it’s a whole meal instead of just soup, and nobody whines about needing snacks later.

Make-Ahead Options

I roast vegetables on Sunday when I’m already destroying the kitchen anyway, then blend them into soup whenever we need it. The roasted stuff keeps maybe 3 days in the fridge before it starts looking sketchy.

This soup tastes better the day after you make it – all those flavors hang out overnight and become best friends. Make it Monday, eat it Tuesday, and by Wednesday people think you’re some kind of soup genius.

Don’t add cream if you’re freezing this because dairy gets weird and chunky when frozen. Just add it when you reheat. I learned this lesson with what looked like cottage cheese soup – not appetizing.

What to Serve With Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup

Grilled cheese, obviously, but make it on sourdough with sharp cheddar and grill until the cheese gets crispy edges. Dip it in the soup and try not to make weird happy sounds.

My mom always made simple green salad with lemon juice and olive oil alongside this. The acid cuts through all that rich tomato goodness. I also smash leftover roasted garlic into butter for bread – easiest garlic bread ever.

Grate some Parmesan on top and drizzle with decent olive oil if you want to impress people. They’ll think you slaved over this for hours instead of just roasting vegetables and pressing a blender button.

Allergy Information

This is naturally gluten-free, which is great for people who can’t eat wheat stuff. Skip the cream or use coconut milk if dairy is a problem. Full-fat coconut milk works best – the light version makes everything taste watery and sad.

Use vegetable broth instead of chicken if you’re vegetarian. Skip the cream and use veggie broth to make it totally vegan. Unfortunately, if tomatoes make you sick, this recipe won’t work since they’re basically the entire point.

Storage & Reheating

Leftover soup keeps about 5 days in the fridge and honestly gets better each day. The flavors keep melding together, which is why I sometimes make it just to eat as leftovers. Heat it gently on the stove – microwaving makes it splatter and taste weird.

If it’s thick after sitting in the fridge, thin with broth or water. Frozen soup needs to thaw overnight before reheating. Always taste after heating and add more salt if needed – flavors get boring when things sit around.

Emily’s Kitchen Secret: I taste soup before serving and add either salt or lemon juice if something seems off. Salt makes tomatoes taste more tomato-y, lemon juice adds zip. These tiny fixes are what make people think you’re actually good at cooking.

FAQs

Can I use different types of tomatoes?

Stick with Roma tomatoes or you’ll hate your life. Other types get watery and you end up with expensive tomato water instead of soup. I tried regular slicing tomatoes once – total waste of time and money.

My soup turned out too thick – what can I do?

Add more broth bit by bit until it looks right. This happens when tomatoes were extra meaty or roasted longer than usual. Not a big deal – just thin it out.

What if I don’t have smoked paprika?

Regular paprika is okay but you’ll miss that smoky thing that makes this soup special. I’ve used chipotle powder instead – different flavor but still good.

How can I make this soup richer without dairy?

Cashew cream is fantastic – blend half cup raw cashews with half cup water until smooth. Coconut milk works but tastes coconutty, which some people love and others don’t.

This soup got me through last winter when everyone kept getting sick and I needed something that felt like medicine but tasted like actual food. Making soup from scratch makes the whole house smell incredible and gives me something to do while the kids destroy the living room.

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! Seriously, tell me everything – did you mess it up? Make it perfectly? Add weird stuff? I want all the soup stories!