Simple Homemade Tomato Soup - A Family Favorite!

A few Twice Remembered readers asked me a little while ago to share the recipe I used to make the homemade tomato soup I mentioned in my Snow Day entry. Usually when I make soups, I don't follow a recipe {I just go by taste}, so I wanted to first make the soup again while recording some ingredient amounts to pass on. Per Hubs request, today I made tomato soup and in the process, put together this recipe for you. Keep in mind, make your soup to your liking...you may want a little more of this or a little less of that. Make it your own!

The following ingredients will make a large pot of soup. Eat on it all week or put half of it in the freezer or feed a large group! If you'd rather, just split this recipe in half for a smaller pot.

Here's what you'll need:

8 cups of water
8 chicken bouillon cubes
8 cans diced tomatoes {undrained}
1 medium onion, chopped & sauteed in a 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter
2-3 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk {optional, depending on if you like a creamier soup}

{Notes before you begin: If you already have eight cups of chicken stock, either from a boiled chicken or canned, you can use it instead of the water/bouillon cube combination. You may need to add additional salt, however. Also, fresh tomatoes would be wonderful for this recipe, but it would take a good amount. If you have a summer garden that produces lots of tomatoes - keep this recipe in mind!}

-Start by making your chicken stock. Combine your water and bouillon cubes and bring to a boil and then to a simmer until the cubes have dissolved.

-Sautee your chopped onion in butter until tender and set aside.

-Once your chicken stock is made {cubes fully dissolved}, add the 8 cans of diced tomatoes, followed by the sauteed onions.

-At this point, add the dry seasonings.

-Bring the pot of soup to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. You can let this simmer for an hour or more - but at least a couple of hours is recommended. I like to let my tomato soup simmer for much of day if I have the time.

Here is what it should look like:


When the soup has simmered sufficiently and your house smells so good you could take a bite out of it, it's time to puree it to make it nice and smooth. You'll have to do this in several batches, ladling it from the pot {unless you can pour it from the pot into the food process or blender, but trust me - that has never ended well for me!}.


After each batch is pureed, pour it into another pot set to low heat. At this pureed stage, you can add just a little milk if you'd like for it to have a creamier taste. My recipe states 1/4 cup of milk but slowly add as much or as little as you like - tasting as you go to get it just the way you want it. I almost prefer tomato soup without any milk at all but I always add a little for Hubs.


So there you have it! Please let me know if you try this recipe. I've been making tomato soup this way for 17 years now and it has become a family favorite... I hope your family enjoys it as much as we have!

This week, I'm linking up to the following blog events:
Make Your Monday
Just Something I Whipped Up Monday