Did you know that tomato soup is on the top of comfort foods served in Poland and the U.S.A.?
I tried tomato soup once and didn’t like the acidity, so I never ordered it again. At my husband’s request and after multiple hints in the past couple of weeks, I finally took the challenge to make tomato soup for his birthday brunch last Sunday. Bought canned tomatoes 3 weeks ago, but didn’t have time (or motivation?) to cook it. This was the perfect reason to give it a try!
After browsing a few recipes I found two that I liked, but chose this one because I wanted one with basil. It’s a bit more elaborate, but I figured that the Instant Pot would cut some of the cooking time, and having a healthier option seemed worth it. And yes, it was totally worth it because the result was a delicious tomato soup with low acidity!
How could that be? Well, I believe the secret is in the addition of carrots, celery and onion! Of course I had to do everything my way, so I tweaked the recipe a bit. Instead of whole tomatoes, I got diced tomatoes, and instead of chopping the veggies I decided to shred them. I also exchanged some of the half and half for regular milk and added extra basil.
Check out the recipe below and give it a try.
Homemade Instant Pot Tomato Soup with Basil
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup shredded celery
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 2 tbsp flour
- 3-1/2 cup broth I used beef
- 1-3/4 cup low fat milk
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/3 cup Parmesan/Romano cheese
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Using the Saute option of your Instant Pot, heat the oil and butter.
- First add celery, carrots and onions; cook a few minutes until tender.
- Mix in the flour and stir to cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the broth, milk and tomato juice to the pot and stir.
- Finally add the crushed tomatoes, thyme, basil and bay leaves.
- After stirring, cover the Instant Pot and switch to Pressure Cooker, cooking for 22 minutes.
- Do a quick or natural release of pressure before opening the pot.
- Remove the herbs and puree the soup with a hand or immersion blender until it's smooth.
- Finish off with cheese, salt and pepper to taste.
Top off your soup with some Romano cheese and chopped fresh basil, or if you want to give it a twist… add chopped cilantro.
Buon Apetito!
You can also prepare this soup from fresh tomatoes if you’re willing to do a bit more work. First blanch (quickly boil) the tomatoes, then skin and puree them before incorporating into the soup.
Fun fact: I looked up the origin of tomato basil soup (is it French or Italian?), but all I found out is that Gazpacho is a Spanish tomato soup served cold (Wikipedia). Like I mentioned earlier, tomato basil soup is very popular in the USA and Poland.
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