I absolutely love ordering Tomato Bisque when out at restaurants and was pleasantly surprised at how tasty the outcome can be at home too. This recipe pairs perfectly with a grilled cheese sandwich during those colder months. Make sure to make a double batch to freeze for later.
We are at the very tail end of tomato season here in N.C. (thanks to the warm fall weather we’ve been having) so we did use fresh tomatoes, but this recipe can easily be made with canned tomatoes as well.
I should also mention that my kids (who are not even tomato fans other than spaghetti and pizza sauce) loved this dish! They even asked for seconds. So enjoy and don’t forget to freeze the leftovers.
Tomato Bisque
I absolutely love ordering Tomato Bisque when out at restaurants and was pleasantly surprised at how tasty the outcome can be at home too. This recipe pairs perfectly with a grilled cheese sandwich during those colder months. Make sure to make a double batch to freeze for later.
Print Recipe
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter we used unsalted
- 1 onion diced
- 2 slices bacon proscuitto, or ham, minced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 5 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 28-oz can peeled tomatoes (with liquid)
- 3 sprigs parsley
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup heavy cream or less if desired
- 1 teaspoon salt or more if you are using unsalted homemade broth
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and cook for about 5 – 6 minutes or until it starts to get soft.
- Add the bacon (or other meat) and the garlic and stir for another minute or two or until the meat gets crisp.
- Add the flour and stir vigorously for 2 – 3 minutes.
- Pour in the broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil while whisking constantly.
- Throw in the herbs and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
- Remove the herbs and puree the soup either in a blender (in batches) or with a handheld immersion blender (if you like to make soups this is a great tool to have by the way!)
- Stir in the desired amount of heavy cream and salt & pepper to taste. Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Facts
Tomato Bisque
Amount Per Serving
Calories 615
Calories from Fat 252
% Daily Value*
Fat 28g43%
Saturated Fat 15g94%
Cholesterol 79mg26%
Sodium 4077mg177%
Potassium 3977mg114%
Carbohydrates 89g30%
Fiber 21g88%
Sugar 48g53%
Protein 19g38%
Vitamin A 3200IU64%
Vitamin C 201.5mg244%
Calcium 677mg68%
Iron 20.5mg114%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Perennial favorite at our house! When I’m freezing a lot, I don’t add the cream until it’s thawed and reheated-one or two servings at a time! Faster, easier reheating and seems freshly finished when I add it!
That’s a great idea, too! Glad to hear you enjoy it. – Nicole
What is considered a serving size? I’m trying to figure it out but having a hard time.
Super easy, very delicious! We paired it with “The Best Whole Wheat Biscuits”!
Does the dairy separate, I’ve always heard freezing dairy in soup doesn’t work?
This soup freezes well. Just make sure to stir when you reheat it. – Nicole
Hi! If I make this vegetarian would you suggest adding more butter in place of the bacon? If so, how much? Thanks!
Yes, that would work! I’ve heard it turns out great as a vegetarian recipe :)
Love this soup! Can you tell me what the nutritional value is for it? I can’t find it in your cookbook or online.
I’m interested in that as well!
Hi! Lisa doesn’t provide calorie counts or nutritional information for her recipes. Here’s a post explaining why. – Nicole
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/dont-read-nutrition-facts-labels/
Can it be frozen with the noodles, or is it best to add noodles separate the morning of. Thanks!
I would definitely recommend not adding the noodles in when you freeze it, it just won’t hold up. – Nicole
an easy way to find nutritional info on any recipe is to put it a nutrition tracker like “my fitness pal” (That is the one I use)
How long could this soup be frozen?
Hi there. Soups freeze well for up to three months.
I am about to start simmering soup and realized I didn’t minced ge garlic – left it whole :( is this okay?
Hi. Sorry, we can rarely reply to recipe questions in real time. How did it turn out?
Can you tell me approximately how many fresh tomatoes you used in your recipe? Thanks!
Hi there. Lisa used a 28oz can of peeled tomatoes. She has not made it with fresh.
Do you mince the garlic?
Yes. :)
This soup is awesome. My husband hates tomato soup but he loves this and my daughter loves it too!
Great recipe as is. I wanted lower fat.so I left out the cream and butter. I like to add mushrooms and butternut squash. I also drink it cold for breakfast. I add a scoop of unflavored protein powder for an after workout drink. Reduce down for pasta sauce. This is a staple in my house. Great as is or as a good starting point for modifications. Thanks for the inspiration.
I used coconut milk as we are non dairy and almond flour as we are gluten free. Still amazing.
Thank you for sharing a gf suggestion. Did you use 1 for 1 flor ti almond flour?
What do you use to portion the soup into small, individual batches?
Hi there. 8 oz jelly jars.
I am trying to be more healthy and thought whole food would be the way to go. However, when I see ingredients such as bacon and heavy cream, red flags appear in my mind. I guess I have always equated real food=healthy food…but that is not necessarily the case. All real food is not necessarily healthy…it is just not processed which, for most American diets is a huge improvement! I think I’ll try the recipe with a few modifications. Perhaps nitrate free bacon (and cut off all visible fat) and would I be able to substitute a low fat half & half for the heavy cream?
Linda,
I use a very similar recipe of my grandmothers but have adapted it. I never use pork and I use almond milk thickened blended with soy sour cream in place of heavy cream. I also use veggie stock or broth rather than chicken. for me the key is good tomatoes and a little garnish of a quality parmesan for a zip.
Hi Linda. I do think those changes would work fine. We do not use low fat products because they are more processed and sometimes have other things added to them. Also, these two posts might give insight into our philosophy of “healthy eating”: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/healthy-eating-defined/ and https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/portion-size-matters/.
This is one of my (and my family’s) favorite soups. I make it all the time! My daughter recently requested it for her 5th birthday, and I decided to try it in our electric pressure cooker. It turned out AMAZING! Flavors seemed more pronounced. Since you can saute in the cooker, I just did everything the same as the recipe but instead of simmering, I pressure cooked it for 5 minutes. My new favorite way to cook one of my favorite soups!
Tomato soup IS fairly bland. The key is awesome chicken broth. Thats the depth of flavor. But the flavor of tom soup is still fairly bland. Otherwise you have spaghetti sauce soup or taco salsa soup or curry soup, depending on what you add to jazz it up.
Add pasta or dunk grilled cheese or quesadillas into it if you wanna get rly crazy.
Cooked rice is rly good too for Tom-Rice Soup.
I found this soup to be a little bland even after seasoning with salt and pepper (I also simmered it with more of each herb than the recipe called for). I seasoned it liberally at the end with more fresh herbs, chopped, and with a few dried herbs as well (basil, oregano, thyme, parsley). After adding the cream I finished each bowl off with a bit of balsamic vinegar as a nice acid at the end and then I found it really good!
If you’re using fresh tomatoes, you may not need as much broth depending on the water content of your tomatoes. (I doubled the recipe and used 8 cups of broth.)
Unfortunately some store-bought tomatoes don’t have as much flavor as the locally grown variety. Glad you made it work!
I love this tomato bisque recipe! Honestly, it’s the only way I’ve had it so far! It’s easy to throw together a dive frozen it in batches for easy lunches throughout the week. Love it!
This recipe is beyond rediculious for the effort put into such a small yield! And it DOES NOT taste like real tomato bisque. Terrible! Do not waste your time,
Hi Bill – The yield is clearly indicated in the recipe, but you can easily adjust it by clicking the little arrows by the number of servings. The ingredient quantities will update automatically so you can print and use the recipe without extra calculations (we often make double or triple batches and freeze the leftovers in jelly jars). As for the flavor, you could reduce or omit the bacon for a more traditional flavor profile, but I personally look forward to this recipe as it is. – Jason
Much better than can!
Are there any suggestions to replace the cream for a dairy allergy?
Hi there. My favorite replacement is coconut cream. This might help: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/08/31/food-allergies-dairy/ and this thread has many great suggestions: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/dairy-free-options-for-cream-soups.
Think jarred diced tomatoes would work?
Hi there. Yes, it should work just fine.