Easy Three-Ingredient Tomato Soup Recipe
You wouldn’t think that three ingredients — butter, onion, and tomato — can come together to make such a velvety and delicious tomato soup, but let me tell you. They can. Jump to the Tomato Soup Recipe or watch our quick recipe video showing how to make it.
This tomato soup is inspired by one of the most famous recipes out there — Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce. Butter, tomatoes, and onion are simmered until slightly thickened. Out comes the onion and the sauce is ready to be spooned over pasta. It’s genius and absolutely delicious. We use the same three ingredients in this tomato soup, but add a little water and blend everything together just before serving.
How to Make Our 3-Ingredient Tomato Soup Recipe
This soup is quick, easy and insanely delicious. Here’s how to make it.
Grab a Dutch oven or pot, place it over medium heat and melt the butter. Add half an onion that’s been cut into large wedges and a large can of tomatoes.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: This Incredibly Easy and Creamy Vegetable Soup Recipe. It’s one of our absolute favorites and something we make often.
This soup is excellent with canned tomatoes — We usually go for whole peeled tomatoes or crushed tomatoes. By the way, we love San Marzano Tomatoes and are always pleased with tomatoes from Muir Glen. Neither are watery and both taste great. If you want to use fresh tomatoes, you will need 10 to 12 whole tomatoes (or about 2 pounds). It’s best to peel them, but we have made the soup with unpeeled tomatoes.
Bring everything to a low simmer, add some salt and leave it alone for about 40 minutes. See how creamy it gets? That’s thanks to the butter.
Blend the soup — we find an immersion blender is useful, but a blender works, too. Adjust the soup for seasoning then grab a bowl…and maybe a grilled cheese sandwich?
Let’s review.
- This tomato soup has three ingredients (plus water and salt).
- Everything is tossed into a pan — no browning, no hovering over a stove.
- You can use canned tomatoes — and should.
- Did I mention there are only three ingredients?
This is your new favorite weeknight meal. Promise.
By the way, you might also want to take a peek at our chilled tomato soup recipe (Gazpacho), a wonderful recipe for ultra satisfying homemade vegetable broth or our roasted tomato soup with lemon and thyme.
Recipe updated, originally posted October 2015. Since posting this in 2015, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne
Easy Three-Ingredient Tomato Soup Recipe
- PREP
You only need three main ingredients to make this velvety, rich tomato soup recipe. This, friends is your new favorite weeknight meal.
Makes 2 generous servings
You Will Need
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 large onion, cut into large wedges
1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes, we prefer to use whole peeled or crushed, see notes for fresh tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water or low-sodium chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste
Directions
Melt butter over medium heat in a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Add onion wedges, water, can of tomatoes with their juices, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 40 minutes. Stir occasionally and add additional salt as needed.
Blend the soup — it doesn’t need to be ultra-smooth, some texture is a nice touch. An immersion blender makes quick work of this, or you can use a blender. If you use a regular blender, it is best to blend in batches and not fill the blender as much as you usually would since the soup is so hot. We like to remove the center insert of the lid and cover it with a kitchen towel while blending — this helps to release some of the steam and prevents the blender lid from popping off (which can be a big, hot mess).
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Can I use fresh tomatoes? Yes. If you want to use fresh tomatoes, you will need 10 to 12 whole tomatoes (or about 2 pounds). It’s best to peel them, but we have made the soup with unpeeled tomatoes.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values. We have omitted salt since you will need to add to your tastes.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving: Serving Size Half of the recipe / Calories 348 / Total Fat 24.9g / Saturated Fat 14.8g / Cholesterol 61mg / Sodium 1485.4mg / Carbohydrate 29.6g / Dietary Fiber 4.5g / Total Sugars 15.4g / Protein 7.8g
Food Travel: Our Lives Outside the Kitchen
5 Days Exploring the San Juan Islands, Washington
We spent 5 days exploring the San Juan Islands in Washington State. See what we did and where we ate while we were there. Read More…
I made this last night before I saw this recipe, also having the idea from Marcella Hazan’s recipe for tomato sauce. I didn’t use any water or stock, just 28 oz can of Marzano tomatoes, 1/2 yellow onion, and 5 tbls butter, a trip through the blender, and then added 1/2 cup heavy cream. Mine turned bright orange. Really delicious, but kind of a scary color. Was it just me?
Hi Heather, The cream was probably why the soup wasn’t bright red. As long as it tasted great, I wouldn’t worry too much.
Great recipe! Simple and easy to customize to everyone’s unique preference. I added two juicy carrots and a bit of sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes. After reading the comments, I may try the baking soda next time. Going to grill up some grilled cheese sandwiches and I bet it will be a hit with my family. If not, I’ll put it in the fridge and eat it for lunch all week because I love it!
Thanks for a deceptively simple, amazingly delicious recipe! I needed to throw together a quick dinner from ingredients on hand, and this was perfect. I made the soup in my Instant Pot, cooking at high pressure for 6 minutes and letting it release naturally for 15 minutes. I blended in some fresh basil and sprinkled shaved parmesan cheese on each serving. Definitely a keeper!
I was ready to discount this recipe for tonight (a cold June day in New England), but then read your comment. Thank you for adding InstantPot instructions! Saved the day.
Love this soup (and I hate tomato soup!) I’ve made this about 4 times. I add garlic, blend the soup in the blender, return it to the pot and add some milk (breaks the tanginess of the tomatoes). Delicious with grilled cheese sandwiches. great and easy dinner. Thank you!
Another thumbs up! Who knew? Tried this due to the ease and few ingredients, did add a couple garlic cloves and some chicken stock then used the stick blender to blend it smooth. My husband said he was bummed to hear we were having tomato soup for dinner but then said it was the best he’d ever eaten. “Wow, that was really good”. Thank you so much for posting this. It must be the onions?
It’s Easter Sunday 28 degrees in Missouri. I needed comfort food tried this receipe it’s anazing. Used my vita mix blender to make it creamy. Thanks for posting had with grilled cheese sandwich. Brightened this cold day a lot
I tried to make the soup. It tasted great but I used salted butter so it didn’t taste as good as it was supposed to. But it was delicious so thank you for the recipe!
I made this last night for my 10 year old grandson. He enjoyed dunking his grilled cheese sandwich into it. It is amazingly good and so simple to make. I used Whole Foods 365 organic canned whole tomatoes and organic vegetable broth.
sooo perfect, thank you
Just made for dinner tonight. What a hit!! My daughter who is not a vegetable fan said, “Mom this is so good!” Wow! And she’s right, my husband and I loved it. This will be added to the meal rotation. (I only had Muir Glen diced tomatoes, but it was perfect!) Thank you!!
I just had to write about this soup, it was absolutely amazing! The best tomatoe soup I have ever had! I followed recipe and can’t believe how delicious it comes out! I have shared the recipe with friends they all say the same thing!This is one of your best reciepes!