Easy creamy Tomato Bisque is the perfect comfort food on a chilly day. A savory fusion of tomatoes and aromatic vegetables with the slightest whisper of crushed red pepper heat, blended until smooth and finished with cream and a scatter of crispy croutons. So quick and easy to prepare! You'll be enjoying a bowl in less than 30 minutes.
You might be surprised to see water instead of broth in this recipe, but I promise it makes a better soup. So many delicious soups are made with a broth or stock base (like French Onion Soup), but in this soup, as with Caldo Verde and Albondigas Soup, water in the right quantity allows flavors to shine where broth might compete.
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Ingredients You Need to Make Tomato Bisque
For the Soup
- Butter: salted butter or unsalted (whatever you have on hand)
- Olive oil: ideally extra-virgin olive oil
- Onion: yellow onion, white onion or sweet onion
- Carrot: peeled or unpeeled, your choice
- Celery: use an inner celery rib for the best flavor and texture
- Garlic: fresh cloves that are firm with smooth skin
- Canned Whole Tomatoes: be sure to use the juice as well
- Dried Basil: or twice the amount of fresh basil if you have it on hand
- Heavy Cream: a little goes a long way to give this bisque its rich and silky flavor
- Crushed Red Pepper: just a pinch for a very gentle heat
For the Croutons
- Bread: sourdough or other crusty loaf with the crust removed
- Olive oil: ideally extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher Salt
What goes well with tomato bisque?
Though it's hearty enough to be a meal on its own, this Tomato Bisque soup pairs well with almost any main dish (we often serve it with my favorite Turkey Meatloaf). At lunch, it's delicious with a classic Jambon-Beurre sandwich, a grilled cheese sandwich or, even better, Welsh Rarebit or Savory Scones. Or skip the toasted croutons replacing them with grilled cheese 'croutons' instead, just a grilled cheese sandwich cut into bite size pieces.
FAQ
You may think of a seafood stock when you hear the word 'bisque' and though that is the heritage of the term, modern use often refers to a blended soup that includes cream, often red pepper, squash, mushroom and, of course, tomato!
Though the terms are often used interchangeably (along with Cream of Tomato Soup), bisque is typically creamier and has a splash (or more) of added cream.
More Vegetarian Soups to Try
How to Make Tomato Bisque
In a large saucepan, cook onion, carrot, celery and garlic in butter and olive oil until tender. Add tomatoes, water and spices. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
Remove soup from heat and stir in cream; blend with an immersion blender or in batches in a traditional blender (using a towel to cover the pitcher instead of the lid). Return soup to pan and season to taste with salt and pepper, reheat to simmer if needed.
Meanwhile make the croutons: Preheat oven to 400˚F. Toss fresh bread cubes with olive oil and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Season to taste with kosher salt. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until crisp and golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside. Serve soup hot topped with croutons.
Recipe Video
Tomato Bisque
Ingredients
Soup
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced small
- 1 large carrot diced small and peeled if desired
- 1 large rib celery diced small
- 2 cloves garlic smashed and peeled
- 28 ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- pinch crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Croutons
- 5 ounces sourdough bread crust removed and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat butter and olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until sizzling. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic; cook and stir until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, water, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and basil. Stir and bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
- To finish the soup, remove from heat and stir in cream; blend in the pan with an immersion blender or blend in batches in a traditional blender. (Important note: Blending hot liquids in a traditional blender will blow the lid off which will make a mess and could burn you. Instead, use a towel to cover the top of of the pitcher while blending instead of the lid. )
- Return blended soup to pan and season to taste with salt and pepper; reheat to simmer if needed.
- Meanwhile make the croutons: Preheat oven to 400˚F. Add bread cubes to a medium bowl and drizzle with olive oil; toss to coat. Spread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet and season to taste with kosher salt. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Serve soup hot topped with croutons.
I love tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and this did not disappoint! I added more water because the veggies weren’t quite ready to purée with my hand held blender.
So glad you enjoyed this, Ann! Thank you for coming back to let me know.
I love this recipe, the only thing I add different is a can of fire roasted tomatoes!! It just adds a little something extra, and it's soo good!!
I'm so glad you're enjoying the recipe, Amanda, and that you added your own twist!
Marissa, This was SO delicious! I didn't have heavy cream on hand, so I used whole milk instead. For my taste, I did add a few tsps of sugar. From experience, I let the soup cool for a half hour prior to putting into the blender. I read reviews here, and many mentioned a grilled cheese to go along with. Of course, I had to make one! I found a recipe that called for gruyere cheese and sauteed onions, with mayo and Dijon mustard. That was very good, but the soup was the star! Looking forward to some very good leftovers! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So glad you enjoyed this, Jean. And that you made it your own! The grilled cheese you made to go with it sounds incredible!
This recipe was FULL of flavor; everything blended so deliciously to make a satisfying accompaniment to your Welsh Rarebit sandwich, also yummy! Thank you for the inspiration, Marissa!
I'm so glad you enjoyed this, Jackie!! Love it that you paired it with Welsh Rarebit. Thank you for coming back to let me know!
Hi Marissa, I am looking forward to making this today. Id like to double the recipe and freeze a portion of it. Is that something that I could do with this recipe?
Hi there, Judith. Yes, absolutely - this soup freezes well. 🙂
We just finished making this recipe ten minutes ago and my husband thinks it is excellent. (I’m not a tomato fan😝), but I helped him until the tasting. We used the very last of our ripe rain-damaged garden tomatoes which were somewhat split but not spoiled yet. Cooked them down with a few cloves of garlic, then put through manual food mill. The fresh tomatoes yielded enough juice so no extra fluids were needed. I minced a bit of onion, celery, carrot, basil and a little chili pepper. Total veggies were about two Tbs. Cooked them with butter and olive oil in sauce pan until soft, added tomato mixture, heated it through, then added about a heaping Tbs of heavy cream and it was done. My husband added the salt and pepper and some red chili flakes to his liking and we were both quite pleased. A very good way to end our fantastic tomato season (13 pints of tomato sauce in freezer). (Oh, I actually took a little taste and found it not so horrible.😇). Thank you for a excellent inspiration. So pleased to have found a way to use up the last of our garden tomatoes.
Lucky you with all of those home grown tomatoes!! So glad that your husband enjoyed this and that you didn't find it "horrible" either! 😉 Thank you for coming back to let me know!
Amazing taste and easy to make. I was at the cottage and didn’t have any fresh basil so I used basil infused olive oil (bought from an olive store not grocery store. There is a difference in quality and so glad I brought this with me) to sauté the vegetables. I also used homemade vegetable stock that I made. (Again, huge difference in taste and quality from store bought. It’s worth the effort). I also added some dry basil and thyme. (I didn’t measure, just eyeballed it). I let the soup simmer for about an hour. I added more basil olive oil as it was simmering for added flavour. I used about 1/2 cup of almond milk instead of cream. I puréed 1/2 the batch as my husband likes his soup chunky. At the end I added approximately 1 tbsp of Neapolitan Herb Balsamic vinegar ( which is a blend of rosemary, marjoram, thyme, garlic, and sage). This addition took it to next level. Not only did my husband have 2 bowls but said this a soup tastes like it came from a high end restaurant. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
So glad you enjoyed this and made it your own, Heather!! 🙂
Loved it!! , however I goofed in that instead of adding garlic (always keep tubes of minced herbs in fridge during winter her in Sydney) I pulled out the wrong tube - same colour, and added Ginger! But it still tasted wonderful and so easy to make. Will make I again, but with the garlic next time.
So glad you enjoyed this, Graham! I'll have to try ginger sometime too! 😉
Amazing! Reminds me of the tomato soup that used to be on the menu at Coyotes Western Grill in Banff, Canada. I’m thrilled I found this recipe and your blog. Looking forward to trying more of your delicious recipes!
That's wonderful, Mary Ellen! Thank you and welcome!!
It was quick and easy, worked great for a weeknight dinner. I cut back the onions as it disagrees with my husband, omitted the pepper flakes and added a teaspoon of sugar for my daughter. I also topped with a teaspoon of pre-made pesto from Trader Joes and it was perfect with the croutons! Paired it with a sharp cheddar panini for the daughter and grilled salmon and salad for the adults. I would make again as my family would eat it again. Thx for the recipe!
So glad you and your family enjoyed it, Karen! And that you adjusted it just right to suit your family's tastes!
This was delicious and I paired with a fontina and cheddar grilled cheese
So glad you enjoyed this bisque, Jennifer! Your grilled cheese alongside it sounds like the perfect match.
I made this tonight with grilled cheese. It was easy and delicious! Will pin it to make again.
Perfect combo! So glad you enjoyed it, Jenny! Thank you for coming back to let me know.
Wow! This looks amazing! I'm so hungry for tomato bisque now! I absolutely love the grilled cheese croutons! What a great idea! This is definitely going on my planned menu this week!
Thank you,
Kendra
Yay! Thanks so much, Kendra!!
Tomato soup and grilled cheese is my ultimate comfort food; we're expecting storms in a few days so I'm going to make sure I have everything on hand to make your tomato bisque. I can taste it already!
Love to hear that! Thank you, Kelsie!
This bisque needs to happen with a grilled cheese on the side at our house ASAP Marissa!
Woohoo! Thank you, Mary Ann!
This bisque sounds delicious. I love that you've left some texture in there. I thin I'd like it chunky!
haha, you're on to me - I DO like a little texture! This soup can be blended to whatever degree you like, from chunky to velvety smooth. 🙂 Thanks, Jeff!
A good tomato bisque is almost impossible to beat on a chilly day! It pairs well with so many other dishes, but it can stand alone by itself. And now you've got me craving a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of tomato bisque! I'm gonna have to make that happen soon. This looks (and sounds) delicious!!
I agree - Tomato Bisque and a crunchy grilled cheese are the perfect comforting combo for a chilly day! Thanks so much, David!
LOVE bisque....probably because it has cream in it! This tomato bisque looks super comforting, Marissa, and much needed with the cold, rainy day we have here today. Love the suggestion of having with a welsh rarebit - now that would make some meal!!!
haha, right?! That little bit of cream makes all the difference. 😉 Thank you, my friend!
This is a great soup to kick off Fall with! It looks so good and those homemade croutons are key in this!
Yes! The croutons really add something special for sure. Thanks, Kevin!
Hi Marissa! I've been looking for a tomato bisque recipe, but haven't found one that I was happy with until now!! I think the idea of grilled cheese croutons is perfect! Gary doesn't usually want croutons, but he does like grilled cheese sandwiches. Even though it's still very warm (hot) here I'm craving soups and stews and this is just what I need!!
Hi Dorothy! I'm so excited for you to try this! I hope that you and Gary will enjoy it! Still hot there? Wow...fall will arrive eventually... 😉