Chilled Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
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A cool and creamy tomato soup with a surprise ingredient that brightens the flavor.
This recipe was inspired by a fantastic chilled tomato soup I enjoyed at The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, VA years ago. It was the sweetest, brightest, and most intensely-flavored tomato soup I’d ever tasted. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what made it so good, so, curious about its unique taste, I asked our server who let me in on their little secret: orange juice. It sounds unusual, doesn’t it? But believe me, the orange juice brings out the tomatoes’ sweetness in the most delightful way, adding a bright, citrusy touch to the soup without stealing the show. Now that you know, you’ll definitely pick up on it. But, if you serve it to others without sharing the secret ingredient, they’ll simply marvel at how delicious it is, without being able to put their finger on exactly why.
Table of Contents
“This soup was a very refreshing treat on a hot day. I really loved the brightness of the flavors – simple and delicious!”
What You’ll Need To Make Chilled Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin with the garlic. Place each clove underneath the flat side of a chef’s knife and smash it with the palm of your hand — the peel will come right off. You don’t want to chop the garlic because it will burn if the pieces are too small. Next, roughly chop the onions and carrots and add everything to a large pot.
Cook the onions, garlic and carrots in olive oil until softened and just starting to brown, about 15 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, water, orange juice, sugar, salt, and basil.
Bring to a boil.
Cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.
Purée the soup using a hand-held immersion blender (or in batches in a blender) until completely smooth.
Stir in the cream. Don’t worry — there’s only a third of a cup in the whole pot. A little goes a very long way!
Finally, chill the soup in the refrigerator until very cold. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with fresh chopped basil, or garnish with whole basil leaves if desired. Enjoy!
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Chilled Creamy Tomato-Basil Soup
A cool and creamy tomato soup with a surprise ingredient that brightens the flavor.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large yellow onions, roughly chopped
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into ¼-inch rounds
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 2 (28 oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes
- 4 cups water
- 1½ cups orange juice, preferably not from concentrate
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2½ teaspoons salt
- 10 leaves fresh basil, plus more for garnishing soup
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft and just beginning to brown, about 15 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, water, orange juice, sugar, salt and basil and bring the soup to a boil. Turn heat down to low, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.
- Purée the soup with a hand-held immersion blender until completely smooth. (Alternatively, use a standard blender to purée soup in batches. Always be careful not to fill the jar more than halfway, and leave the hole in the lid open and loosely cover with a dish towel to allow the heat to escape.) Stir in the heavy cream. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and/or sugar if necessary. Note that the flavor of the orange juice is more pronounced when the soup is hot; once the soup is chilled, it will be more subtle.
- Transfer the soup to a container (or leave in the pot if you wish) and refrigerate until very cold.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with fresh chopped basil. Garnish with whole basil leaves if desired.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be frozen, without the cream, for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, add the heavy cream and stir until fully combined with the remainder of the soup.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Calories: 236
- Fat: 12g
- Saturated fat: 4g
- Carbohydrates: 32g
- Sugar: 22g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 3g
- Sodium: 1349mg
- Cholesterol: 18mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Comments
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OMG! The best tomato soup I ever made or ate! My husband didn’t want to wait for it to cool! Made it with no water, 2 cups veggie stock, farm fresh tomatoes and no cream. Soooo delicious! Thanks for another amazing recipe!
This is a delicious soup and perfect for these very hot and muggy dog days of summer. Wonderful flavor, perfectly balanced. What a surprise adding orange juice would give to this recipe.
Thanks. It’s a keeper.
This is making me think I’m crazy- I saw the picture of the ingredients, but scrolled up and down and couldn’t find the measurements!
Hi Sherry, It sounds like you are just looking at the portion of the page that has the pictures with some instructions above. If you scroll down a bit to under the pictures, you’ll find the full recipe. Alternatively, at the very top of the page, to the right of the recipe name, you’ll see an orange/red button that says Jump to Recipe – if you click on that, it will take you directly to the recipe. Hope that clarifies!
I have a friend coming for lunch who is vegan. Any suggestions for a substitution for heavy cream in this recipe? Thanks.
Hi Esty, you can either leave out the cream or use an alternative Some readers have commented that they’ve used Rich’s non-dairy coffee creamer (frozen) and Trader Joe’s unflavored non-dairy creamer. (Please keep in mind that I haven’t tried either of these.) Hope that helps and that you and your friend enjoy!
Thank you for posting this recipe. My tomato plants have been unusually prolific this summer, and I don’t think I can eat anymore caprese salad or marinara sauce! This is exactly what I needed.
how many garden fresh tomatoes did you use to equate to the 2 cans in the recipe?
This recipes sounds and looks right up my alley. I would like to know if I could substitute coconut cream in place of cows milk as I am unable to eat dairy. Thank you for all your beautiful, family friendly and delicious recipes. I have been a reader of your website for many years now.
Sure, Jean – or you could just leave it out. So glad you enjoy the recipes!
I can’t wait to try this. The orange juice makes sense to me. I’ve had “sangrita” in Mexico, which is a tomato and orange juice-based chaser for tequila.
I have made soup today to have tomorrow do I still add the cream before chilling or add it tomorrow before serving?
Hi Raewyn, It’s fine to add the soup before chilling. 🙂
It was excellent hot and seemed even better the next day. After reading the comments, I cant wait to try and compare your hot recipe. I added chunks of fresh peeled tomato for added texture! My only notes for making again would be to hold off adding sugar until tasting because the OJ I used was very sweet! Family and neighbors loved it!