Creamy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese “Croutons”
Everyone’s favorite tomato soup with the most perfect mini grilled cheese bites! So comforting, so cozy.
I hope you all are recovering from Thanksgiving. I obviously ate way too much than I could actually handle and then had a second round of Thanksgiving leftovers on Friday where we had the most amazing turkey ham sandwiches with cranberry sauce and gravy-drenched boxed stuffing. Yeah, you heard right, boxed stuffing. We all devoured the chestnut-pancetta stuffing that was made for Thursday so we had to resort to Mrs. Cubbison’s classic dressing. And surprisingly enough, the boxed ones are actually pretty good!
I am so grateful to be spending Thanksgiving with such an amazing family and to be surrounded by such awesome food. Although it saddens me that there are still many Hurricane Sandy victims left homeless on this holiday. With $50 billion in damages, the deaths of over a 100 people and thousands left homeless or without power, today’s #SundaySupper is to lend a helping hand to those affected in the Northeast.
We were told to cook from our hearts and with that in mind, I couldn’t help but make a huge batch of creamy tomato soup. Tomato soup brings such comfort, especially when some grilled cheese “croutons” are thrown in there. It has that soothing effect and definitely serves as the ultimate feel-good meal!
Creamy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese "Croutons"
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¾ cup low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish
For the grilled cheese croutons
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 slices white or wheat bread
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a grill pan over medium-high heat. Spread 1/2 tablespoon butter over 1 side of each bread slice. Turn the slices over and top 2 slices with cheddar and pleace remaining 2 slices of bread on top, buttered sides up. Add sandwich to pan and grill until the bread is golden and the cheese is melted, about 2-3 minutes per side. Let cool for 1 minute and cut into 1-inch cubes.
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes and bay leaf and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
- Stir in tomatoes and mash, using a potato masher, until broken down into smaller pieces. Stir in heavy cream and brown sugar.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
- Puree with an immersion blender. Stir in vegetable broth until heated through, about 2 minutes; season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve immediately with “croutons”, garnished with parsley.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Excellent and loved by all. I simmered longer to help flavors develop because I had the time. It was perfect for a cold February evening
I’ve made this multiple times and me and my family LOVE it. Thanks Chungah for SO many great recipes. Your site is my default for dinner recipes because they have always been delicious!
Delicious and easy to make. A real winner!
I would totallyyyyy! make it again!
This is one of my favourite recipes! I make it with my brother every time I come home! We have been using it for years. One time I thought I could do it without the recipe and accidentally put 1/4 CUP red pepper flakes instead of 1/4 teaspoon. Needless to say it was SO spicy, but still amazingly fantastic. Highly highly recommend this to all my tomato soup lovers.
My son tried tomato soup for the 1st time in his life and went MMMMMMM!!!! So GOOD!! Enough said, so thank you for a wonderful, simple recipe that taste anything but simple. Followed the recipe to the best of my ability and changed nothing.
This was delicious. Its also quick and easy! I did not have canned whole tomatoes, so I used canned crushed tomatoes. I also used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. It was awesome this way. I loved the “croutons.” Don’t skip them or substitute other croutons…they were so good!
I made this yesterday and we are adding this to our favourites. Added a touch of paprika but even without, the soup was smooth, flavourful and moreish! Thank you so much.
Love this recipe! Whenever I get a hankerin’ for tomato soup, this is my go-to. Thanks, Chungah, for sharing your creativity in the kitchen. 🙂
My family loved this!
I made it for lunch– it took no time. My husband is still shocked I made it.
Amazing!
Tomato soup has been my favorite since I was a child (I’m 63), but not my husband’s. I made this today and my husband went back for seconds! This is so creamy and good, and easy to make. We will never eat canned tomato soup again. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes.
Oh wow, that’s great!
I LOVE LOVE this recipe! It is absolutely incredible! Thank you for sharing it with the world! I love cooking this, it’s quick and easy! My family loves this soup!
I added cream of mushroom soup instead of the cream and it was perfect. I added it early not at the end. Healthy and delicious! I was out of tomato paste but it went fine with whatever tomato’s I had in the house plus I threw in some sun dried ones from the garden this summer (or use canned?). Loved it in San Francisco on a rainy day
Thoughts on using fresh cherry tomatoes instead of canned whole? I have a ton of ch. tom. I need to use before they go bad.
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
So easy to prepare this tomato soup and it is very delicious. No need to buy the can soup as this far surpasses it in flavor!
This looks wonderful, I’ll make this soon, but I’d like to know why whole tomatoes and not diced? Every recipe I’ve made so far of yours has been awesome. Thank you!
I prefer whole tomatoes in this recipe but you can substitute diced to suit your needs. 🙂
This was delicious!
Can I fix this ahead and put in crockpot to keep warm?
Yes!
Is it OK to use whole milk instead of heavy cream? And I don’t have an immersion blender, is it fine to skip that step?
Yes, it is okay to substitute whole milk.
Do you have access to a blender? I do not recommend skipping this step.
So delicious!!!! For those looking for a substitute for heavy cream, I used coconut cream I had as a can in the fridge! Turned out awesome. I also didn’t have cans of tomatoes, so I used two cans of tomato sauce and threw in 6 large ripe tomatoes!