How to make roasted tomato soup with fresh lemon, garlic and thyme. Jump to the Roasted Tomato Soup with Lemon and Thyme or read on to see our tips for making it.
After sharing this Cardamom Roasted Tomato Pasta we wanted to try another recipe combining roasted tomatoes and citrus. Instead of cardamom and lemon (like in the pasta), we went with lemon and fresh thyme for this easy roasted tomato soup. We thought about calling this “adult soup” since it is a bit different from a more traditional creamy tomato soup. This soup is much lighter and tastes fresh thanks to the lemon.
How to Make Roasted Tomato Soup with Lemon
To make the soup, we used our new favorite kitchen gadget, the OXO Food Mill on the coarsest setting. You can use a blender, but we prefer the texture you get from using the food mill.
To make the soup, we start roast lots of tomatoes with thyme, garlic and a few strips of lemon zest. Since we’re using the food mill, you don’t need to remove the skin from the garlic cloves. It will catch the skin when we blend the soup. If you are using a blender, you might want to remove the skins now.
Add olive oil, salt and pepper then roast until the tomatoes begin to caramelize around the edges. While they roast, cook some onions in a large pot then add the roasted tomatoes and garlic. Here’s another roasted tomato soup recipe, made with onion, garlic, and basil.
Pour in some chicken stock and a large can of tomatoes. Simmer then pass the soup through a food mill. By the way, if you do use a food mill, don’t forget to scrape underneath the mill when you are done. You don’t want to miss all that good stuff.
Add the soup back to the pot and pour in some half and half for a little creaminess — coconut or almond milk would work as well.
Recipe updated, originally posted December 2011. Since posting this in 2011, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Roasted Tomato Soup with Lemon and Thyme
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This tomato soup with lemon and thyme taste fresh and bright. When zesting the lemon, use a vegetable peeler for 1/4-inch wide strips of zest. If you have one on hand, a food mill, using the coarsest blade, creates nice thick texture. You can also use an immersion blender or blender as a substitute.
You Will Need
3 pounds ripe tomatoes, quartered
4 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried
4 whole garlic cloves, skins removed
4 strips lemon zest, each 1/4-inch wide and 2 inches long
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes with juice
4 cups low sodium chicken stock or vegetable stock, see our easy chicken stock recipe
1/4 cup half and half or non-dairy milk such as almond and coconut
Salt and fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup feta or blue cheese crumbles for serving, optional
Directions
- Roast Tomatoes
1Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2On a baking sheet, toss tomatoes, garlic, thyme sprigs, lemon zest, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and about 2 teaspoons of salt together. Spread into one layer and roast until the edges of the tomatoes begin to caramelize, about 45 minutes.
3Meanwhile, cook onions with 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot until softened and starting to brown, about 10 minutes.
- To Finish
1Add the oven-roasted tomatoes and garlic, including the liquid on the baking sheet, canned tomatoes and chicken stock to the onions. Bring to a simmer and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
2Pass the soup through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade or blend using an immersion blender or blender. Add back to the pot then stir in half and half (or non-dairy milk). Taste the adjust with salt and/or pepper. Serve with cheese crumbles on top — optional.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
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Are the onions cooked whole or sliced or what? This is the only part that is unclear- can’t wait to try this!
We slice or chop the onions into similar sized pieces. Since they are blended in the end, the shape of the onion is not that important.
Have just made this soup, using up the last of my ‘glut’ of garden tomatoes.
Delicious! Have frozen it off ready for daily winter lunch. Thankyou!
Please, Do you have nutritional information. I love the soups. I found you through your beef pho soup recipe and video. I am in Hawaii and love this soup. Now I can. make my own soup. I will start exactly as you shared it. I might want to adjust the sweetness but I can tell this recipe is authentic to the Vietnamese food that I know here in Honolulu.
Albert Honda
Hi there! At the moment we do not provide nutrition info for our recipes on the site. As an alternative, we suggest that you take a look CalorieCount.com. There, you can copy our recipe and paste it to get full nutritional info. Hope that helps!
I really like the sound of this. For the next time I make a tomato soup!
Wow. I just made this, best tomato soup I’ve had in a while; my roommates loved it! I added a teaspoon of red pepper flakes for a flare of spice, and 1 spoonful of salt and pepper. I also kept my lemon zest in the soup, for added flavor. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of half & half but I recommend putting in more (I added an extra 1/4 cup for a creamier taste). Overall, I am so happy I stumbled across this recipe! The blue cheese really made the flavors stand out too. I was never a huge fan of blue cheese, but this recipe showed me that with the right foods, blue cheese can be a key ingredient, and super tasty! Thank you again for another delicious recipe!
Sounds Divine.. I could substitute with vegetable stock for a vegetarian version I’m sure.
Absolutely!
Mmm, nothing better than a good, soul-warming soup to cure the winter blues. Roasted tomatoes are one of the better things in life, but I’ve actually never done it when making tomato soup. Mistake on my part, obviously!
Will definitely be adding this to the list of recipes I must make.