This crockpot tomato soup recipe uses fresh tomatoes, basil, and lots of roasted garlic. Make it a full meal by adding frozen tortellini or keep it classic and serve with a grilled cheese sandwich. With the help of your slow cooker, it’s a lot easier to make tomato soup from scratch than you think!
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PEOPLE OF THE WORLD! I’m reunited with my crockpot after returning home from our year in Cape Town, South Africa. It’s a beautiful thing!
And a necessary thing because Portland is a lot colder than I remember, and the only remedy is soup! Specifically, tomato soup made from scratch with fresh tomatoes in my slow cooker, with plenty of basil and roasted garlic, plus a sprinkling of asiago cheese. We’re going all out!
What You’ll Need to Make Crockpot Tomato Soup
The good news? You likely have most of these things in your kitchen! Here are the tools and supplies you’ll need to make the soup.
- Foil, for roasting the garlic.
- A slow cooker. I love a programmable one with a clamped lid, but use what you’ve got!
- An immersion blender makes this really easy, but you can use a standard blender if that’s all you have.
In terms of ingredients, you’ll need:
- Lots of garlic. If you want to make it easy on yourself, buy the pre-peeled cloves. No shame here!
- Olive oil. California Olive Ranch is my favorite for cooking.
- Roma tomatoes. And lots of ’em.
- Yellow onion.
- Salt and pepper. Always salt and pepper!
- Canned diced tomatoes. Fire roasted are great in here if you can find them!
- Chicken or vegetable stock.
- Just a touch of granulated sugar.
- Crushed red pepper and cayenne to bring the heat. You can omit… but don’t!
- Heavy cream. I don’t recommend subbing for milk – there’s only a little and it really ensures a creamy soup.
- Asiago cheese. I loooove asiago with my tomato soup but you could use parmesan, too!
- Lots and lots of fresh basil.
How to Roast Garlic
For this recipe, I do a “quick roast” since they’ll be added to the soup and cook longer. With this quick version, they aren’t quite as easy to squeeze out of their skins when they’re done, so I peel before so as not to risk sacrificing any melty, delicious cloves. Here’s the quick roast method:
- Get a lot of garlic. A lot!
- Peel the dang things. Or if you buy the pre-peeled pouches, you won’t get any judgment from me! Throw ’em onto a square of foil with a little olive oil.
- Wrap the foil around the cloves to make a little packet and put it right onto the rack of your oven. Roast at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
How to Make Crockpot Tomato Soup
See the step by step web story for Crockpot Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup.
You’ll start by blanching a lot of roma tomatoes and peeling them. Why peel? The tomato skins can have a bitter flavor and can disrupt the texture of the soup. We want a creamy, smooth tomato soup, not a chunky one.
Blanching means boiling the tomatoes very quickly and running them under cold water or placing in an ice bath. It makes the skins easier to peel!
Add the blanched and peeled tomatoes to your slow cooker with the onions, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, cayenne pepper, olive oil, chicken stock, canned diced tomatoes, a tiny bit of sugar, fresh basil, and the roasted garlic.
Cook it all on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. You want the veggies to be nice and soft.
Then puree the whole thing with a stick blender until it’s nice and smooth. You can leave it a bit chunky if that’s what ya like.
Stir in the heavy cream and serve with asiago cheese and basil sprinkled on top.
This probably goes without saying, but this from-scratch crockpot tomato soup is way, way better than the canned variety. The roasted garlic makes it so rich and flavorful even though there’s only a bit of heavy cream.
Make it a Complete Meal
Looking to make this tomato soup a complete meal? I’ve got some suggestions for you!
- Serve with a 4 Cheese Garlic Grilled Cheese or something more inventive, like this Zucchini Grilled Cheese Sandwich.
- Add toasted cauliflower gnocchi
- Add a package or two of frozen tortellini after blending and let cook for an additional half hour.
- Add hot Italian sausage! Brown it and then add to the soup after you’ve blended it. I like to brown it until it’s really crispy when adding to soups.
- Pro-tip: add tortellini AND sausage for a really filling, delicious soup.
- Add bacon. No explanation required.
Want to take the easy way out but still enjoy some delicious tomato soup? I’ve got you: How to Dress Up a Can of Tomato Soup
You can also view this recipe as a step-by-step web story here.
Get the Recipe:
Crockpot Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic, 10-12 cloves
- 1 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
- 2 1/2 lbs ripe Roma tomatoes
- 1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
- 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 oz Asiago cheese, shaved
- 2 tbsp julienned basil, for garnish
Equipment
- Slow cooker
- Immersion blender
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Peel the cloves of garlic in the head. Set them on a square of foil and top with the olive oil. Roll the foil around the cloves to make a packet. Roast in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
- While the garlic is roasting, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the tomatoes. Boil for 3 minutes.
- Drain the tomatoes and run cold water over them until their cool enough to touch. Remove the skin and cores and add to the crockpot.
- Add all remaining ingredients including the roasted garlic, except heavy cream, cheese, and basil for garnish.
- Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours, until vegetables are soft.
- Puree vegetables with an immersion blender until completely smooth. Stir in heavy cream and most of cheese, leaving out just a bit for garnish.
- Spoon into bowls and top with remaining cheese and julienned basil.
Notes
- Add a package or two of frozen tortellini after blending and let cook for an additional half hour.
- Add hot Italian sausage! Brown it and then add to the soup after you’ve blended it. I like to brown it until it’s really crispy when adding to soups.
- Pro-tip: add tortellini AND sausage for a really filling, delicious soup.
- Add bacon. No explanation required.
This is a delicious soup! Super easy to make. I replaced the roma tomatoes with the cherry tomatoes I had on hand. It was a hit with everyone – a perfect cold day comfort food. I’m definitely going to make it again.
That’s so great!
Did you peel the cherry tomatoes? This sounds delicious and I have tons of red and yellow cherry tomatoes to use. Thanks!
Nope! I’m a little lazy that way 🙂 And the immersion blender takes care of the texture!
I have been making this soup for several years- maybe soon after you published the recipe! I just checked back to see if you had updated for IP instructions and yes, you have. Anyway! Thanks so much for an awesome recipe! I’m surprised there haven’t been more comments through the years. It IS delicious! ????
Tanja! Thank you so much for leaving a review. I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe. It’s one of my favorites, too!
Just made this with a surplus of cherry tomatoes. I used an immersion blender after the 4 hours were up, but it was still more sauce-like than soup-like. I used a sieve to scoop it and filter the seeds and pulp. After adding the Parmesan and basil it was perfect. A bit of a spicy kick too, but I added a dash of balsamic vinegar
I love the idea of a balsamic addition!
My family LOVES this soup!! I have to make it very often!! Definitely a “keeper” as my Dad would say..
That’s so great Carol! Thank you for taking the time to let me know!