Today, I’m presenting you with a recipe that was truly born out of my college-student status. As with many American children, I have been eating grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup since I could handle solid food. It’s convenient, easy, filling, and delicious.
But sometimes, it can be a bit boring. Let’s face it, it’s simply a can of tomato puree and milk or water, depending on your preference. After a year of to-go Campbell’s cups of soup, I decided that I could no longer consume this boring tomato stuff as is, so I gave it a serious makeover.
Start by combining one can of tomato soup with a can full of milk, as you usually would. We’re not using water here. I usually use 1% milk, but if you aren’t calorie conscious and have it on hand, of course it would be even better with half and half or heavy cream.
Now here’s the fun part: add garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust. Let simmer for 10 minutes or so to release all that flavor.
Pour into bowls and top with a little bit of parmesan cheese and some fresh basil. Ta da! You are no longer eating boring old tomato soup.
If you’re really feeling adventurous, make some homemade sandwich bread for your grilled cheeses. I used such bread for the sandwiches in these pictures.
If you make this, it would mean the world to me if you’d rate and review! It helps other people find this recipe.
How to Dress Up a Can of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 10 3/4 oz can tomato soup
- 10 3/4 oz milk or heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil
Instructions
- 1. In a saucepan, combine tomato soup and 1 can full of milk of choice or heavy cream.
- 2. Add garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper and let sit on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes.
- 3. Pour into bowls and top with parmesan cheese and fresh basil.
This worked so well… I love the more mature Campbells soup! Everyone loved it!
I’m so glad to hear that!!!
This gave me a huge insight to tomato soup. Only problem is, there is a bit too much sodium in it.
This was amazing and a great, inexpensive way to dress up a childhood classic. I also added some herbed croutons to mine just to enhance those Italian seasonings even more and it was perfection. Extremely pleased with this. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it! The crouton addition sounds delicious!
This tasted somewhat like pizza sauce, but I still loved it. And it’s a great starter into experimenting with tomato soup. I just recently acquired a taste for it, but it was acquired at a nice restaurant, so I knew a plain old can of soup wasn’t going to do it. This is a perfect solution and even my kids liked it.
Good. I only used half the amount of spices and it was perfect. Yum.
I have always used mill instead of water, but the addition of slices and parmesan add so much flavor. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed!
I had already added water, but next time I will use half and half. I just eyeballed the spices and probably used less. I used seasoning salt and subbed paprika for the cayenne. I also added some parm to the soup as it was heating. This was a great way to make canned soup taste so much better. I had it with a bacon grilled cheese sandwich – yum.
This sounds so yummy, JoBeth!!!
Would full fat coconut milk work with this?
That should be fine! Flavor might be a little different, but that’s it.
Loved this upgrade to canned soup! Totally made it taste like homemade, and it was incredibly quick and easy! Glad to have this recipe in my back pocket for this winter!
Definitely enjoyed this ‘adult’ version of tomato soup. It looked pretty with the fresh shaved parmesan and basil leaves. It’s a winner.
I’m so glad, Sharon!
I am not a big fan of tomato soup but my son loves it. He suggested looking up a recipe to dress it up a bit so I would enjoy it more. I used heavy cream and this was absolutely delicious. I like the crouton idea and may have to try that the next time. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad you and your son enjoyed it, Barb!
I just made this with grilled cheese, ham , n tomato sandwiches. The soup was great! Followed the recipe but did add a teaspoon of sour cream to it also. Wonderful!!
`I’ve always used milk instead of water. And I add just half a can because I really like a nice thick creamy soup. This combination of spices was great, except that I hesitate to add salt, as soups in a can tend to have a lot of salt already. Another little dress-up is to stir in just some ground basil by itself. For some reason, the combo of the basil and tomato soup is really great. When I want to be more of an adult, I have used seasoned croutons in it. If I want to go back to when I was not nearly as mature as I am now ;-), I add Cheese-Its. And of course, you must have a grilled cheese sandwich with it!
Is there a dairy free alternative?
Coconut milk is dairy free.
WOW!
That would make the soup creamier and dairy free. I ordered from a restaurant yesterday a coconut curry tomato soup. It was bomb.
I just made this right now. I didn’t have any onion powder but I used the rest of the spices listed and the soup is AMAZING
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!!
Great recipe! I cut down the cayenne pepper by about half, it’s a bit too spicy for my kids. But this is my go-to recipe and we’ve been having a lot more grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunches!
Thank you so much Cass!!!!
I LOVE tomato soup. I was excited to dress up my can of soup for lunch today. I was disappointed. I felt like after adding all of this, I couldn’t even taste the soup! I even halved the amount of spices it called for thinking it just seemed like a lot. The Italian seasoning overpowered everything and after that shock came the cayenne at the back of my throat. In my opinion, the combination of spices didn’t work well together here.
The creamer to soup ratio was too much and really more white than red. I want to be adding more tomato soup to make it look like tomato soup.
I added some chorizo diced up too and it was soo yummy.
Not fancied up but more interesting for kids. Cook alphabet noodle in salted water, drain, and add to soup while it’s warming. If you want regular size alphabets serve right away. If you want large soft alphabets let stand and they will absorb liquid. Kids love them! If you care to add other pasta you can do the same. I would add tiny little meat balls too if serving to adults with a splash of red wine. Fresh parm shaved on top! I like tomato taste too much to add spices. Each to his own taste though.
Will this work with soy milk?
I haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t! If you try, please report back!
This is an outstanding dress up to an old favorite, what a great find.
Very tasty, next time going to cut the cayenne in half. Little too spicy, but really really good. Recipe is a keeper
I think the spice in this recipe is really overpowering. I halfed the amount of spice and still found it overpowering (and this is coming from someone that likes strong flavours). Anyone into more mild flavours I would recommend quartering the seasoning if not decreasing it even more. This wasn’t just my opinion but shared with a few other people as well.
I liked the recipe! Added a bay leaf, ditalini noodles and carrots.
Such an easy way to make a can of soup a bit better! Perfect with a grilled cheese!
Love the dress-up! My kiddo enjoyed it! W