Frugal Tomato Soup with Canned Tomatoes
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Canned tomatoes gathering dust in your pantry? Transform those overlooked cans into the creamiest tomato soup you’ve ever tasted. With just a few ingredients and 15 minutes, you can ditch the metallic store-bought stuff for homemade tomato soup that’s genuinely soul-soothing.
Frugal Tomato Soup
I love making new recipes that use plenty of pantry staples and are super frugal. During our current time of using up as many pantry foods as we can to eat down the pantry stockpile, I noticed that I needed to use a BUNCH of canned tomatoes.
One cold day, I decided that I’d figure out how to make them into a tasty soup recipe to enjoy with the grilled cheese sandwiches that I was also planning on making. One of my kids had a sore throat as well so I thought that soup would be the perfect addition to the day.
BUT, I was rather late in getting lunch ready on this particular day so I also needed something I could make super quickly. This recipe just hits so many boxes!
Let’s get into it. I hope you like this as much as we do!
How Is This Frugal?
Canned tomatoes currently cost around $0.99. I paid $1.24 per can for the organic tomatoes shown in the picture below. The spices cost a few pennies, the water cost nothing. The oil to fry in cost pennies. A small onion costs about $0.25.
$1.24 x 2 + $0.25 + $0.50 (if we are being very generous on the cost of spices and oil) = $3.23 for 4 servings or $0.81 per serving.
Ingredients in Tomato Soup
- Canned Tomatoes. This is our star ingredient! You can use the no-salt canned tomatoes if you want to completely control the amount of salt in your soup. Any kind of plain canned tomato will work in this recipe no matter how it’s cut, because we are going to blend it anyway. If you want to get fancy, use canned san marzano tomatoes.
- Onion. Yellow or white onion will work best in this recipe but use what you have.
- Water or Broth. If you have chicken broth or vegetable broth, that will give this recipe a little more flavor. But if you don’t, just use water for the super frugal classic version.
- Dried Basil. Since this recipe doesn’t have any other spices but salt, basil will really help give it some flavor. You could even use fresh basil if you are growing some!
- Salt. This is our main flavor booster in this soup. I used sea salt, but you can use whatever kind you have on hand.
Step By Step Instructions for Making Tomato Soup with Canned Tomatoes
Dice your onion and place in a small amount of olive oil or unsalted butter in a saucepan, small dutch oven, or small pot. Fry the onion until translucent.
Add in the water (or broth) and the salt.
Add in the canned tomatoes (including all of the liquid). Add the basil last.
Stir the mixture until it simmers on a medium heat. Once it’s warm through and simmering, carefully place it in a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend the soup until it’s a smooth puree. I have a Blendtec Blender.
Serve the soup right away. It can be served plain or with extra toppings to give it a little extra.
Upgrades to Simple Tomato Soup
- Add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to the top. Mozzarella cheese is also very good.
- Put a few croutons on the top of the soup before serving.
- Add a little cream or coconut cream into the soup before blending to give it a little more fat and flavor and create a cream of tomato soup.
- Top it with a dollop of sour cream.
- Serve your soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on the side.
- Other herbs and spices you could add to increase the flavor could be: black pepper, oregano, thyme, garlic, red pepper flakes, or even a little sugar.
- Crumble some toasted bread, crackers, or other crunchy things on top if you don’t have any croutons for garnishes.
Tomato Soup with Canned Tomatoes Recipe
This super frugal recipe uses canned tomatoes to make a delicious and crazy simple soup that the whole family will love.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion
- 2 14.5oz cans of diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups water or broth
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon salt or more if needed
Instructions
-
Dice your onion and place in a small amount of oil or butter in a saucepan. Fry the onion until translucent.
-
Add in the water (or broth) and the salt.
-
Add in the canned tomatoes (including all of the liquid). Add the basil last.
-
Stir the mixture until it simmers. Once it’s warm through and simmering, carefully place it in a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend the soup until it’s smooth. I have a Blendtec Blender.
-
Serve the soup right away. It can be served plain or with extra toppings to give it a little extra.
How to Store Leftover Tomato Soup
Any leftover tomato soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge until you are ready to enjoy it again. It should last in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Reheat the tomato soup in the microwave or on the stovetop.
You can also freeze this soup to enjoy it even later. However, it may separate after being thawed. You might have to re-run it through the blender after thawing.
Common Questions About Making Tomato Soup
This recipe is all about being frugal, so use whatever tomatoes you have. I wouldn’t, however, use canned tomatoes with added ingredients like green chilies.
This recipe is pretty creamy as is. However, if you are looking for that extra dose of creaminess, add in some heavy cream to the soup before serving.
Yes, if you have plain home-canned tomatoes you can use one pint in this recipe in place of the store-bought canned tomatoes. You could even make your own Home Canned Tomato Soup instead!
More Easy Soup Recipes
- Crockpot Chicken and Rice Soup Recipe
- The Best Easy 4 Ingredient Potato Soup Recipe
- Easy Old Fashioned Vegetable Soup with Ground Beef
- Bean with Bacon Soup Recipe
- The Best French Onion Soup Recipe
- Apple Cheddar Soup Recipe
What are some frugal soups that you like to make?
Merissa Alink
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
This recipe for Tomato Soup With Canned Tomatoes was originally posted on Little House Living in October 2023.
I love 💕 all the recipes and especially the veggie ones as I am vegan so going to try the wonderful tomatoe soup 🥣 awesome time for cold wet winter days 😉thank you Merrisa
Thank you for the recipe. It sounds like something that I can eat. Many of the canned,boxed etc soups have ingredients that I cannot have. I am looking forward to tomato soup.
This is really good, but even better with some garlic added. I love how frugal it is, and it’s perfect for a winter day.
I’ve been looking for a simple tomato soup recipe to make since most available in the stores have sugar added and decided to give yours a try – I and my family Loved it!!! So easy and so delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!!