5 Minute Tomato Soup

One of my quickest and simplest recipes and yet one of the most delicious, this 5 minute tomato soup will provide you with a fresh, healthy and really speedy lunch on those days where there are not many options left in your kitchen cupboards. 

See the middle of this page for step-by-step instructions plus handy photos to help guide you, or see bottom of the page for quick recipe if preferred. I’d recommend spending a few minutes reading the following first though, for very useful information and tips on making this dish.

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Note that 5 minutes is the approximate time to make this dish once all of you’ve gathered all of your ingredients. Actual preparation times may vary slightly due to factors like knife skills and how quickly your hob heats up.

Humble origins

I dreamt up this 5 minute tomato soup recipe one day many moons ago when I was needing a quick and healthy lunch but found myself with hardly any fresh food in the house as I just hadn’t had the time to go grocery shopping that week. Rather than fill up on junk food, (as tempting as that was!) I grabbed a tin of tomatoes from the back of the kitchen cupboard and conjured up this very quick and easy soup.

I now create this delicious 5 minute tomato soup on a fairly regular basis, so it’s become one of my lunchtime staples. As a bonus, most kids seem to really love tomato soup and it’s a great way to get one of their five a day inside even the most fussy of them.

Deliciously simple

The aim of this 5 minute tomato soup is to simply showcase the delicious natural flavours of the tomatoes, rather than adding in lots of other complicated flavours. It’s surprising just how tasty a simple tin of tomatoes can become when the correct seasonings in their right quantities are used.

There is definitely a bit of flexibility with the flavours of this 5 minute tomato soup though, and you can feel free to add a little more or less of any particular ingredient to suit your unique taste buds.

Hints and tips

Most importantly, I’d recommend investing in some decent quality tinned chopped tomatoes as the cheap varieties can sometimes be rather ‘watery’ meaning your tomato soup may end up a bit thin and less flavoursome than it should be. Good quality tinned tomatoes form the basis of a soup that really ‘sings’.

Normally, I’m a big fan of extra virgin olive oil especially for things like drizzling over salads, however for this 5 minute tomato soup I recommend using the blended variety of olive oil- typically a mixture of both extra virgin and refined olive oils. This is because the extra virgin variety can be a little overpowering – and remember, this soup recipe is all about showcasing the pure tomato flavor rather than masking it with other stuff. Also, extra virgin olive oil has a tendency to become rather ‘acrid’ when cooked so you want to avoid this happening.

Lots of variations

As you’ll see, there are different variations that you can use with this 5 minute tomato soup recipe depending on your personal tastes. Some like it chunky as it comes, whereas others like the soup smooth in texture which can be very quickly achieved with a quick whizz of the soup in the food processor.

Finally, for all of those “cream of tomato” fans out there, I’ve included the option to make a creamy version of this 5 minute tomato soup recipe, so all tastes are catered for. Do bear in mind though that making the variations of this recipe is likely to push the total cooking time slightly beyond the magic five minute mark so just make sure you have enough time available to make one of the tomato soup variations if you’re keen.

5 minute tomato soup

Ingredients

1 generous serving

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tbs Olive oil

1 level tsp Sugar

1/3 tsp Salt

Cracked black Pepper to taste

Optional – Approx 5 fresh basil leaves

Optional – 3 tbsp single cream

Hunks of warm bread to serve

Step by step

1. Empty the tin of tomatoes (juice included) into a small pan over medium heat.
2. Mash them for about 10 seconds using a potato masher to break up the largest chunks.

3. Add the olive oil, sugar and salt to the pan.
4. Heat on medium heat for 3-4 mins, stirring regularly until hot but not boiling.
5. Remove from the heat and roughly tear in the basil leaves (if you chose to use these) with your hands, reserving 1-2 for garnish if you’d like to. Grind over black cracked pepper to taste.

6. Serve! Great with hunks of warm crusty bread.

Variation 1 – smooth soup

• For a smooth soup, blitz the soup in a food processor for about 20 seconds after removing from heat, then serve.

Variation 2 – cream of tomato soup

• Add 3 tbs single cream then heat through for approx 30 seconds longer. Remove from heat and blitz in food processor for about 20 seconds, then serve.