Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

Now that we're entering the colder season, making some of this homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese is the perfect way to warm up! This soup has a delicious combination of roasted tomatoes and garlic, sauteed onions, and fresh basil--along with more seasonings that complement and deepen the other flavors. Plus, a sourdough grilled cheese sandwich with cheddar and smoked gouda for dunking makes this the ideal comfort food!

I love how filling this meal is, and it's nice to prepare a meal without any meat. If you're looking for other filling vegetarian recipes, check out a few of my other favorites:

Sun Dried Tomato Gnocchi

Vegetarian Greek Sandwich

Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers

How to Make Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

Though this recipe isn't one of my shorter ones, the majority of the cook time is the tomatoes and garlic roasting in the oven. Once the roasting is done, this recipe comes together quickly.

Tomato Soup

Cook the Ingredients

Preheat your oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them on a baking sheet along with the garlic cloves. Leave the peel on the garlic, you will remove them after roasting. Next, drizzle olive oil over the top of the tomatoes and garlic. Sprinkle salt, black pepper, and paprika over the tomatoes and garlic, and then toss them so that they are evenly coated with olive oil and spices. This is easiest to do with your hands.

Place the loaded baking sheet in the oven to roast for about 40-45 minutes. You'll know that it's done when the tomatoes are wrinkled and slightly charred.

While the tomatoes and garlic are roasting, dice the onion and add it to a large pot. I recommend using a yellow onion because of its sweeter flavor--avoid using a white onion, it's too bitter for this recipe. Saute the onions with salted butter until they are soft and translucent. You'll want them to cook as long as possible without burning them.

Blend and Season

Before blending, let the tomatoes and garlic cool for about 10 minutes after roasting. Remove the garlic cloves from the pan and set them aside. Add the tomatoes to a large blender and make sure to scrape all of the extra juices and burned bits from the pan and add them to the blender. These have a lot of flavor that you don't want to miss out on! Then take each garlic clove and squeeze the softened inside into the blender, then throw away the peel.

Also add the sauteed onions, vegetable broth, and a handful of fresh basil (remove any hard stems) to the large blender. Blend everything until it's smooth. At this point, if you'd like a thinner soup, add some extra vegetable broth. Don't add more than ½ cup because it will dilute the flavor.

Pour the contents of the blender back into the pot that the onions were cooked in. Next, add the red pepper flakes, oregano, sugar, and salt. Stir everything together, and taste the soup to see if it needs more salt. When the flavor is where you want it, bring the soup to a boil. Then cover it with a lid and turn the heat down to low, letting it simmer for about 10 minutes. Leaving the heat on low, stir in the heavy cream. Keep the soup warm until you are ready to serve.

Sourdough Grilled Cheese

Everyone has their own way of making a grilled cheese sandwich, and there's no wrong way to do it. Here is how I make a grilled cheese that I think pairs well with this soup, but feel free to make it any way you like it:

Heat a skillet or large pan on medium heat. Butter all sides of the sourdough slices (try using my roasted garlic butter for extra flavor!), and cook the inside of the sandwich slices first. Doing so will make the bread crispier and help the cheese melt faster. Assemble the sandwich and cook on both outer sides until brown. I like to use a combination of smoked gouda and cheddar cheese because they complement the soup. Shredding a fresh block of high-quality cheese usually has the best flavor, but sliced or pre-shredded cheese work as well.

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese: How to Make it Dairy-Free

This recipe actually tastes delicious without dairy, and it only requires a few changes. When sauteeing the onion, use a dairy substitute in place of the butter. I recommend using a dairy-free margarine, but olive oil would work as well. However, if you use olive oil, only use a tablespoon so that the soup doesn't turn out too oily. I wouldn't use a substitute like coconut oil, as it's flavor wouldn't complement the soup. Also leave out the heavy cream--the soup still tastes delicious without it!

Instead of grilled cheese, you are welcome to use any kind of bread to dip in the soup. I recommend a fresh loaf of sourdough! If you have a favorite dairy-free cheese, you are welcome to use that in a grilled cheese sandwich instead.

Other Comfort Food Recipes

With colder days just around the corner, I know I'm in the mood for any kind of comfort food! Check out some of these other recipes that are sure to keep you warm:

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Tortellini Soup

Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta

Creamy Tuscan Salmon Pasta

If you try out this roasted tomato soup and grilled cheese or any of my other recipes, I’d LOVE to hear about it. You can leave a comment below the recipe, or if you post a picture on Instagram, be sure to tag me! Getting any feedback on my recipes is both rewarding AND helpful as I write and edit recipes in the future.

Now get cooking, and enjoy!

Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

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Servings: 6 servings

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Calories: 253kcal

Ingredients

Tomato Soup

• ▢ 3 lb ripe tomatoes**
• ▢ 8 garlic cloves
• ▢ ¼ cup olive oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ▢ 1 teaspoon paprika
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion
• ▢ 3 tablespoon salted butter
• ▢ 1 ½ cup vegetable broth***
• ▢ handful of fresh basil****
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cane sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (or more, add to taste)
• ▢ ¼ cup heavy cream

Grilled Cheese

• ▢ sourdough bread
• ▢ salted butter
• ▢ smoked gouda cheese
• ▢ cheddar cheese

Instructions

Tomato Soup

• Preheat oven to 400° F. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them on a baking sheet along with the garlic cloves (leave peel on).
  3 lb ripe tomatoes**, 8 garlic cloves
  
• Drizzle olive oil over the top. Sprinkle fine sea salt, ground black pepper, and paprika over the tomatoes and garlic, and then toss the tomatoes and garlic with your hands so that they are evenly coated in spices and olive oil. Place the baking sheet in the oven to roast for 40-45 minutes. The tomatoes should be slightly charred.
  ¼ cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon paprika
  
• While the tomatoes and garlic are roasting, dice the medium yellow onion and add it to a large pot. Saute the onions with the salted butter until they are soft and translucent. You'll want them to cook as long as possible without burning them.
  1 medium yellow onion, 3 tablespoon salted butter
• Let the tomatoes and garlic cool for 10 minutes and then set aside the garlic cloves. Add the tomatoes to a large blender and make sure to scrape all of the extra juices burned bits from the baking sheet and add them to the blender--these have a lot of flavor that you don't want to miss. Take each garlic clove, and squeeze out the softened inside into the blender, then discard the peel.
• Also add the sauteed onions, vegetable broth, and handful of fresh basil (any hard stems removed) to the large blender. Blend until smooth.
  1 ½ cup vegetable broth***, handful of fresh basil****
• Pour the contents of the blender back into the pot that the onions were cooked in. Add red pepper flakes, dried oregano, cane sugar, and salt. Stir. Bring it to a boil, then cover with a lid and turn the heat down to low, letting it all simmer for about 10 minutes.
  ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon cane sugar, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (or more, add to taste)
• Leave the heat on low, and stir in the heavy cream. (Add more if wanted.) Keep warm until serving.
  ¼ cup heavy cream

Grilled Cheese

• Heat a skillet or large pan on medium heat. Butter all sides of the sourdough slices, and cook the inside of the sandwich first (this will make the bread crispier and help the cheese melt faster). Assemble the sandwich and cook on both sides. I like to use a combination of smoked gouda and cheddar because I think it goes well with this soup, but use whatever cheese you like. Shredded cheese and sliced cheese both work.
  sourdough bread, salted butter, smoked gouda cheese, cheddar cheese
• Serve the grilled cheese with some tomato soup. Enjoy!

Notes

*This calorie count only includes the tomato soup, as there would be too much variation from one grilled cheese to the next to give an accurate number.

**You'll want to use as ripe of tomatoes as possible to get the most flavor. This is a great way to use overripe tomatoes. I'd recommend using on the vine tomatoes, or roma tomatoes. I don't recommend using beefsteak tomatoes because they don't have as much flavor.

***You can add more vegetable broth if you want an even thinner soup, but it will dilute the flavor. I wouldn't recommend adding more than an additional ½ cup.

****For this recipe, I used two 0.5 oz packages of basil from the produce section. After removing the hard stems, they ended up weighing 0.5 oz total, if you'd like to have an exact quantity.

Dairy Free Option: This recipe actually tastes delicious without dairy. When sauteeing the onion, use a dairy substitute--if you use olive oil, only use a tablespoon. Leave out the heavy cream, and the soup still tastes great. Serve with sourdough bread instead of grilled cheese.

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes minutes

Author: All You Can Eats

Course: Soups