Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup (with Vegetarian/Vegan Options)

Nothing beats the flavor of juicy summer tomatoes fresh off the vine! This Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup captures that flavor and is a great thing to make when the tomato patch is working overtime. Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup can be made with any tomatoes you might be growing or that you find in your local farmers' markets: full-sized or cherry/pear/grape-sized tomatoes, red or purple or yellow tomatoes, anything goes!

This Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup also freezes well and is a welcome treat in Winter when the supermarket tomatoes just aren't up to snuff.

Let's gather up some fresh tomatoes and a few other ingredients and make a batch of Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup while this year's crop is at its peak!

Note: vegetarian/vegan options are noted in recipe

In addition to our juicy garden fresh tomatoes, we'll need a few other ingredients to make our Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup. Here's what we'll need:

Ingredients (to make ~4 quarts of soup)

• 5 lb tomatoes (12 C chopped)
• 3 onions (3 C chopped)
• 6-8 stalks celery (2C chopped)
• 1/2 C parsley
• 1 C sugar
• 2 Tbs salt
• 1 Tbs pickling spice
• 2 C water
• 5-6 strips bacon (6 oz)
• 4 Tbs flour
• splash of cream or 1/2 & 1/2 (optional, but recommended)

Note: Pickling spice adds wonderful flavor to this soup and can be found in the spice aisle of most grocery stores, but if you can't find it you can always make your own by mixing a bit of each of the ingredients listed on the label (see photo). The cream-1/2&1/2 is an optional ingredient but it makes this soup even more delicious.

Note: vegetarian/vegan option: substitute 4 Tbs vegetable oil (or coconut oil, or vegan butter) for the bacon, substitute your favorite non-dairy milk for the cream-1/2&1/2

Let's gather up a nice large pot and some other kitchen essentials to make our Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup.

Equipment

• large stock pot or Dutch oven (at least 20C capacity)
• measuring cups/spoons
• sharp knife
• cutting Board
• small frying pan
• spoons for stirring (and tasting)
• tea/spice infuser (or cheesecloth/twine)
• immersion blender (or standard blender or food mill)
• rubber spatula
• kitchen scale

Our star ingredient - those delicious garden fresh tomatoes - are the first in the pot. Then we'll add the other flavorful vegetables to round out our Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup.

Chop the Tomatoes and Vegetables

Chop these ingredients and add them to the pot:

• 12 C (5 lb) tomatoes
• 3 C onions
• 2 C celery
• 1/2 C parsley

Next we'll add the seasonings and spices to the tomatoes and vegetables already in the pot. These will make our Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup so very delicious.

Add Seasonings and Spices to the Tomatoes/Vegetables

Measure out the following and add them to the pot:

• 2 Tbs salt
• 1 C sugar
• 1 Tbs pickling spice (in a tea/spice infuser or tied up in cheesecloth/twine)
• 2 C water

Note: To make retrieving the spice infuser easy to remove later, tie the infuser tail to the handle of the pot (see photo). If you don't have a tea/spice infuser you can use a piece of cheesecloth to enclose the pickling spice and tie it closed with some kitchen twine.

Now that everything is in the pot, it's time to cook our Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup. Cover the pot loosely by putting the lid on slightly ajar - this will prevent splatters on the stove-top and help hold the heat in the pot.

Cooking the Soup

• bring the soup to a boil and then turn down to simmer
• cover loosely and simmer for 1-1/2 to 2 hours until all the tomatoes and vegetables are nice and tender
• we can do the next step while our soup is simmering

Note: our Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup is good at this point, but it's going to get even better in the next step!

Now we're going to get ready to bump up the flavor and thicken our Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup. We'll be using bacon and making a roux (a thickening ingredient) with the bacon fat and some flour.

Fry the Bacon, Make a Roux

• chop the 5-6 strips of bacon and add them to a small frying pan
• fry the bacon until it is done but not too crispy - do NOT drain the bacon fat
• measure out 4 Tbs of flour and add to the cooked bacon/bacon fat (this is our roux)
• cook and stir the bacon/bacon fat/flour mixture for 3-4 minutes until it is light brown and smells nutty
• remove the frying pan from the heat

Note: for a vegetarian/vegan option: substitute 4 Tbs vegetable oil (or coconut oil or vegan butter) for the bacon/bacon fat.

Now it's time to put it all together to finish our Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup. First we'll blend the soup, then add the bacon/roux. An immersion blender is the perfect tool for blending the soup as there is no transferring of hot ingredients - you can blend the soup in the same pot it was cooked in.

Blend the Soup

• remove the spice infuser from the soup
• using an immersion blender, carefully blend the hot soup to desired consistency (I recommend fairly smooth)

Put It All Together:

• add the prepared bacon/roux to the soup
• stir the bacon/roux into the soup
• simmer and stir the soup for 5-10 minutes to thicken

Note: You could also carefully process the hot soup through a food mill or blend it in a standard countertop blender, but an immersion blender is much easier and safer.

You now have a delicious pot of Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup. Let's serve it up and enjoy it!

This Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup soup is absolutely delicious as is, but for extra richness I recommend adding a splash of cream or 1/2&1/2 to your bowl at serving time.

Let's eat! Enjoy your Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup!

• ladle the delicious hot soup into a bowl or mug
• add a splash of cream or 1/2 & 1/2 and stir it in
• enjoy!

Enjoy your Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup! It really does capture all the flavor of those summertime tomatoes fresh off the vine.

Note: for a vegetarian/vegan option, substitute your favorite non-dairy milk for the cream-1/2&1/2.

Be sure to freeze some Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup for later, you'll thank me in the dead of winter :)

To freeze Homemade Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

Freeze the soup prior to adding any cream or 1/2&1/2

• allow soup to cool
• ladle into freezer safe containers
• label containers and store in freezer
• to reheat, allow soup to thaw and then warm in a pot on the stove or in microwave