Tomato Basil Soup - Homemade and Vegan Friendly!

In the spirit of complete disclosure, I am not Vegan. I'm not even Vegetarian. I don't really like meat much so I don't cook with it often; my daughter is lactose intolerant and I do have several friends who are Vegan, so a lot of the things I end up cooking are Vegan friendly and that is why I end up with quite a few Vegan or Can Easily Be Vegan recipes.

A few weeks ago it was still ridiculously cold here in Michigan and so I decided to make homemade Tomato Soup. It turned out to be REALLY, REALLY good AND pretty easy, so here is the recipe!

Homemade Tomato Basil Soup – Vegan Friendly

1 large yellow onion, chopped (rough or fine, depends on whether you like chunks or not – read on!)

3 Tbs. Olive Oil

4 Tbs. Coconut Oil

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

2 6 oz cans of tomato paste (plus 4 cans water for each can of tomato paste)

1 14.5 oz can of tomato puree (plus one can of water)

4 – 6 Tbsp. Sugar (to taste)

2 or 3 Tbsp. Vegetable Base or No Chicken Chicken Base (I like Better than Boullion and usually use half of each kind, I like the flavor combo that way)

Fresh Ground Pepper – lots

1 cup Sherry (optional but it makes the taste incredible!)

1 Can Coconut Cream

1/3 Cup fresh basil, chopped - much better with fresh but if you need to use dried, and I have - use 2 ½ TBSP. (I freeze fresh in the summer so I have it to use all year).

Either ¼ Cup Fresh Parsley, chopped or 1 ½ Tbsp. Dried Parsley

*Homemade Croutons (recipe below)

Melt the coconut oil in with the olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven. When the oil is hot add your chopped onion and cook until translucent. If you are using dried parsley & dried basil, add them now. If using fresh (including frozen), wait.

I used dried parsley this time, and basil I had in the freezer from last summer, so the greens you can see here are dried Parsley.

Add your diced tomatoes. Mix your tomato past with one of the cans of water in another bowl or other container until smooth, add to the hot onion & tomato mixture. Stir slowly to mix and add the other cans of water, stirring so you don’t have tomato paste lumps. Add the tomato sauce & water mixture.

If you want a smooth tomato soup, you will need to blend it at this point.You can either put your mixture in the blender and then return it to the pan or, Much Easier, use a hand blender, as I do. You just stick it into your mixture, turn it on, and it blends everything. Simply lovely. 

I have a Braun Hand-blender my Father-in-law gave me for Christmas ages ago, I absolutely adore it!

Now add your Sugar. You might be tempted to skip the sugar, but tomatoes are so acid the soup will be much smoother and yummier if you add a little sugar. Start with 3 or 4 Tbsp, taste and add more as and if needed. I usually use about 5 or 6 TBSP, if that means anything, tomatoes and tastes differ. : )

 Add your vegetable or no chicken base to the pot.

Now add lots of freshly ground black pepper to taste. Stir to combine and let simmer for about 20 minutes – DO NOT BOIL!

 

Turn the heat off or to warm. Add the Sherry and then stir in the coconut cream. If using fresh herbs, add them now. 

 Serve Warm with homemade croutons! Yummy and like most homemade soups, even better the next day after the flavors have had more time to really get to know each other! 

If you are not Vegan, you can add shredded Parmesan cheese to your soup along with the croutons when serving, it's delicious.

*Homemade Croutons - Can be Vegan if Desired

About 3 cups of dried, cubed bread; older bread makes the best croutons, so if it’s been sitting a bit too long, cut it up and place it into a 13 x 9 pan, set it in the cool oven and just let it dry out. Then you can keep it in a Tupperware container or a plastic bag, whatever works.  I do this constantly so I always have a bag or two of dried bread cubes available. If you need bread crumbs they are easy to crush, for croutons, here you go, it's so easy and they are so much better you will never buy ready made croutons again!

When ready to make the croutons here’s the actual recipe I use (pretty close anyway, I never measure anything, sorry!).

Homemade Croutons – Set the oven to 250°

3 cups dried bread cubes.

4 TBSP of Butter (or coconut oil), 4 TBSP of Olive Oil ( you can use any combination of oil you desire, this is what I use, except lately I've been substituting Coconut oil for the butter since we found out my daughter is lactose intolerant. Using the coconut oil makes it Vegan and the croutons are still Really Good!)

2 tsp dried Thyme 

½ tsp dried Rosemary, crumbled

1 tsp dried Savory

1 tsp dried sage

1 ½  tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper ( more to taste if desired)

1 Cup Stock (Vegetable, No Chicken or Chicken Stock base - 1 generous tsp in one cup water - I use Better Than Bouillon)

*Alternatively instead of the individual herbs, you can use readymade Poultry Seasoning, about 1 TBSP. I’ve done it when I’m out of something, although I prefer to use the actual herbs, you can adjust them according to your taste and I think the flavor is better.

Melt your oils, add the herbs and cook for about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Add the Stock (careful, if your pan is hot it will spit!).

Add your bread cubes and stir quickly so the liquid & fat mixture distributes evenly.

Pour the damp bread cubes into a large rectangular cake pan and put in the oven. After about an hour or so, stir and put back into the oven.

Repeat this for about 4 hours or until all bread cubes are totally dried out, then they are done.

 

Once croutons are done, if they are not being used immediately they can be stored in the freezer in a freezer bag once they are cool. To thaw, just pull them out several hours ahead of time and open the bag to thaw.

Really yummy Tomato Soup, whether you go Vegan or not!