The Best Tomato Basil Soup

Today’s Souper Saturday Soup is Tomato Basil!

But not just any Tomato Basil Soup, this one is healthy and so delicious! There is a secret ingredient that takes this soup over the top! I’ll share that in a minute. 

Now I have a little confession to make! I love to cook and soup is one of my favorite things to make. But most of my recipes are not my own! However, the majority of the time I tweak the recipes either with ingredients or maybe in the process of how I make it. 

For instance, for any recipe that calls for cooked chicken, I usually start with raw chicken and adjust the process to incorporate cooking the chicken in the soup. In many cases, I up the flavor profile by adding in more spices or seasoning than called for and possibly adding some spices that aren’t even in the recipe. An extra teaspoon or two of chicken or beef base enriches the broth as does tomato paste or Worchestershire sauce in beef soups. You get the picture, I start with a recipe and then I embellish it! 

This tomato basil soup needs absolutely nothing! Its perfect just as it is! And that secret ingredient is just a suggestion, but I always add it, and probably more than the recipe calls for. 

So what is this secret ingredient? It’s lemon juice! A good healthy squeeze of fresh lemon just at the end of cooking and oh my gracious, it completely ups the flavor of this soup!

Trust me, I didn’t really know how drastic a difference it would make till I tried it. I not only add the lemon juice, I also grate the zest from the lemon and add that too. Yum! 

Here’s what I love about this soup. It’s all vegetables just pureed with an immersion blender. In the summertime you can use fresh tomatoes from the garden, but in the winter, plum tomatoes work perfectly.

I do use chicken broth and butter so it’s not vegetarian. But a couple of simple swaps could make any vegetarian happy. There is no cream or half and half, so it really is very healthy. It’s also very filling! Oh yum! 

There is just one problem, I can’t have tomato soup without a delicious grilled cheese sandwich so that pretty much cancels out the healthiness of the soup. Haha! But there is nothing better on a cold rainy night than a bowl of Tomato Basil Soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. 

I totally have to give credit where its due, this recipe is from Debbie from the blog, One Little Project. Go check out the recipe and put it on your menu! If you love tomato soup, you’ll love this one!