It’s the first day of Fall and I know exactly what you need.
A Snuggie, so you and your family can snug on the couch watching all your new favourite Fall shows.
That poor dog.
Why do I get the feeling that you are all sitting at your computer right now with one on?
Don’t worry, it’s our little secret.
Just please don’t tell me you’re naked under that thing.
You might also need a new O.P.I. nail polish.
Perhaps, a Pumpkin Pie Smoothie.
and Soup.
Definitely soup.
Before this roasted tomato soup happened, soup and I were not on speaking terms.
A couple week’s ago, I made a coconut milk, sweet potato, and cinnamon soup and I just couldn’t get the flavour exactly how I wanted it. It was yuk. And I made myself finish it. Now I don’t want to look at another sweet potato again.
As I thought about what went wrong with the sweet potato soup, I realized it needed a kick of heat. The ingredients were all sweet (cinnamon, nutmeg, sweet potato, coconut milk, etc) and the flavour lacked depth and contrast. I think the soup would have been wonderful with a kick of Indian spices so I will have to try that next time.
Instead of making another sweet potato soup, I decided to take this lesson and apply it to a roasted tomato and garlic soup. It’s really, really hard to go wrong with roasted tomatoes, as I discovered with the Roasted Tomato Basil Pesto, so I was pretty confident it would be successful.
I grabbed 5 pounds of beautiful roma tomatoes.
I made extra so I could make another batch of pesto with the leftovers! I encourage you to do the same because I have a delicious pizza recipe coming up using the pesto.
I prepped the tomatoes, sweet onion, and garlic for roasting.
And everything got roasted at once!
The oven was on for about 1 hour and 25 minutes total at 375-400F, with the tomatoes taking the longest and the onions taking the least amount of time.
I added some of the roasted vegetables (along with 2 tbsp of roasted garlic), vegetable broth, a can of light coconut milk, S & P, and garam masala (<—the heat!)
I knew that this soup was going to be a game changer because the broth was mind blowing.
I blended it (only 3 seconds!) to leave it chunky. You can also use an immersion blender if you have one.
There is so much depth of flavour in this soup it made my head spin! It didn’t need any second trials, no second guessing…it just worked.
Roasted Tomato, Garlic, & Onion Coconut Soup
Yield
6 cups
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This tomato soup is anything but traditional, boring, or bland and it’s definitely one of the best homemade soups I have made to date. The light coconut milk is a great way to add a luxurious creaminess, pairing well with the heat from the garam masala and adding a nice contrast to the rustic quality of the roasted vegetables. I will make this again and again!
Ingredients
For the Roasted Vegetables
- 5 pounds of roma tomatoes, washed & sliced in half
- 1 large sweet onion, peeled & sliced
- 2-3 large garlic bulbs, prepared for roasting
- extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, & pepper, for vegetables
For the Soup
- 3 cups roasted tomatoes
- 2 tbsp roasted garlic flesh
- all of the roasted sweet onion
- 1 can light coconut milk (reserve 2-3 tbsp for garnish)
- 3 cups vegetable broth (I used low-sodium)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp garam masala (add slowly, to taste)
- 1 tsp salt or to taste (you may have to reduce amount. if you used full-sodium broth)
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
For garnish (optional)
- garlic croutons
- coconut milk
- pesto
- herbs
- garam masala
- pepper
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line 2 baking sheets with tin foil (note that parchment paper will burn). Grab a small casserole dish to place the garlic in. For how to prepare the garlic, see this tutorial. Lightly drizzle on EVOO onto onions and season onions and tomatoes with S & P. Roast for about 30 minutes and then check on the vegetables. You might have to remove the onions early as they cook the quickest. When the onions are golden and lightly blackened on the edge, you can remove them. Continue roasting the garlic for about 60 minutes or so (check it after 45mins), and the tomatoes for about 1 hour and 20 mins. Your oven times will vary though, so keep an eye on them!
- Add 3 cups roasted tomatoes, 2 tbsp roasted garlic flesh, and all the onion into a large pot. Add coconut milk, tomato paste, and broth and stir well.
- Stir in the seasonings and spices to taste. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
- Carefully transfer into a blender, processor, or use an immersion blender. Pulse for just a few seconds until chunky. You can also make it smooth, but I liked the texture. Serve immediately and garnish with reserved coconut milk, a sprinkle of garam masala, croutons/bread, and fresh black pepper.
If you think that forgoing animal products means that you will never get to have a cream-based soup…think again! This soup was rich & creamy thanks to the coconut milk, but not weighed-down or heavy in any way.
It is super filling, but light at the same time.
How is that even possible?
I told you, your head will spin.
You can use the leftover roasted tomato and garlic to make the Roasted Tomato Basil Pesto for a pizza recipe I have coming up…it’s made with a crispy buckwheat and almond meal flatbread crust. Coming up!
Oh and my new Fall-themed header is coming at ya, today or tomorrow.
Have a great start to your weekend!
EXCELLENT!!!
This soup tastes like it was made in a 5 star restaurant. It is rich, robust and extremely flavorful, thank you for this post.
Next recipes to try:
Detox Tabbouleh, Happy Digestion Smoothie (have a fresh pineapple calling to me) and Pumpkin Pie.
Once again THANX :)
I have a group of 8 friends and we have a monthly supper club gathering rotating hosts each time. In addition to having it at their home the host plans the entire menu and puts out and email the week before with recipes for the menu. Then one by one we reply back saying which recipes we will be responsible for. This is not a potluck even but a cooking club event. We can do the needed prep work ahead of time but we cook, finishe, assemble our dishes as group in the kitchen while sipping wine and visiting. Tonight I hosted and planned a menu around two big pots of soups which sounded good in the cold February Midwest weather (St. Louis). This tomato soup recipe was one of our featured soups and it turned out fantastic. It was a huge hit with everyone! The coconut milk and garam masala make it a delightfully unusual twist on a creamy tomato soup recipe. I double the recipe so there would be plenty for leftovers. It was delicious served with some warmed onion naan from a local global market with an Indian bakery. This recipe is a keeper for sure! Thanks!
I overcooked the onions and I’m sitting here debating weather to use them or roast a new onion. Opinions?
This is an amazing soup. I have just made it. The soup tastes delicious. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us. ;-)
I made this soup for dinner this evening and we licked the pot clean! Thanks again Angela! :)
(Well.. I almost did!)
This sounds really delicious and something new to try. Thank you for sharing this.
Simon
Cans this be made with regular versus Roma tomatos?
Angela
First off you should know I am a brand new vegan and am convinced to stick with it after living off your recipes so far!! The flavours leave me speechless (mostly because I am too busy enjoying the food to talk)
I am making this soup and am a bit confused with the amount of tomatoes and garlic I am roasting compared to how much is used in the recipe. Roast 2-3 bulbs of garlic only to use 2 tbsp in the recipe? Can you clarify for me please?
Thank you for all your hard work to keep this once carnivore dairy loving now vegan very happy!!!
Yes that’s correct – I tell you to roast 2-3 bulbs because (depending on the size of the bulb of course) one bulb will yield about 1 tablespoon of roasted garlic cloves. So just use 2 tbsp of roasted garlic in this soup. Or more if you like!! Roasted garlic is so sweet and lovely you can use a heavy hand.
This soup was amazing! It fulfilled the dreams I imagined when I saw the simple ingredients and surpassed the look of the soup. I added a bit of cayenne for an extra kick and loved that. Now I have a strong desire to make some sort of roasted tomato salsa!
I’m SO excited to make this!! Does anyone know how many calories there are per serving??
I made this soup the other day and absolutely loved it. I may have gone a bit overboard on the garlic – I used all that I roasted – and my boyfriend found it too much, but I didn’t mind a bit.
Roma tomatoes were pretty pricey in my neck of the woods, so I ended up using about 2/3 of what was called for, but I decided not to cut back on anything else. Perhaps more tomatoes would have masked the garlic a bit more but like I said, I still thought it rocked.
I believe the only other change I made is that I did decide to puree it completely. The soup sort of exploded out of my blender, but other than that it worked perfectly. I’d definitely recommend the immersion blender Angela suggests as opposed to a regular one unless you let the soup cool a LOT before blending.
Thanks for this recipe, Angela – I’ll definitely be making it again!
Years later this is still one of my favorite soups! I make it frequently all winter and brought it to my friends’ thanksgiving celebration today where it was a huge hit :)
How bizarre … snuggies and fingernail polish? I thought I was on the wrong site!
Just made this and it was delicious!!! Next time I’ll probably use full fat coconut milk to make it even creamier though. Also added a couple sun-dried tomatoes cause I didn’t roast enough.
Love it! Just made it with the last of my Roma tomatoes. Can’t wait for dinner now to eat it. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us.
Hi Rosemary, I’m so glad to hear you like the recipe. Enjoy your dinner!
I just made this. It. Is. SOOOOOOO GOOD! This soup will be in heavy dinner rotation. Thank you!
This recipe is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! I have done it many many times and it always comes out great :D If you are trying to decide, you know this is a keeper and smells incredible too!
Thank you Angela
Penguin, from the Turtle Penguin Fort
Thanks so much for the “glowing” review (heh)! I’m so glad you like the recipe.
This is a really gorgeous soup. Beautiful flavours! I ended up adding more veggies (carrots,mushrooms, peppers) after blending, because I like a really full and chunky soup. Turned out great before and after the additions! Thank you!
Is there a substitute for coconut milk like almond milk? I’m allergic to coconut…:-(
Going to make this soup but I don’t know what EVOO and S&P is? please help :-)
Hey Deb, they’re shorthand for “extra-virgin olive oil” and “salt & pepper”. :)