Wow. Talk about the perfect bowl of soup for a cold day. This spicy tomato soup is just fantastic. Super tomato flavor, with a hint of basil, and a really, really nice spicy kick. Perfect by itself and beyond perfect when paired with a simple grilled cheese sandwich. This combination warmed me up and kept me warm for hours. It gave me enough energy to go outside and shovel the driveway!
The Perfect Bowl Of Happiness
I used a few cans of San Marzano tomatoes to make this spicy tomato soup, which I’ve heard about before as being great tomatoes. Apparently they are a favorite of many a pizza joint for making top-notch sauce. Well, they truly are great tomatoes. They aren’t cheap, but now I understand why. You can use ‘regular’ canned tomatoes and you’ll still be very, very pleased with this soup. But if you can find San Marzano tomatoes, I definitely recommend them.
I like to use my good ole trusty Dutch oven to make this soup and pretty much darned near anything like it on my stovetop. It’s nice and big and sturdy. That extra weight helps it maintain and distribute heat perfectly. As an added bonus, it’s actually pretty easy to clean up too!
Spicy Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small sweet onion halved, sliced thin
- 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flake more, or less, to taste
- 2 28 ounce whole tomatoes not drained. I used San Marzano
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
- Crème fraîche for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oil in large saucepan.
- Add the onion and pepper flakes and cook until translucent, about 10 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and their juices along with the water.
- Stir and bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the basil and salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Alternatively, use a stick blender to blend the soup.
- Pour blended soup through a sieve to remove any solids. Push liquid through as best you can, but remove any large chunks in the liquid.
- Return liquid to the saucepan and warm through.
- Serve garnished with Crème fraîche if desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.