tomato soup that doesn't taste like pasta sauce

January 11, 2023 1:21 PM

I made tomato soup last night from the NY Times recipe but it tastes too much like pasta sauce. Just like every other tomato soup I've made. What's your favorite recipe, secret ingredients, or technique for making good tomato soup?
posted by GernBlandston to Food & Drink (29 answers total)

This is my current favorite:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/creamy-tomato-soup-recipe

I usually use the following modifications when I make it:

* Decrease butter amount from 5 Tbsp to 2 Tbsp
* Increase amount of onion by 50-100%
* Decrease baking soda amount to just a tiny pinch
* Decrease sugar amount to 1-2 tsp
posted by Juffo-Wup at 1:28 PM on January 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

cream

heavy cream
posted by away for regrooving at 1:34 PM on January 11, 2023 [10 favorites]

This is almost a polar opposite of the King Arthur recipe, but I also find it quite tasty (surprisingly tasty for what it is) :

https://rudysseasonings.com/collections/products/products/tomato-basil-soup-seasoning

I don't make any modifications to this; I just follow the directions on the back of the packet.

I don't think this soup tastes like pasta sauce, but there might be a higher risk of someone thinking that with this recipe than the King Arthur one.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 1:46 PM on January 11, 2023

One of my Italian friends wrote a cookbook with his brother and in it there was a chapter on tomato soup. To paraphrase, they wrote: don't cook tomato soup. Then they offered a recipe, and here it is

1 can of tomatoes + 1/3 of a can of water
2-3 tbs of olive oil
1 tsp oregano
salt to taste
1 cup of stock (chicken or vegetable)
chili flakes to taste
1 crushed clove of garlic
2 tbs whole cream

Combine everything except the garlic and cream in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. add the garlic and cream and simmer for a few minutes more, adjust the seasoning, serve. They seem to have forgotten the part where you blend or crush the tomatoes, but I suppose you could use crushed tomatoes.

If you want spaghetti Os or alphabet pasta in this, I suggest you cook them separately and add to the soup before serving. You can also serve it with croutons. TBH I haven't made this in ages, maybe 30 years, because I have followed their first advice and not made it. Not that it is bad, but a simple minestrone is almost as easy to make and has a lot more flavor.

I love basil, but IMO, it doesn't work in tomato soup, unless you stir it in after cooking, in the form of pesto.
posted by mumimor at 1:51 PM on January 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Can you clarify what you mean when you say it "tastes like pasta sauce"? Or if that's hard to pin down - is there a canned tomato soup that tastes the way you want it to?

Knowing a canned brand may help because it may pinpoint "ah, Progresso uses sugar in its soup, maybe that's what's missing" or something.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:53 PM on January 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

This person mentions that she also had problems with soup tasting like marinara sauce when she first started making it...here's her recipe that she claims fixes that.
posted by pinochiette at 2:03 PM on January 11, 2023

I think several posters are alluding to the fact that there is a difference between "tomato soup" and "cream of tomato soup." I agree that you could use any of the recipes you found and add some cream or even milk and it would make it better.
posted by DMelanogaster at 2:06 PM on January 11, 2023

Gazpacho Soup doesn't taste like pasta sauce.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:07 PM on January 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Try making tomato bisque.
posted by loveandhappiness at 2:12 PM on January 11, 2023 [6 favorites]

Try leaving out the onions. They are surprisingly sweet, and I've noticed that commercial pasta sauce is also (too) sweet.

Also, if you make it and then miss the onions, you can always add more and/or add some dehydrated onions.
posted by amtho at 2:24 PM on January 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

Setting aside the recipe itself, I have had good results using the dry powder form of ajika as a flavoring spice in my tomato-based soups -- it's super-tasty, and takes things in a fairly non-italian direction. I've also had reasonably good luck with berbere.
posted by aramaic at 2:56 PM on January 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

An old friend often made tomato soup with just fresh, blanched/peeled tomatoes, olive oil, herbes de Provence, and salt, blended and heated only to a simmer to taste. It could probably work fine with whole stewed tomatoes from a can as well. (She thought that the seeds were important in lending a non-cream creaminess to the final product.) +many to The_Vegetables’ recommendation of gazpacho as well.

I can’t see that NYT recipe, but if it contains onion, garlic, basil, and/or oregano, those flavors may be calling up the feel of pasta sauce. If it’s thickened with tomato paste, that also might contribute. Good luck! The experience of a whole dish tasting like a condiment is no fun - I just recently had a hot and sour soup that tasted like an entire bowl of ketchup-packet duck sauce, alas.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 3:03 PM on January 11, 2023

1 28 oz can of tomatoes with juice
1-2T garam masala
blend/process the tomatoes and strain, discarding the seeds/solids
Heat in a pot, add the garam masala, serve with a pat of butter floating on top.
posted by plinth at 3:10 PM on January 11, 2023

rrrrrrrrrt's comment made me think of looking up French recipes, and this one has no herbs at all, just a bit of red pepper flakes. I think it is very promising. I would not fear trying it with canned tomatoes during winter.
posted by mumimor at 3:12 PM on January 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Omit Italiany herbs like basil and oregano if you’re going for a campbells soup type flavor
posted by kapers at 3:17 PM on January 11, 2023

This is the tomato soup recipe I use all the time. It has never tasted like pasta sauce to me.
posted by DrGail at 3:30 PM on January 11, 2023

My favorite tomato soup recipe (it's a cream of tomato soup recipe if we're being technical) contains celery. Proportion-wise, the recipe I use calls for 2 chopped celery stalks, which get cooked along with 1 chopped onion before adding 6 fresh chopped up tomatoes with their juices. It still all gets blended together at the end, so you're not getting bites or celery or anything weird like that. Also, try adding a spring of fresh oregano when cooking and then remove that before using the hand blender.

There's obviously more to the recipe, but I'd be curious if adding some chopped up celery to your recipe would make it taste less like marinara sauce.
posted by bananana at 3:33 PM on January 11, 2023

Is it the texture of pureed tomatoes?

Are you amenable to broth with tomatoes in it? I like chunky beets, nantes carrots, thinly sliced onion (mostly dissolves), whole garlic cloves, and halved tomatoes. Beef stock.

I sometimes add cabbage and cooked macaroni, and call it HK-style Russian Soup.
posted by porpoise at 4:51 PM on January 11, 2023

I've roasted (canned) tomatoes before souping to good effect!
posted by kate4914 at 5:21 PM on January 11, 2023

Make Sopa Azteca instead. It's a brothy tomato soup with shredded chicken and avocados.
posted by Drosera at 5:44 PM on January 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

My favorite tomato soup has orange in it so I will share it here! https://www.elephantsdeli.com/tomato-orange-soup-recipe/

Definitely not a pasta sauce taste.
posted by actionpact at 9:46 PM on January 11, 2023

Since several people have asked, here is a non-paywalled version of the recipe.
posted by O9scar at 12:58 AM on January 12, 2023

Ginger and carrot are my go-to ingredients. I encourage you to give this a try (it doesn't use oils or fats so this is light and easy to digest, and something I now make when I don't feel well). I've adapted this recipe which has been in heavy rotation in my kitchen for a decade. Many modifications of this carrot-garlic-ginger combination are out there to be found (some omit the ginger, some add additional spices, some use oil, etc.). It's a really nice change from the Campbell's tomatoes-must-have-basil-and-oregano flavor profile.

Ingredients

3-4 medium tomatoes, chopped.
1/4 cup grated carrot.
1/2 medium red onion, chopped.
2 garlic cloves, chopped.
1/2 teaspoon chopped ginger (as a starting point-I prefer twice that amount).
4 cilantro roots if you can get them, chopped. If not, use the leaves and stems.

Method

1. Place all ingredients in a saucepan, along with salt and enough water to cover the vegetables, about 3 cups.
2. Bring to a boil, and continue to boil till the tomatoes are soft.
3. Let it cool a little, and blend into a liquid. Pass the soup through a strainer, pushing out all the liquid, using a wooden spoon.
4. Return the soup to the saucepan. If its too thick, add some water. Bring back to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn off heat, adjust salt if needed, and serve hot, garnished with chopped cilantro.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 1:18 AM on January 12, 2023

I've started experimenting with an Indian recipe from Manjula's kitchen. I think it's delicious, a lot like the recipe just above, adding asafetida and cumin seeds.
posted by kingless at 4:52 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've used cream and/or coconut milk to make the flavor less "saucy", and nth'ing all the recs for various spice and herb switches upthread.

It may also be a texture thing - tomato sauce tends to not have the ingredients that make a "velvety" or smooth/ full bodied texture. Starches (rice, flour, potatoes, what have you) can help with that.

Back-of-the-napkin Tomato Coconut Soup (it's been a while so I haven't tested this one recently)
1 15 oz can tomato sauce (I use no salt added so I can season with more flexibility later, YMMV)
1 15 oz can coconut milk (reduced fat or full fat, doesn't matter)
2-4 Tbsp seasoning profile of choice (ginger/garlic, lemongrass, harissa, masala, the choices are infinite)... Or more if you're me
Stock/broth to adjust texture and intensity of flavors
Thickener (ex: roux/beurre manié (1 Tbsp for 1 pint), rice or potato starch, okra/ gumbo filé)
Add-ins of choice (ex: potato, mixed veg, chicken, fish balls)

Heat tomato/coconut. Add in seasoning and thickener, cook 5-10 mins. Add in add-ins. Simmer until heated through. Adjust with stock as needed. Bonus round: heat oil in a skillet over medium. Fry seasoning in said oil, ladle into soup. This is called "tempering" and is magical.
posted by OhHaieThere at 8:20 AM on January 12, 2023

Seconding sopa azteca. We would add a dried chile, kind of like this, which (a) is delicious, but (b) importantly for you, makes the flavor even less stereotypically Italian/pasta-sauce-y.
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:07 AM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

I haven’t made this yet, but would like to add it to the mix.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:32 PM on January 12, 2023

This Bon Appetit recipe is delicious and tastes like an actually good version of the tinned stuff, in my opinion. However, you do need a pressure cooker.
posted by fanlight at 8:13 PM on January 12, 2023

I haven’t made this yet, but would like to add it to the mix.

I just made it and I'm congratulating myself for not eating the whole pot at once.
posted by kingless at 8:53 AM on January 13, 2023 [1 favorite]