After an incredibly generous summer, we’ve now seen a few autumnal weeks here in London. This time of year, I’m particularly drawn to soups. There’s something comforting about a bowl of warming, well seasoned soup. Today, I’d like to share with you my recipe for tomato and basil soup. In a basic version, it’s the most flavourful, delicious tomato and basil soup I’ve had. Add a couple more ingredients, and it turns into a rich, creamy meal rich in protein and fibre. I made this soup when I was feeling a bit under the weather and it really hit the spot. Perfect for cold, rainy days!

Ingredients for a high protein tomato and basil soup

For around 5 servings you will need:

• 1.5kg good tomatoes – you can use cherry tomatoes or large ones, but make sure they’re packed with flavour
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 onion
• 6 garlic cloves
• small handful of fresh basil
• 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
• seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, chilli flakes, mixed herbs
• 1 can (240g drained weight) cannellini beans (optional)
• 165g Philadelphia lightest (optional)
• 500ml chicken bone broth (optional)
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree (optional)

How to make the best tomato and basil soup

First of all, we’re going to roast our vegetables. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C (320°F).

Whilst the oven is heating up, prepare the vegetables.

Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

If you’re using cherry tomatoes, simply align them on the tray (make sure you washed them first). If you’re using larger tomatoes – like I did – cut out the cores from the top using a sharp, pointed knife.

Wash the bell pepper and remove the core and the seeds. Roughly chop up the pepper, but don’t worry about cutting it into fine pieces. Add the chopped pepper to the tray.

Peel the onion and cut it into quarters. Add it to the tray.

Add garlic cloves to the tray. I prefer to roast garlic unpeeled and peel it afterwards, but feel free to peel it before cooking.

Drizzle a bit of oil over the veggies. Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, chilli flakes and mixed herbs.

I recommend covering the tray with tin foil. I loosely wrapped the tray with foil, leaving gaps between the foil and the tray on both sides to let the air flow – we don’t want to stew the veggies! The foil will help prevent the veggies from charring too much. Feel free to skip this part if you’re not bothered about the vegetables charring on the edges.

Roast the veggies for 1 hour 15 minutes, then remove them from the oven.

Transfer all of the roasted vegetables to a food processor. Be careful, they’re hot – especially the juices in the tomatoes. You don’t want to spill them on yourself.

Add a small handful of fresh basil to the vegetables and blend everything until smooth. If you don’t have a food processor, just place all ingredients in a large pot and use an immersion blender.

At this stage, you could call it a day. The blended mixture can make a delicious pasta sauce, or you can eat it like soup. Feel free to add more spices according to taste.

I decided to add some protein and creaminess to my tomato and basil soup, and continued with a few more ingredients. I added chicken bone broth, drained cannellini beans, a bit of tomato puree (mainly for extra colour), and some low fat Philadelphia cream cheese, and blended everything until smooth.

Next, I placed the mixture on the hob in a large pot, and set it on low heat. I heated it up until it started bubbling, then took it off the heat. A delicious, creamy tomato and basil soup high in protein and fibre was done!

Nutritional value of high protein tomato and basil soup

The full recipe has 1004 kcal, 21.5 grams of fat, 145 grams of carbs, 34 grams of fibre and 61 grams of protein. Assuming you split it into 5 servings, each of them will have 201 kcal, 4.3 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbs, 7 grams of fibre and 12 grams of protein.

The above values are an estimate based on the products I used, including the optional ones. It may change if you buy products by other brands or swap some of the ingredients.

The nutritional value of this soup qualifies as high protein and high fibre, according to food labelling requirements.

How to store high fibre tomato and basil soup

This tomato and basil soup will last a few days in the fridge. Make sure to store it in a sealed container to keep it fresh.

Ingredient swaps

There are a few ingredient swaps you can make to adjust this recipe to your needs.

First of all, you can skip the optional ingredients: bone broth, beans, tomato puree, and cream cheese. You’ll end up with a lighter version of the soup, completely vegan.

If you only want to add a little bit of protein and texture, feel free to only add the cream cheese, skipping the beans and bone broth.

Or, if you prefer a runnier texture – only add bone broth.

If you prefer to keep your recipes vegan, you can skip the cream cheese, and replace the bone broth with vegetable stock (or just skip it altogether).

I used store-bought bone broth, and it was expensive. You can make your own, replace it with vegetable stock, or skip it.

The cream cheese I used was Philadelphia lightest – it’s much lower in fat than most cream cheeses. You can use whatever cream cheese you can find, or just skip it.

I added a small amount of tomato puree, mainly to restore some colour after adding the cream cheese and beans. It didn’t make a huge difference and didn’t alter the taste, so feel free to skip it.

As you can see, there’s a lot of freedom in this recipe. The key ingredients are the vegetables, especially tomatoes. Do make sure to choose a flavourful variety. Bland, colourless salad tomatoes won’t work in this recipe!

What to serve with the tomato and basil soup

I enjoyed my tomato and basil soup with some toasted sourdough bread on the side. You can’t go wrong with a soup and sourdough combination!

In Poland, you can often find pasta or rice in soups. I even bought some fun-looking high protein lentil pasta to have with this soup, but ended up sticking with the sourdough. If you want to add pasta or rice to your tomato and basil soup, cook them separately and add them to the soup afterwards.

Bon Appetit!

So there you have it – my recipe for delicious, flavoursome tomato and basil soup, with added protein. Yum! I cooked this soup when I was a little poorly, and it certainly hit the spot. I was generous with the chilli flakes, and the soup had a nice, spicy kick. But the key were the tomatoes I used – they weren’t cheap, but they transferred the rich flavour to the soup. I can already tell you that I will be making this soup many times this winter!

Also see:

• Food
• Savoury