Growing and preserving your own food is a fantastic way to build your own food security, but it’s also important to know how you’re going to use that food. This homemade tomato soup made from the preserved food in our pantry is one of our favorite go-to recipes.
Why I Love This Recipe
The main reason I love this recipe is that it brings a taste of fresh-picked summer tomatoes any time of year.
Planting tomatoes may be the most exciting time of year. In the dead of winter, when I’m pining for a vine-ripened tomato, still warm from the sun, this soup is a fantastic stand-in.
The fact that this recipe is so frugal and tastes delicious is a win-win. Much like this traditional borcht recipe, I love that it uses ingredients I typically already have on hand!
Ingredients Needed
You don’t need many ingredients for this recipe, and store-bought equivalents will certainly do, but if you have your own home-canned tomato sauce and home-canned bone broth, the flavors will be so much better.
Order Now & Get Over $245 in Bonuses!
Melissa’s brand-new book, Home and Hand Made, is packed with 120+ from-scratch recipes for easy, delicious meals, plus herbal remedies and DIY natural cleaners to help you create a healthier, more self-sufficient home.
- Tomato Sauce – learn how to can your own tomato sauce with this recipe, or purchase a good quality tomato sauce from the grocery store (tip: a can of diced tomatoes blended in the blender until smooth will also work!)
- Bone Broth – making your own homemade bone broth is so inexpensive and very easy to do. Learning how to can that bone broth is also simple! But again, store-bought will do in a pinch.
- Salt – my alltime favorite salt is Redmond Real Salt. It’s high-qualilty, and when bought in bulk you can get a really great deal (use coupon code “Pioneering” to get 15% off at checkout).
- Nutritional Yeast – this adds a great almost cheesiness to the soup, plus some extra vitamins!
- Garlic Powder & Onion Powder – Both some of the recommended pantry staples I always have on hand.
- Heavy Cream – can be freshly skimmed cream from your raw milk, or heavy cream from the grocery store, this just adds a richness and creaminess that I love in homemade tomato soup.
- Parmesan Cheese – that bit of a salty bite is to die for!
- Dried Oregano – because tomatoes and oregano go together like peanut butter and jelly!
Woodstove or Cook Stove
Whenever I make this recipe in the wintertime, we always have our woodstove burning to heat our house (it’s our only heat source) so it’s super simple to toss a pot on the woodstove to heat up our soup.
But you can just as easily use your regular stovetop to heat up the soup. Visit this post for more woodstove cooking tips (including how to bake a pie on the woodstove)!
Homemade Tomato Soup Recipe
- Empty equal parts canned tomato sauce and canned bone broth into a pot (for this recipe I’m using 1 pint each).
- Add salt, nutritional yeast, onion and garlic powder into the pot and stir to combine.
- Place pot on the woodstove or over medium-heat on the stovetop and heat until simmering.
- Remove from heat and stir in heavy whipping cream.
- Serve into bowls and garnish with shredded parmesan cheese and dried oregano.
Of course, serving some warm crusty bread or a grilled cheese sandwich is a great way to go. My favorite is this No-Knead Artisan Bread Recipe that only takes 5 minutes of hands-on time!
Did you make this recipe? I’d love for you to let me know how it went for you by leaving a comment below, then leave a star rating on the recipe card! Snap a photo of your tomato soup and tag me on social media so I can see @melissaknorris. I love seeing what all you Pioneers are up to!
Be sure to also follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and my YouTube channel where I share many more modern Pioneer-lifestyle tips, gardening tips, and tutorials, as well as other homesteading knowledge I’ve gleaned in my 20+ years as a homestead gal.
available now
Everything Worth Preserving
Take control of your food with Everything Worth Preserving by Melissa K. Norris! This ultimate guide to canning, fermenting, and more gives you the confidence to preserve food safely and sustainably. Don’t let your harvest go to waste—grab your copy today!
More Articles You May Enjoy
- Canned Tomato Sauce Recipe (+ Water-bath & Pressure Canning)
- Weston Tomato Press (+ Tomato Sauce Recipe)
- Storing Green Tomatoes for Fresh Eating
- Trellising Tomatoes the Right Way
- Slow Cooker Cream of Broccoli and Ham Soup-Frugal Supper
- Bean and Ham Soup Recipe-Frugal Suppers
- Old-fashioned Beef Stew Recipe – Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
- Borscht Recipe – How to Make Traditional Ukrainian Borscht
- Easy No Knead Artisan Bread Recipe
- Does Pressure Canning Ruin Bone Broth
Homemade Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 2 cups bone broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- parmesan cheese to taste
- oregano to taste
Instructions
- Empty equal parts canned tomato sauce and canned bone broth into a pot (for this recipe I'm using 1 pint each).
- Add salt, nutritional yeast, onion, and garlic powder into the pot and stir to combine.
- Place pot on the woodstove or over medium heat on the stovetop and heat until simmering.
- Remove from heat and stir in heavy whipping cream.
- Serve into bowls and garnish with shredded parmesan cheese and dried oregano.
Notes
- Nutritional calculations do not include optional parmesan and oregano.
- Ingredients can all be store-bought if you don’t have them on the pantry shelf.
Hi Melissa, what alternate flavourings could you use? I can’t use garlic or onion powder (sensitivities) and worried the soup might be a bit bland without a substitute. Thanks
You could use more herbs (basil, rosemary, oregano, etc.)
Could I leave the nutritional yeast out or could you substitute it for something else?
Absolutely, just omit it and add extra cheese 🙂
I saw this and was interested. Much to my surprise, the next morning my 94 yr old mom ask me if I knew of a recipe for homemade tomato soup. Well yes I did. We made it and we both enjoyed it. Mom said no need to by that canned soup any more. Win, Win. Thank you for sharing
Love the timing of this! So glad you guys enjoyed it
Thank you!!
I love tomato soup. However with a recent diagnosis of several food allergies I had to stop buying tomato soup in the store.
Your recipe is fantastic and easy to make!
I am back to enjoying my favorite soup!
Thank you again!
I would love to know if this could be canned as well.
If I left out the cream, could I can this? If so for how long. Would love to have in the pantry for the grandkids.
Yes, you could definitely can this without the cream. However, because of the bone broth, water bath canning it would be a bad idea. I would pressure can it for broth times for safety.
That is a lot of sodium. Where does it all come from?
The software adds what store bought broth and sauce would have in it to the calculations, 1/2 a teaspoon of salt for 4 cups isn’t that much. My homemade broth and soup don’t contain the same salt as store bought because homemade is more flavorful on its own