Tomato soup

A good tomato soup is deep red, tart and sweet in the same spoonful, and tastes of a ripe summer tomato even in the middle of winter. The way there runs through fried tomato paste, carrot to balance the acidity, and a mix of fresh and crushed tomatoes.

Pot calculatorOrder Tomato soup

VeganGluten freeDairy freeParveAllergens:Celery

Updated

Tomato soupIllustration
Time1 hCook 40 min
Pot8 bowls2.4 litres
Per bowl123 kcal3.2 g protein · a 300 ml bowl
Cost of the pot₪25for the pot, about ₪3.1 a bowl

The story of Tomato soup

Tomatoes reached Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, and it took generations more before they became the base of Italian and Mediterranean cooking. Cooked, blended tomato soup is known from Italy to Poland: in Italy it is thickened with bread, and in Poland it is made on stock and served with rice or noodles.

In Israel tomatoes grow almost all year, but the winter tomato is paler and more watery than the summer one. So the recipe combines fresh tomatoes, for freshness, with canned crushed tomatoes and paste, for colour and depth that do not depend on the season. Tomato soup with rice is a childhood soup for many Israelis, and it is among the variations.

What makes Tomato soup itself

Acidity is the heart of tomato soup, and also its problem. A good soup balances it rather than erasing it: onion and carrot softened slowly add sweetness, paste fried in oil until it changes colour adds a roasted depth, and olive oil wraps around the sharpness. Whole tomatoes, with their seeds and the jelly around them, give most of the umami.

Tomato soup for any number of people

Change the number of people and the bowl size, and every ingredient updates in grams, with the cost, calories and protein per bowl.

Bowl size
Units
2.4litres in the pot
3Pot to use, litres
₪25Cost of the pot
₪3.1per bowl
123kcal per bowl
3.2g protein per bowl
IngredientAmountCost
The base
Olive oil45 ml₪2.4
Onion, chopped250 g · 1 pcs₪1.5
Carrots, finely chopped150 g · 2 pcs₪0.7
Celery stalks, chopped80 g · 2 pcs₪1.6
Garlic cloves, sliced15 g · 3 pcs₪0.5
Tomato paste40 g₪1.4
The tomatoes
Ripe tomatoes1.2 kg · 8 pcs₪9.5
Canned crushed tomatoes400 g₪5.0
Liquid and seasoning
Boiling water700 ml
Fresh basil, stalks and leaves apart15 g₪2.0
Sugar, only if needed5 g₪0.0
Salt12 g₪0.0
Ground black pepper1 g₪0.1
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Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026. Nutrition from the ingredients in grams, before cooking.

How many calories in Tomato soup? Nutrition facts and calorie calculator

Change the amount of any ingredient, drop one, or pick a lighter version, and the numbers per serving update at once: calories, fat, carbs, protein, sodium and fibre.

Tomato soup has 41 calories per 100 ml. A 300 ml bowl made with our recipe has 123 calories: 3.2 g protein, 5.8 g fat and 14.1 g carbohydrates. A 250 ml cup has 103 calories.

Lighter

Ingredients, for the whole recipe

  • 45 ml46 kcal per serving
  • 1 pcs13 kcal per serving
  • 2 pcs8 kcal per serving
  • 2 pcs2 kcal per serving
  • 3 pcs3 kcal per serving
  • 40 g7 kcal per serving
  • 8 pcs27 kcal per serving
  • 400 g16 kcal per serving
  • 15 g0 kcal per serving
  • 5 g2 kcal per serving
  • 12 g0 kcal per serving
  • 1 g0 kcal per serving

What each add-on adds to Tomato soup

Values for the amount in the row, from the national food database.

Add-onCaloriesProtein, gFat, g
A tablespoon of oil122013.8
A slice of white bread792.50.5
A slice of challah12641.1

How to make Tomato soup

In cook mode the screen stays on, tap a step when it is done, and the timers run next to each step.
  1. Halve the fresh tomatoes and grate them on a coarse grater into a bowl until only the skin is left in your hand. This saves peeling.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a 5 litre pot over medium heat, add the onion, carrot, celery and a pinch of salt and fry for 10 minutes, until very soft.
  3. Add the garlic and stir for a minute. Add the tomato paste and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until it darkens to brick red and sticks a little to the bottom.
  4. Add the grated and crushed tomatoes, the water and the basil stalks, and scrape the bottom. Bring to the boil.
  5. Lower to a simmer and cook uncovered for 25 minutes, until the carrot is completely soft and the soup has reduced a little.
  6. Remove the basil stalks, turn off the heat and blend with a stick blender for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth.
  7. Taste. If the soup is too sour, add the sugar. If it is still sharp, add a tiny pinch of baking soda and stir until the foam settles.
  8. Season with salt and pepper, add the torn basil leaves and serve with a drizzle of olive oil.

The science of Tomato soup

Kitchen science

Acidity, and how to balance it

Tomatoes are acidic, with a pH around 4.5, and the acidity concentrates as the soup reduces. Sweet vegetables such as carrot and slowly softened onion balance it, and so does a little sugar. Baking soda actually neutralises acid and releases bubbles of carbon dioxide, but a pinch is enough: more and the soup turns flat and soapy.

Kitchen science

Why the paste is fried

Tomato paste is rich in sugars and amino acids. Fried in oil it gets far hotter than 100 °C, and browning reactions begin that remove the raw, tinny taste and add a roasted sweetness. The colour shifts from bright red to brick red.

Kitchen science

The umami is in the seeds

A ripe tomato is rich in free glutamate, and the jelly around the seeds holds more of it than the flesh. Straining out the seeds before cooking throws away much of the flavour. Cook with everything, and if you want an extra smooth texture, strain only at the end.

Kitchen science

Red colour and oil

The red comes from lycopene, which dissolves in fat. Cooking opens the cell walls and frees the lycopene, and the oil gathers and spreads it. A soup with olive oil looks a deeper red than one without fat.

Kitchen science

Why cream curdles in tomato soup

Casein, the milk protein, clumps in acid and heat. Double cream, high in fat and low in protein, holds up better than milk. Add it off the heat, slowly, to soup that has stopped bubbling.

Tomato soup in every kitchen

With rice

Cook 150 g of rice separately and add it to the bowls, or cook it in the soup with another 300 ml of water. In the soup the rice keeps soaking up liquid, and by the next day the soup is thicker.

Dairy cream of tomato

Take the pot off the heat and slowly stir in 200 ml of double cream. Serve with basil and grated cheese.

Tuscan pappa al pomodoro

Add 200 g of stale country bread without the crust, simmer for 10 minutes until it falls apart, and do not blend. Serve warm or at room temperature with plenty of olive oil.

Roasted tomatoes

Roast the halved tomatoes, onion and garlic at 220 °C for 35 minutes before they go in the pot. The taste is sweeter and smokier, a great fix for pale winter tomatoes.

Polish, on stock

In Poland it is made on chicken stock and served with rice or noodles and sour cream. A kosher kitchen chooses: chicken stock without the cream, or water or vegetable stock with it.

Common Tomato soup problems and how to fix them

Tomato soup is too sour

Unripe tomatoes, paste that was not fried, or too short a simmer. Blend in a cooked carrot, add a teaspoon of sugar and finally a pinch of baking soda. A spoonful of olive oil or cream rounds it off too.

Tomato soup is watery and tasteless

Pale winter tomatoes. Reduce uncovered for another 10 minutes and add a spoonful of fried paste and a little salt. Next time mix in crushed tomatoes or roast the fresh ones.

The cream curdled in the soup

It went into boiling, acidic soup. Blending again with a stick blender smooths it out. Next time add it off the heat, and mix the cream with a ladle of soup first before stirring it into the pot.

There are skins and seeds in the soup

The blender did not break up the skin. Grate the tomatoes, or dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds and slip off the skins. You can also pass the soup through a sieve at the end.

The soup tastes bitter

Garlic or paste that burnt on the bottom. If the bitterness is strong, start again with a new base. Next time fry the garlic for a minute, and the paste over medium heat while stirring.

Storing, freezing and reheating

4 days

In the fridge

3 months, without cream or rice

In the freezer

2+4

To cool

Bring it from 60 to 21 °C within two hours and down to 5 °C within four more. Split a big pot into shallow boxes.

75 °C

Reheating

Reheat over medium heat, stirring. If it has rice in it, add water, because the rice soaks up liquid in the fridge.

Nutrition of Tomato soup

From our recipe, per bowl and per 100 g, next to the national food database.

ServingkcalProtein, gFat, gCarbs, gFibre, g
Our recipe, a 300 ml bowl1233.25.814.14.3
Our recipe, 100 ml411.11.94.71.4
Typical Tomato soup, 100 g280.90.74.11.0
Typical Tomato soup, 100 g (2)321.00.75.21.0

What the ingredients of Tomato soup cost

What each ingredient costs in one pot, and where to buy it.

IngredientPriceIn this potWhere to buy
Ripe tomatoes₪7.9 per kg₪9.5Greengrocer
Canned crushed tomatoes₪12 per kg₪5Supermarket
Olive oil₪53 per litre₪2.4Supermarket
Fresh basil, stalks and leaves apart₪7.9 each₪2Greengrocer
Celery stalks, chopped₪6.9 each₪1.6Greengrocer
Onion, chopped₪5.9 per kg₪1.5Greengrocer
Tomato paste₪35 per kg₪1.4Supermarket
Carrots, finely chopped₪4.9 per kg₪0.7Greengrocer
Garlic cloves, sliced₪34 per kg₪0.5Greengrocer
Ground black pepper₪139 per kg₪0.1Supermarket
Sugar, only if needed₪5.5 per kg₪0Supermarket
Salt₪2.1 per kg₪0Supermarket

Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026, VAT included. Vegetable prices change with the season.

Make Tomato soup a meal

Shabbat

Ready Shabbat food

Soup, hamin, mains and sides, with a quantity calculator and prices.

Plan Shabbat
Hosting

Hosting trays

9 trays to go with the soup, with a planner by number of guests.

Tray planner
Events

Catering

A whole menu in grams per guest, with a reheating table.

Menus

What to serve with Tomato soup

Serve with basil, a drizzle of olive oil and a toasted cheese sandwich, a classic pairing that works because the soup is parve. For children, with rice or ptitim.

Tomato soup in large quantities: events, offices and communities

How much of everything by number of guests, at a 300 ml bowl. For institutional pots, catering and community kitchens.

GuestsLitres30 l potsCost of ingredients
257.51₪77
50151₪154
100302₪309
200603₪618
5001506₪1,544

Every ingredient for any number of guests is in the calculator above: type the number of people.

Order Tomato soup

A ready pot for Shabbat, an event or the office, ordered ahead.

  • Cooked to order, for Shabbat, an event or the office.
  • Tell us how many people and when, and we send a quote.
  • Delivery in Tel Aviv from ₪35, free over ₪750.
Ask for a quote for Tomato soup

Order Tomato soup for a large event

Large orders in Israel and abroad: events, offices, synagogues, communities and institutions.

  • In Israel: cooked in Tel Aviv and delivered to events in the area, and to large events anywhere in the country on a quote.
  • Abroad: for communities, events and restaurants. Tell us where, how many and when, and we come back with a quote and options.
  • Institutional quantities and a shopping list for any number of guests, in the calculator above.
Ask for a large-order quote

Frequently asked questions

Can I make tomato soup with fresh tomatoes only?

Yes, in summer, with 1.6 kg of very ripe tomatoes. In winter it is better to add crushed tomatoes and paste, because fresh tomatoes are pale.

How do I take the acidity out of tomato soup?

Add a cooked carrot, a teaspoon of sugar or a pinch of baking soda, and a little olive oil or cream. Start small and taste after each addition.

Do I need to peel tomatoes for soup?

Not necessarily. A stick blender breaks up most of the skin, and for a completely smooth soup you can grate the tomatoes or strain at the end.

Is tomato soup parve?

This recipe is, and vegan and gluten free as well. With cream it is dairy, and on chicken stock it is a meat soup.

Can tomato soup be frozen?

Yes, for up to 3 months. Freeze it without cream or rice and add them when reheating.

What is the difference between tomato soup and gazpacho?

Tomato soup is cooked and served hot. Gazpacho is a cold Spanish soup of tomato, cucumber and pepper that is not cooked at all.

How much rice goes into tomato soup?

About 150 g of rice for a pot of 8 servings. Cook it separately so the soup does not get too thick by the next day.

How many calories are in Tomato soup?

A 300 ml bowl of Tomato soup made with our recipe has about 123 calories and 3.2 g of protein. Per 100 ml: 41 calories.

How much does it cost to make Tomato soup at home?

A pot of 8 bowls costs about ₪25 at Israeli shelf prices in October 2026, about ₪3.1 a bowl. The calculator above works it out for any number of people.

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