Tomato Bisque Soup
Simple and light and full of good things, this tomato bisque soup is the quintessential perfect soup to serve with grilled cheese sandwiches.
Simple and light and full of good things, this soup is the quintessential perfect soup to serve with grilled cheese sandwiches and would be perfect any time of the year since it isn’t heavy with cumbersome, filling ingredients.
Ashley, a reader of this here blog, sent me the recipe. The first glance-through of the ingredients and I knew I couldn’t live with myself until I tried it, mostly, because this soup is so different from any other soup in my repertoire.
And I don’t know about you, but I like to have a well-rounded soup repertoire.
So try it I did and it was fantastic. I mean, really, really delicious! This unusual soup is made of tender, pureed butternut squash that is combined with flavorful stewed tomatoes, garlic, cream (or half-and-half, if you please) and a handful of other simple ingredients.
Here’s the best part – because the soup has a smooth, silky texture, my kids were none the wiser that it was indeed squash traveling down their little gullets.
I served this with grilled cheese sandwiches and a large green salad and it was extremely satisfying. Even my husband, who can be a bit, shall we say, snobby when it comes to “girlie soups” loved it. Thanks, Ashley!
FAQs for Tomato Bisque Soup
Yes, I freeze it all the time and it works great!
I drizzled a little heavy cream in a swirl on top of the soup to give it that look.
What to Serve With This
- Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
- Homemade Croutons
- White Bean and Tuna Salad with Crackers
- Fresh, seasonal fruit
Tomato Bisque Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium butternut squash, for about 1 1/2 cups cooked squash
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup finely diced onion
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, (or 1 can stewed tomatoes with 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar, add more or less to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 cup nonfat half-and-half
- Tapatio or other hot sauce to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the butternut squash by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the squash in half, lengthwise, so you have two long pieces. Scoop out the seeds and pulp from each half. Place both sides cut-side down in a 9X13-inch pan. Add enough water to come about 1/4-inch up the sides of the squash. Cover with foil and bake for about an hour. Test with a fork to make sure the squash is very tender when pierced with the fork in several places. If the flesh doesn’t easily give to the pressure of the fork, continue cooking in ten minute increments, and testing again, until the squash is tender.
- Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the squash to a large cutting board or plate. Let it cool about 15 minutes before scooping out the flesh. If preparing the day before, scoop out the flesh and place in a tupperware. Let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until using it in the soup. If using the squash immediately, scoop the squash into the blender.
- While the squash is cooking, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter and saute the onion until soft and translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Scoop the onion/garlic mixture into the blender with the squash.
- Add the canned tomatoes (undrained) to the blender. Process until the mixture is smooth – if the mixture is too thick to blend well, you can add the chicken broth/stock into the blender to help it along. Pour the blended mixture back into the saucepan and add the chicken broth (if you didn’t already add it to the blender), salt, sugar, basil and cream (or half-and-half). Stir to combine well.
- Heat over medium-low heat until the soup is warm (but don’t let it boil or simmer to avoid the cream curdling). Serve immediately and add hot sauce to taste, if desired.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Ashley W., a reader
This was incredibly delicious. Even my skeptical family loved it! Thanks for another winner.
So good! I was looking through your tomato soup recipes, weve tried most of them. But not this one yet and I had a butternut squash sitting on the counter so decided to give it a try.
I cooked the squash in the instant pot and then doubled the recipe. Definitely a keeper.
So it’s tomato harvesting season right now—wondering if you’ve ever made this with fresh garden tomatoes?
I haven’t but I think it would be fantastic!
I doubled the recipe (following it almost exactly, for once), left out the Tabasco because we didn’t have any, and it tasted like…Butternut Squash Soup. Not bad, I just couldn’t taste the tomato at all. So I added a 1/2 tsp of baking soda (to keep it from curdling) + a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (pureed first) + 1/2 tsp salt and some more Italian Seasoning and garlic powder. That fixed it, and it actually tasted REALLY good. Ate with sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches–yum!
When you do the butternut squash, do you puree it first then measure or measure then puree? I pureed, then measured, and I think that may have been my issue. Probably had a bit more squash in there than I was supposed to. 🙂
so my last comment about the soup being Butternut squash soup – probably a mis statement, this looks like Squash/tomato soup… Actually sounds really good. So pay no attention to me 😉
I think this is a recipe for Butternut Squash soup, not tomato Bisque, going to check Butternut squash soup now to see if I can find Tomato Bisque.. Thanks and love your recipes
This is such a great recipe!
Mmmmm…made this today for lunch with a squash that I needed to use up! Thanks.
So delish…..and so easy too! Thanks Mel