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This Instant Pot tomato soup is an absolute dream! A quick and easy version of a classic, made with rich San Marzano tomatoes, caramelized tomato paste, and plenty of aromatics. It’s impossibly thick and velvety smooth, not to mention seasoned to perfection. Serve with crusty bread or a hearty grilled cheese for an even-better version of a cool weather staple!
How to Make This Recipe
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
sauté the aromatics.
Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode and add a neutral oil to the insert. When the oil is hot and shimmery, add the onions, carrots, and garlic to the insert and stir everything together, then let it all sauté until the onions and carrots are nice and soft. You can stir the aromatics every now and then so they don’t stick to the insert, but don’t overdo it.
Caramelize the tomato paste.
Add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste to the Instant Pot and stir it into the veggies, but don’t stop there. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes, until the tomato paste caramelizes and turns slightly brown. This may not seem necessary, but it really deepens the flavor of the tomato paste and subsequently the whole soup. Don’t skip it!
pressure cook.
When the paste is nicely browned, stir in the rest of the ingredients, then pop the lid onto the Instant Pot and lock it down. Set it to Manual High Pressure mode and set the cook time to 15 minutes.
Make it smooth.
When the 15-minute cook time ends, Quick Release the pressure and remove the lid, then turn off the Instant Pot and let the soup cool a little. Once it’s cooled, transfer the soup to a high-speed blender and purée it until smooth. You’ll need to work in batches, but it’s worth the extra effort.
Season and serve.
When you’re happy with the consistency of the tomato soup, add in the heavy cream and stir until it’s fully incorporated. Season the soup with plenty of sea salt, then ladle it into serving bowls, season it with pepper and fresh basil, and serve warm!
Cheryl’s Tip: It’s important that the heavy cream is at room temperature before you add it to the hot soup. If it’s cold, it can curdle or separate when it hits the hot soup, and that will ruin the whole batch!
What I Love About This Recipe
- Tomato soup is such a classic dish, and this Instant Pot version takes everything that is wonderful about the original and makes it even better. It’s faster, it’s easier, it’s arguably even more delicious? Pair it with a grilled cheese or just some crusty bread and you’ve got the perfect pick-me-up for any rainy or chilly day.
- If you’re used to canned tomato soup, this is NOT that. Canned tomato soups are impossibly thin, borderline watery, vaguely reminiscent of liquidy pizza sauce or tomato juice. Instant Pot tomato soup is rich and perfectly seasoned, impossibly thick and velvety smooth, full of aromatics and herbs and even some sneaky veggies.
Recipe Variations
- Stovetop Tomato Soup: No Instant Pot? No problem! Follow the recipe as-written, but instead of making the tomato soup in an Instant Pot, you’ll make it in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. When you get to the part about sealing the lid on the Instant Pot, you’ll instead reduce the heat under your soup pot to low and cover the pot with its lid. Simmer the soup for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, uncover the pot and finish the recipe as-written, adding the heavy cream and puréeing the soup in an a high-speed blender.
- Crockpot Tomato Soup: Combine the onion, carrots, garlic, tomato paste, San Marzano tomatoes, chicken broth, dried thyme, bay leaf, and coconut aminos in a slow cooker. Cook the mixture on LOW heat for 6-8 hours or HIGH heat for 4-6 hours. After slow cooking the soup, purée the soup in a high speed blender (or use an immersion blender) and finish it up as instructed below.
- Make it Dairy Free: If you need this soup to be dairy-free for any reason, you can use a can of unsweetened, full-fat coconut cream (or milk) instead of the heavy cream it calls for.
- Make it Paleo/Whole30: Replace the heavy cream with unsweetened, full-fat coconut cream (or milk). Omit the sugar entirely or replace it with 2 tablespoons of coconut aminos.
- Make it Vegan: Use unsweetened, full-fat coconut cream (or milk) instead of heavy cream, and replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth or water.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Instant Pot Tomato Soup
Equipment
- 6-quart Instant Pot or similar pressure cooker
- Large wooden spoon or silicone spatula
- ladle
- high-speed blender
Ingredients
For the Instant Pot Tomato Soup
- 2 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil avocado oil, olive oil, refined coconut oil, etc.
- ½ cup chopped yellow onion approximately 1 small onion
- 1 cup chopped carrots approximately 2 medium carrots
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic approximately 4 large cloves
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 28-ounce cans crushed San Marzano tomatoes do not drain
- 4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth, or water
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 large bay leaf
- 1-2 teaspoons granulated white sugar
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream at room temperature
- sea salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
- chopped fresh basil
- grated fresh parmesan
- crusty bread
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Add 2 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil to Instant Pot and heat insert until oil is hot and shimmery.
- When oil is hot, add ½ cup chopped yellow onion, 1 cup chopped carrots, and 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic. Stir to incorporate, then sauté vegetables, stirring occasionally, 5 to 10 minutes or until onions and carrots are very soft.
- When vegetables are soft, add 2 tablespoons tomato paste and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until tomato paste begins to caramelize, developing slight brown color.
- Once tomato paste has caramelized slightly, pour in 2 28-ounce cans crushed San Marzano tomatoes with liquid. Add 4 cups chicken broth, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 large bay leaf, and 1-2 teaspoons granulated white sugar. Stir to incorporate all ingredients, making sure to scrape bottom of Instant Pot insert with spoon to loosen any bits of vegetables or garlic that may have stuck to bottom of insert.
- When ingredients are incorporated, secure lid on Instant Pot with vent in Sealing position. Set Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure mode and set cook time to 15 minutes. Instant Pot will pressurize and then 15-minute cook time will begin.
- When 15-minute cook time ends, carefully Quick Release internal pressure. Use caution as any escaping steam will be very hot. Remove lid from Instant Pot and set aside.
- Turn off Instant Pot and let soup cool slightly. Once soup has cooled, ladle soup into high-speed blender, working in batches. Purée soup until completely smooth, then return soup to Instant Pot. Repeat until soup reaches desired consistency.
- When entire soup mixture has been blended, add 1 ½ cups heavy cream and sea salt to taste. Stir until fully incorporated.
- Ladle soup into serving bowls. Season each bowl with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and chopped fresh basil to taste. Garnish with grated fresh parmesan and serve warm with crusty bread if desired.
- Heavy Cream: It’s important that the heavy cream is room temperature before you add it to the hot soup. If it’s cold, it can curdle or separate when it hits the hot liquid.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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More Delicious Instant Pot Soups You’ll Love
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- Instant Pot French Onion Soup
- Instant Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta Soup
- Thick & Hearty Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Creamy Instant Pot Potato Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
- Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup
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The best tomato soup recipe out there!
Thank you so much, Denise! So happy you enjoyed it!
I have this in my instant pot right now for the third time in the past two months. I don’t make any changes to the recipe. We love the soup, even my husband who doesn’t normally eat soup. Pair the soup with a grilled cheese and you have a perfect meal on a cold rainy or snowy day like today.
Do you remove the bay leaf before blending?
We do! 🙂