Creamy Tomato Cheddar Soup

Key Ingredients for This Recipe

• Whole peeled tomatoes – Canned whole peeled tomatoes are extremely versatile. They are picked when ripe then cooked and peeled before they are canned and packed in tomato juice or tomato puree. They have a rich tomato flavor perfect for tomato sauces. Look for cans with no preservatives – this way they break down quickly into the sauce.
• Tomato Paste – Tomato paste is concentrated tomatoes that have been cooked down until it becomes a thick, dense paste. I try to buy tubes of tomato paste rather than small cans. The tubes allow you to reseal and keep the paste for later (they last a long time) resulting in less waste.
• Cheddar cheese – Always use sharp Cheddar when cooking. If you use mild or medium Cheddar the flavor will cook out and the recipe will be lacking in that cheesy flavor.

How to Make Creamy Tomato Cheddar Soup

1. Sauté the onion. Heat a large pot over medium heat, add the olive oil and heat through. Add the onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Simmer the tomato soup. Stir in the tomato paste then add the tomatoes with their liquid, chicken broth, thyme, sugar, salt, pepper and paprika. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes.
3. Blend the soup. Remove the pot from the heat and let cool. Discard thyme sprigs then once cool to the touch, use a blender to puree the soup in batches until all of the soup is well blended.
4. Add the cream and cheese. Return the mixture to the pot and slowly whisk in the cream and the Cheddar cheese. Continue to whisk until the cheese has completely melted and is thoroughly combined.
5. Serve. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve hot.

Tips and Tricks for This Recipe

Swaps and substitutions

• Using an immersion blender makes pureeing the soup very easy though it can also be blended in a blender.
• I like adding Cheddar cheese but the tomato soup can be served without the addition of cheese or with another cheese that will melt easily like Monterey Jack.

How to make this soup in advance.

The soup can be made a day a head of time up to the addition of the cream and Cheddar cheese. Add the cheese just before serving otherwise it can separate.

How to reheat soup

EIther add the soup to a pot and heat over medium-low heat stirring occasionally until heated through. If reheating smaller bowls of soup then I recommend microwaving in 30 second increments topped with a paper towel to prevent splatter.