Zucchini Tomato Soup
Why Is My Zucchini Tomato Soup So Good!
- It’s an easy way to sneak more veggies into the meal, something my classic tomato soup and tomato bisque recipe don’t quite offer, since the zucchini blends right in without changing the flavor you love.
- Sautéing the onion and zucchini first builds a more flavorful base instead of just simmering everything together from the start.
- Canned tomatoes and tomato paste give this soup deep, concentrated tomato flavor any time of year, so you don’t have to wait on peak-season tomatoes
- It’s creamy and thick enough to be comforting and filling, and it’s amazing served with a grilled cheese on the side.
- Despite being homemade, it’s not a hassle at all: simmer everything until softened, then blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Flavorful, filling, and genuinely easy.
- It’s a great recipe for the end of summer, going to fall, with all the fresh, summery flavor you love in a warm, cozy bowl. Perfect way to use up all the zucchini too!
- If you live somewhere warm year-round, like I do here in Florida, you’ll still love it as a vegetable soup any time of year.
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients and Notes
- Zucchini – dice it small so it cooks through quickly and blends completely smooth. Smaller zucchini (6-8 inches) also tend to taste sweeter and less bitter than oversized ones. If you have extra on hand, my zucchini fritters are a great way to use it up.
- Canned Diced Tomatoes – canned tomatoes are what give this soup its bright, concentrated flavor no matter the season. Look for a can that’s just tomatoes, without added herbs or seasoning blends, so you’re in control of the flavor. I personally like fire roasted tomatoes for additional flavor depth.
- Chicken Stock – homemade chicken stock gives the soup a richer, more savory base, but a good low-sodium (or no salt added) store-bought stock works well too.
- Red Pepper Flakes – add more or less to adjust the heat, or leave them out completely for a milder, kid-friendly bowl.
- Heavy Whipping Cream – this is what gives the soup its rich, creamy finish. Half and half works too, for a slightly lighter texture.
- Parmesan Cheese – use freshly grated Parmesan here instead of the pre-shredded, bagged kind. Fresh Parmesan melts smoothly into the soup, while bagged Parmesan tends to turn grainy.
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and instructions.
How to Make Zucchini Tomato Soup: Step by Step and Tips
- Dice the vegetables. Cut the onion and zucchini into small, even cubes so everything cooks at the same rate and blends better later.
- Build the flavor base. Sauté the onion in oil until transparent, then add the zucchini and cook for a couple more minutes. I like to let them sear some too because that browning will add more flavor to the soup too.
- Add the tomatoes and paste. Stir in the canned tomatoes (whole can) and tomato paste, then season with sugar, salt, and red pepper flakes. This is a good time to taste and adjust if needed. The tomato paste deepens the tomato flavor beyond what the canned tomatoes give on their own.
- Simmer low and slow. Add the warmed chicken stock, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 30-40 minutes. This slow simmer is what breaks the zucchini down completely and lets the tomato flavor concentrate, so don’t rush it. Stir in the fresh basil for the last couple of minutes of cooking.
- Blend to your texture preference. Take the pot off the heat and use an immersion blender to purée the soup. (You can also use a standing hot/cold blender that has a way to release the steam thole blending.) Blend it completely smooth.
- Finish it creamy and cheesy. Return the pot to the stove over medium-low heat and stir in the heavy cream and Parmesan. Taste and add more salt if needed, then cook for just another minute or two before serving.
PRO TIP: You can leave a few little chunks when blending if that’s your preference or blend it completely smooth. All depends on your textural preference.
Ways to Serve Zucchini Tomato Soup
- Classic tomato soup and grilled cheese is a lunch pairing that never gets old, and this zucchini version is no exception. Dress it up with an Italian grilled cheese, an apple bacon Gouda grilled cheese, or a jalapeno popper grilled cheese if you want a little kick.
- For something lighter, pair a bowl with a green salad tossed in green goddess dressing or homemade Italian dressing.
- This soup also makes a lovely starter before a pasta dinner. Serve a small bowl ahead of homemade gnocchi, Instant Pot spaghetti, or pasta primavera.
Storing, Reheating, and Freezing Instructions
- Storage – Transfer leftover soup to a jar or another airtight container and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.
- Reheating – Reheat on the stove in a pot over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom. You can also microwave it in 45-second increments, stirring in between, until warmed through.
- Freezing – I recommend freezing without cream and parmesan cheese. Cool the soup quickly in an ice bath, or let it cool at room temperature for no more than two hours. Transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container, leaving room for the soup to expand, and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Thaw slowly in the refrigerator overnight before reheating. Add the cream and cheese when reheating on stovetop.
Tomato Zucchini Soup Recipe FAQs
Yes! All of the ingredients in this soup recipe are naturally gluten-free.
Double check the labels on store-bought ingredients as always, just in case.
Hiding vegetables in soup is a great way to get your family to eat more veggies – I do it all the time! These are some easy-to-hide vegetables that you can add: carrots, peas, summer squash, and even a few broccoli or cauliflower.
Since it’s a blended soup, adding a few of these veggies would actually be easy. Don’t add too much broccoli or cauliflower though because they have a stronger flavor and are easier to detect.
Yes, though canned tomatoes are what give this soup its rich and deep flavor and consistent texture. If you’d rather use fresh, plan on about 2 pounds of ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, simmered a longer (I’d give the soup an hour to an hour and a half to simmer or low) so they break down and concentrate before you stir in the tomato paste.
Zucchini can hold a lot of water, so it’s possible it added too much liquid to the soup. If your soup still feels thin after blending, let it simmer uncovered for a 15-20 more minutes to cook out some liquid, before stirring in the cream to cook off the extra liquid.
This recipe isn’t a good candidate for home canning because it contains heavy cream and Parmesan. Dairy changes the density and heat penetration of a recipe in ways that haven’t been tested for safe home canning, so USDA guidelines don’t cover cream-based soups. Freezing is the safe way to store this one long term.
A little bitterness is usually just environmental stress on the plant (heat, drought, or an overgrown zucchini) and it’s harmless, just less pleasant. To help that, you can peel the zucchini and take out the seeds. Chop it and salt it and leave it in a colander for about 30 minutes.
But if a raw bite tastes intensely, unmistakably bitter, that’s a sign of a natural compound called cucurbitacin building up, and it’s not safe to cook around. Taste a small raw piece before adding zucchini to the pot, and if it’s sharply bitter, throw that one out.
More Tasty Zucchini Recipes To Try
- Sweet Zucchini Bread
- Dark Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Parmesan Roasted Zucchini
- Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Zucchini Stir Fry
- Cheesy Zucchini Pasta
- Zucchini Cake with Frosting
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Tomato Zucchini Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 yellow onion
- .75 lb zucchini
- 28 oz can tomatoes diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup low sodium chicken stock warmed
- salt
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes more or less if you like it spicier or not
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh basil minced
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- some more Parmesan cheese for topping each plate
Instructions
- Dice onion and zucchini into small cubes and set aside.
- Preheat a pot over medium heat. Add canola oil to the pot.
- Add diced onions to the pot and saute until transparent.
- Add diced zucchini, mix and saute for a couple of minutes.
- Add the entire content of the canned diced tomatoes.
- Stir in tomato paste.
- Add sugar, salt, and red pepper flakes and stir well.
- Simmer for a few minutes and then add warmed chicken stock.
- Lower heat to medium-low. Stir, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes. Stir once in a while.
- Add fresh basil and cook for a couple more minutes.
- Take soup off heat and use an immersion blender to blend it until there is no more chunks. (Or you can leave a few little chunks if that’s your preference.)
- Place the pot back on the stove, still on medium-low, and stir in heavy cream and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Taste to see if you need to add more salt.
- Cook for just a couple more minutes. Take off heat and serve.
Video
Notes
- Need to add move vegetables? Hiding vegetables in soup is a great way to get your family to eat more veggies – I do it all the time! These are some easy-to-hide vegetables that you can add: carrots, peas, summer squash, and even a few broccoli or cauliflower. Don’t add too much broccoli or cauliflower because they have a stronger flavor and are easier to detect.
- Storage – Transfer leftover soup into a jar or other airtight food storage container. Store it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
- Reheating – For the best consistency, reheat this tomato soup in a sauce pot, on the stove, over medium-low heat. Make sure to stir occasionally. You can also microwave it in increments of about 45 seconds and stirring in between until warmed through.
- Freezing – check the post for freezing instructions.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in September 2018.
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Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
This is my favorite soup to make! I leave it kinda chunky. It’s just has so much flavor. I like to use the fire roasted tomatoes best too. Thank you it just my go too soup now!
I am so glad you like it, Gary!
Can I water bath or pressure cook this for winter months?
I am not sure if your asking about canning the soup or just cooking it.?
If you are just wanting to can or make this soup there is no need to pressure cook it because it will be done so fast. It will take 15 minutes just to build pressure and the cooking time will be like 5 minutes in the pressure cooker and then you 10-15 minutes of natural release. This is really not a recipe meant for a pressure cooker because it won’t save time. Now if that is the only appliance they have to cook in, then you definitely can!
Has anyone tried to cook this and then water bath it for preservation? If so, how long do you water bath jars for?
Thank you for your question! While I haven’t personally tried water bath canning for this recipe, it’s an interesting idea.
Just made this and it’s so delicious and easy to make. I used cayenne pepper instead of red pepper flakes and also added a little extra sugar. Will definitely make it again.
Thanks for the recipe.
Yum! Glad you liked it!
Does this freeze well?
Hi Karen,
Yes, this soup does freeze well! For best safety practices, cool the soup quickly by placing the pot into an ice bath and stirring it occasionally until it is cool. (Or, allow the soup to cool completely at room temperature for no more than two hours.) Then place in an airtight, freezer friendly container, leaving some room for the soup to expand, and store in the freeze for up to 3 months. You can also transfer cooled soup into a freezer zip-top bag and freeze it in the bag.
In my regular tomato soup I tell you in more detail how to freeze, defrost, and reheat the tomato soup and you can use the same methods for this zucchini and tomato soup. Here is the link if you want to read over it. https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/zucchini-tomato-soup/
Can I use fresh garden tomatoes instead of canned? I imagine they would have to be blanched first?
Delicious. Used vegetable broth and 1/2 &1/2 as that was what was available.
The red pepper gave it a nice zing. If I were making for firsts I would decrease the amount by half.
Glad you liked it, Pat!
Can not wait to try, few zucchini left before it freezes. Joan
I hope you like it, Joan!
can you use vegetable broth if vegetarian?
Absolutely love this soup. Made it for some friends and they all want the recipe.
Awesome! I am so glad everyone liked it, Carol!
Delicious, easy and very few ingredients – Definitely a favorite and in our regular rotation now.
Thank you, Jess! I am so glad you liked the recipe!
This is a great way to add veggies.
I agree, Keria! I hope you like the recipe.
Could you use frozen shredded zucchini? Maybe thawed and drained?
Yes, I think that would work just fine. Just make sure to thaw and drain all the liquid.
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks, Jessica!
A great quick to put together soup with a minimum of ingredients & totally delivers on taste…a keeper!
Thanks for the recipe 😀
Only added some garlic. This was very good,
Thanks for stopping by to let me know, I am so glad you liked it!
What a great way to use fresh tomatoes and zucchini from the garden. Paired with a grilled cheese sandwich, how can you go wrong. A 5 star rating from. me.
I am so glad you liked it, Carol!
Can this soup be frozen? Hope Someone didn’t ask this and I missed it! Sorry if it’s repetetive
Hi Holly,
You can freeze this soup but it does have cream in it so if freezing I would wait to add the cream until you heat the soup up. I would thaw it then heat it in a pot over medium heat then add cream.
Absolutely delicious. This will certainly be put in my recipe rotation.
Thank you, Jan! I am so glad you liked it! 🙂
I also used a small amount of stevia which worked well. Because I have problems with dairy, I omitted sour cream and instead added some ghee, a very small amount of low lactose cheese, and a bit more salt.
So glad you liked it! 🙂
I used stevia instead of sugar. I’m guessing that would decrease the carb level significantly? I’m on the keto diet so everything else looked good. It was yummy
Hi Kelly,
I would be careful substituting stevia amount exactly because it has a very sweet flavor. Start with half the amount of stevia and taste to see if you have enough to cut the acidity of tomatoes. Carb amount will go down but there is only 1 tbsp of sugar in the pot of soup, so it won’t go down an extreme amount. The whole pot will go down by about 8g.
I hope this helps!