Warm up with this rich and creamy tomato soup, an easy copycat Panera tomato soup recipe perfect for pairing with a melty grilled cheese! Simple to make in one-pot in 30 minutes, and packed with San Marzano tomatoes, this easy recipe will become a family favorite.
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Test Kitchen Review
Why I Love This Creamy Tomato Soup
Every time I go to Panera I get their creamy tomato soup. I’ve tried just about everything on their menu and it still remains my favorite! With that being said… I think my homemade recipe is even better with a deeper, richer flavor. I think the real key to success here is that you get to control everything that goes into the pot. Here’s why I’m so obsessed:
- Quick and Easy: Simple to make and chock full of wholesome ingredients, this one-pot soup comes together in just 30 minutes.
- Amazing Flavor: Thanks to a winning combination of canned San Marzano tomatoes and a hefty pour of heavy cream, you’ll adore every perfectly rich, flavorful and creamy mouthful.
- Comforting: This tomato soup is my go-to soup recipe all year long. Don’t forget the grilled cheese for a perfect meal on a cold, brisk day!
- Big Batch Friendly: Stock up on meal prep storage and double or triple this creamy tomato soup recipe. It freezes well and heats up nicely in the microwave.
For another take on classic tomato soup, try this quick and easy Instant Pot tomato soup!
Key Ingredients
I developed this creamy tomato soup recipe with the utmost care and attention. Though probably not exactly like Panera’s, it’s a really close cousin. Below you will find helpful notes for key ingredients used to make this creamy tomato soup recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- Canned Tomatoes: Look for the San Marzano peeled tomatoes – they are my favorite canned tomatoes with a rich flavor, perfect for making tomato soup.
- Heavy Cream: Also known as whipping cream, you could also use half and half or evaporated milk for a lighter consistency.
- Chicken Broth: Swap chicken stock for vegetable broth if keeping it vegetarian. Also, I recommend grabbing a low-sodium broth. That way, you can sprinkle in salt as needed and better control the amount of sodium in your soup.
- Sugar: While optional, a little pinch of sugar helps to balance the acidity from the tomatoes.
- Basil: Large fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped work best. Substitute dried basil if you must, but reduce the amount to 2 teaspoons.
How to Make This Panera Tomato Soup Recipe
Making homemade tomato soup so simple, but oh, so satisfying. Here’s how to do it, step by step. Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions and to watch the step-by-step video.
- Sauté: In a large heavy bottomed pot, like a Dutch oven, sauté the garlic in oil for about 30 seconds. Take extra care not to scorch it! Next, add the onion, stirring occasionally, until translucent.
- Add: Stir in canned tomatoes including the juice, chicken stock, and sugar. Bring soup to a low simmer, and cook uncovered, until it thickens, about 12 minutes.
- All Remaining Ingredients (Except Parmesan): Add the heavy cream, fresh basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes and stir well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Blend: To get that perfect, creamy soup texture, use an immersion blender to puree the soup.
- Enjoy! Stir in the parmesan, if using, and serve the soup hot with croutons or a grilled cheese!
Chef’s Tips and Variations
- Fresh Tomatoes: I tested this recipe with both canned and fresh tomatoes. The flavor from fresh was actually less complex, with the San Marzano canned tomatoes winning by a landslide. If you’re trying to use up summer produce from your garden, you could try roasting your tomatoes first to concentrate the flavor.
- Blender: If you do not have an immersion stick blender, you can also carefully transfer the soup to a blender and puree in batches. Caution: Watch for hot splatters. Throw a kitchen towel over the blender top to be safe or let it cool slightly.
- Extra Creamy: If you like your soup to be extra creamy and a dark pink in color, stir in more heavy cream or a dollop or two of sour cream.
- Tomato Paste: Add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste for an even richer tomato flavor.
What to Serve with This Copycat Panera Tomato Soup
This dish is perfection along side an ooey-gooey grilled cheese sandwich or with some buttery, crunchy homemade croutons on top! Not your thing? Try one of these easy side dishes, instead:
- Cucumber Sandwiches: Cool, creamy cucumber sandwiches are just lovely with creamy tomato soup. They’re made with ranch seasoning, cream cheese, grated fresh cucumbers, and pumpernickel swirl bread.
- Macaroni and Cheese: Another spin on tomato soup with something cheesy is to pair the soup with homemade mac and cheese. Kids especially will love this meal!
- Salad: This light and refreshing Greek salad is a family favorite, but I also always find myself making this copycat Maggaino’s chopped salad with crispy prosciutto!
Copycat Panera Tomato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 2 (28 oz) cans San Marzano peeled tomatoes, do not drain
- 1 cup chicken stock, or vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream, or half and half
- 8 large fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ⅓ cup shredded parmesan cheese, optional
- croutons, optional garnish
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Instructions
- In a heavy bottomed pot (like a Dutch oven), heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add onion and cook, stirring as needed, until translucent, about 8 minutes.
- Add San Marzano peeled tomatoes (juice and all), chicken stock, and sugar. Bring to a low simmer. Cook uncovered, for 12 minutes or until it has thickened.
- Add the heavy cream, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Using an immersion blender (or carefully transfer soup to a blender), puree soup until there are no large chunks left. If using a regular blender, be careful and watch for hot splatters. Throw a kitchen towel over the blender top to be safe or let it cool slightly.
- Stir in parmesan cheese and serve topped with croutons, if desired!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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More Vegetable Soup Recipes To Try
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Am I missing the number of servings? I couldn’t find. I need to increase the recipe to feed 75 people.
Hi Constance! Whew, that is a lot of soup! The recipe yield is always right at the top of the recipe card, above the recipe name. This tomato soup feeds 4, for a meal, but could easily feed more if using it as an appetizer or side to something like a grilled cheese. To help you do the math, hit the PRINT button in the recipe card. Then you can hit the plus sign to increase the recipe to serve however many people you need. Hope this helps! Good luck!
I love this recipe! Such a great comfort food!
Perfect creamy tomato soup and super easy to make. Thank you!
This recipe is amazing. The taste is amazing and the directions was so easy to follow. I my family loved the copy cat soup. I was definitely make anytime I knowit again.
Excellent…but I did use fresh tomatoes. This recipe is epic…tasty mmm good! I did create a roux, 2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp of flour…whisked it , cooked it, not boiled till it was dark in color and added it to the soup to create the thickness and add to the flavor as well. Yet I still added ½c of milk…it was great. Thank you.
This was really yummy. You definitely need to salt to taste and I ended up needing a splash more of the cream and a tad more sugar for my taste. Made these with grilled cheese squares on top and they were perfect.
I’ve been using this recipe for years and as a non-meat and dairy eater I’ve always used some sort of veggie broth and swap out the heavy cream for coconut cream and it is still delicious every single time. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
I do the same, using vegetable broth and coconut cream!! It’s delicious!!
So glad you enjoy it Kitara! Thanks for sharing your dairy-free swaps!
Thank you Jessica..
Love it..
Turned out delicious..
I wanted to do a healthier version of this due to me being on a special diet because of bariatric surgery. I used cane sugar, chicken bone broth, and half n half as a substitute and it tastes absolutely amazing.
Just made your tomato soup recipe. I followed your recipe in every way, except, I had to use evaporated milk instead of the cream. WONDERFUL! I always thought it would be difficult to make, but now I know better. Perfect for our Simple Supper night of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Thank you for taking the time to create and post this recipe.
Thanks for this delicious and easy recipe. I made it last night for dinner to go with a quiche. I didn’t have fresh basil, so I just omitted that, and I used plain old Hunts canned whole tomatoes. I let it simmer probably double the time since I was doing other things in the kitchen. I put it through my Vitamix to make it silky smooth. I had it again for lunch today and enjoyed it so much!
Hi,
they didn’t have fresh basil at my local Safeway 🙁 so I had to get fresh chopped. how much do I use?
Start with a couple of tablespoons, you can always add more to taste!
Can you put the tomatoes in the blender first and then add after sautéing the onions and garlic?
I haven’t pureed the tomatoes before cooking them in the soup, but it should work ok. Just might need a little longer to cook after to thicken the soup.
I have some canned whole tomatoes from the garden,no way to roast them. Do u think these would wrk or how I can add a roasted effect. Or would you recommend me just buying your recommended tomatoes.
Hi Valerie! You can roast the tomatoes before using them in the soup! I have a recipe for roasted tomatoes on my other site, hopefully it will help:
https://easydinnerideas.com/roasted-tomatoes/
I made the soup with half the amount of red pepper. I felt it tasted great but still way too spicy for my young children according to Them so I am trying another pot with no red pepper. Do you have any recommendations on how to get that peppery flavor without the heat.
Hi Rich! Sadly, not really. You could try adding some paprika or smoked paprika. Paprika is dried red bell peppers! So would add little bit of chili/pepper flavor without any heat.
Absolutely delicious ! I try new recipes all the time, and this was one of my favorites. Followed the recipe, but used a tsp of freeze-dried basil. Used a blender and it was beautifully smooth! Made my own croutons from a leftover baguette tossed in olive oil and s & p. Perfect winter meal!
I just made it for the first time and my husband said it is goodand a keeper . Thank you. So easy to make and delicious.
Love this recipe. I make it every year as Christmas gift for my neighbors along with a loaf of homemade bread. Most people are busy prepping for Christmas Eve and day food they need something the few days before.
We have been making this soup for years and absolutely love it; it’s so delicious with grilled cheese dippers. I am a cult follower of America’s Test Kitchen (I hope it’s ok that I say that) and your recipe BY FAR beats every single one they have for tomato soup – and yours is easier! I am finally going to start trying other recipes from your site. Can’t wait!
I love America’s Test Kitchen too! 😉 So glad you enjoy this soup!!
The soup was delish. I spent A LOT of time using an immersion blender. I finally caved &used my blender. Would it make any difference if I used crushed tomatoes or does the whole peeled tomato preferred?
You can use crushed tomatoes! It should work just fine!
So yummy! My family loved it!