Tomato-Less Tomato Soup with Crispy Herbed Croutons

If you can't tolerate nightshades but crave a bowl of classic tomato soup anyway... this tomato-less tomato soup from https://meatified.com will come to the rescue! This recipe has the tangy, rich flavors that you've been missing without tomatoes in your kitchen.

I know, Tomato-Less Tomato Soup sounds like I’m one mirage short of a hallucination, but once I became fixated on this idea, I just couldn’t give it up.

While we’re buried in flu-and-eternal-winter-bugs season, the number one thing I really crave is tomato soup. I’m surely not alone in this, given how often I see people making, eating and posting tomato soup recipes this time of year. But if you can’t tolerate tomatoes, it seems pretty logical that you’re not gonna be able to enjoy a bowl of the good stuff again. But I’m telling you, this Tomato-Less Tomato Soup totally hits that rich-and-tangy-soup craving.

I’ve been playing around with tomato-less tomato soup recipes for a while now, but it took me a couple goes to figure out that the real thing that tricks your brain into thinking you’re slurping down on a tomato-filled soup isn’t in the Italian seasoning or dried basil. It’s actually adding and then balancing a couple of different acids.

Real tomato soup has the kind of acidic punch that you don’t think about when you can take it for granted, but you’ll miss in a lot of “no-mato” type recipes. I’ve also found that while it’s tempting to go crazy with the beets for color, once you’ve over done those bad boys, it’s game over. All you’ll taste is beets and you’ll never be able to un-beet your tastebuds!

If you can't tolerate nightshades but crave a bowl of classic tomato soup anyway... this tomato-less tomato soup from https://meatified.com will come to the rescue! This recipe has the tangy, rich flavors that you've been missing without tomatoes in your kitchen.

Now, the beets are needed to boost the color of the tomato-less tomato soup. Without them, it doesn’t have quite the right color to mimic a true tomato soup. I don’t say this often, but I’ve found the best thing to do here is use canned beets. Somehow, they result in a much less earthy, beet-y flavor than using fresh beets. Look for a can of small whole beets in just water and salt. I like to reserve the brine and add a little extra towards the end of the cook time for extra color, but this will make for a slightly stronger beet flavor. Taste the soup without and decide for yourself if the color is that important!

So, you’re just gonna have to trust me when you see how much acid there is in this recipe. I know it looks a tad overdone written out, but once you taste the combination, it will begin to make sense. And, yes, you do need to use both the red wine vinegar and the lemon juice. If you pick just one, you won’t get the balance needed, especially if you sub one for the other as well. Straight lemon becomes too citrus heavy and the red wine vinegar has more of a savory note that isn’t quite strong enough of its own. (A side note: when it comes to recipes like this that need more than a splash of fresh lemon, I like to use this preservative free bottled lemon juice. It’s inexpensive at Costco and lasts forever in the fridge.)

If you can't tolerate nightshades but crave a bowl of classic tomato soup anyway... this tomato-less tomato soup from https://meatified.com will come to the rescue! This recipe has the tangy, rich flavors that you've been missing without tomatoes in your kitchen.

You’ll notice that I go heavy on the seasoning here, too, adding both an Italian seasoning blend and additional dried basil. The Italian seasoning gives a richer depth of flavor from the blend of herbs, but most are very oregano and / or marjoram heavy. So I like to add extra dried basil for that classic tomato-basil flavor pairing. The other advantage of adding dried basil is that it’s surprisingly peppery! That gives a lovely kick to the tomato-less tomato soup and it’s doubly nice if you’re on the AIP elimination phase and can’t have black pepper yet.

I used a butternut squash puree in my test batches because that’s what I had to hand in my pantry, but I suspect that you could substitute it with classic unsweetened pumpkin puree if that’s easiest for you to find.

If you want to really go with a classic soup garnish, I highly recommend making the crispy herbed croutons! They’re a nice little extra that put me right in my happy comfort food place. They’re really easy to make: just toss some broken up cassava bread (casabe) with oil and seasonings, then pan-toast until lightly golden. Crispy-crunchy perfection!

If you can't tolerate nightshades but crave a bowl of classic tomato soup anyway... this tomato-less tomato soup from https://meatified.com will come to the rescue! This recipe has the tangy, rich flavors that you've been missing without tomatoes in your kitchen.

One last thing: I used a cup of red wine in this recipe for both depth of flavor and color. The alcohol cooks off completely, so it’s a-ok if you’re AIP-ing. You can omit it if you like and simply add some extra broth. A splash or two of balsamic vinegar would be a nice addition if you’re skipping the red wine.

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Tomato-less Tomato Soup with Crispy Herbed Croutons

If you can’t tolerate nightshades but crave a bowl of classic tomato soup anyway… this tomato-less tomato soup will come to the rescue! This recipe has the tangy, rich flavors that you’ve been missing without tomatoes in your kitchen.

  • Author: Rachael Bryant / Meatified
  • Cook Time: 45 mins
  • Total Time: 45 mins
  • Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

Scale

For the tomato-less tomato soup:

For the crispy herbed croutons:

Instructions

  1. CARAMELIZE: Add the oil or fat of choice to a 6.5 quart dutch oven on the stove top over low-medium heat. While the oil is heating up, peel and chop the onion finely. Smash the garlic cloves with the back of a heavy knife and discard the skin. Add the sliced onions and garlic cloves to the hot oil. Season with a little salt and cook, stirring often, until the onions begin to take on a golden color.
  2. SOFTEN: Peel and slice the carrots thinly. Add them to the pan, along with the red wine and 3 cups / 720 ml of the broth. Bring the wine and broth mixture to a simmer, then partly cover the pan with a lid, leaving space for steam to escape. Cook the carrots until they soften to fork tender and the liquid reduces, about 25 minutes.
  3. BLEND: Carefully transfer the cooked vegetables and remaining cooking liquid to a blender, along with the butternut squash puree, small whole beets, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, dried basil, salt and black pepper, if using. Blend – making sure to leave space for steam to escape the pitcher – until completely smooth.
  4. SIMMER: Return the blended soup to the dutch oven, over low-medium heat. Add the remaining 2 cups / 480 ml of broth, the reserved beet liquid or beet juice (if using) and the bay leaves to the soup and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, stirring often to avoid splattering, and cook until heated through. Taste and add additional seasoning if you like. Remove and discard the bay leaves. If you like, you can thin with additional broth.
  5. CRISP: While the soup is simmering and warming through, make the croutons. Add the broken up cassava bread (casabe), avocado oil and seasonings to a bowl. Use your hands to work all the ingredients together until the croutons are evenly coated in oil and seasonings. Heat a small skillet over low-medium heat – any hotter and the croutons will burn rather than toast. Add the coated crouton mixture to the hot skillet and toast for 2 – 3 minutes, until lightly golden. You’ll want to take them out when they look a little underdone as they’ll continue to cook and darken further as they cool.
  6. SERVE: Divide the soup between bowls and top each with some of the crispy croutons. If you like, an extra drizzle of olive oil to finish is lovely!

Notes

I used red wine in this recipe for both depth of flavor and color. The alcohol cooks off, so it’s a-ok if you’re AIP-ing. You can omit it if you like and simply add some extra broth. A splash or two of balsamic vinegar would be a nice addition if you’re skipping the red wine.

I tested this out with butternut puree as that’s what I had in my pantry when I developed the recipe. I think you could probably sub the butternut with pumpkin puree instead if you like.

I used canned whole beets packed in just water and salt. I find these have a milder taste than using fresh beets. Make sure to reserve some of the brine to add later on in the recipe for an extra pop of color if you like. If you’re using pre-roasted beets, you could add a smaller amount of beet juice instead of the brine.

On the vinegar front – this recipe needs it if you want the tanginess of a “real” tomato soup. And I say that as someone who literally can’t be in the room with an open bottle of vinegar because I can’t abide the smell. That said, if you’re unsure about the vinegar or worried about it being too strong, I recommend that you start with a smaller amount at first and add the vinegar a little at the time until the flavor is to your liking. As you reduce the vinegar, make sure to reduce the lemon juice equally, otherwise the lemon will become too strong a flavor.

My Italian seasoning blend was very oregano / marjoram forward, so I added some extra dried basil. If you’re on the elimination phase of the AIP and can’t use black pepper, the dried basil also brings an extra peppery note of flavor that you would otherwise miss out on!

This recipe was included in the Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable.

If you can't tolerate nightshades but crave a bowl of classic tomato soup anyway... this tomato-less tomato soup from https://meatified.com will come to the rescue! This recipe has the tangy, rich flavors that you've been missing without tomatoes in your kitchen.

19 comments

  1. Thanks for this recipe! I am eager to try it since I bought the canned beets today in preparation. I have a quick question. Why do you suggest softening the carrots if they will be blended.? I have a vita-mix and the carrots will be blended to smooth without being cooked so would you still recommend softening the carrots? Is it to develop flavor?

    Thanks so much. I love the recipes that you create as they use lots of ingredients that I tolerate well.

    1. I can’t assume when I write my recipes that everyone will have access to a blender as expensive & powerful as a Vitamix, so I make sure to include instructions that will work for everyone. The carrots are softened and simmered in the red wine and broth, so that does add flavor to the carrots at the same time as reducing down and concentrating the liquid & flavor of the broth. If you want to skip softening the carrots, you’ll still need to cook off the alcohol in the wine and I would suggest that you use less broth in total, since without the cooking of the carrots, the broth won’t reduce down, either. Hope that helps!

  2. I love your recipes Meatifed! I would consider myself a minimalist, but yours is one of two recipe books I still hold on to. Great job on another inspiring recipe!

    1. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it! It’s definitely a “trust me on this” recipe, so I’m always thrilled to hear that it fooled someone, in the nicest possible way 🙂

  3. I’ve tried many of the beet/carrot concoctions and been disappointed every time, except this time! This is so delicious and now I can’t wait to try more of your creations! Thanks!

    1. I’m so happy to hear that this hit the spot for you, too! I’m not much of a beet person myself, so I did do my best to tweak this until it was decidedly un-beet-y!

      1. I just made this for dinner and it was fantastic! My husband took a bite and literally said “if you didn’t tell me this doesn’t have tomatoes I would have never known it wasn’t tomato soup”. Thank you for creating this! I’m new here and with the success of this recipe I will definitely be making more of your recipes

  4. This literally tasted like tomato soup. OMG it was amazing. It’s been so long since I have been able to enjoy a good ol bowl of tomato soup!! Thanks so much for the yumminess 🙂

  5. Thank you! My daughter was so sad when a gut test said she’d have to avoid tomatoes. Tomato basil is her all time favorite soup. I made this today, used fresh basil, and added in some almond creamer at the end since she likes a creamy soup. I poured a serving and asked her to taste it, fully expecting her to wrinkle her nose, but instead she grabbed the bowl and took off before I could stop her. I just heard her telling her friend that she can’t believe her tomato soup has no tomatoes. Winner!!

  6. Holy Soup Batman! This stuff is super phenomenal!
    Cannot express how much I hate being AIP-LowFodmap and Paleo just to keep a balance.
    This will be a staple made in large batches to freeze and reheat in a pinch anytime I want a hearty- nourishing soup I can trust.
    Thank you for sharing a beautiful & delicious soup many of us
    can now enjoy.

  7. I have wanted to try this recipe for a long time but held off because I was afraid of being disappointed. Wow!!! This recipe is AMAZING! It tastes like tomato soup, and I am beyond happy as I’m eating a bowl of it with a grilled cheese right now. Thank you so much!

  8. This was an absolutely amazing recipe. I really missed tomato soup and this was so close to the original. I even got my picky child who doesn’t like tomatoes to tell me it was delicious. Thanks

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