Buy Now → 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.
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
Scale
For the tomato-less tomato soup:
- 3 tbsp / 45 ml avocado oil or fat of choice
- 1 medium yellow onion, about 9 oz / 255 g or so
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 1 lb / 454 g carrots, orange for the best color
- 1 cup / 240 ml red wine, I used an inexpensive Merlot, see notes
- 5 cups / 1.2 L chicken or vegetable broth, divided
- 1 cup / 240 g butternut squash puree, see notes
- 6 oz / 170 g drained canned sliced or small whole beets
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml lemon juice, or preservative free bottled lemon juice
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml red wine vinegar, please read the notes
- 1 tbsp / 3 g Italian seasoning
- 1 tbsp / 3 g dried basil, see notes
- 1 tsp / 5 g fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, omit for AIP elimination phase
- Optional, for additional color: 1/4 cup / 60 ml reserved liquid from the canned beets OR 1 tbsp 15 ml beet juice, see notes
- 2 bay leaves
For the crispy herbed croutons:
- 1 cup / 60 g cassava bread (casabe), broken into bite size pieces
- 3 tbsp / 45 ml avocado oil
- 1 tbsp / 3 g Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!
Find it online: https://meatified.com/tomato-less-tomato-soup-aip/