All of the soups, tomato soup will always be my favorite. One of my earliest, and most frequent childhood memories is eating Campbell’s canned tomato rice soup with my Mom. I must have been just a toddler, probably the age my little 3 year old is now, and I remember sitting down at the kitchen table, just the two of us, and dipping my almost-burnt grilled cheese crusts into the soup. Now that I’m a grown-up (almost 40 and it still feels weird to say that) my heart skips a beat when I see a restaurant has a creamy tomato soup on the menu. I created this Easy Pressure Cooker Tomato Soup because I wanted something super quick and simple, that produced homemade, restaurant-quality soup on a busy weeknight. And this is it! Don’t worry, if you don’t have a pressure cooker, I’ll include stove-top and slowcooker instructions as well!
You’ll start by turning on the saute feature on the pressure cooker. Toss in a few diced carrots and an onion and saute them with a little olive oil or butter until they start to soften. This step both deepens the flavor and gives your veggies a head-start cooking so take the few minutes to stir them around.
Then you’ll add 2 big cans of canned tomatoes. Now any kind of canned tomato will work. If your store carries San Marzano tomatoes, I always recommend getting those- they’re from Italy and have fantastic flavor. But any brand will work, and you can use diced or whole, it really doesn’t matter.
You’ll also add broth- I always use chicken broth because that’s what I usually have around, but vegetable broth, or even beef broth is totally fine. It won’t make your soup taste like chicken or beef! For the seasoning, I purposely kept it simple. If you start adding lots of Italian seasoning, your soup starts tasting like marina sauce. I simply use salt and pepper, and basil. If you’re using fresh basil, you’ll add it at the very end after cooking, and if you’re using dried basil it goes in before cooking.
After you add your canned ingredients, pop a lid on that pressure cooker and set a timer for 10 minutes.
After it’s done cooking you can either use an immersion blender, which will leave your soup a little chunky, or transfer to a blender (in batches if necessary) and process until completely smooth.
Once it’s pureed, add a little cream. Of course you can leave the cream out, but guys- it’s so much better with cream. Doesn’t take all that much to elevate the flavor and texture.
My favorite way to serve is of course with grilled cheese! I like to chop up chunks of sandwiches on rustic bread and make Grilled Cheese Croutons.
And that drizzle you see on top is our Rosemary Olive Oil. Trust me- it’s SO good with just a little drizzle on top! You can find that oil in our shop right here– it’s my all time favorite of all the herb flavors.
This soup stores well and freezes well. I’ve been making a batch and keeping it in the fridge for lunch all week lately. Try it out and make it at home, I’d love to hear what you think!
Easy Pressure Cooker Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
- 1 large onion diced (about 2 cups)
- 3 medium carrots thinly sliced (about 1 heaping cup)
- 2 28- oz cans whole or diced tomatoes San Marzano if you have them
- 2 14- oz cans chicken broth or vegetable or even beef
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- heaping 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup cream more if desired
Instructions
- Turn pressure cooker to saute. Add butter or olive oil, onion, and carrot and saute, until starting to soften, 3-4 minutes. Add in tomatoes (juices and all), broth, salt and pepper.
- Secure lid on pressure cooker and set to high pressure for 10 minutes. You can immediately release pressure when done, or let it come down naturally if you have time. Use an immersion blender or an actual blender to puree.
- Add fresh basil and pulse again to blend. Finally add cream and blend together.
Questions & Reviews
We love this recipe!
Hi Sara! Got so many compliments on this! Now I’m making it for a crowd, but I’m not sure how much to scale it. Can you tell me how many servings this makes?
Hi Karen! I’m so sorry I didn’t see your comment in time. I’m sure you’ve already figured this out! I would guess 10-12 cups, how did the Christmas event go?
In your other tomato soup recipe on this site (which I adore), you add in cream cheese at the end. What do you think about doing that here?
It would be delicious!
Thanks for all the great recipes! You are my “go to” when I’m looking for something I KNOW will be tasty. I love how you specify which recipes work with lower fat ingedients and which need the real thing. Question about broth: When is it ok to use water and boullion for broth, and when should you use it from a can/carton? Does it make a difference in all or some recipes or is it equivalent?
I see this is an old comment, but somehow it never go answered! I’m so sorry. Honestly all of those options are interchangeable, it simply comes down to taste. They will all have different flavors. Our favorite (and I believe also the winner of the ATK test where they do thorough comparisons is using “Better than bouillon” concentrate from a jar.
I made this recipe for a friend and used almond milk rather than milk and took it in a canning jar. It wasn’t as good as using cream…but this friend brought the canning jar back with a note for a refill, please. Just sharing if anyone wanted to make it for lactose intolerant people or vegans.
This was so rich and delicious! I switched up the flavor profile a bit and used half plain tomatoes and half fire roasted. I froze half (without cream), because it makes a ton! I’ll definitely have it on repeat this winter!
I made this and it was so simple! My kids lovvveeddd it. My kids said it was even better than the normal kind! (Campbell’s) ? I made little grilled Italian sandwiches with pepperoni, salami, and provolone on ciabatta buns to dip in it. I’m definitely making this again! ?
I made it with my garden tomatoes and it was the best tomato soup I’ve ever made. Seriously delicious!
When you say cream, do you mean whipping cream?
Yep! (Un-whipped, of course haha).
Craving this type of soup after having some at Panara Bread this past weekend. How much dried basil would you recommend using?
Hey there! It’s in the notes, but I’d say about 2 tablespoons (less if you don’t love basil haha)
This looks awesome! I have a lot of tomatoes I just saved from the frost. Do you think it would work with those, peeled and chopped?
Ya, I think so! You’ll have to guess on some of the measurements and possibly add a bit more broth, but try it out!
This sounds perfect for a brisk fall evening meal! It sounds yummy alone, but my mind is buzzing with add-ins!
I am also turning 40 soon…but I don’t feel a day over 31! 😉
Sooo many add-ins!
This looks amazing! I have a whole bunch of tomatoes I just rescued from the frost. Do you think I could just peel and dice the equivalent of the two cans of tomatoes (56 oz)? I’ve made lots of your delicious simmer sauce and canned it, but it would be great to have some soup in the freezer!
Someone else asked this as well- I think it would work just fine. You may need to add a bit more broth at the end, and possibly a pinch of sugar but I’d play around with it!