My Family’s New Favorite Meal Is This Slow-Cooker Soup—No Chopping Required

I don’t know about everyone else, but if I’m making a grilled cheese sandwich, and there is even a hint of chill in the air, I’m also making some tomato soup—or, as my son used to call it, "grilled cheese dip."

I recently became a fan of Ina Garten’s easy tomato soup, which includes grilled cheese croutons. It’s delicious to make, but some work is involved. You have to chop garlic and a tear-inducing onion. The recipe calls for saffron, which adds earthy goodness to the soup but is pricey. It also includes orzo, which makes it a hearty soup. But I don’t necessarily need orzo in my soup if I’m using it for grilled cheese dipping. 

There are different tomato soup recipes for different needs. I just discovered a "dump and go" recipe for tomato soup in the slow cooker. It’s made with fresh tomatoes and is the easiest tomato soup I’ve ever made.

How to Make Slow Cooker Creamy Tomato Soup

TikTok’s mealsandmunchies demonstrated how to throw ingredients in a slow cooker and end up with creamy tomato soup a few hours later. She uses it to accompany a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. 

Here’s her method. Most of the recipe's ingredients aren’t precisely measured, but you'll get a general idea of the amounts if you watch the video.

1. Spray the slow cooker with some nonstick spray before adding the ingredients.
2. Add various tomatoes to the slow cooker (she used a container of grape tomatoes, two large slicing tomatoes, and four vine-ripened tomatoes). 
3. Add basil leaves, minced garlic from a jar, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, pepper, red chili flakes, and 1/2 cup chicken broth. 
4. Set the slow cooker to High for four hours, or until the tomatoes completely break down.
5. Add about a cup of heavy cream and use an immersion blender to purée the soup. 
   

My Tips for Making Slow Cooker Creamy Tomato Soup

I needed to blend the mixture for quite a while to make it very smooth, and I had to make a couple of additions.

First, I had to add a bit more salt. Second, to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes, I kept adding pinches of sugar and blending until I was satisfied. I could have added baking soda, but I didn’t have any on hand.

I ended up with a large batch of tomato soup that I served for a simple grilled cheese and soup dinner one night. I froze the rest in 10-ounce portions for easy feasts. 

Next time, I may add half an onion (cut into large pieces) just to see how it changes the flavor. Overall, this was a brilliant way to make a basic, tasty homemade tomato soup with minimal effort—and one I’ll be repeating.