Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup

Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup is made by roasting tomatoes, onions, and garlic until caramelized to bring out their natural sweetness and depth, then finished with a touch of oregano and smoked paprika that enhances the flavor without overpowering it, creating a comforting, vibrant, and effortless soup perfect for any night of the week.

Love More Soup Recipes? Try My Easy Chicken and Rice Soup or this Marry Me Chicken Soup next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

This roasted garlic tomato soup is creamy, velvety, and packed with rich flavor from the roasted tomatoes, making it both comforting and delicious. It’s simple to prepare yet has that gourmet feel, and best of all, it’s kid-friendly and family-approved. Whether you serve it for lunch or dinner, it’s the kind of recipe that feels effortless but tastes like something special.

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Ingredient List

Roasted Stuff:

• 1½ pounds Roma tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 whole garlic head, sliced through the middle
• 1 yellow onion, chopped into big chunks
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Soup Stuff:

• 2 cups whatever broth you have
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or just use dried, who cares)
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ¾ cup half-and-half if you want it creamy
• More salt and pepper

Swaps I’ve tried:

• Regular tomatoes work fine, just maybe a bit more watery
• Coconut milk instead of half-and-half tastes amazing
• Heavy cream if you’re feeling indulgent
• Sweet onions, white onions, whatever you’ve got

Why These Ingredients Work

Roasted garlic is nothing like regular garlic. Regular garlic is aggressive and shouty. Roasted garlic is mellow and sweet and spreadable like butter. I discovered this when my Italian friend Maria showed me how she makes her Sunday sauce. Now I roast garlic for everything.

Roma tomatoes don’t turn into mush when you roast them, which I learned after using beefsteak tomatoes once and ending up with tomato water. Yellow onions get crazy sweet in the oven—like candy sweet. I tried red onions once thinking I was being fancy but they were too sharp even after roasting.

That smoked paprika is what makes people think you’re some kind of soup genius. My mom always wondered why her soups never tasted like restaurant soups and I’m pretty sure this is why. Just don’t use too much or it gets overwhelming. And those red pepper flakes? Barely noticeable heat but they wake everything up.

Essential Tools and Equipment

Two sheet pans. I don’t care how big your pans are or how much you think one will work. Use two. I learned this lesson when I tried to impress my in-laws and everything steamed instead of roasted. Awkward dinner.

You need something to blend with—regular blender, immersion blender, whatever. And just a regular pot to heat everything up at the end. I use my smallest saucepan because it heats faster and I’m impatient.

How To Make Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup

Preheat and Prep

Heat your oven to 450°F. Don’t second-guess this temperature—I’ve tried lower and it’s just not the same. Cut your tomatoes in half the long way. Chop your onion into big wedges, not tiny pieces that’ll burn. Take that garlic head and slice it right through the middle like you’re cutting a bagel. Leave all the papery skin on.

Season and Arrange

First sheet pan gets your onion pieces tossed with half the oil and half the salt. Stick those garlic halves cut-side down right in there. Second pan gets your tomatoes with the rest of the oil and salt. I usually put them cut-side up but honestly it probably doesn’t matter.

Roast Everything

Both pans go in for 15 minutes. Then I rotate them because my oven is moody and has hot spots. Another 15 minutes and everything should smell incredible and look golden. The onions get soft and jammy, the tomatoes start to wrinkle up, and that garlic gets all sweet and squishy.

Cool and Squeeze the Garlic

Let that garlic cool down for a couple minutes unless you enjoy burning your fingertips like I did the first three times. Then squeeze those soft cloves right into your blender from the uncut end. They pop out like toothpaste and it’s weirdly satisfying.

Blend Everything Together

Dump everything else in—roasted onions, tomatoes, all those precious pan drippings, broth, oregano, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes. Blend until smooth or leave it chunky, your call. I go smooth because my kids are texture weirdos but my husband likes it chunky.

Simmer and Finish

Pour into a pot and warm it up gently. Don’t let it boil hard or you might mess up the cream later. Stir in that half-and-half if you’re using it. Taste it and add more salt and pepper. This is when I always end up eating half a bowl standing at the stove.

You Must Know

That high heat is everything. I’ve tried making this at 375°F thinking I was being careful and it was just meh. The high heat creates those brown caramelized bits that make this soup special instead of just okay.

Personal Secret: I stumbled on this by accident when I was rushing to clean up before my book club came over. I scraped all the stuck-on brown bits from the pans into the blender instead of soaking the pans like usual. The soup was incredible and I realized those crusty bits were pure concentrated flavor. Now I scrape every single brown bit off those pans before I even think about washing them.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Cut your onions into proper wedges, not skinny slices. Skinny slices burn before they caramelize and make your soup taste bitter. I did this once for my mother-in-law’s birthday dinner and had to order pizza instead.

If your blender freaks out with hot stuff, just let everything cool for ten minutes. Also, here’s something weird my friend who went to culinary school taught me—if your finished soup tastes flat, add just a tiny splash of vinegar. Something about acid making flavors pop. Works every time.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

I mess with this recipe constantly. Sometimes I toss a couple jalapeños in with the vegetables for heat. Fresh basil before blending makes it taste fancy. A splash of wine while it’s simmering is nice if you have a bottle open.

My sister throws white beans in to make it more filling for her three boys. I’ve added leftover roasted red peppers when I had them going bad in the fridge. The base is so good you can add almost anything and it works.

Make-Ahead Options

This soup gets better overnight—all those flavors hang out together and get friendly. I make huge batches every Sunday and we eat soup all week. You can roast the vegetables a few days ahead and just blend when you want soup. The finished soup keeps in the fridge for about a week.

For freezing, make it without cream and add that when you heat it up. I freeze it in mason jars and grab them when I need quick dinners. Just leave room at the top because it puffs up when frozen.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

Roma tomatoes really are better but don’t stress if you can’t find them. Regular ones work fine, just maybe drain some liquid if they seem super juicy. If your soup tastes sharp after roasting, a tiny bit of sugar fixes it.

This recipe is basically foolproof as long as you actually roast everything instead of just warming it up. More garlic? Do it. Extra herbs? Sure. I’ve never had anyone say this was too garlicky.

Serving Suggestions

Grilled cheese is the obvious choice but I love crusty bread for dunking. My kids like those little oyster crackers floating on top. A drizzle of good olive oil makes it look like you know what you’re doing.

I serve this at dinner parties all the time and people always ask for the recipe. It’s also perfect for those days when everyone’s grumpy and you need something that smells amazing and tastes like a hug.

This soup has saved my sanity so many times. When everything feels crazy, I throw vegetables in the oven and forty-five minutes later my house smells incredible and I have something delicious to feed my family. Hope it does the same for you.

How to Store Your Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup

Fridge: Good for about a week. Tastes even better the next day.

Freezer: Skip the cream, freeze up to four months. Add cream when you reheat.

Reheating: Warm it slow on the stove. Add broth if it got thick. Thaw frozen soup overnight first.

Allergy Information

Dairy: Just in the half-and-half which you can skip or swap for coconut milk

Gluten: None unless your broth has it

Vegan: Use vegetable broth and plant milk

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

Can I use canned tomatoes?

You could but you’d miss all that roasted flavor. If you have to, use good ones and maybe roast them a few minutes to get some browning.

My soup is too thick/thin.

Too thick? Add broth. Too thin? Let it simmer without a lid to cook off liquid.

How do I know when the vegetables are done?

Golden edges, soft texture. Tomatoes look shriveled, onions smell sweet.

What if I burn something?

Little char adds flavor. Black and bitter stuff should get picked out.

💬 Made this soup? Tell me how it went! I love hearing about your cooking wins and disasters.