What Is Tomato soup and How Can I Use It?

If tomato soup has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 143 recipes to try it in.

Key Points

Concentrated red canned soup; eaten as soup or used straight as a sweet-tart cooking base.
Dilute with milk for a creamy bowl, with water for a brighter, more acidic one.
It already carries sugar and salt, so taste before adding more or it turns too sweet.
Acidic enough to curdle dairy: warm it first and stir milk in off a hard boil.
Swap with tomato sauce or passata plus a pinch of sugar; cream of tomato runs richer.

What is tomato soup?

Condensed tomato soup is the red-orange canned soup that most people meet as the partner to a grilled cheese sandwich. It is concentrated, so straight from the can it is thick and almost glossy, somewhere between a sauce and a paste.

Unlike the cream soups, tomato is meant to be eaten as soup as often as it is cooked into something. Add a canful of milk or water and heat it, and you have lunch.

Leave it concentrated and it becomes a fast cooking base instead.

That double life, bowl of soup or pantry shortcut, is what keeps a can or two on the shelf.

Cooking With Tomato Soup

Diluted, it is the soup you grew up on. Whisk in milk for a rounder, creamier bowl or water for a brighter, more acidic one, then warm it through without boiling hard.

Left concentrated, the can becomes a sweet-tart tomato base that does real work in a dish. It loosens and flavors the meat in Lazy Pigs in a Blanket and carries the sauce in American Chop Suey.

It also gives Cabbage Roll Casserole its tangy tomato body without you opening a can of paste and a can of broth separately.

And it sneaks into chili like 30 Minute Chili and into braises and meatballs, where the sugar rounds off harsh edges and the acidity keeps rich meat from tasting flat.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Tomato soup leans sweet and acidic, so it loves anything rich and salty to push against. Sharp cheddar, butter-crisped bread, bacon, ground beef, and beans all balance it. A pinch of sugar tames excess acidity, while a splash of cream or a knob of butter softens it into something mellower.

The usual mistake is curdling. Tomato is acidic enough to break milk or cream if you boil them together or add cold dairy to a screaming-hot pan. Temper it instead: warm the soup first, stir the dairy in off a hard boil, and keep the heat gentle.

The other mistake is treating it like plain tomato sauce. It is already seasoned and sweetened, so taste before you add more, or you will tip the dish too sweet.

Substitutes

For a pot of soup, a can of crushed tomatoes simmered with a little broth and butter gets you close, with more body and less sweetness than the canned version. Add a pinch of sugar to bridge the gap.

As a cooking base, plain tomato sauce or passata works almost one for one. Nudge it with a pinch of sugar to mimic the soup's sweetness.

Tomato paste thinned with water or stock covers it too, using roughly 3 tablespoons paste plus ¾ cup water for one standard can.

Cream of tomato soup is a near cousin but not the same swap: it already carries dairy, so it makes a richer, less tangy result and can curdle if you then add more acid.

Buying and Storing

The standard condensed can runs about 10.75 ounces (roughly 305 grams), the size recipes mean by "one can." Ready-to-serve and "no salt added" versions also exist. The ready-to-serve kind is already diluted, so do not add liquid to it the way you would the condensed can.

Skip any can that bulges or leaks, and pass on one that is heavily rusted or dented along a seam.

Unopened, condensed tomato soup keeps in the pantry well past its best-by date, usually a year or more.

Once opened, scrape leftovers into a sealed container and refrigerate. Use within about four days, and never store the open can in the fridge, since the exposed metal can taint the flavor.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 cup (251g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 150Calories from Fat 12

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 1.4g 2%

Saturated Fat 0.7g 3%

Trans Fat ~

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 1383mg 58%

Total Carbohydrate 33.7g 11%

Dietary Fiber 3g 12%

Sugars 20.4

Protein 4.0g

Vitamin A 20% Vitamin C 54%

Calcium 3% • Iron 15%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your caloric needs.

recipeland.com/nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find tomato soup: Tomato soup is usually found in the canned goods section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Soup, tomato is a member of the Soups, Sauces, and Gravies US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese: 汤，番茄
British (UK) term: Soup, tomato
en français: soupe à la tomate
en español: sopa de tomate

How much does tomato soup weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 cup	251 grams
1 can (10.75 oz)	305 grams

Soups, Sauces, and Gravies

Soup, cream of celery 97 Soup, cream of chicken 234 Soup, cream of mushroom 483 Soup, french onion 32 Beef bouillon cubes 116 Beef bouillon granules 66 Chicken bouillon, powdered 81 Chicken bouillon cubes 127 Vegetable bouillon cubes 56 Soup mix 6

Recipes using tomato soup

There are 143 recipes that contain this ingredient.

More tomato soup recipes

List of all ingredients

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