Batch Cooked Roasted Tomato Soup for the Freezer

I love having homemade soup in the freezer, especially now that I work from home and quite often want something quick and easy for lunch without actually having to stop and make something from scratch.

This roasted tomato soup is one of my favourites to batch cook because it freezes brilliantly and it’s a great way to use a lot of tomatoes in one go.

The last time I made it, I’d been to our local farm shop and spotted a huge 7kg tray of tomatoes for £5. There was absolutely no way I was leaving them there for that price, despite the fact that there’s really only me in our house who eats tomatoes. 😂

There was equally no chance I was going to get through 7kg of them before they started going past their best, so I decided to turn most of them into soup for the freezer.

I ended up with 15 good-sized portions of homemade tomato soup, all stacked up in the freezer ready for future lunches.

My roasted tomato soup has changed over the years

I’ve been making homemade tomato soup for years but the way I make it has definitely changed over time.

My older version was much simpler, whereas these days I roast the tomatoes with garlic and chilli and add red onion towards the end of the roasting time.

It takes a little more effort, especially because I peel the skins from the tomatoes after they’ve roasted, but if I’m going to make homemade tomato soup then I want it to taste amazing.

There’s no point making tomato soup half-heartedly. If I’m standing there peeling tomato skins, I’m going to love every bite of the finished soup. 😂

Fortunately, I’ve also worked out a much easier way to get the skins off, so it’s nowhere near as fiddly as it sounds.

Ingredients

For each batch I use roughly:

2kg ripe tomatoes
1 red onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic or dried garlic granules
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chilli flakes – although I generally use more because I like a bit of heat
1 litre vegetable stock
Salt and black pepper

You can obviously scale this up if, like me, you’ve somehow arrived home with 7kg of tomatoes.

Preparing the tomatoes

I used to quarter all my tomatoes before roasting them, but I don’t bother with that anymore.

These days I simply cut each tomato in half and cut a small V shape from the top to remove the tough bit where the stalk was.

I arrange the tomatoes cut-side up in my roasting tray and drizzle over the olive oil before adding the garlic and chilli flakes.

There’s actually a reason I put them cut-side up.

It means all that lovely garlic, chilli and oil stays sitting on the tomato rather than disappearing into the bottom of the roasting tray. When I peel the skins off later, I’m removing just the skin rather than taking lots of the flavour with it.

Roasting the tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 200°C and roast the tomatoes for around 20 minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven and use a pair of metal kitchen tongs to gently lift the skins away from the tomatoes.

They come off ridiculously easily once the tomatoes have roasted, so although peeling a giant tray of tomatoes sounds like a massive faff, it really isn’t.

You could leave the skins on and blend them into the soup if you wanted to, but I much prefer the texture without them. If I’ve gone to the effort of making a big batch for the freezer, I want every bowl to be just how I like it.

Once the skins are off, scatter the sliced red onion over the tomatoes and pop the tray back into the oven for another seven minutes.

I add the onion at this stage rather than at the beginning because seven minutes is enough to soften and sweeten it without it catching and burning.

Turning it into soup

When everything has finished roasting, tip the entire contents of the roasting tray into a large saucepan.

And I mean everything. Scrape all those lovely tomatoey, garlicky juices from the bottom of the roasting tray into the pan too because there’s loads of flavour in there.

Add the vegetable stock, bring everything to a gentle simmer and leave it bubbling away for around 15 minutes.

Then blend everything until it’s completely smooth. I generally use a stick blender because it’s easiest when I’m making a big batch, but a jug blender works too.

Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

You can add a splash of cream at this point if you fancy a creamier tomato soup, although I usually leave it as it is.

Batch cooking soup for easy lunches

This is the bit that makes this recipe such a winner for me.

Making one portion of homemade soup would feel like far too much effort. Making a huge batch that gives me lunches for weeks feels completely different.

I’m already chopping and roasting the tomatoes, peeling the skins and getting the blender out, so I’d much rather do it once and get as many meals as possible out of that effort.

Once the soup has completely cooled, I portion it up individually before it goes into the freezer.

That part is important for me because I don’t want to defrost a massive container of soup and then have to eat tomato soup for the next four days. 😂

Individual portions mean I can just take one out when I know I’m going to want soup for lunch the following day.

Can you freeze homemade tomato soup?

Absolutely. This one freezes really well.

I let it cool completely before freezing it in individual portions and then defrost a portion in the fridge when I want one.

The last big tomato haul gave me 15 portions, which all fitted neatly onto one freezer shelf. That’s 15 work-from-home lunches sorted from one afternoon in the kitchen.

That’s my kind of meal planning.

What to serve with roasted tomato soup

I’m quite happy with a bowl of this on its own for lunch, but if I want something a bit more substantial then I’ll add whatever we have in.

It’s lovely with crusty bread or homemade bread, and obviously tomato soup and a cheese toastie is a pretty unbeatable combination.

Cheese scones are another favourite, and homemade garlic bread works brilliantly too.

Keep an eye out for cheap tomatoes

I definitely wouldn’t have made 15 portions of tomato soup that particular afternoon if I hadn’t stumbled across that £5 tray of tomatoes.

But that’s part of meal planning for me too.

I might have a plan for what we’re eating that week, but if I spot a brilliant bargain that I know I can turn into future meals, I’ll change things around and make the most of it.

Tomatoes that are ripe or starting to get a little soft are absolutely perfect for this, so reduced tomatoes are always worth looking out for. Homegrown tomatoes would be even better if you’re lucky enough to have a glut.

The smell of tomatoes always reminds me of my Dad’s greenhouse when I was little. He grew tomatoes and I used to love helping him water them, so that smell still takes me straight back there.

And if one £5 bargain can give me that plus 15 homemade lunches sitting in the freezer, I’m definitely calling that a win.

Thank you for reading.

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