Parmesan Basil Tomato Soup (Slow Cooker)
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A creamy parmesan basil tomato soup that practically cooks itself for you! Just add the ingredients into the slow cooker and watch the delicious smells of tomatoes and herbs waft through your whole house!
Top of the morning to ya!
Is it cold or chilly where you live? This soup is begging to be dinner tonight.
I feel like after the Thanksgiving holiday I just cannot grab a hold of time. Anyone else with me on that? So much on my plate at the moment and it becomes a little hard to balance everything. I’m sure a lot of you can relate, this time of the year is definitely stressful! I know I’ve got several projects all going on at once – exciting things for sure. And I cannot wait to share with you here in the next couple of weeks! To top it all off, it’s been nothing but sad, dreary weather here in Houston lately.
You know what that means right? Dinner in the slow cooker and comfort food it is!
This past week, Anees and I celebrated our one year houseaversary.
WHAT. Yes, a whole year just snuck by and amidst celebrating, the reality of a half decorated house slowly kicked in. Then panic stuck. And frantic web searches for a chandelier followed. And before I knew it, I found myself in the thick of decorating without any actual time to do it in. There I went, spreading myself even thinner.
But with a to-do list that was just piling up without me having a chance to cross much off, I knew something had to give. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do but I really just don’t enjoy it when I’m rushed. And dishes, ouf! Yuck.
So a slow cooker tomato soup was exactly what my lunches and dinners needed. A little grilled cheese action on the side and voila! A warm and comforting meal that would bring all the chaos around me to a crashing halt, if only for a few minutes. It was my favorite comfort food growing up. And albeit, I wasn’t as picky back then. Campbell’s was a winner and grilled cheese was all about that cheddar.
The creamy, parmesan and basil tomato soup is totally worth it. Every bite of it.
Anees and I love warm soup on Thursday evenings when he comes back into town after being away for work for a few days. It’s starting to become somewhat of a weekly routine. He gets home around 9:30 or so and with a late dinner time like that, we like to keep things light. Tomato soup with a sammy on the side is cozy, warm and kinda perfect for a late night meal.
I have another roasted tomato basil soup recipe on the blog here and everyone that has made it is forever a fan. It does require a bit of time though as you slow roast the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and carrots in the oven. This clearly isn’t an option if you’re looking for a easier soup recipe.
So i’ve reworked my favorite tomato soup recipe to bring you this slow cooker version that requires very little hands on time but provides you the same warm, hearty flavor.
It all starts with a little butter, a cup of chopped onions, and 2 large diced carrots. I promise, this is the only part where you actually have to do any “cooking”. Melt the butter in a skillet and just sauté the onions until they are soft, add the carrots and let them go for another 1-2 minutes. Dump this mixture into the slow cooker. You’ll also need good quality tomatoes, roasted garlic cloves, dried basil, Italian seasoning, vegetable or chicken broth, a parmesan rind, bay leaf, a little sugar, balsamic vinegar, basil pesto, and some sun-dried tomatoes into the slow cooker. Basil pesto has become a staple ingredient for my homemade tomato basil soups.
Since we aren’t stopping to roast our own tomatoes, i’m using sun-dried tomatoes to really help boost that tomato flavor. When the soup is done, I like to use an immersion blender to just blend the soup to my desired consistency. But before I blend it, I add in a whole handful of fresh basil leaves. The flavor of the fresh basil blended into the soup is so much better. Trust me on this. With every bite you can smell that glorious, bright basil. And half of what you taste is the smell right?
So let the slow cooker make you tomato soup for dinner tonight and just catch up on a few things from your list. And whatever you do, don’t skip the grilled cheese sandwich.
This soup was made for it.
Parmesan Basil Tomato Soup (Slow Cooker)
A creamy parmesan basil tomato soup that practically cooks itself for you! Just add the ingredients into the slow cooker and watch the delicious smells of tomatoes and herbs waft through your whole house!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 2 diced carrots
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 (28 ounce) cans san marzano tomatoes
- ¼ cup EACH roasted garlic cloves AND sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon italian seasoning
- 4 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)
- 1 parmesan rind (optional)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tablespoons basil pesto
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
- 1-2 cups half and half
- parmesan cheese + grilled cheese sandwich, to serve
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they start to turn translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes, stir them around so they cook evenly.
- Transfer the cooked veggies into a 6 quart slow cooker or larger. Add the tomato sauce, tomatoes, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, sugar, dried basil, italian seasoning, broth, parmesan rind, bay leaf, basil pesto, and balsamic vinegar. Cover and cook on the low setting for 6-8 hours for the best flavor or 3-4 on the high setting for a quicker meal.
- Fish out the bay leaf and parmesan rind. Add the basil leaves to the slow cooker, stir to combine and using an immersion blender, blend the soup till smooth or to your desired consistency. If you don't have a stick blender, transfer the soup in batches into a blender and blend. Stir in 1 cup of half and half and taste. If desired add more half and half to preference. We like it with 1 cup but you can certainly add more to your preference.
- Top bowls with parmesan cheese and serve with grilled cheese or cheese croutons.
For a dairy-free alternative try:
secret ingredient tomato basil soup
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24 Comments on “Parmesan Basil Tomato Soup (Slow Cooker)”
Hey there! Isn’t pesto made with some type of tree nut? If so, is there a substitute I can use for the basil pesto for a nut allergy?
Hi there, yes pesto typically does contain pine nuts and sometimes almonds. You can make pesto using sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts if you’d like, or you can use a basil paste (typically sold in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.) hope that helps!
great ! the way you share your recipes are just amazing , step by step with high-quality images that’s awesome. keep it up
I tried putting the url in myfitnesspal but this recipe did not show up. I love this soup but would like the nutritional information.
Do you know the calories per serving or cup or whole potful?
Hi Judy, I don’t have the calories calculated offhand but if you’d like, you can plug the URL for this page into myfitnesspal.com and it’ll calculate it for you (for the whole pot and per serving!) 🙂
Do use the sun dried tomatoes in oil and so you cut them prior to adding them to the crock pot?
Yes, packed in oil works best for this recipe. Mine came choppped up so I didn’t, but you can 🙂
This tomato soup is divine! I don’t have a slow cooker, so I made it on the stove, but it came out perfectly. My husband requested that i make a new batch on the weekend and although he loves my cooking i could never make him a tomato soup he liked. So thank you for the recipe!:)
I made this today with a few alterations – I cut the recipe in half because I was only cooking for two, and I didn’t have canned tomatoes or tomato sauce, so I substituted what I had – 1.5 pint boxes of grape tomatoes that I had in the fridge, cut in half, and about 1/2 cup of fresh tomato puree that I’d made and kept in the freezer some time ago. Other than that, I followed the recipe, and it came out beautifully. Fabulous soup!!!
What basil pesto did you use? Excited to make this for my family!
Hi Mallory, I usually make my own. I’ll add a link to it in the recipe card if you’d like to do so as well 🙂
Excellent! Made this as part of an 8-course dinner party (because the slow cooker part helped a ton!) and everyone loved it! Came back today because I’m planning another multi-course dinner party and just had to find the recipe again.
I made this soup and followed the recipe closely. It was the best tomato soup i have ever had. Not acidic at all. Always ate tomato soup that was in a can and thought it was good, now i have had the best! No more canned soup for me and it was a snap to make. Thank you for creating it!
How much does this recipe make?
Hi Susie, the recipe makes 8-10 large servings each serving will be approximately 1 ½ -2 cups.
This was delicious?
Thank you for sharing
Does this soup freeze well?
I actually haven’t tried freezing it. But to be on the safe side, I suggest freezing without the half and half. This can always be added in when reheating.
How many garlic clove will equal 1/4 cup? And how long do I roast them?
Thanks
You’ll need to roast them as whole garlic heads instead of just the cloves. Depending on the size of the head of garlic, you’ll need 1-2. I’d do two to be on the safe side. Leftovers can always be kept in zip-top bag and frozen.
HOW TO ROAST GARLIC: Preheat an oven to 375ºF. Chop off the tip of the garlic and peel off as much paper as possible without breaking the garlic head. You want the garlic cloves to be exposed when you chop off the top. Drizzle with ½ tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap the garlic head in foil and roast in the oven for 1 hour. Additional garlic heads can be roasted together in the same piece of foil.
What if someone doesn’t have the Parmesan rind, what can they do? I’m afraid if you just use regular shredded it will burn …
Lydia, it’s an optional ingredient so you can simply just omit it from the recipe. You can also just stir in some additional parmesan into the soup when you add the half and half in.
You can find Parm rinds at most delis. Whole Foods sells them too.