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Roasted Tomato Basil Soup & Grilled Cheese

My dietitian-approved take on a comfort food classic, you're going to love this deliciously cozy Roasted Tomato Basil Soup & Grilled Cheese!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 4 servings soup, 1 grilled cheese
Author Rachael DeVaux

Equipment

  • baking sheet
  • large pot
  • medium-sized skillet
  • Immersion blender or countertop blender

Ingredients

Tomato Basil Soup:

  • 4 pounds vine-on or Roma tomatoes, quartered
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt plus more, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons avocado oil
  • 1 medium white onion, diced
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 4 cups vegetable stock or broth
  • ¼ cup coconut milk
  • 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped plus more, for serving
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more, for serving
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • Red chili flakes for serving (optional)

Grilled Cheese:

  • Softened ghee or grass-fed butter
  • 2 slices sourdough bread or bread of choice gluten-free if needed
  • 1 cup shredded cheese of choice I use hard goat cheese

Instructions

Tomato Basil Soup:

  • Preheat the oven to 425 F.
  • Place the quartered tomatoes and the garlic cloves on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt; toss to coat. Arrange the tomatoes cut-side up, and roast for 45 minutes or until the tomato skins start to char and wilt.
  • As the tomatoes roast, heat the avocado oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until softened. Add the oregano and cook, stirring, for another 2 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in the stock and coconut milk, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer while the tomatoes finish in the oven, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat.
  • Using tongs, transfer the roasted tomatoes to the pot containing the broth mixture. Add the basil, additional salt, black pepper, and garlic powder, and use an immersion blender to blend the mixture until completely smooth. (You can also do this in a countertop blender, working in very small batches.)
    NOTE: Be careful! Steam escapes violently from hot liquids when they’re blended in an enclosed container, potentially resulting in the lid being blown off the container – hot soup exploding everywhere – and burned skin. You can avoid this mishap by not filling the blender container more than halfway, and covering the container with a kitchen towel instead of a lid to let steam escape.
  • Set the soup aside, covered, until ready to serve.

Grilled Cheese:

  • Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium heat.
  • Spread ghee on a slice of bread, and place the bread in the hot skillet, ghee side down. Top bread with shredded cheese.
  • Spread ghee on another slice of bread, and place it on top of the shredded cheese, ghee-side up. Press down on the sandwich firmly with a spatula, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cover. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the bottom slice of bread is golden, and flip the sandwich. Cover and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until browned on the second side.
  • Transfer the sandwich to a cutting board, and cut in half if you’d like.

To Serve and Store:

  • To serve, top the soup with additional basil, black pepper, and chili flakes, and pair with the grilled cheese for dipping. Enjoy!
  • To store – once cooled, transfer the soup to an airtight container and place in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.