Creamy Tomato Bisque is a cozy and comforting soup made with fresh tomatoes, herbs, garnished with cream. Serve with crunchy croutons or with a crispy, gooey grilled cheese sandwich for a perfect vegetarian meal that is ready in under 30 minutes!
I am pretty sure most of you have a favorite restaurant that serves the best Tomato Bisque. For me, it is a restaurant called Yard House in New York. I look forward to my hot comforting bowl of soup each time I go there. And here is my healthy take on the delicious restaurant-inspired Tomato bisque soup!
Bisque
So what is bisque? Bisque is a soup made with vegetables or seafood, that is pureed with the addition of cream to get a smooth, velvety texture. More often made with Seafood, I love this fresh and satisfying Creamy Vegetarian Tomato Bisque with crunchy garlic croutons dunked in.
Tomato Bisque is often made using canned tomatoes and is a great option when tomatoes are not in season. I personally love making this soup with vine-grown tomatoes and fish herbs like parsley, basil, and oregano. Although, canned tomatoes can also be used in this recipe instead of fresh.
Variations
- Vegan - use Cashew cream instead of heavy cream. To make cashew cream simply blend ½ cup of cashews with ½ cup of water until smooth. To make it nut-free and dairy-free use unsweetened coconut cream. I love Trader Joe's canned coconut cream
- Canned Tomatoes - work equally well in this soup, especially when tomatoes are not in season
- Dried herbs - substitute freeze-dried herbs for the fresh ones by reducing the quantity by half
Steps
Here is my EASY step by step recipe using Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Step 1: Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode and heat oil. Add onion, celery, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, oregano, basil, and parsley cook for a minute until fragrant. Add broth and salt. Mix well. Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing. Note: I use the Better Than Bouillon Organic Vegetable Base to make the broth. Set the Instant Pot to Manual/Pressure Cook for 8 minutes. Followed by a quick-release or NPR (photos 1 - 4).
Step 2: Open the Instant Pot, and carefully puree the soup using an immersion blender. Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode. Stir in honey, cream, and pepper. Bring to a gentle boil (photos 5 - 6).
Step 3: Ladle into bowls and sprinkle some cayenne pepper for an extra kick. Enjoy hot with crunchy croutons.
Serving
For a light, lunch serves this soup with crunchy croutons. I also love to serve tomato soup with a toasty cheese sandwich for a filling meal. A bowl of this hot soup with a delicious side salad also makes for a perfect meal.
Storing
Refrigerate any leftovers for 3 to 5 days in an airtight container. You can also freeze the soup for longer shelf life.
Do you enjoy soups? Here are some easy and delicious vegetarian soup ideas:
- Pasta e Fagioli
- Vegetarian French Onion Soup
- Low Carb Mulligatawny Soup
- Coconut Curry Noodle Soup
- Lemon coriander soup
- Butternut soup
- Miso Ramen Soup
Recipe
Creamy Tomato Bisque
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup onion diced
- ½ cup celery sliced
- 1 cup carrots peeled and sliced
- 3 garlic cloves peeled
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
- 6 tomatoes 2 pounds , quartered or 1 28 oz can of peeled tomatoes
- 1½ cup low sodium broth Note: I use the Better Than Bouillon Organic Vegetable Base
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon honey optional
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to saute mode and heat oil. Add onion, celery, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, oregano, basil and parsley cook for a minute until fragrant.
- Add broth and salt. Mix well. Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing.
- Pressure Cook for 8 minutes. Followed by quick release or natural pressure release.
- Open the Instant Pot, and carefully puree the soup using an immersion blender.
- Set the Instant Pot to Saute mode. Stir in honey, cream and pepper. Laddle into bowls, sprinkle some cayenne pepper for an extra kick. Enjoy hot with crunchy croutons.
Video
Notes
- Vegan - use Cashew cream instead of heavy cream. To make cashew cream simply blend ½ cup cashews with ½ cup of water until smooth. To make it nut-free and dairy-free use unsweetened coconut cream. I love Trader Joe's canned coconut cream
- Canned Tomatoes - work equally well in this soup, especially when tomatoes are not in season
- Dried herbs - substitute freeze-dried herbs for the fresh by reducing the quantity in half
Nutrition
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Sucha says
Easy to make and very tasty soup. Thanks for all the additional information.
Archana says
Thank you!!
Payal says
The video shows you're adding tomato paste at the end but the recipe doesn't state to add it anywhere. Should we add it and if so how much and when? Thanks in advance and I look forward to making this!
Archana says
Hi Payal, so tomato paste is optional. It adds a nice vibrant red color to the soup. But if you do not have it then skip.
Bethany says
I was wondering if this recipe could be doubled in a 6 quart instant pot? I really want to make it but I need to serve more then 4 people. Thank you so much for your help.
Archana says
Hi Bethany, yes you can double this recipe in a 6 QT Instant Pot. Happy Thanksgiving!
Darina says
Thank you for a wonderful recipe .
Made it this evening and it was delicious.
I never thought I could make tomato bisque soup but your recipe made it possible.
Appreciate you details and suggestions
Sundari says
Can you skip the broth?
Archana says
yes! Add water instead and adjust salt to taste.
Zachary says
I have my instant pot, but I don't have an immersion blender. I do have a food processor though. Could I use that?
Archana says
yes! Food processor or blender works.
Heather says
I made this for five people to taste test (I had never used an InstantPot before!) Everyone was super impressed by the flavors- so fresh and perfect. And these are some real foodies! My only problem was not being able to get the creamy texture. Is it possible I did not let the vegetables get soft enough? Maybe my immersion stick just wasn't strong enough?
And when I use the 28oz can of peeled tomatoes, am I supposed to add in the sauce that's in the can, or rinse them off first?
Thank you!!
Archana says
Thank you for the sweet feedback. I would say its the immersion blender. You can also increase the cook time by 2 to 3 minutes so the cook very soft. And entire can of tomatoes, no need to rinse.
Sue says
I want to double this, but when I put 8 servings in the recipe box instead of 4, the amount of canned tomatoes doesn't double. I am assuming I would use 2 28oz cans correct? Thanks
Archana says
yes! San Marzano tomatoes work great
Amy says
Do you have a recipe for the the garlic croutons?
Archana says
Hi Amy, I don't, I buy them from Trader Joe's
Joline says
Perfect for a cooler evening. Got rid of some ingredients and had a lovely supper. I used some parmesan whisps as some crackers and it was exactly what I wanted. 7 year old gobbled up the soup.
Archana says
Yum! Makes me happy with the kiddos approve it too 🙂
J Gibson says
When you say manual/pressure cook, is that low pressure or high pressure?
Archana says
High pressure
Michelle Ridge says
I had never thought to make my own tomato soup until I saw this recipe to use the Instant Pot. Thank you for sharing!
Tara says
Hi Archana- I don’t have heave creme or coconut milk. Do you think sour creme will work well to make it creamy?
Archana says
Sour cream will make it more sour. Can you make cashew cream? Blend 1/4 cup of cashews in 1/2 cup of warm water until smooth.
Alice says
Should this Bisque be smoothe?
Archana says
yes if you like! Just blend longer 🙂
Tiffy says
Hi there,
I have the Ace blender, and I love it. And thanks for including the bisque recipe for the Ace Blender. However, the ingredients list 1/2 cup of cashews and not the heavy cream. Why the cashews for the blender and no heavy cream listed?
I will say, I have made this recipe in the blender with the heavy cream (at the end) and no cashews. How will the cashews flavor the soup? Thanks!
Archana says
blended cashews work just like heavy cream. You can skip cashews and add heavy cream in the end.
Debbie Jameson says
Can I use crushed tomatoes?
Archana says
yes!
Michael Millward says
If you use canned tomatoes, would you put them in during the saute step, or just prior to setting the instantpot to pressure?
Archana says
Either way works.
Christa says
I made this for the first time last year, and ALL (3) of my kiddos love this bisque! We have an abundance of tomatoes in our garden and I am set to make some this weekend. Last year we froze several batches to pull out over the winter, and they were wonderful. Do you know if we can also can the bisque as is? We are running out of freezer space. Thanks!
Eileen T says
LOVE this recipe, thank you so much! All of the other tomato soup recipes that I looked at, required removing the tomato skins, so I was uneasy about making it with the skins on - but the skins completely disappeared with the immersion blender. The soup was delicious, and SO much easier! Now I know what to do with all those extra tomatoes from my garden. My first time using the Instant Pot too - it had sat in the closet for a couple of weeks as I puzzled what to use it for.
Kathy says
Made this flavourful soup for the first time.
Super healthy, easy and delish! We had seconds. Saving this recipe under my fave soups.