This creamy tomato and mascarpone soup is a quick and tasty weeknight meal. Made from scratch in less than 45 minutes, this easy tomato soup recipe is finished off with fresh basil and perfect with a loaf of fresh bread.
This post was originally published in February 2021 and has been updated for content.
Tomato soup is always a staple during the cooler months. My kids love dunking their grilled cheese in it and it's especially tasty with a fresh loaf of Italian pesto bread or Italian cheese bread.
This tomato and mascarpone soup recipe is our new favorite. It's simple enough for a weeknight meal but also a great starter for air fryer calamari or rotini pasta with Italian sausage.
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🍅 Ingredient notes
- Whole Peeled Tomatoes - I recommend San Marzano tomatoes for this recipe as they are sweeter, less acidic and perfect in this creamy tomato soup.
- Mascarpone cheese - Mascarpone is a creamy Italian cheese that is similar to cream cheese. It has a rich buttery flavor that finishes this soup perfectly. Sour cream, cream cheese or heavy cream can also be used.
📋 Substitutions and variations
- Meat - Add cooked sliced or ground sausage or meatballs to make this soup even heartier.
- Extra cheese - add some freshly grated parmesan to the top of your bowl of soup for some extra cheesiness!
- Vegan - to make this soup vegan, omit the mascarpone soup and replace it with a can of coconut milk.
🔪 Step by step instructions
First, saute the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in olive oil with salt and pepper till the vegetables start to soften. Next, add the vegetable broth and canned tomatoes. Bring this mixture to a boil, then lower the temperature and simmer for 15 minutes.
Blend the soup in a blender or an immersion blender until it's perfectly smooth. Lastly, whisk in the mascarpone cheese until it's completely melted, and serve with a fresh basil garnish!
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⭐ Expert tips
- When blending the tomato and mascarpone soup in a blender, work in batches and start at a low speed. Since the soup is hot, the extra steam could cause the lid to fly off and hot soup to go everywhere.
- An immersion blender may be used instead of a blender, but may not get the soup as smooth as possible.
💭 Frequently asked questions
This tomato soup is naturally gluten free and not thickened with flour, but blended to add extra thickness instead.
If you want to make this soup extra creamy, add in ½ cup of heavy cream with the mascarpone cheese.
⏲️ Make ahead and storage instructions
This tomato and mascarpone soup can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator after it has completely cooled.
Leftovers can be reheated in a pot over medium low heat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
🍲 More soup recipes
If you loved this tomato and mascarpone soup recipe check out these other soup recipes that I know you will love too!
📖 Recipe
Tomato and Mascarpone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ½ cup chopped carrots
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 28 ounces canned whole peeled tomatoes san marzano if possible
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
- fresh basil for garnish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot on the stovetop over medium heat. Once the olive oil starts to shimmer, add in onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Stirring occasionally, allow the vegetables to saute in the olive oil for 3-5 minutes until they start to soften.
- Add in whole peeled tomatoes and vegetable broth and stir to combine, making sure to scrape any stuck on bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Increase the heat to medium high and bring the mixture to a boil. Once the mixture starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove soup off of the heat and transfer into a blender. Starting on low speed, blend the soup to the desired consistency. Speed can be increased slowly to achieve a smooth consistency. Depending on the size of the blender, this may need to be done in batches.
- Add the blended soup back to the pot and stir in mascarpone cheese until it is completely melted in.
- Serve soup with thinly sliced fresh basil leaves for garnish, if desired.
Notes
- Work in batches and start at a low speed when blending the soup so it doesn't explode from the hot steam.
- An immersion blender may be used instead of a blender, but may not get the soup as smooth as possible.
- Use San Marzano tomatoes for a sweeter, less acidic soup.
Substitutions and Variations
- Mascarpone cheese - Sour cream, cream cheese or heavy cream can also be used in place of the mascarpone.
- Meat - Add cooked sliced or ground sausage or meatballs to make this soup even heartier.
- Extra cheese - add some freshly grated parmesan to the top of your bowl of soup for some extra cheesiness!
- Vegan - to make this soup vegan, omit the mascarpone soup and replace it with a can of coconut milk.
Melinda
What a brilliant idea to add mascarpone cheese to a scratch made tomato soup. I'm making this for my family!! Thank you for sharing.
Amanda
So happy to hear this, thank you and let me know how you and your family enjoyed it!
Jean
I love the smell of fresh basil and this recipe is so warming and tasty, we have rain lately and this soup is the perfect fix
Amanda
I agree, thank you!
nancy
excellent take with the added mascarpone cheese!
Amanda
Thank you! It makes the soup super creamy!