Spicy Roasted Tomato Soup
Updated July 8, 2026
Ghazalle Badiozamani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Brett Regot.
- Ready In
- 50 min
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
2 pounds medium to large tomatoes, cut into eighths
1 medium yellow onion (about 7 ounces), cut into 1-inch chunks
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 to 2 whole oil-packed Calabrian chiles (stems removed), plus 1 teaspoon of the oil (or ½ to 1 tablespoon chopped Calabrian chiles in oil), plus more for serving (see Tip)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
5 teaspoons olive oil
Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper
½ teaspoon dried basil
1 quart (4 cups) low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
½ teaspoon sugar (see Tip)
3 tablespoons heavy cream, plus more for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 to 6 servings)
20 grams carbs; 13 milligrams cholesterol; 184 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 10 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 885 milligrams sodium; 7 grams protein; 10 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a large Dutch oven or oven-safe, heavy-bottomed pot, combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic, Calabrian chiles and oil, tomato paste, olive oil, 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and dried basil. Toss until the vegetables are evenly coated with the oil and tomato paste.
- Step 2
Place the pot in the oven, uncovered, and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Roast until the tomatoes are soft and the juices have been released and start to bubble and thicken around the sides of the pot, 25 to 30 minutes total (including the oven heating), stirring halfway through.
- Step 3
Transfer the pot to a burner over high heat and stir in the broth and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until a fork easily pierces the vegetables, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream.
- Step 4
Use a blender (working in batches as needed) or immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Serve warm with a drizzle of cream or Calabrian chile oil, if desired.
The soup gets a lot of flavor from the Calabrian chile, but if needed, you can substitute with ½ to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper plus 1 teaspoon olive oil. After blending, stir in 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons lemon juice until the soup tastes bright.
If the soup tastes too acidic for your liking, you can balance it with a pinch or two more sugar. Use sparingly.
Private Notes
Comments
It is a lot of work to peel them but if you just put the whole finished soup through a large strainer, pushing it through with a ladle, you will be able to remove any remaining particulates and get a smoother soup.
Made this according to directions… not particularly good. There were too many seeds and particulates from the chilis, the amount of the chicken broth was way too much so that the soup was watery. Also just diluted the flavor so that it was spicy but bland. For the left overs I added a cup of milk, and am hoping that sitting in the fridge overnight will intensify the flavor….woulnd’t put this in the rotation as is.
This was fantastic! The only thing I did differently was keep the skin on the tomatoes and pureed it all with my stick blender, as I like my soup with some texture and fiber: seeds and skin. No straining. It was delicious! I served it with grilled cheese and arugula sandwiches and a light rosé. A perfect summer dinner!
Mine was a little too hot and too thin. I didn’t have any more heavy cream so I added a 1 Tbs of butter. It tamed the heat a little and made it creamier. Next time maybe a little less Calabrian chilies and a little less broth.
This works best as a "no-recipe" recipe. I happened to have already roasted some bland grocery-store tomatoes and had a couple of small onions, garlic, and most of the other ingredients, including homemade chicken bone broth, in the freezer. NM green chile is our go-to pantry item, so I used it instead of Calabrian chiles. The soup needed a lot more than 1/2 t. of dried basil, but then turned out pretty good! I will be using recipes like this for any other subpar tomatoes that we get.
This was very good - going into the regular rotation. It needs dark, ripe tomatoes, though. Go easy on the oil from the pepper. It lasted a couple of days, and got spicier with time and reheating!