Our Tomato Florentine Soup Recipe is the perfect cold-weather dinner. Ready in under 30 minutes, we like to pair this easy-to-make-soup with a hearty chunk of bread or melty grilled cheese.
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Why This Recipe Works
This recipe for Tomato Florentine Soup is based off of a soup recipe from Cuisine at Home where I worked for years as an assistant editor. The history of Tomato Florentine Soup is a mystery, but it’s been said that it was served at the renowned Haussner’s Restaurant in Baltimore.
What we love most about this recipe is that it’s incredibly easy to make, has a lovely texture, and is absolutely perfect served with a grilled cheese on a chilly day. It’s also apart of our SOUP-er Simple Series, which is just one more reason why this recipe “works.”
The Soup-er Simple Series
This tomato soup recipe is part of our SOUP-er Simple Series! This means it has a short ingredient list, quick cook time, and loads of flavor. The goal is to give you more than enough soup recipes to get you through cold weeknights when all you want is something savory and steaming on the table in 30 minutes or so.
In order to be apart of the SOUP-er Simple Series, each recipe needs to hit these three criteria:
- 10 ingredients or less
- Ready in under 45 minutes
- Taste like it took hours
Ingredient Notes
We agree with Ina Garten on a lot of things, but especially the idea that in order to end up with something high-quality, you’ve gotta start with quality. Because this soup has a short and simple ingredient list, it’s imperative that you use good ingredients. Here are a few notes on the ingredients.
Dry White Wine
A short half a cup of dry white wine adds bright acidity to the soup. If you don’t have wine, or don’t want to open a bottle just for the soup we have two recommendations.
First, keep a few mini bottles of white wine on hand just for cooking. Secondly, use a mixture of chicken broth and a splash of vinegar in place of the wine. And as always, only use a wine you would enjoy drinking on its own!
Canned Tomatoes
Canned tomatoes are the base of this soup. It’s important to use whole peeled tomatoes. Tomato sauce and/or diced tomatoes will not be nearly as good. First of all, diced tomatoes have calcium carbonate added to them to firm the tomatoes up which means they won’t break down and soften during the short cooking time.
And secondly, whole peeled tomatoes have a lovely texture and flavor that are important in this soup.
Balsamic Vinegar
We recommend stocking a high-quality balsamic vinegar. With a good balsamic on hand, you’re only a handful of ingredients away from a restaurant-worthy vinaigrette. If you’re willing to spend, this is a great option. Otherwise, this balsamic vinegar is the perfect budget-option.
Test Kitchen Tips
- If you don’t want to use alcohol, use half of a cup of chicken broth and 1 teaspoon white vinegar.
- Store soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. The soup can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
What to Serve with Tomato Florentine Soup
- Grilled cheese is a go-to for us in the test kitchen. But any warm and melty sandwich is great. psst, love tomato-y, cheesy goodness? Try our Lasagna Recipe with Cottage Cheese. An absolute masterpiece!
- We also like to serve our Turkey and Fig Panini with this soup.
- Try our Rachel Sandwich (turkey Reuben) for something super-savory and satisfying.
- We love any kind of bread with this soup but our Milk Bread Rolls are a favorite.
FAQs
We don’t think the onion is as flavorful in this soup as shallot, but you can use onion instead. Use half of a cup of chopped yellow onion
Use kitchen shears to cut the tomatoes while they’re still in the can. Simple plunge the shears into the can and cut away!
Watch How to Make It
Tomato Florentine Soup
Description
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil + more for serving
- ⅔ cup chopped shallots (2 large shallots)
- Morton kosher salt
- 4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 (5-ounce) bag fresh baby spinach, chopped (4 cups packed)
- Parmesan, for serving
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium until barely shimmering. Add shallots, season with ½ teaspoon salt, and gently cook until softened and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and pepper flakes, cook 1 minute.
- Deglaze with wine then simmer until nearly evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add honey and cook until thickened and bubbly, about 1½ minutes
- Add tomatoes and their juices, crushing tomatoes with hands as you add them, 2 cups water, and basil. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender (or in batches in a standard blender) partially puree soup so large chunks are blended, but small bites of tomato and garlic remain.
- Return soup to the pot and bring it to a low simmer. Stir in balsamic vinegar and spinach; season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Top each serving of tomato soup with cracked black pepper, a drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil and large shreds of Parmesan.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
