Easy Green Tomato Soup

Smooth and beautiful green tomato soup made with coconut milk or cream and served with croutons and basil. A simple and delicious way of using unripe green tomatoes at the end of the season.

Try this unique green tomato soup recipe this season! It’s easy to make and tasty, allowing you to use some of the leftover green tomatoes from your garden.

What else to do with lots of green tomatoes? Don’t stick to making fried green tomatoes; they’re excellent, but there is much more you can do with the unripe produce. I make Green Tomato Salsa Verde, Green Tomato Bread, and Green Tomato Sauce every year, but a simple soup shouldn’t be underrated.

You will be surprised by the soup’s flavors. The tang of the unripe vegetables is balanced by using coconut milk or heavy cream, and the curry makes it slightly spicy. Not to mention that this green tomato soup is the perfect vehicle for those amazing crispy, homemade croutons.

Recipe ingredients

For the soup:

• Unripe green tomatoes of any sort or size. As you can see in the photographs, all I had to make this soup were unripe cherry tomatoes. I saved the larger ones for making Pickled Green Tomatoes and Green Tomatoes on the Grill.

• Coconut milk or heavy cream. I tried both versions of the soup, and I love both of them, so the choice is yours. Both coconut milk and heavy cream temper the acidity of the green tomatoes and contribute to making the soup smooth and creamy.
  • Coconut milk makes the green tomato soup vegan and dairy-free, should that interest you.

• Vegetable stock: Use your favorite brand. Alternatively, you can make the soup with chicken stock.

• Curry powder or paste: One teaspoon of curry powder or one tablespoon of curry paste. I use a mild yellow curry powder this time, but you can use your favorite brand.
  • Some mixtures or brands are much hotter than others; use curry according to taste and heat tolerance.

• Other ingredients: Olive oil (or butter), one medium onion, two garlic cloves, fresh basil, and a little sugar.

For the croutons:

• Bread: Three large slices of good sourdough bread, about ¾ inch/ 2 cm thick. They will weigh more or less 6 oz/ 170 g.
  • You can make croutons with white bread as well.

• Olive oil

• Spices: Fine sea salt, ground black pepper, sweet paprika, and cayenne pepper.
  • You can use a spice mixture or pretty much any other spices instead. Try garlic powder, onion powder, dried herbs like thyme, oregano, rosemary, curry powder, ras-el-hanout, and so on.

How to make soup with unripe green tomatoes?

Make the croutons

• Preheat the oven to 400°F/ 200°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Remove the bread crust. Cut the bread into circa ¾ inch/ 2 cm large cubes (1).
• Place them on the baking sheet.

• Season bread cubes: Mix the spices in a small bowl. Drizzle the bread cubes with the oil, sprinkle them with the spice mixture and toss them well to coat all over (2).
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, tossing halfway until the croutons are golden brown, crisp on the outside, but still just a bit soft in the middle (3).

Make the soup

• Chop the clean tomatoes (4). Set them aside. Chop the onion and set it aside. Chop the garlic and set it aside separately.

• Heat oil or butter in a medium soup pot. Cook the onions until translucent, 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently (5).
• Add garlic, curry powder, or paste, and the sugar, and stir well for about 1 minute (6).

• Add tomatoes, stir well and saute everything for 3-4 minutes (7).
• Cook: Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil (8).

• Simmer: Turn the heat down to medium-low, cover the pot and simmer the green tomato soup for about 20-25 minutes or until the vegetables are soft (9).
• Blend the soup with an immersion blender (10).

• Pour in the coconut milk or heavy cream and reheat the soup.
• Add the finely chopped basil and adjust the taste with salt, pepper, and maybe a bit more sugar if necessary.
• Garnish with more basil and maybe a few drops of sesame oil (optional but nice).
• Serve with croutons.

Expert Tips

• You can make the soup with a combination of unripe and semi-ripe tomatoes.

• To make the soup thinner, you can add more stock after blending the soup.

• I don’t recommend using milk for this recipe; you will need thicker, richer coconut milk or heavy cream. I made the soup once with milk, but it was not right.

• Blending: It’s preferable to blend soups and other hot liquids using an immersion blender (Amazon affiliate link). When using a food processor, you must proceed carefully to avoid the risk of the blender’s lid exploding.

If you decide to use a stand blender or the food processor, you must follow a few steps:

• Let the soup cool slightly before blending.
• Blend it in batches.
• Place a thick, folded towel on the machine and hold it steady (11).
• Increase the speed only gradually.
• Pour the blended soup into a pot and repeat with another batch.

Recipe FAQ

How to serve?

Serve the green tomato soup with croutons, a few extra leaves of chopped basil, and maybe a drop or two of sesame oil, which enhances the flavor.

If you decide not to make the croutons, serve the soup with a few slices of crusty bread on the side. Check out our Spelt Bread (No-Rise, No-Knead Bread), Oat Bread without Yeast, Flaxseed Bread, Easy Yogurt Soda Bread, or Buckwheat Bread.

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