A straight-down-the-middle, simple, nostalgic-tasting tomato soup with long-cooked flavor, thanks to a generous amount of aromatics and a short but intense cook time under pressure. This is pretty delicious on its own but would be an ideal teammate for a great grilled cheese sandwich.
Ingredients
6 servings
¼
2
1
2
1
¼
2
3
1
Special Equipment
Preparation
Step 1
Heat oil in Instant Pot on the Sauté setting. Add onions and sliced fennel; season with a big pinch of kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start to soften and sweat, about 2 minutes. Add paprika, fennel seeds, and cayenne (if using) and stir to coat vegetables with spices. Set lid on pot askew and continue to cook, stirring occasionally and reducing heat if needed, until vegetables are very soft but have not taken on color, 10–12 minutes. Add tomatoes, crushing them with your hands as you go, then use 1 cup water to rinse out cans and add to pot; season with kosher salt and pepper. Seal lid and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes.
Step 2
Release pressure manually, then uncover and add butter and 1 tsp. sugar to soup. Using an immersion blender directly in pot, blend until smooth. (Alternatively, allow soup to cool slightly and purée in small batches in a blender.) Taste and season with kosher salt and pepper; if soup tastes tinny or acidic, add more sugar, as needed.
Step 3
Divide soup among bowls. Serve with a drizzle of cream or a dollop of yogurt or sour cream (if using). Season with sea salt.
Step 4
Do Ahead: Soup can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.
Leave a Review
Reviews (24)
Back to TopNow the house standard. I make this often from late fall to early spring. It freezes well - just discovered an unlabeled pint container in the freezer from the last batch this year and it reheated well and tasted just as good, if not better than the first night. Keep it in your repertoire and freeze some for future you who will be grateful for half of your dinner on a busy night (you're on your own for the grilled cheese sandwich).
BJ
Northern California
7/7/2023
Love this recipe! Made it last year, such a great pairing with a good grilled cheese. The fennel really gives this recipe the depth to elevate it subtly while keeping the flavor nostalgic. I used a blender in place of an immersion blender which I do not own. Simple recipe to make as well; I've made this multiple times last year and it was a hit; looking at it again this year because I'm thinking of making it again! Def going in my book as one of the reliable recipes.
Tony P
New York, NY
11/9/2021
I love, love, love this recipe, and, even better, so does one of my teenage sons. He requests it often. I feel like the fennel and onion being sauteed together really give it a naturally sweet flavor and I haven't had anyone be able to recognize the fennel in it. So I think non-fennel fans should give it a try if they are hesitating. I follow the directions precisely and I prefer yellow onions. I use the immersion blender right in the instant pot and it really is a one-pot recipe. I usually don't add anything creamy when serving but that's just personal preference. I have served right away or made it ahead and both are good. This week, I'm going to try freezing and see how it is after a week of being thawed and reheated. Perfect tomato soup to go with grilled cheese in my opinion.
Kate B-G
Sunnyvale, CA
9/7/2021
I don’t have an instant pot so if I was just making it on top of the stove how would I adapt the cooking time ? Or could I use my crock pot ?
Anonymous
Winnipeg
8/25/2021
can this recipe be used in a slow cooker application?
Rosevelt
Westlake, Ca
11/29/2020
I just made this delicious soup. We're having it with grilled cheese on sourdough bread. As a heads up to the person who melted the lid to the pot, right after I started using my Instant Pot, I bought a glass lid that is sold separately for those times you're not cooking under pressure. I'll make this soup again and again.
Sandy Levy
North Carolina
10/23/2020
Absolutely amazing, made it for my family for iftar and they loved it. 10/10 would recommend
Anonymous
5/2/2020
Added 3 grated carrots and 1 red bell pepper. Topped it with parmesan cheese. Delish!
Anonymous
Montreal, Canada
5/1/2020
I wasn't really a soup guy but made this for my sick fiance. That has now changed. I crushed a whole loaf of bread making grilled cheeses over the next 3 days. This will be a winter go-to.
New Jersey
12/2/2019
You should NOT set the instant pot lid on pot askew while the vegetables continue to cook. The steam from the pot melted the plastic on the lid and now my instant pot is broken and unusable. So disappointing!
Anonymous
Boston
11/24/2019
New favorite tomato soup recipe! I especially appreciate that this soup isn't seasoned like a spaghetti sauce...I hate when tomato soups taste like thin marinara. THIS soup recipe is delicious, and I don't think it needed anything. Try this, you won't be disappointed!
Anonymous
Colorado, Man
11/11/2019
I loved this! Not a fan of smoked paprika so I did not use that. I also did not use the cayenne pepper. What I did add just before eating this was the Garlic Chile Oil that I made for another recipe from Bon Appetit. It was an excellent touch.
Anonymous
Harwich, MA
10/19/2019
I am a fan of the roasted tomato/red pepper soup from Trader Joe’s since it has more depth than Campbell’s (I usually add more cayenne and paprika to flavor it up a bit more) and almost didn’t try this recipe bc my expectations were low after perusing the ingredients. I’m really glad I did bc it’s really really good. Ditto to a previous comment about adding roasted red peppers, or even roasted tomatoes—a good modification. I used San Marzano but I think they do roasted whole tomatoes too. Volume-wise, I got two 32oz take-out containers out of it, plus one more serving when I was done — great for dinner tonight and freezing for later.
Anonymous
Houston
3/29/2019
Very good, but there's a strong smoked paprika and fennel flavor, so if you're looking to relive Campbells this isn't the soup for you.
Anonymous
California
3/18/2019
Can’t we make it with pureed tomatoes?
Picolabb
Ankara, Turkey
3/14/2019