This quick and easy apple tomato soup is perfect for chilly fall days! Simple, seasonal ingredients and ready in under an hour. Vegan, Vegetarian.
This recipe was originally published in 2014. It was updated in 2020 with additional photos and notes.
In a hurry? Click here to jump straight to the recipe!
This tomato apple soup is the ultimate summer-to-fall transition food.
It’s perfect for that weird in-between time when you’re definitely kind of ready for soup weather but also less-than-psyched to say goodbye to fresh summer tomatoes.
Also: This is a great tomato soup recipe for people who don’t love tomato soup. The subtle sweetness you get from the apples here really cuts the acidity of the tomatoes, so the soup feels much more balanced.
How we’ll make this homemade tomato soup (spoiler alert: It’s simple AF)
- Sauté some onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil.
- Throw in some roughly chopped tomatoes and apples with a few bay leaves and some salt and pepper. Give it a stir and cook everything down until it’s soft.
- Pull out the bay leaves, turn off the heat, and hit your soup with an immersion blender until it’s ultra-smooth.
A few general tips:
- Taste as you go! There are just four main ingredients in this soup (onion, garlic, tomatoes, apples) so seasoning is ESPECIALLY important here. Taste the soup once it’s puréed and add salt if the flavors aren’t quite “popping” yet.
- This soup will vary in flavor, texture, and consistency depending on your ingredients. If your apples are especially sweet, your soup will be, too – so give them a taste before you stir everything together and don’t be afraid to dial the tomatoes or apples up or down based on your personal preference! If the soup is too thick after blending, add a splash of water or stock to thin it out. Too thin? Let it simmer on low heat until it’s reduced to your desired consistency.
- Use any apples you like! For this soup, I prefer apples that fall somewhere in the middle on the sweetness spectrum: Sansa, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, Cortland, Northern Spy, and Prairie Spy apples have all worked well in this soup. Granny Smith apples can be a little too tart here, and some Fuji and Red Delicious apples can be a little too sweet. When in doubt, just give it a taste!
- Use ripe, flavorful tomatoes with concentrated flavor. Roma, San Marzano, heirloom, and even cherry tomatoes work well here. Skip the pale grocery store beefsteak tomatoes here – they typically don’t have as much flavor.
Riffs & substitutions
This is a simple recipe, and it’s easy to customize! A few of our favorite riffs:
- Roast the tomatoes for extra flavor. For extra depth and richness, roast the tomatoes, garlic, and onion together on a sheet pan (just like we do in our roasted tomato soup!) until they’re soft and begin to caramelize. Then throw the roasted veggies in a pot with the chopped apples and proceed as directed!
- You can use canned tomatoes, but try to find fresh if you can. Fresh, rich, sweet summer tomatoes are really where it’s at here. If you can’t find high-quality tomatoes, use two large cans of crushed tomatoes.
- For extra creaminess, add a splash of heavy cream (if you’re not vegan) or coconut milk to this soup. A good immersion blender should give you a smooth, creamy soup, but if there’s still too much texture you can purée it in a high-powered blender or run it through a sieve or food mill to pull out any remaining solid pieces.
- To make it a little heartier, use this tomato soup as a base and add mix-ins like tortellini or gnocchi, shredded chicken or Italian sausage, herbs (basil and thyme are both good!), kale, spinach, or diced squash (butternut or pumpkin).
Apple Tomato Soup
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4–6 1x
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This easy, creamy apple tomato soup is perfect for fall.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 pound apples, cored and roughly chopped (approximately 2 large apples or 3 small apples)
- 4 pounds fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped (approximately 14–16 roma tomatoes)
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add onions and garlic and sauté until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Add apples, tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, and pepper to the pot and stir to combine.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are very soft and tomatoes have released most of their liquid – about 45 minutes.
- Remove pot from heat. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
- Use an immersion blender to carefully purée soup until it’s smooth. This can take a few minutes!
- Taste soup and add salt if necessary.
- Serve immediately. Garnish with a drizzle of good olive oil and a bit of fresh cracked pepper (optional).
Notes
Taste and add salt if necessary. There aren’t many ingredients in this soup, so seasoning is extra important! Give it a taste and add a pinch of salt to help the flavors pop.
What kind of apples should I use? We like to use semi-sweet apples in this recipe: Sansa, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, Cortland, Northern Spy, and Prairie Spy apples all work well. Just remember that if your apples are especially sweet or tart, the soup will be, too!
What kind of tomatoes should I use? We recommend using ripe, sweet summer tomatoes for this recipe: Roma tomatoes, San Marzanos, heirlooms, or cherry tomatoes work well here. You can use 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes in a pinch (but it’s better with fresh!) For extra flavor, roast the tomatoes, onions, and garlic before making this soup.
If you don’t have an immersion blender, carefully transfer soup to a blender in batches and blend until smooth. A good blender or immersion blender should give you a very smooth soup (even though we don’t peel the apples and tomatoes here, though you can certainly add this step if you like!) but if you’d like an even smoother consistency you can strain the soup through a mesh sieve or run it through a food mill.
Adjusting the consistency. The texture of this soup will vary depending on your ingredients – if it’s too thin after blending, let it simmer on low heat until it thickens a bit. If it’s too thick, stir in a splash of water, stock, o heavy cream to thin it out.
For extra creaminess, add a splash of heavy cream or coconut milk to this soup.
Safety tip: Make sure the head of your immersion blender is completely submerged in the soup to avoid splashes and burns. Always use caution when blending hot liquids.
Serve with our favorite Easy Crusty Bread!
Keywords: fall, vegan, vegetarian
This is a very good soup. I was surprised at how sweet it is. I used Honeycrisp apples, and coconut milk. Might tweak it to add more tomatoes as the apples and coconut milk overpowered the tomato taste a bit. Still will add it to the rotation of fall/winter soup rotation!
★★★★
We’re so happy to hear you’ll be adding it to your rotation!
Gave this soup a try – turned out delicious 😋
Hi Komal, thank you!
Sounds yummy. Will try and let you know how it turns out.
Hello Linda, thanks! How did it turn out?
Hi Jessie, I just found your blog and I love it!! I’m pinning about a million of your recipes, and your vegan jambalaya is cooking up right now. I feel you on the pumpkin – honestly, I’ll be more excited about Christmas peppermint 🙂 Thanks for sharing all these amazing recipes!
Oooh, this sounds so good. Also, I am right there with you on not being ready to let go of summer just yet. Fresh summer produce is the BEST! Plus, I’m a wimp in the cold.