Creamy Tomato Bisque (with grilled cheese croutons!)

Easy tomato bisque made with simple ingredients. This is a version of the classic tomato soup that we all know, finished with a touch of cream for that super creamy and smooth texture. Ready in under an hour!

Stovetop, soup maker, and Instant Pot insctructions included.

What is tomato bisque?

Bisque is a French-style smooth type of soup just like chowder, and the difference between a tomato bisque and a tomato soup is the extra smoothness that is given to the tomato bisque when adding heavy cream.

What’s special about bisque is the texture, it’s quite thick, smooth, and velvety.

Tomato bisque ingredients

• Olive oil.
• Onion, carrot, garlic, and celery.
• Fresh vine tomatoes – I don’t recommend substituting with canned plum or diced tomatoes.
• Parsley, and basil leaves.
• Ground black pepper, and salt.
• Vegetable stock – I make my own homemade vegetable stock in my Instant Pot, check out my recipe. It’s much healthier and cheaper than store-bought.
• Whipping cream (I used soy cream).

How to make tomato bisque over the stovetop?

• Heat olive oil in a pot, and saute onions until soft and translucent.
• Add minced garlic, and cook for 1 minute or until it’s fragrant.
• Add carrot and celery, and cook until they soften.
• Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Then add some parsley leaves (optional), and vegetable stock.
• Lower the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Allow it to slightly cool, then blend until smooth using an immersion blender.
• Mix in whipping cream, and serve.

How to make tomato bisque in a soup maker?

• Add all of the ingredients to the soup maker, make sure that you do not cross the MAX line.
• Allow the soup to be cooked on “Smooth” setting. Open the lid, and allow the soup to cool down for a couple of minutes, then mix in the heavy cream and serve.

How to make tomato bisque in the Instant Pot?

• In the Instant Pot, heat olive oil on SAUTE setting, and saute onions until soft and translucent.
• Add minced garlic, and cook for 1 minute or until it’s fragrant.
• Add carrot and celery, and cook until they soften. Switch off the SAUTE setting.
• Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Then add some parsley leaves (optional), and vegetable stock.
• Cover with the lid, and make sure that the vent is on SEALING position. Press on PRESSURE COOK or MANUAL, and set at 10 minutes. Allow the Instant Pot to come to pressure and cook. When it’s done, allow it to naturally release the steam for 3 minutes, then quickly release the rest of the steam. Or allow the steam to naturally release till the end.
• Open the lid, and blend the soup until smooth using an immersion blender.
• mix in heavy cream, and serve.

Adding parsley and basil leaves is optional. You could add in basil leaves with the heavy cream before blending if you like. Or just use them to garnish the soup.

Garnish the soup with swirls of heavy cream, I usually use a fork to do that. You can make them pretty with a toothpick if you like.

Grilled cheese sandwiches or croutons

Tomato soup and grilled cheese croutons are a match made in heaven! I mean, what’s a tomato soup without grilled cheese croutons?!

To make them, get a griddle pan and heat it. Put a thick layer of cheese in the middle of 2 slices of bread, and spread butter over the bread from the outside. Place that on a hot griddle and allow the cheese to melt and the bread to brown and become toasted.

Slice the grilled cheese sandwich into smaller pieces, and serve with the soup.

What to serve this soup with?

• Croutons
• Crackers
• Grilled cheese sandwich
• Crumpets
• Toast

Other soup recipes that you might like

• Roasted rutabaga soup
• Instant Pot cauliflower soup
• Slow cooker butternut squash soup
• Beet borsch soup
• Instant Pot chicken noodle soup