The Best Tomatoes To Use In Your Homemade Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is well-loved for its comforting qualities and famous pairing with grilled cheese. It consistently hits the spot every time you're craving for something warm and cozy, and best of all, it's so easy to make. With some tomatoes and a handful of herby seasonings on hand, all it takes is a bit of blending and simmering to have fresh soup ready. However, quality and type of ingredients are always important. So do your tomato soup some good by using Italian San Marzano tomatoes.

Mashed recipe developer Sher Castellano highlighted the special qualities of the San Marzano tomato in her quick and easy 15-minute tomato soup recipe. Tomatoes come in many shapes and sizes, and although they share the common factor of being delicious, they should be treated differently. The San Marzano tomato, for example, has unique and vibrant qualities that make it ideal for recipes where tomato is the standout ingredient, like tomato soup. As Castellano points out, San Marzano is "the best option for this soup because of its flavor." Once you add this tomato to your ingredient arsenal, it'll be hard not to reach for it.

There are many things that make San Marzano tomatoes such a special variety, starting with their shape. They are long and pointed in a way that's even more exaggerated than that of its Italian cousin, the Roma tomato. Their skin becomes a vivid red and can peel right off once it's ripe. They have thicker interior walls and contain less seed goop than your average tomato. To boot, when you're buying cans of the real thing, they should come with a Protected Designation of Origin (POD) quality seal that confirms this product has been grown in Campania, Italy, where rich volcanic soils impart distinctive flavor to the tomatoes and make them so unique. POD products come with a slightly higher cost, but that seems well worth it for an outstanding soup.

Although this tomato is on the fancier side, Castellano notes that "San Marzanos are accessible at all grocery stores" so they will be easy to find. Purchasing them canned is just about the easiest upgrade to give your tomato soup extra tomato intensity. The lesson here: Quick recipes can taste just as good as long ones if you're using quality ingredients. Castellano recommends eating her tomato soup recipe with "crusty bread, grilled cheese, or anything carby and cozy."