Yesterday I spent several hours outside in the freezing cold for a Christmas event in Oxford. I came home to this soup, which I put in the slow cooker 7 hours before. For me, a huge soup lover, this was better than coming home to my gorgeous dogs. Or my husband. This was soup heaven. Keep your mulled wine or hot tea – give me soup any day of the year – especially in the winter when nothing short of submerging myself in a boiling hot bath can warm my bones.
The original version of this recipe is vegan, so please visit this site to see the vegan version.
I have a feeling this is going to become a winter staple in my kitchen. I have soup (and salad) almost every day for lunch, unless I have dinner leftovers. And I really hate store bought soup – even from the refrigerator section (never from a can – ew!). Enjoy!


- 10-12 Small to Medium Tomatoes (Diced)
- Fresh Basil Leaves (approx 10 leaves-more if you like)
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 2 Cups 2% Milk
- 2 tbsp Whole Wheat Flour
- Place your tomatoes and basil and pepper into the slow cooker.
- Whisk the milk and flour together and pour over tomatoes into crock pot.
- Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours
- Blend the soup
- This soup tastes amazing! It needed salt though, which was not in the original recipe – not much, but a tad. You could wait until it’s served and let each person season to their own preference.
- I cooked it a bit too long. The recipe said 6 hours, but I left it around 7 hours. Next time I would make sure I cooked it 5-6 hours.
- It could have used a second tablespoon of tomato puree just to intensify the tomato flavour.
- I don’t think the butter is needed and would omit it next time to make the soup even healthier.
- This recipe doesn’t make a huge batch. It’s enough for only a couple of bowls – three at the most. I would double it next time if serving as a family main dish, or if I wanted a week’s worth of lunches.