This is a fantastic everyday kind of soup, one you can make when you don’t have much fresh produce on hand, but still want a filling and nutritious meal. We make this kind of tomato pasta soup – sometimes changing up the vegetables – several times a month and it’s especially good during the colder months.

With a base of tinned tomatoes, a carrot, onion, beans, and dried pasta, it’s budget-friendly and works just about any time of year. Truly, we have it all the time. Graham made almost this exact soup today, only with lentils in place of the beans. The key to this recipe is slowly cooking the base ingredients for a more complex flavour.

For some more soup recipes that use a can of tomatoes, try this very cosy winter vegetable minestrone, simple carrot, red lentil, and spinach soup (my go-to empty refrigerator meal), or rice, lentil, and butternut squash soup.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Pasta: this can be any type of short pasta. I always use a whole grain pasta, something like spelt or einkorn macaroni or shells. Use gluten-free if needed.
• Beans: this can be any kind of cooked or canned beans you like. Kidney, white, and chickpeas are ideal. I don’t recommend using black beans. Cooked or canned lentils (rinsed well) make a good substitute.
• Tomatoes: tinned or jarred chopped tomatoes. If you only have whole tomatoes, chop them with scissors (I do this right in the can) before adding to the soup.
• Herbs: a herb mix like herbes de Provence or some kind of pizza blend will be great. Otherwise thyme, oregano, and basil are all good choices.
• Tomato paste: this adds a lot of richness and a fuller flavour to the soup. Make sure you cook it as instructed – if you forgot to add it then, don’t add it with the chopped tomatoes, it will taste strange. If you don’t have tomato paste, you can substitute 50 ml (¼ cup) dry red wine.
• Broth: use homemade vegetable broth if you’re feeling ambitious. Otherwise store-bought cubes are perfectly fine. For this recipe, you can use water in place of the broth, making sure to season well.

Step by Step

Step 1: cook the carrot, onion, and garlic until soft and fragrant.

Step 2: add the tomato paste and cook for another five minutes.

Step 3: add the tomatoes, broth, and chickpeas. Bring to a boil.

Step 4: add the pasta and cook for another 8-10 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

While the ingredients for this soup are very simple, a couple of important cooking techniques make all the different, so pay attention to the instructions. The carrot and onion mixture must be cooked slowly. If it’s cooked too quickly, and browned, the soup will have a bitter undertone rather than a sweet one. The tomato paste must also be cooked for the full five minutes, or it will taste raw and unpleasant. Cooking it for the stated time will caramelise it. If you don’t take the time needed for these steps, your soup will be boring and one-note and it can be hard to pin down why.

How to Store

Storage: keep any leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Note that the pasta will soak up much of the broth as it rests and the soup will thicken. You can thin it out with a splash of water when reheating.

Freezing: transfer fully cooled soup to freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating as usual.

Expert Tips

• Cook the onion slowly: for the carrot and onion mix at the beginning, it is cooked rather slowly over lower heat. This really improves the flavour of the soup so don’t try to speed things up at this step (it’s the same concept as a mirepoix, without celery, and pinçage with the added tomato paste). You want to add a note of sweetness as the base and cooking slowly accomplishes it.
• Season to taste: I repeat this tip again and again, especially for soups, but it really is the best thing you can do when cooking. Taste before serving, taste while you’re cooking, and adjust the amount of salt as needed. Everyone will have a personal preference for the amount of salt they like and you can consider the amount called for in the recipe to be a starting point.
• Adjust the cooking time: different types of pasta will require different cooking times. Around eight minutes is an estimate but if you use alphabet noodles, for example, you might only need four minutes. Check the package to be sure.

More Warming Soups

Cauliflower Potato Soup
Spicy Pinto Bean Soup
Carrot and Parsnip Soup
White Bean Stew