Copycat La Madeleine Tomato Basil Soup

Rich, tangy tomatoes and fragrant basil are mellowed with cream in this copycat La Madeleine tomato basil soup. This is a favorite around here! I make it often since it's very simple, requiring no chopping - mainly hands off simmer time.

The original emerged in a 1994 Fort Worth Star-Telegram article by Beverly Bundy and has been circulated around the web. After making this many times, I've tweaked it a bit to get it just how we like it. I reduced the cream and butter and made a few minor changes in the cooking instructions.

You can use any broth, but I love adding homemade broth or bone broth for added nutrition. There's nothing so satisfying as getting those minerals and amino acids into my kids to strengthen them from the inside out.

My son likes taking this to school in a thermos (this is the one he uses). His thermos holds two cups of soup so I'm freezing 4-cup batches so that he can pull one out of the freezer at the start of the week and have soup for a couple of days. I use pyrex containers.

Another thought - this is a great meal to bring to those in need because it's little work and such a widely loved recipe.

Serve it with crusty sourdough and a green salad. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! (Amazon links are affiliate - thanks for your support!)

Recipe: Copycat La Madeleine Tomato Basil Soup

Prep: 5 min
Cook time: 40 min
Serves: 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups canned crushed tomatoes (I use Pomi finely chopped)
2 cups tomato juice
2 cups chicken broth or bone broth
1 teaspoon salt (if your tomatoes and broth are unsalted)
10-12 medium-large basil leaves, roughly torn or chopped
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup heavy cream (original recipe calls for a full cup)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Simmer the tomatoes, juice and broth (and salt if tomatoes/broth are unsalted) in a medium pot for 30 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Carefully pour half of the soup into a blender and add in the basil leaves. Pulse until the texture is a little smoother and the basil leaves are chopped and distributed throughout the soup. I prefer to keep a little texture in the soup so I don't blend it long, but you can blend it until it's totally smooth if you'd like.

3. Pour the blended soup back into the pot over low heat. Add in the butter and cream until heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy with salad and crusty bread!