This recipe has been around for a long time in various forms. Once you get the general concept down, it’s really easy to swap out ingredients to better suit your tastes. My absolute favorite tomato-based soup is the vegetable soup at Medieval Times. It’s packed with vegetables and so flavorful, but everything is finely diced so that you can sip it instead of needing a spoon. (Eating utensils are not allowed at Medieval Times!) Well, I am absolutely never in the mood to finely dice a bunch of vegetables, so I hesitated to try to replicate the soup… until I heard of this recipe. What do we frequently buy that has tons of chopped veggies and is loaded with flavor?? Salsa! Add some chicken broth and a bit of simmering on the stove and you have a lovely bowl of warm vegetable soup. I add plenty of butter and sort of sauté the salsa first to make sure the veggies are nice and soft. Butter enhances the tomato flavor and gives the soup a great mouth feel. I’ll show you the steps for this 3 Ingredient Hearty Tomato Vegetable Soup and then chat a bit more about what else you can do with this recipe.
- 16oz Salsa
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 32oz. Chicken Broth
- Pour the salsa in a medium saucepan and drop in the butter.
- Simmer on medium high heat for approximately 5 minutes, until the onions are starting to get translucent.
- Pour in the chicken broth and turn the heat to medium.
- Cook for approximately 5 minutes, until butter is melted and soup is nice and hot.
- Taste the soup and, if necessary, season with salt and pepper.
Gather up:
- 16oz. Salsa
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 32oz. Chicken Broth
I use Herdez salsa, which is all natural. If you want to chop your own veggies, just spin around your salsa jar to the ingredients list to see what you need to replicate it.
Pour the salsa in a medium saucepan and drop in the butter.
Simmer on medium high heat for approximately 5 minutes, until the onions are starting to get translucent.
Pour in the chicken broth and turn the heat to medium.
Cook for approximately 5 minutes, until butter is melted and soup is nice and hot.
Taste the soup and, if necessary, season with salt and pepper.
I ate this alone, but served it for my husband with some cheese quesadillas using low carb tortillas.
The easiest things to start experimenting with here are the spice level and the texture. If you prefer a spicy soup, use an extra hot salsa with lots of jalapenos in it. If you like very chunky soup, use an extra chunky salsa. You could make this vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Here are some other ideas:
- Use Salsa Verde instead of regular salsa for a lighter, tomatillo soup
- Add shredded chicken, frozen meatballs or canned potatoes to give the soup more heft
- Top with cubes of fresh avocado (I was not fond of the idea of warm avocado until I was served an avocado omelet once. Ohhhh, you have to try warm avocado at least once in your life! Sooo good in an unexpected way!)
- Swap out the plain butter for a savory, flavored butter like garlic butter or miso butter
- Add 1 ½ cups of rice and cook on low for an additional 15-20 minutes to end up with a seasoned Mexican rice side dish
- Forget about eating it as soup altogether and use it as a nice braising liquid for short ribs or oxtails
The weather is cooling down here in Charleston and I am really grateful to have a simple, quick soup recipe that I really enjoy!
Bumped into your blog & i LOVE it!
Thanks, Ambar! How sweet of you to take the time to leave a comment! 🙂
Hi Tekesha! I meant to comment last week. I am totally trying this. Three ingredients and so easy to remember? Yes, please.
You must! Ha ha 😀