I make homemade tomato soup pretty frequently. It’s quick, easy and so good!
Plus all the ingredients are things that are easily kept on hand. I do have buy the tomato juice special, but it keeps in the pantry until I’m ready to use it.
But the last time I made this soup, it curdled. I made sure not to boil it, but it still curdled. Curdled tomato soup is still edible. There’s nothing about it that will hurt you. It’s just not as good, because the texture is off.
So last night I was determined to avoid curdling. I went on an internet search and found a few tricks that might help.
There were several tips for stirring milk into the base or vice versa. A couple of sites mentioned that the heat is part of what causes curdling. One site mentioned using baking soda to help neutralize the acid.
I decided to tweak my recipe with some of these ideas.
I added 1/4 tsp. baking soda to the flour when making the roux.
I used cold milk instead of warmed, which my original recipe called for.
I whisked in the milk very, very slowly. I’m pretty sure I’ve curdled the soup before, just by being impatient and pouring in the milk too fast.
And I heated the finished soup over low heat. It took a few minutes longer, but it worked!
I’ve updated my recipe for Homemade Tomato Soup so it shows all of these steps now.
Don’t miss the grilled cheese croutons to top it off!
I do admit that last night we just had regular grilled cheese with our soup. Either way, this is an easy winter supper.
I remembered that my mother would use baking soda but couldn’t remember how she combined it. Great idea of putting it in the flour. One time in an emergency I used tomato soup out of the can. My children’s response? “Mom why did you put so much salt in the soup?” It’s my homemade canned tomato soup with my garden vegetables from the summer.
SLOWLY (1/4 cup at a time) – ALWAYS add the warmed Acid (tomatoes) into the warmed dairy (milk or cream), NOT NOT NOT the warmed dairy into the warmed acid. (Never Boil-before or after mixing together- never a boil, Never! 170-180 degrees is the perfect temperature).
A little acid into a LOT of dairy won’t curdle BUT a little dairy into a LOT of acid will ALWAYS curdle.
Thanks! I was asked to make tomato soup for 70 and cannot, cannot blow it!
Can you “can” cream of tomato soup by adding lemon to preserve it? Will it keep & will it curdle in the jar?
Look for canning recipes at USDA sites or state university extension sites. osaextension.org
My Dad use to make homemade tomato soup. He had two pots , the one pot had the tomatoes in it which he added baking soda, salt and pepper. He would heat this pot till it was very hot. The second pot was milk and he would warm the milk not hot. Then he use to say it is very important that you put the hot tomatoes into the warm milk so it doesn’t curdle. That is how I always did it. Simple and good no roux