How to Make Canned Tomato Soup 10x Better

Last summer, my youngest child had a mission: homemade tomato soup. He’d run out to the garden with the determination of a tiny farmer and come back clutching a handful of cherry tomatoes, grinning ear to ear. “Can you make soup with these?” he’d ask, holding up his prized harvest.

It was the sweetest thing, but he never had quite enough tomatoes. He’d add them to a little bowl on the counter, checking daily to see if we’d reached “soup level.” Spoiler alert: we didn’t. I’d gently explain that we’d need a lot more tomatoes, but he’d just nod and head back to the garden to see if there were more to harvest.

Even though his plan didn’t quite pan out, I loved his enthusiasm—and the fact that he loves tomato soup! Out of all six of my kids, he's the only one and he's quite happy with canned tomato soup, which is great because he is a notoriously picky eater. He’ll turn his nose up at most foods, but tomato soup is the one thing he’ll happily eat without a fight.

Since he’s the only tomato soup enthusiast in the house, I’ve made it my mission to convince the others to get on board. One of our favorite food follows, food writer, recipe developer and soon-to-be cookbook author Grace Elkus Bianconi may have the answer I need. She shared on Instagram (@graceelkus) an easy way to make canned tomato soup richer and creamier and sneak in a little extra protein along the way. I can't wait to give this a try!

Related: The One Ingredient That Makes Ina Garten's Tomato Soup a Must-Make

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Why You Should Add Cottage Cheese to Canned Tomato Soup

The focus of Bianconi's post is her genius take on egg in a hole (more on that in a bit), but as soon as I saw the tomato soup I was taking notes for my little guy. To make it, she said to "pour as much soup as you’d like into a blender and add a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese." You blend that mixture until it's smooth, then warm it on the stovetop over low heat.

The cottage cheese adds a rich creaminess to the soup and it also adds a good amount of protein, which is great when you have growing kids to feed. And even if you don't care for cottage cheese this is a good trick to try. Once it's blended into the soup you'll hardly know it's there. All you'll know is that this bowl of soup is richer and creamier than usual. Yum!

Related: It’s Soup Season! Here Are 21 of the Best High-Protein Soup Recipes

How to Make a Great Sandwich to Go Along with Your Upgraded Tomato Soup

Now back to that egg in a hole. While the soup is simmering, place a small pile of cheese in the center of one slice of bread and then top it with the second slice. Cut out the center with an uncrustable sandwich maker, if you have one. If you don't, you use a mason jar lid, biscuit cutter or even a drinking glass and crimp the edges of the sandwich with your fingers or a fork.

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and then add both the bread slices (the ones with the holes in them) and the mini sandwich and cook until they're golden brown on one side. Flip the sandwich and bread slices and reduce the heat to medium-low.

Crack the eggs into the bread cut-outs and season the eggs with salt and pepper (or whatever seasoning you like). Cook this for one minute and remove the mini sandwich from the pan.

Flip the bread slices with the egg still in them. Sprinkle with more cheese, then cover the pan with a lid and cook the egg for 30 seconds if you want a runny yolk, or longer for a firm yolk. Serve the egg in the holes with the mini grilled cheese and the warm tomato soup.

I think my kids would love this because they do love grilled cheese sandwiches and eggs, so maybe pairing the soup with these will make them more apt to eat the soup. All I can do is try—and if they don't like it that just means more for me!

Related: How to Make Vegetable Soup 10x Better, According to My Chef-Husband