Tomato Soup in a Grilled Cheese Bowl
A crispy cheesy bowl made from grilled cheese sandwiches to serve up some comforting tomato soup! What goes better than the combo of tomato soup and grilled cheese? This is just a unique and totally different way of serving it! Pure comfort in an edible bowl!
The inspiration for this recipe
I actually have been wanting to make this for a long time! I kept talking myself out of it saying that it was a silly idea and not really worth doing. Finally, I am glad I got around to it because it ended up really fun! The overall dish was different enough from just doing grilled cheese with tomato soup, because the bowl was extra crispy in some place, and nicely saturated with tomato soup in others!
Make the tomato soup
Start with onion and garlic. I cooked the onion for about 15 minutes cause I wanted the more cooked onion flavor. Then the garlic along with some tomato paste. Cook the tomato paste in the oil like you would do with the onion and garlic to develop even more flavor.
Next add in the stock, crushed tomatoes, and lots of herbs and flavors! I used fresh parsley, dried oregano, dried basil, chili flakes, honey, and parmesan cheese. I also added some heavy cream.
How do you make a grilled cheese bowl?
Besides hesitating on this tomato soup recipe thinking it wasn’t unique enough, I also hesitated thinking the grilled cheese bowl might be tough to figure out. In the end I got it right though on the first try! I brushed the breads with lots of butter, then smashed them into this cast iron bowl. 3 slices of bread, then 3 slices of cheese, then one more bread on top.
Baking the grilled cheese bowl
Add on some foil and weigh it down. I use these black beans as pie weights.
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes, then flip out and bake another 10 so it can get crispy on the bottom.
Serving the grilled cheese bowl with tomato soup
Get the bowls on the plates, then top with the soup! I kept mine chunky but you can blend it up to make it more traditional. Top with some parmesan cheese!
Dig in right away!
These bread bowls are best to be eaten quick! I had time to take photos and plenty of video before I really ate, but any more time than that might have been too much.
These tomato soup grilled cheese bowls were amazing! So much flavor and texture. The cheese on the edges of the bowl got so crispy but it was still soft and stringy in the middle. The bread was so butter!
I also liked how you could pick this up and eat it with your hands. Yes it was super messy that way, but a lot of fun!
Twists on the grilled cheese tomato soup bowl
You can use your favorite tomato soup recipe if you want, or get store bought! I am usually winging it when I make tomato soup to make it based on how I am feeling that day. This is a more classic version if that is what you are looking for.
For more twists on tomato soup, check out my butter chicken soup with naan grilled cheese, or this meatball parm soup with a garlic knot topper!
Tomato Soup in a Grilled Cheese Bowl
Equipment
- oven safe bowls I used these
Ingredients
soup
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1 onion diced
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 4 ounces tomato paste
- 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 28 ounces crushed tomato
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 cup grated parm
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper
bowls
- 16 slices white bread
- 12 slices mild cheddar
- 1/2 stick butter
Instructions
Make the soup
- Preheat a medium pot over medium heat and add the butter. Add in the onion and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until it starts to get some color.
- Add in the garlic and tomato paste and cook another 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Add in all the remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook for about an hour on low heat. You can blend it with a hand blender if you want it to be smooth, but I kept it a little chunky for this.
Make the bowls
- Preheat oven to 400. Melt the butter in the microwave.
- Brush the bowls with butter, and brush the bread on both sides with it as well.
- Smash 3 slices of bread into each bowl and press it down as flat as you can. Make sure they overlap. Next add 3 slices of cheese. Then add the 4th slice of bread to each bowl. Press it down as much as you can to flatten it.
- Put a sheet of foil over the bread and use it to press the bread down more. Fill the foil with either pie weights, dried beans, or something else heavy to hold it in place.
- Put into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Ise a knife to make sure the bread is separated from the bowl. Flip the bread out upside down onto the baking sheet. Bake upside-down for another 10 minutes to get crispy on the bottom of the bowl. You could also broil it if needed.
- put the bowls down on the plate right side up and fill with the soup. Serve and top with extra parmesan.
Try it with chili in a grilled cheese bowl and let me know if it’s good.
Oh oh or some French onion soup in a cheesy bread bowl. Drooling now. Gotta go make it.