So, thanks to the kindness of friends and family, I’ve got a half-gallon bottle of tomato juice in the refrigerator. It hasn’t been opened yet, so it might as well be in the pantry, but let’s just let that go.
Now, no one in the household is a big drinker of tomato juice. But we all love soup. Is it feasible to use this juice as the basis for a big pot of soup? And if so, does anyone have any recipes? It needn’t have meat in it; beans or shell pasta seem like they’d be nice.
Thanks in advance.
I vote for chili or vegetable soup, both which I routinely make with tomato juice.
Seconding the recommendation for vegetable soup (or beef and vegetable soup). I usually use V-8 Juice as a base for vegetable (or beef-vegetable) soup, but have subbed tomato juice on occasion.
I don’t really use a recipe but I can tell you how I do it, if you want:
Brown Beef Chunks (if using beef) in a bit of oil in a big ol’ pot. When browned, remove beef and set aside, drain any excess oil, but leave a smidgen in the pot for flavor.
Fill the same pot about halfway with water and add some cabbage (I use 1/4-1/2 a head; use more or less depending on taste) and a bay leaf or two then boil until the cabbage is done. (You can add celery- including the leaves- here too if you like it. My husband hates celery so I omit it.)
Drain about half the water, add some beef stock or beef bouillon (or vegetable stock or nothing…just whatever you like) and enough V-8 (or tomato juice) to make as much soup as you want.
Add the beef chunks back in, along with cubed potatoes, carrots, peas, corn, and whatever other vegetables you like. (For convenience you can use Veg-All, or frozen mixed vegetables). Season liberally with pepper (a few pepper corns are nice too if you plan to simmer it for long enough) maybe a splash or two of Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil then simmer until the vegetables (the potatoes are my guideline) are as tender as you’d like. This is where I would add pasta of I were using it- spiral pasta or small shells would hold up well.
To make it even easier you can skip the beef (or skip browning it- it adds flavor, but isn’t terrible without it) or you can add an envelope of Lipton Onion Soup mix instead of the stock or bouillon.
This is the easiest and most forgiving soup ever- just add what you like, don’t add what you don’t like and as long as you use plenty of pepper 
it tastes great every time.
I usually put some V8 or tomato juice in my beef soups and stews. I don’t put very much in, usually one or two individual serving cans for about half a dozen servings of soup, but I think it gives a very nice flavor. You might want to freeze the juice in ice cube trays, pop out the cubes, and put them in a zipseal bag in the freezer.
I haven’t had an ice cube tray since 1997.
We have a similar recipe to MitzeKatze, but use Italian Sausage.
And I can’t emphasize how “forgiving” this recipe is; it’s almost impossible to screw up. It’s fast, easy, hearty, and filling. A perfect “cold weather” soup.
How do you freeze your extra stock, then? If I make chicken or turkey stock, I will generally want one or two cubes at a time, not a big zipseal bag of it, for things like cooking rice and adding to mashed potatoes.
I am intrigued by this “extra stock” concept you speak of. When I make stock, I use it right away for soup.
Mom’s beef vegetable soup:
Cut a hunk of chuck into 1" or so cubes. Brown them up and toss into a stock pot. Add tomato juice, mixed frozen vegetables and shredded cabbage. Bring to a boil and simmer until the beef is tender. Devour with gusto.
Sometimes I end up with extra stock, because I roasted a chicken or turkey. Sometimes I find an excellent deal on soup bones, and just can’t resist buying them up and simmering them, because I happen to love my homemade stock. Usually, though, the stock is from some sort of bird that I’ve deboned before cooking. I mean, the bones are there, the vegetable trimmings are there, why not toss them into the slowcooker overnight?
I’m curious, traditional gazpacho isn’t usually bulked up with tomato juice…is this thin at all, or is it okay?
I use left-over roast, potatoes and frozen vegetables to make a kick-ass beef veggie soup. I use tomato juice, and beef stock/bullion as the base.
You can pick up an ice cube tray at most $1 stores.
Tomato Soup
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flower
1 quart tomato juice
Salt to taste
2 cups milk
Directions:
In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, sauté onions in butter until translucent. Remove from the heat. Stir in the flour so that no lumps remain, then slowly whisk in the tomato juice. Return to the heat and add salt to taste. Cook until just boiling but turn off the heat before it boils. Let cool 10 minutes then slowly stir in milk. Serve immediately.
My spouse’s recipe for gazpacho calls for tomato juice. The recipe came from somewhere on line and the gazpacho is similar to that found at some restaurants in Arizona.
Put it in a pot, add some cream or butter and some basil. Voila! Tomato basil soup.
Make some minestroni (which is italian for vegetable soup with a tomato broth)
I’ve even done soup with thinned-down spaghetti sauce.
Muffin tins, baby! 1/2 cup of tasty stock all ready to add to whatever. Very convenient. 