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.