Melted Cheese Is The Rich Finishing Touch Your Tomato Soup Needs

You may not realize, but your bowl of tomato soup is usually crying out for a rich finishing touch. Luckily, melted cheese is just what you need. At Walmart, a 10.75-ounce can of classic Campbell's costs $1.26 –plus whatever cheese you happen to have lying around your fridge, that's dinner for less than the price of an MTA subway fare one way.

A cheesy facelift can arrive in your soup bowl mid-cook or as a lush finishing touch. For a thicker, richer mouthfeel in your pureed tomato soup, stir a cup or two of shredded cheese directly into your soup pot to melt and meld. If you go this route, opt for a high-moisture cheese that'll melt easily and uniformly, like mozzarella, mild cheddar, provolone, or fontina. Steer clear of hard cheeses like Emmental, aged gouda, asiago, or Manchego, which don't melt as well and make for bites that are clumpy rather than silky.

Alternatively, that non-melting quality of harder cheese could be desirable for sprinkling each serving of tomato soup with a handful of shredded cheese to garnish. For bold funky flavor and toothy chew, with a burst of noticeable cheese flavor in every bite, hitting your soup bowl with a generous sprinkle of hard cheese on top could be the move. You could even unify that cheese topping into a thick cap French-onion-soup style using a kitchen torch (famously one of Anthony Bourdain's favorite culinary tools).

This tip works whether you're taking your homemade tomato soup game to the next level or trying to breathe a little life into the canned store-bought stuff (the boxed tomato soup by Imagine Organic is our favorite brand, for the record). Loading up your comforting, ultra-economical tomato soup with fromage can also be a thrifty way to use up the final dregs at the bottom of a bag of shredded cheese leftover from another recipe (hooray for a zero-waste kitchen).

In the "melt" camp, you could stir a handful of shredded extra sharp cheddar into a pot of classic tomato soup for a rich, umami mouthfeel. To complete the meal, pair this one with your favorite toasted sandwich, whether that be a grilled mediterranean veggie panini, a pork-loaded Cubano, or a steak quesadilla. Or, for some subtle spice, stir shredded pepper jack cheese into pureed roasted red pepper and tomato soup.

In the "toppings" camp, you could garnish this roasted tomato soup with translucent shaved pecorino for a salty kick, or sprinkle with piquant feta crumbles. Or, take a cue from the aforementioned French onion soup and top your tomato soup with a thick cap of Gruyere and Swiss browned under the broiler. It'll leave your last-minute dinner guests gasping, "This is really canned soup?" To drive the elevated toppings ticket home, don't be scared to garnish with some fresh rosemary or torn basil leaves.