4-Ingredient Tomato Mushroom Soup for Baby

A flavorful tomato mushroom soup for baby using 4 simple ingredients. Add mini pasta, ground meat or tofu to make a complete one-bowl toddler meal.

Easy Plant-based Soup for Baby

This recipe for mushroom tomato soup checks all of the right boxes for baby food: it is simple to make, healthy, delicious (even for picky eaters) and with a few extra ingredients it transforms into several different meals.

Some other things that make this recipe one of our family’s favorites are:

• It uses simple ingredients that are available at every store
• Quick to make, only 30 minutes!
• Flavorful
• Plant-based (no meat necessary although you can add it)
• It’s a delicious base for serving pasta, ground meat and tofu
• Very hydrating, we give this to our baby toddler when she won’t drink any water or juice
• Can be packed in a thermos for school lunch
• Becomes a one-bowl meal on the go when meat and pasta is added
• Stores and freezes well

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When Can Babies Eat Mushrooms?

In general, the World Health Organization recommends that babies are fed an exclusive breast milk or formula diet until 6 months of age. Once you start introducing solid foods, you can double check with your baby’s physician on the best time to introduce store-bought mushrooms to your own baby’s diet. For more information about allergies to mushrooms, refer to this study.

While not a typical “first food” you hear about for babies, mushrooms are actually a good choice for babies for many reasons:

• Their texture makes them easy for babies to pick up and chew
• Mushrooms are a source of beta-glucans, compounds that help support the immune system. 
• They are a non-animal source of Vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiencies are common in most babies, check with your doctor on how you can help combat this.
• They don’t have a strong or displeasing flavor

Some sources note that mushrooms should not be eaten raw due to possible contamination with manure and can be difficult to digest. In this Mushroom Tomato Soup recipe, they are sauteed and continue to cook with other ingredients in soup form. Here are two other soups using other vegetables your little one might enjoy: Melty Cabbage Soup for Baby & Squash and Corn Soup for Baby.

Mushroom Tomato Soup Ingredients 

• Onions – onions add flavor to this soup along with Vitamin C and antioxidants. (They can make some babies gassy so this ingredient can be eliminated if necessary) 
• Avocado oil – Avocado oil is a healthy fat that helps increase absorption of vitamins and nutrients. If you don’t want to use oil, you can sauté the onions in a bit of water instead.
• Roma tomatoes – Roma tomatoes are one of the best types of tomatoes for soups because they are considered more “dry” resulting in a less watery soup. They also have thin skins and few seeds making them easy to prepare. Tomatoes are full of antioxidants and lycopene. Lycopene is a plant compound that has been linked to cancer prevention, heart health and even sunburn protection.  
• White mushrooms – mushrooms are nutritional powerhouses that contain Vitamins B, C and D, iron, protein, potassium and selenium. 
• Dried thyme – This herb adds a subtle earthy flavor as well as Vitamins A and C

How to Make

In a medium pot sauté mushrooms with oil. It will start to brown and sweat. Try not to crowd the pan so the liquid can evaporate.

Add onion and cook until translucent, add a tiny bit of water to keep it cooking if it it starts to get too dry to handle.

Add tomatoes and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add water and thyme and simmer on low heat for 25 minutes. How much water you need will depend on the juiciness of your tomatoes.

Cool and serve with cubed tofu, cooked ground beef/turkey, or pasta for a complete meal.

How to Serve Soup to Baby & Toddler 

One thing I love about this Mushroom Tomato Soup is its transformability. You can begin with this soup recipe and add different ingredients or side dishes to change its flavor profile.  

Here are some ideas of how to serve this delicious soup. 

• If you want to add in some protein you can easily mix in these meats for a heartier soup. Add ground cooked meats like beef or turkey: I pre-cook ground meats and store them in a freezer.
• Ground tofu also works well in this soup if you want a plant-based protein.
• In a separate pot, cook mini pasta like Orzo  or mini shells. Drain and rinse the pasta and add it to the mushroom tomato soup. 
• Another simple way to add a carb component to this soup is by adding cooked rice or quinoa.
• Increase the protein and fiber in this soup by adding cooked (or canned) black beans. 
• Sprinkle on some mozzarella or parmesan cheese and add some basil for an Italian flair. 
• Throw some chopped spinach into the soup. It will wilt slightly and add extra vitamins and nutrients. 
• Add fresh or store-bought pesto, it will give the soup a delicious flavor!
• Using a cheese grater, grate croutons on top of the soup before serving. 
• Nothing pairs better with tomato soup than grilled cheese sandwiches! Make this baby-friendly by serving cheese toast. To make it, lightly sprinkle a piece of French bread with cheese and broil for about 30 seconds. Additionally, you can tear the bread into smaller pieces for babies who are still getting the hang of chewing solids. 
• Serve mushroom tomato soup with a breadstick on the side or with some healthy sourdough discard crackers, easy recipe here.
• On a busy day with an outing, I like to make it a one-bowl meal by adding ground meat, tofu, and pasta. I heat up the soup and place it in a thermos. When we arrive home, the soup is now the perfect temperature…not too hot…and all ready to eat.
• For a thicker sauce for self-feeding, try these healthy baby sauce recipes: sweet tomato sauce for baby, eggplant pork sauce for baby.

Tools to Help Baby Self-Feed Soup

We introduced food to Bibi using Baby Led Weaning, a feeding method that limits the use of purees and spoons and encourages baby to self-feed finger food with their hand. Soup might not seem like a good choice for BLW, however, it is important for babies to learn to eat ALL textures including purees and soups. 

From six to nine months, soup can be fed to babies using an open cup or a cup with straw. Remember to strain the solid bits out first! Make sure the soup isn’t hot as it will be ingested quickly when taken from a cup. 

We introduced the use of spoons early on for Bibi, starting with this flexible Olababy. We liked that it was soft and wouldn’t hurt her when her aim was poor. However, it took many more months before was able to eat something so wet like soup with it. By around 18-24 months, most babies should begin to master the movements necessary to get soup onto a spoon and into their mouths. 

Another option for self-feeding is using a food vehicle like a breadstick or cheese toast. You can show your baby how to dip the breadstick/toast into the soup to feed themselves. 

How to Store Mushroom Tomato Soup

Mushroom Tomato Soup is an excellent choice for batch cooking: making double or triple the recipe and storing it for future use. You can change this soup easily by adding different ingredients, making it the perfect soup base to have on hand for busy days. To store it:

• Put in a container with a lid in the refrigerator. It keeps in the fridge for up to 4 days
• Freeze it using a silicone cube maker (this one freezes one cup at a time) or a traditional ice cube tray. Take the soup cube out in the morning and let it thaw in the refrigerator. Next, warm it up in the microwave. Make sure to stir well and test the soup’s temperature before giving it to your baby). 

Mushroom Tomato Soup is one of Bibi’s favorites because of it’s taste, and one of my favorites because it is so easy to make and healthy for all of us. I hope you will give this recipe a try and that it becomes part of your family’s dinner rotations. 

XOXO, 
Mimi