Tomato Soup with Croissant Ham & Cheese

Name: Tomato Soup with Croissant Ham & Cheese
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Texas Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil; 2 cups diced yellow onion; 1 cup carrot, peeled and grated; 2–3 garlic cloves, microplaned; Cattleman’s Grill Lone Star Brisket Rub, to taste; 1 chipotle pepper in adobo; 2 cans Bianco DiNapoli Fire Roasted Tomatoes; 1 quart chicken stock; ¼ cup half-and-half or heavy cream; Croissant bread, sliced lengthwise; Havarti cheese, sliced; Thick-cut ham; Crème fraîche (optional)

Feb 04, 2026 • Tom Jackson

Cold weather calls for something comforting, and this Tomato Soup with Croissant Grilled Ham & Cheese delivers exactly that. Fire-roasted tomatoes simmer with onion, carrot, garlic, and a touch of chipotle for gentle heat, creating a soup that’s rich, smooth, and deeply savory. Blending the vegetables gives the soup a naturally creamy texture, finished with just enough half-and-half to round things out without overpowering the tomato flavor.

The croissant grilled ham and cheese takes the classic pairing in a buttery direction. Flaky croissant bread crisps beautifully on a cast iron griddle while Havarti melts around thick-sliced ham. Cooking everything on the pellet grill adds subtle wood-fired character and makes this an easy one-grill meal from start to finish.

Served with a dollop of crème fraîche and plenty of soup for dipping, this dish hits all the right notes—warm, familiar, and satisfying. It’s a great option for weeknight comfort cooking or a relaxed weekend lunch when you want something cozy that still feels a little special.

What You’ll Love About This Recipe

Smooth, creamy tomato soup without heavy cream overload
Fire-roasted tomatoes bring natural sweetness and depth
Croissant bread adds rich, flaky texture to classic grilled ham and cheese
Pellet grill cooking keeps everything outdoors and hands-off
Perfect cold-weather comfort food

Tomato Soup with Croissant Ham & Cheese

Tom Jackson

Rated 5.0 stars by 2 users

Cuisine

American

Servings

8

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

45 minutes

Calories

210

A cozy bowl of fire-roasted tomato soup paired with buttery croissant grilled ham and cheese, all cooked on the pellet grill.

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Ingredients

Tomato Soup

Texas Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups diced yellow onion
1 cup carrot, peeled and grated
2–3 garlic cloves, microplaned
Cattleman’s Grill Lone Star Brisket Rub, to taste
1 chipotle pepper in adobo
2 cans Bianco DiNapoli Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 quart chicken stock
¼ cup half-and-half or heavy cream

Croissant Ham & Cheese

Croissant bread, sliced lengthwise
Havarti cheese, sliced
Thick-cut ham

For Serving

Crème fraîche (optional)

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Directions

Start by prepping the vegetables. Dice the onion and grate the carrot. The cuts don’t need to be perfect since everything will be blended later, but keeping them consistent helps them cook evenly. Microplane the garlic so it melts right into the soup.
Heat an enameled cast iron Dutch oven over medium heat with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and carrot and let them soften, stirring occasionally. Season generously with Cattleman’s Grill Lone Star Brisket Rub, leaning into the salt and pepper to help draw moisture from the vegetables.
Once the vegetables are soft, stir in the garlic and a whole chipotle pepper in adobo. Add the fire-roasted tomatoes and chicken stock, then let the soup simmer gently for about 30 minutes.
Blend the soup until smooth using an immersion blender. Stir in the half-and-half or cream and keep warm while you prepare the sandwiches.
Preheat the pellet grill to 450°F with the cast iron griddle installed. Add a light coating of olive oil to the griddle and place the croissant bread cut-side down. Top with Havarti cheese and thick-sliced ham, then close the lid and toast for about 90 seconds.
Flip the sandwiches and move them to an indirect zone on the griddle so the cheese finishes melting without adding more color. Serve the soup hot with a dollop of crème fraîche and the croissant grilled ham & cheese on the side for dipping.

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Recipe Note

Recipe FAQ

Can I make the tomato soup ahead of time?

Yes — and it's actually better the next day. The flavors from the chipotle, fire-roasted tomatoes, and aromatics mellow and integrate overnight in the refrigerator. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat and stir in a splash of chicken stock if it's thickened too much. Add the half-and-half after reheating rather than storing it blended in.

How spicy is this soup, and how do I adjust the heat?

One whole chipotle pepper in adobo gives the soup a mild, smoky warmth — noticeable but not sharp. It's approachable for most people. For less heat, use half a pepper or just a teaspoon of the adobo sauce, which adds smokiness without the full chile bite. For more heat, add a second chipotle or a pinch of cayenne when you add the tomatoes. The cream added at the end also mellows the heat, so season before blending and adjust again after.

Why use grated carrot instead of diced?

Grating the carrot rather than dicing it means the shreds dissolve almost completely into the soup as it simmers — you get the natural sweetness and body without any visible carrot chunks in the finished bowl. Diced carrot takes much longer to fully soften and can leave textural inconsistency even after blending. It's a prep step that takes 30 seconds and meaningfully improves the final texture of the soup.

What cheese works best if I don't have Havarti?

Havarti is the ideal choice because it melts smoothly and has a mild, buttery flavor that doesn't overpower the ham or the soup. Fontina is the closest substitute — same melt behavior, slightly nuttier. Mild provolone also works well. Avoid sharp cheddar on a croissant; the oil separation at high heat makes it greasy rather than creamy. If you want more flavor intensity, a thin layer of Dijon on the croissant before the cheese goes a long way.

Can I cook this Indoors?

We rate this a 4 out of 5 for cooking indoors. Great in the kitchen, better on the grill. The soup is entirely stovetop-friendly — simmer it in a Dutch oven on any burner. The croissant grilled ham and cheese works beautifully in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat with a lid to help melt the cheese. The only thing you give up is the subtle wood-fired character the pellet grill griddle imparts to the sandwich surface.

Recipe Highlights & Insights

Bianco DiNapoli fire-roasted tomatoes are a meaningful ingredient choice here. The fire-roasting process caramelizes the tomatoes before they're canned, which concentrates their sweetness and adds a slight char note that regular canned tomatoes don't have. In a soup this simple — where tomatoes are the primary flavor — the quality of the tomato matters more than in a complex braise. It's worth using the good ones.
Blending with an immersion blender directly in the Dutch oven is safer and faster than transferring to a countertop blender in hot batches. The key immersion blender technique is to keep the blade fully submerged before turning it on and to move it slowly through the pot — this prevents hot soup from splattering. Blend until completely smooth, then stir in the cream last so it doesn't overheat and curdle.
Cooking the croissant sandwich cut-side down on a hot griddle with just a light coat of olive oil — rather than buttering the outside — lets the croissant's natural laminated butter layers do the work. The layers crisp individually as they heat, creating a flaky, golden surface with more texture than a standard butter-basted exterior. Move to indirect heat after flipping so the cheese finishes melting without the bread overbrowning.
This is a genuinely complete one-grill meal — soup simmers in the Dutch oven on the pellet grill at lower temperature while the griddle runs hot for the sandwiches, all on the same cook. At 210 calories per 12 oz serving for the soup, it's also one of the lighter comfort-food recipes in the ATBBQ catalog, which makes it a strong candidate for winter weeknight content where the audience wants something cozy that doesn't feel indulgent.