Place a large soup pot over medium-high heat and once hot add your diced bacon. Cook until crispy. About 10 minutes.

Once cooked, remove the bacon bits, leaving the oil from the bacon behind and add your diced onions and celery. Cook for about three minutes. After, add your diced garlic and cook for one minute.

Next, add your flour to make somewhat of a roux and cook for about one minute.

Then, add your crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, salt, black pepper, thyme, bay leaves, and basil. Stir to combine and bring to a boil and then lower the heat to allow the soup to simmer for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the soup from becoming burnt on the bottom.

After the 20 minutes, remove the bay leaves and basil and add in your heavy cream. (If you wish to have a creamier soup, feel free to add more heavy cream.)

For the next part you can either use an immersion blender or an actual blender but you are going to want to blend the soup until it is smooth and velvety. Once blended, adds your bacon bits back in ( the ones you removed from earlier. Save some to top off each soup) and stir to combine.

Serve with extra bacon bits, croutons, feta cheese, or any other toppings you desire!