Roasted Red Pepper Soup – a fresh, creamy and delicious soup. Perfect for spring entertaining or a light meal anytime.
Warm Weather Soups
I love soup and prepare it year round. In the colder months, I tend to make heartier soups. And, in the spring time, when the warmer weather arrives, I like to make lighter soups.
I’ve shared some of my favorite lighter soups including my Crock Pot Curried Carrot Soup. Today, I have a new favorite to share, perfect for spring, this creamy and delicious Roasted Red Pepper Soup.
I love roasting red peppers. I’ve shared some of my favorite recipes incorporating roasted red peppers including Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Lentil Salad with Roasted Red Peppers, Feta and Mint.
This past week, I had some red peppers in my refrigerator, that needed to be used up, so I decided to make a Roasted Red Pepper Soup. I like to roast the peppers over the open flame of the burners on my gas stove. For detailed steps and photos of this technique, visit my recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. You can also roast peppers in the oven or on the grill.
Roasting the Red Peppers
This recipe calls for four roasted red peppers. On two burners, I placed two peppers each and roasted them all at the same time. When the peppers had a nice char, I transferred them to a sealed plastic bag to cool. While the peppers were cooling, in a soup pot, I sautéed some garlic and onion in olive oil and then added and sautéed some chopped carrots and celery and fresh thyme leaves.
When the peppers were cool enough to handle, I removed and discarded the skins, stems and seeds. I cut up the remaining flesh and added it to the soup pot along with chicken broth and a bay leaf and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. I then used an emersion blender to puree the soup until it had a nice creamy consistency. Finally, I stirred in some whipping cream and seasoned the soup with salt and pepper.
Serve as a First Course or Light Meal
The resulting Roasted Red Pepper Soup was fresh and creamy with a nice subtle red pepper flavor. We enjoyed this Roasted Red Pepper Soup, garnished with some fresh basil, as a first course to a meal of shrimp and roasted asparagus. The leftovers were wonderful for a light lunch.
This flavorful Roasted Red Pepper Soup can be served warm or at room temperature and is perfect for a spring brunch, dinner party, or potluck. This fresh and creamy soup is also great for a light meal, a green salad and crusty bread are the perfect accompaniments.
What is your favorite spring soup? Please let me know in the comments below!
Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Notes
The red peppers could also be charred on the grill or under the broiler.
If you don’t have an emersion blender, you can use a regular blender to puree the soup.
Ingredients
- 4 red bell peppers
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup whipping cream
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- chopped fresh basil for garnish, if desired
Instructions
- Char red bell peppers, over the open flame of a gas burner, use tongs to carefully grasp stem and turn peppers to get an even char, about 3-5 minutes.
- Transfer charred peppers to a resealable plastic bag and let cool slightly.
- When peppers are cool enough to touch, remove from bag and transfer to a cutting board.
- Using fingers, rub off charred skin of peppers, discard skin. Also, remove stems and seeds and discard. Chop remaining flesh into several large pieces.
- In the meantime, heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic to pot and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add carrots, celery and fresh thyme to pot and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add chopped roasted red peppers, chicken broth and bay leaf to soup pot, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
- Using an emersion blender, puree soup until creamy and smooth.
- Stir in whipping cream and season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
- Serve warm or at room temperature and garnish with chopped fresh basil, if desired.
I’ve never made red pepper soup before. But, I really want to try! I like all of the spices you added and think that this is the way to go!
I have made red pepper soup before but never thought of roasting it. I really like your take on this soup.
Beautiful soup!
Oh this sounds wonderful. I love the flavors of charred red peppers in sauces but haven’ t tried in a soup. I just want to dunk a big hunk of bread in that bowl!
This looks wonderful! I love to have soup year-round too. I never get tired of it :). My favorite spring soup is a pureed beet borscht recipe I saw years ago on a PBS cooking show. It’s lemony and light and topped with a dollop of fresh sour cream. YUM!
Thanks Sarah! Pureed beet borscht sounds wonderful as I love beets, I will have to try it!
What a great soup recipe Joy!! It looks amazing!! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday! Hope to see you again tomorrow!! Pinned!
Joy, your roasted red pepper soup looks tasty! Pinned and Tweeted. Thanks for sharing at Snickerdoodle Sunday!
This is one perfect soup! I love roasted peppers!
I’m thinking of getting a few large pepper plants to add to the garden this year. This soup makes me want to head to the garden center tomorrow.
Roasted red pepper soup is so outrageously delicious! Your recipe sounds great Joy! Pinnning!
Reading the spices in this recipe I can imagine how yummy it taste and smell =)
I know I would enjoy that I would slurp it up in minutes heheh!
Have a slurptastic week
This looks really good!Thanks for sharing on the “What’s for Dinner” linky!
FANTASTIC soup!! It looks so creamy 🙂
It’s been a while since I’ve eaten pepper soup and you’ve given me the urge to make it
This looks so creamy and tasty! I can’t wait to give it a go!
I love simple recipes like this! Perfect with some grilled sandwiches or a salad for a light summer dinner.
I love roasted red pepper soup. Thanks for the reminder. I be thyme is the perfect herb for this combo. Anytime I can pull out the “boat motor” I’m a happy girl! 🙂
Roasted red pepper soup has been on my ‘to try’ list for a while and this looks so tasty. Must give it a try soon!
Thanks, hope you give it a try and enjoy!
This is the perfect soup for spring–I always think of soups in the winter, not in the summer. This changes that!
Thanks, this is a great warm weather soup!