Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Fennel (& Goat Cheese)

Easy, comforting and delicious, this Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Fennel will warm you up on the coldest of days! Delicious with goat cheese crostini on the side for dunkin’!

This roasted red pepper and tomato soup with fennel was originally posted in January 2016 and has been updated.

Hey friends!  Are you full force into fall mode (even though it’s not technically fall?)  I am!  I even bought gourds and mini pumpkins today.  And I’m already planning for Halloween.  Too much?  Hubby usually dresses up as Nintendo’s Mario and I’m usually a random character or something.  One year, I dressed up like a zombie and even did the whole fake cuts on my face.  I will never do that again.  It was fun, but boy was that adhesive rough on my skin. Eeeek!  Ok, before I get way ahead of myself here, let’s take one thing at a time and ease ourselves into the cooler months ahead with a nice bowl of comforting soup – what ya think?

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Fennel

This past Sunday, after some rest (and lots of coffee), I was all ready  to get cookin’, so I made this spicy Roasted Red Pepper, Tomato and Fennel Soup.  I love making big batches of soup on Sunday for hubby & I to enjoy throughout the week.  This recipe is a super easy, super healthy AND delicious. Plus, it’s chocked full of veggies.  There are only a few simple steps to this roasted red pepper soup.  Basically, once the peppers are roasted, everything else is done in one pot right on the stove top. Nothing to it!

How to Roast Bell Peppers

Buying jarred roasted red bell peppers is super convenient.  However, if you have time you can easily roast them yourself at home!  They’re delicious in this roasted red pepper and tomato soup (obviously), but also really yummy on pizza, on a sandwich or even as a component to a charcuterie board.

So, how do you roast bell peppers?

• Place bell peppers (colour of your choice) on a parchment lined baking sheet
• Place them in the oven (second self from the top in oven).
• Roast for about 40- 50 minutes, turning halfway
• Carefully remove bell peppers from oven, place in a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let ‘steam’ for a little to allow the exterior charred skin to loosen.
• When bell peppers are cool enough to handle, remove stalk, peel off charred skin, cut bell peppers in half and scrape out seeds
• Ready to use!
• Easy, right?

How to Cut Fennel

• Cut stalks from fennel bulb (reserve stalks for another use or discard; reserve fronds for soup garnish)
• Cut fennel bulb in half
• Locate core in each half of fennel (it should be easy to locate – see photo below)
• Remove core and discard
• Thinly slice fennel
• Now it’s ready to use in recipes!

Tips for Making this Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

• Use the best quality canned tomatoes you can get.  I love to use whole San Marzano tomatoes and blitz them with an immersion blender prior to using them in this recipe. You can also squish the tomatoes with a potato masher or by hand.
• I love to use unsalted vegetable stock in my soup recipes – that way I have better control over the salt content.
• Don’t  have time to roast bell peppers?  No worries!  You can buy them at your grocery store in jars and they’re ready to use!
• Want your roasted red peppers more charred?  You can also broil them for about 8-10 minutes, carefully turning part way through.  Keep in mind, though, that your parchment paper may need to be ok for the higher temperature or it may scorch (or you can simply omit the use of parchment paper, but it will probably leave your sheet pan a little messy).
• I used two Thai chili peppers in this soup and it wasn’t too spicy for me.  You can use less or omit entirely and the soup will still be delicious!
• When I originally made this roasted red pepper tomato soup, I garnished it with crumbled goat cheese.  However, for this updated version, I opted to spread some goat cheese on crostini and served it alongside for dunkin’. You do you!
• Speaking of goat cheese crostini, for those I toasted some baguette pieces and spread with goat cheese. Then, sprinkle with chili flakes and balsamic drizzle.

Other Easy Soups you May Enjoy

• Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup
• Spicy Lentil Soup with Kale
• Curried Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup
• Zucchini Noodle Soup with Grilled Tofu

If you want to make your meal a little more substantial a grilled cheese sandwich would be a great sidekick to this roasted red pepper soup too!

Hope you love this roasted red pepper and tomato soup!

Until next time take care and chit chat again soon 🙂

~Dawn

P.S. If you think this Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Fennel will make your belly happy too, please be sure to hit that Pin button. Many thanks, you guys!  XO

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5 from 1 vote

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Fennel (& Goat Cheese)

Easy, comforting and delicious, this Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup with Fennel will warm you up on the coldest of days! Delicious with goat cheese crostini on the side for dunkin'!'!

Course Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine Canadian

Keyword fennel soup, roasted red pepper soup, tomato soup

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 123kcal

Author Dawn Coombs

Ingredients

• 3-4 red bell peppers -about 1.25 lb
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot -or onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic -minced
• 2 chili pepper -minced, optional
• 1 bulb fennel -core removed & thinly sliced (about 1.5 lb)
• 1.25 tsp salt -or to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 4 cups vegetable stock -unsalted
• 796 ml can tomatoes -use immersion blender to smooth
• 1/2 cup whole milk Greek yogurt
• goat cheese -garnish (on soup or on crostini), to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 420 F. On a parchment lined baking sheet, add bell peppers. Bake 40 - 50 minutes, turning half way through. Carefully remove from oven, place in a bowl, cover with plastic and let sit for about 10-15 minutes until cool enough to handle. Remove stems, outer charred layer (I don't mind if some charred pieces are left on) and bulk of inner seeds (few stray ones left are fine). Reserve any juices as well. Place to one side for later use.
• While the bell peppers are roasting, on medium low heat add 1 tbsp. of olive oil in dutch oven or pot. Cook for 5 minutes, or until onion has softened.
• To onion, add garlic and chili and cook for a minute.
• Add fennel to onion mixture.  Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Cook for about 10 minutes, until fennel has softened.
• To vegetable mixture, add stock, tomatoes and reserved roasted red peppers. Bring to low simmer, cover  with lid ajar and cook about 15 minutes.
• Off heat add Greek yogurt and blend with immersion blender. Portion into bowls, garnish with fennel fronds and goat cheese crostini (or crumble goat cheese directly on top of soup).  Enjoy!

Notes

• Use the best quality canned tomatoes you can get.  I love to use whole San Marzano tomatoes and blitz them with an immersion blender prior to using them in this recipe. You can also squish the tomatoes with a potato masher or by hand.
• I love to use unsalted vegetable stock in my soup recipes - that way I have better control over the salt content.
• Don't  have time to roast bell peppers?  No worries!  You can buy them at your grocery store in jars and they're ready to use!
• Want your roasted red peppers more charred?  You can also broil them for about 8-10 minutes, carefully turning part way through.  Keep in mind, though, that your parchment paper may need to be ok for the higher temperature or it may scorch (or you can simply omit the use of parchment paper, but it will probably leave your sheet pan a little messy).
• I used two Thai chili peppers in this soup and it wasn't too spicy for me.  You can use less or omit entirely and the soup will still be delicious!
• When I originally made this roasted red pepper tomato soup, I garnished it with crumbled goat cheese.  However, for this updated version, I opted to spread some goat cheese on crostini and served it alongside for dunkin'. You do you!
• Speaking of goat cheese crostini, for those I toasted some baguette pieces and spread with goat cheese. Then, sprinkle with chili flakes and balsamic drizzle.

Tried this recipe? That's awesome!Mention @dawn.girlheartfood or tag #girlheartfood!

Nutrition

Calories: 123kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 3g | Sodium: 690mg | Potassium: 767mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 53.5% | Vitamin C: 139.7% | Calcium: 9.4% | Iron: 14.1%