Easy, comforting and delicious, this roasted red pepper and tomato soup with fennel will warm you up on the coldest of days! This vegetable soup is delicious with goat cheese crostini on the side for dunking!
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.
This past Sunday, after some rest (and lots of coffee), I was all ready to get cooking, so I made this spicy red pepper tomato soup.
I love making big batches of soup on Sunday!
This roasted red pepper tomato soup is a super easy, light and delicious. Plus, it’s chock-full of veggies.
Basically, once the peppers are roasted, everything else is done in one pot right on the stove top. Nothing to it!
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.
Fan of tomato soup? Check out this creamy tomato basil soup!
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 paper-lined sheet pan.
- Place them in the oven (second shelf from the top in the oven). Roast for about 40 to 50 minutes, turning halfway.
- Carefully remove bell peppers from the oven, place in a bowl, cover with plastic food 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.
- Now you have delicious roasted red peppers, ready to be used in soup!
More detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.
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 Recipe
- Use the best quality canned tomatoes you can get. I love to use whole San Marzano tomatoes and blend 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.
- 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 to 10 minutes, carefully turning partway through. Keep in mind, though, that your parchment paper will need to be okay 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 dunking. 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.
More Yummy Vegetable Soups
- Tomato Soup With Fresh Tomatoes
- Tomato Tortellini Soup
- Black Bean Sweet Potato Soup
- Spicy Lentil Kale Soup
- Curried Carrot Soup With Coconut Milk
If you make this roasted red pepper tomato soup, be sure to leave a comment below!
This soup recipe was originally published in January 2016 but has been updated.
Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup With Fennel
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 red bell peppers, about 1.25 pounds or use store-bought roasted red peppers
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 shallot, peeled and minced (or yellow or white onion)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 to 2 Thai chili peppers, minced (optional)
- 1 bulb fennel, core removed and fennel thinly sliced (about 1.5 pounds)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, blend tomatoes with an immersion blender or roughly break up with a potato masher before using
- ½ cup whole milk Greek yogurt
- goat cheese, optional: garnish to taste on crostini or over soup
- Chopped fennel fronds, garnish to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Roast bell peppers: Preheat oven to 420 degrees Fahrenheit. Place bell peppers on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, turning halfway. Carefully remove peppers from the oven, place in a heat-safe bowl, cover with plastic food wrap and let sit until cool enough to handle. You can start preparing the soup while they are cooling.
- Prepare the rest of the soup: Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.
- To onion, add garlic and chili pepper, stir in, and cook for 1 minute.
- Add fennel to the onion mixture. Season with salt, black pepper and oregano. Cook for about 10 minutes stirring often, until fennel has softened.
- Once peppers are 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). Basically, what you want is the flesh of the bell peppers and any small amount of juices that have accumulated in the bowl as they cool.
- To fennel mixture, add the roasted red peppers and their juices, broth and tomatoes. Stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat (to about medium-low heat) to a simmer. Cover with lid ajar and cook for about 15 minutes.
- Off heat, add Greek yogurt and blend with immersion blender until desired consistency is reached.
- To serve, divide the soup into bowls and garnish (if desired) 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 blend 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.
- 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 to 10 minutes, carefully turning partway through. Keep in mind, though, that your parchment paper will need to be okay 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 dunking. 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.
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
