Red Pepper Tomato Soup With Fennel

Published: September 5, 2018 Updated: May 25, 2022 / By: Dawn | Girl Heart Food 31 Comments

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!

Bowl of roasted red pepper tomato fennel soup with a crostino resting on the bowl.

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!

Ingredients for roasted red pepper, tomato and fennel 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 40 to 50 minutes, turning the peppers over halfway through cooking.
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.

Collage of three red bell peppers before and after roasting.

Collage of three roasted red peppers in a bowl and then being removed and chopped.

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!

Collage of removing stalks from fennel and then cutting the bulb in half.

Collage of a finger pointing out the core in fennel, removing it & chopping the fennel.

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!
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, I sprinkled with chili flakes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (or use balsamic reduction).

Spoonful of roasted red pepper, tomato and fennel soup from a bowl.

More Yummy Vegetable Soups

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

Dawn | Girl Heart Food

5 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Save Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 20

Total Time 1 35

Course Lunch, Main Course, Soup

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

3 to 4 red bell peppers, about 1.25 pounds
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 plain 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 onto a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
Note: If using parchment paper, ensure that it is oven-safe up to at least 420 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake the bell peppers for 40 to 50 minutes, turning the peppers over halfway through cooking. 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.
Note: To save time, you can use store-bought roasted red peppers instead and skip the roasting.
Prepare the rest of the soup: Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.
Add the shallot and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.
To shallot, stir in garlic and chili pepper (if using) 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, vegetable broth and tomatoes. Stir. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat (to about medium-low) to maintain a simmer. Cover with lid ajar and cook for about 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat. Stir in the Greek yogurt. Blend the soup with immersion blender until smooth.
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!
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, topped with chili flakes and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (or use balsamic reduction).

A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.

Keyword red pepper soup, tomato soup, tomato soup with fennel

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!

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