Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Basil Soup

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I recently made this roasted red pepper tomato basil soup after I grabbed a huge bag of bell peppers on the clearance cart at the grocery store. With the outrageous cost of food lately and farm stands closed for the season, I love to do this once per week and plan a meal around whatever I find on discount. Fall always puts me in soup mode. Soups freeze well and I’m happy to have a stash to pull out on busy nights. This one pairs well with some fresh crusty bread or a grilled cheese sandwich. No one ever complain about dinner when I offer grilled cheese and tomato soup.

This soup is fairly easy to make. It’s also much cheaper and healthier than store bought. I mean you can buy healthy but it won’t be cheap, and if it’s cheap it probably won’t be healthy. What I mean by healthy is not loaded with corn syrup and chemicals I can’t pronounce. It’s also a good way to sneak in medicinal food ingredients like garlic and onions. Read more about the best foods for colds and flu in my previous article.

What You’ll Need

Besides the actual ingredients, get yourself an immersion blender for pureed soups if you don’t already have one. Nothing says disaster like trying to dump hot soup into a regular blender. A stick immersion blender is so much easier and will save you from making a big mess. It’s also much quicker to clean and fits right in a drawer. I have had this exact one for years and it finally broke when I was making the roasted pepper soup actually, so I’m in the market for a new one. I think I’m going to get this one. The whisk attachment is an option I like having.

Ingredients for Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Basil Soup

For this soup you will need:

• Red bell peppers – I roasted fresh peppers but if you don’t have time you can use jarred. I have done both. Either way is fine.
• Tomatoes – I still had fresh garden tomatoes I needed to use up, but normally I would just use a couple of cans of diced tomatoes.
• Onion & garlic – Sweet or yellow onion, any garlic you have. Both of these are great for cold and flu season too.
• Broth – This time I used Better Than Bouilion vegetable broth base. All of their flavors are great. If you haven’t tried them I highly recommend them for any and all soups and sauces. If you don’t need it to be vegetarian you can use bone broth.
• Fresh or dried herbs of choice – I used fresh basil and thyme. If you don’t have fresh basil I like paste as second best. You can usually find it in a tube in the produce or spice section.
• White Wine – If you absolutely have to skip the wine for some reason, use a little bit of vinegar, even one teaspoon for the whole pot. That bit of acid is important for flavor.
• Butter and olive oil – You need some fat for flavor. Don’t be afraid of fat. Your body needs it.
• Sugar – Just a little bit! You can substitute if you need to.
• Sea salt or Himalayan salt – I use it for the mineral content. There seems to be some misconception that this stuff is uppity and expensive. I get mine at Dollar Tree. Obviously it doesn’t really matter that much and you can use any kind of salt you have.

How to Make the Soup

My roasted red pepper and tomato basil soup is pretty quick. It isn’t the type of soup that has to simmer for hours. You could use a pressure cooker if you want but it’s really not necessary.

First you’re going to roast your peppers. If you’re using a jar you can skip this step. Fire up your oven to 425F. Cut your bell peppers in half, remove stems, and scoop out the seeds.

Rub or brush the peppers with olive oil and toss onto a sheet pan. Pop them in the oven until they start to char and blister. Remove the pan from the oven and let them cool. Once they are cooled peel off the skins and discard.

Meanwhile heat a soup pot over medium heat. Add butter and a tablespoon of olive oil. Sautee onions until translucent, stirring frequently. Then add garlic and cook for another minute. Add chopped tomatoes and cook a few more minutes while stirring.

Deglaze the pot with wine and cook for a minute or two. Add broth, roasted peppers, herbs, and sugar. Cook until it begins to simmer, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and bust out the stick blender. Be very careful to not splatter it! If you don’t have one you can use a regular blender but let your soup cool enough so that you don’t end up in the hospital. Actually you should probably do that with the immersion blender as well. I’m impatient and make bad decisions.

Puree the soup until it’s at your desired consistency. Return the pot to the burner on low-medium heat. Give it a taste and season with salt and pepper. If it needs a bit more sweetness add another pinch of sugar. Stir until warmed through.

Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of fresh chopped basil and parmesan cheese. A dollop of sour cream goes really well too. Even better when you dunk a grilled cheese sandwich into it. Enjoy!