Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

Quick tomato soups have always been one of my favorite comfort foods, and this time I upped the game with a jar of roasted red peppers and a butter-and-flour roux to give the soup extra body and richness. I love the simplicity of this Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup and the fact that the only things I actually had to buy were the roasted red peppers and tomatoes. (#win) Okay, I also bought a loaf of crusty French bread, because all good soup deserves crusty French bread. When you have a good crusty bread to dip into a rich soup, life is good.

I finished off this soup with a cup of whole milk for a little extra creaminess, but honestly, I tasted it before the milk and it was still a really bangin’ soup. So, before you ask if you can sub almond milk or soy milk, I think your best option, if trying to avoid dairy milk, is to just leave the milk out. But don’t skip the butter because the butter actually makes a huge difference here. If you must use olive oil in place of butter, just know that you’re missing out on some serious luxury. But I get it, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I took a unique turn with the preparation of this soup and decided to blend the ingredients before heating them. I don’t have an immersion blender and I’ve had a serious mishap with blending hot liquids before, so I try to avoid it whenever possible. If you have an immersion blender, ignore my food processor/blender step and just do it all in one pot!

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

I used the last of my jar of pesto to make some pesto toast to dip into my Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup. I just mixed a little extra olive oil into the pesto to make it more spreadable, coated slices of my French bread, then baked at 400ºF for 7-8 minutes.

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Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

A little butter and flour go a long way towards making this Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup extra rich and luxurious. 

Total Cost $5.41 recipe / $1.35 serving

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4 (1.5 cups each)

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp butter $0.22
• 1 yellow onion $0.40
• 4 cloves garlic $0.24
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour $0.02
• 2 15 oz. cans crushed tomatoes $1.38
• 12 oz jar roasted red peppers $2.49
• 2 cups vegetable broth* $0.26
• 1/4 tsp dried basil $0.03
• 1/8 tsp dried thyme $0.02
• Freshly cracked Pepper $0.05
• 1 cup whole milk (optional) $0.30

Instructions

1. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and butter to a large soup pot. Sauté over a medium flame until the onions are soft and transparent (about 5 minutes).
2. Add the flour to the pot and continue to stir and cook for 1-2 minutes. The flour will form a paste with the butter and onions and begin to coat the bottom of the pot. As soon as the flour that is stuck to the pot begins to turn slightly golden, remove it from the heat.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes (with juices), roasted red peppers (without juices) and the flour paste from the soup pot to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth, then return the contents to the soup pot.
4. Add the vegetable broth, basil, thyme, and some freshly cracked pepper (10-15 cranks of a pepper mill) to the soup and stir to combine. Heat and stir over a medium flame until the soup begins to simmer. Use the spoon to help dissolve any flour stuck to the bottom of the pot as you stir.
5. Once the soup begins to simmer, turn off the heat. Add the milk, if using, and stir to combine. Taste and add salt if needed (this will depend on the salt content of your broth).

Recipe Notes

*I use Better Than Bouillon soup base to make my broth.

Step by Step Photos

Dice one yellow onion and mince four cloves of garlic. Add them to a soup pot along with 2 Tbsp butter. Sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (about five minutes).

Add 2 Tbsp flour and continue to stir and cook. The flour will form a paste, but just keep stirring and cooking. It will begin to coat the bottom of the pot, and as soon as it starts to turn even a  little bit golden (like in the top left of the photo), turn off the heat. 

Remove the peppers from the liquid in a 12oz. jar of roasted red peppers. Add the peppers and TWO 15oz. cans of crushed tomatoes to a food processor or blender (don’t drain the tomatoes).

Also add the floury paste & onions from the soup pot.

Now blend that up until it’s smooth. Since most of those ingredients were room temperature, this was a totally safe operation. Yay!

Now transfer the soup back to the pot and add 2 cups vegetable broth, 1/4 tsp dried basil, 1/8 tsp dried thyme and some freshly cracked pepper (10-15 cranks of a pepper mill).

Bring the soup up to a simmer over medium heat.

If you want a lil’ extra creaminess, stir in a cup of milk. Now, heat + acid (from the tomatoes) can cause the milk proteins to seize up a bit and look grainy, but if you keep stirring it blends in. Finally, taste the soup and add a little salt, if needed. I didn’t add any to mine, but the Better Than Bouillon that I use to make my broth usually provides enough salt for me. 

And that’s that. A quick, rich, comforting Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup. Now give that soup something to dip with. Grilled cheese? Pesto toast? Croutons? Goldfish crackers? What’s your favorite thing to top tomato soup with?