Quick tomato soup has always been one of my favorite comfort foods, and this time I upped the game by adding a jar of smoky roasted red peppers and a butter-and-flour roux to give the soup extra body and richness. I just love the simplicity of this Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup. All you need is a loaf of crusty French bread for dipping and you’ve got a simple, yet luxurious meal. #treatyourself
Make it Creamy, or Not
The first time I made this roasted red pepper soup I finished it off with a cup of milk to make it creamy. But honestly, I tasted it before the milk and it was still a really bangin’ soup, so I decided to keep it simple. If you do want an extra creamy soup, simply add a cup of whole milk or a splash of heavy cream at the end. Do not let the soup boil after adding milk, as that can cause it to curdle.
What to Serve With Roasted Red Pepper Soup
You definitely want some sort of crusty bread, Homemade Croutons, Grilled Cheese, or Pesto Cheese Toast to dip into this awesome soup (pictured with plain pesto smeared toast). A really light and simple side salad would also be a nice way to round out this meal. If you want to get really fancy, you can drizzle a little bit of olive oil or pesto over each bowl of soup for extra color and flavor.
To make pesto toast, 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.
Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Servings 4 1.25 cups eachIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.22)
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.02)
- 1 12oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained ($1.99)
- 1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes ($1.19)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 2 cups vegetable broth ($0.26)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a soup pot with the butter and sauté over medium heat until the onions have softened.
- Add the flour to the pot with the onions and garlic. Continue to sauté for about two minutes.
- Transfer the onion mixture to a blender and add the roasted red peppers (drained). Purée until smooth.
- Transfer the red pepper purée back to the soup pot. Add the crushed tomatoes, basil, thyme, pepper, and vegetable broth. Stir to combine and dissolve any flour left on the bottom of the pot.
- Heat the soup over medium and allow it to come up to a simmer. Simmer the soup, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
- Taste the soup and add salt or other seasonings to your liking. The amount of salt needed will depend on the salt content of your broth. I did not add any additional salt. Serve and enjoy!
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Nutrition
How to Make Roasted Red Pepper Soup – Step by Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion and mince four cloves of garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a soup pot with 2 Tbsp butter and sauté over medium heat until the onions have softened.
Once the onions have softened, add 2 Tbs of all-purpose flour and continue to sauté for about two minutes.
Transfer the onion mixture to a blender and add one drained 12oz. jar of roasted red peppers.
Purée the peppers and onions together until smooth.
Transfer the roasted red pepper mixture back to the pot. Add one 28oz. can crushed tomatoes, 1/2 tsp dried basil, ¼ tsp dried thyme, ¼ tsp freshly cracked pepper, and 2 cups vegetable broth. Stir to combine and dissolve any flour left on the bottom of the pot.
Heat the soup over medium, allowing it to come up to a simmer. Simmer the soup, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Finally, taste the soup and add salt or other seasonings to your liking (You may or may not need to add salt at the end depending on the salt content of your broth. I did not add any.)
Serve hot with bread for dipping! I garnished my bowl with a little drizzle of olive oil and some more freshly cracked pepper.
I want to make this, but I only have fire roasted diced tomatoes, and NO crushed tomatoes😕 Will the diced tomatoes work?
That’s fine! I would just pulse them in the blender when you do the roasted peppers and you essentially have crushed tomatoes!
Just got done making this soup for my lunch tomorrow and it is so delicious! I used a french baguette as my side to dip it in there. I told my mom about how the soup came out and she wait to try some!
A nice and powerful meal for around $10!
Easy and delicious. Love a good tomato soup recipe! We ate this with grilled pimiento cheese sammies. Definitely recommend.
I look forward to being able to eat a grilled cheese made from homemade sourdough bread with this.
This soup is delicious! Very easy, and very simple to make, which took no time at all! I served the soup with some Cheesy Garlic Bread. Thank you for sharing, Miss Beth!
Turned out Great! We ended up using a good bit more basil and pepper than as written. Definitely will be making this again, especially when fresh tomatoes and basil are in season!
If you can’t find roasted red peppers, we used fresh and roasted them under the broiler until the skins bubbled charred, rotating often. We used 2.
This soup came out great for the last blast of winter! I tossed in a small amount of crushed red pepper flakes at the simmering stage since my son likes a little spice. Delicious! Made a double batch!
Made it – delicious! The only change I’m going to make is to use more roasted red peppers that I roast in my own oven. And a bit of spice – jalapeño maybe?
Made this last night . Delicious! Made it vegan for our friend who came to dinner by using vegan butter. also found vegan pesto at World Market. The pesto bread is not attractive, but soo good. Works perfectly with this soup. Thanks, Budget Bytes. Another winner!
Simple and delicious thanks
I like this soup so much! It’s my favorite soup, and my husband and kids enjoy this with a grilled cheese sandwich dunked in the soup. My husband can’t eat gluten, so I added 1/3 cup of cooked white rice instead of the flour to thicken the soup, and I puree everything at the end. It thickens beautifully.
Loved this recipe! I tried something similar from https://dietly.co before but I must say this one is more sophisticated!