Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Tortellini

Bell Peppers – it’s best to use red bell peppers but if you have to, you can do a mix of red, orange, and yellow. Just don’t use green bell peppers, that will turn your soup an unappetizing color.

Garlic – use 4-5 fresh garlic cloves since it will be roasted along with bell peppers.

Broth – to keep the soup vegetarian, use vegetable broth. If you don’t care to keep it vegetarian, you can use either chicken broth or vegetable broth. (Of course, homemade is always best but if you have to use store-bough, I recommend using “low sodium” or “no salt added.”)

Tomato paste- use tomato paste, not tomato sauce, and make sure it doesn’t have any additional flavors. Tomato paste is much thicker and richer than tomato sauce since it is highly concentrated.

Heavy Whipping Cream – heavy whipping cream provides a rich and thick creaminess. If you use half and half or whole milk, your soup will not be as creamy and will be thinner.

Parmesan – freshly grated parmesan off the block will create the very best potent flavor and consistency because it melts better into the soup. If you don’t have the time to grate it yourself, some deli sections of the grocery store will have freshly grated parmesan cheese available. For the best tasting soup, save the rind of the parmesan block and cook it with the soup.

Tortellini – simple cheese tortellini will make a nice addition to this soup. You can also try other flavors like sausage or spinach. Note that it’s best to get tortellini from the refrigerated section, not dried! (If you need to keep the soup gluten free, there are gluten free tortellini available in some stores.)

See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.

Place lightly oiled peppers onto a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet (1). (Please remember to check the temperature that your parchment paper can withstand. Some parchment paper can take higher temperatures than others.) Set the rack in the oven about 8-10 inches away from the broiler.

Wrap garlic cloves in some aluminum foil and place it on the baking sheet with the peppers.

Start on low broil and turn the peppers quarter of the way, using long tongs, every 5-7 minutes. Then, turn on the high broil heat and let it char for a couple of minutes on each side (2). This will ensure perfectly cooked pepper throughout. You don’t want charred skin and raw pepper inside!

Immediately after you take the peppers out of the oven, place them onto a plate and cover it with a bowl (3). Make sure it fits well, because it should be airtight. Let the peppers sit and steam for 10-15 minutes.

After the peppers have been steamed, the skin should be easy to peel off. Peel the skin off of the peppers (4) and discard the skin and seeds.

PRO TIP: Peel and take out the seeds of the roasted peppers over a bowl to save the pepper juice. You will want to add pepper juice to the soup, it will add extra flavor.

Prepare the ingredients before starting to cook: chop onion and carrot and set aside. Chop peeled roasted bell peppers, set aside. Take skin off roasted garlic, set aside. Measure remaining ingredients.

Preheat a Dutch oven over medium heat and add some oil. Add onion and carrots to the pot and sauté for a few minutes, until they start to brown. Add chopped roasted peppers and roasted garlic, mix and sauté a few minutes.

Pour in the vegetable broth (and juices you saved from roasted peppers) and bring it to simmer. Turn the heat down to medium-low and stir in the seasoning. Let the soup cook for about 15 minutes. Make sure that it does not simmer to hard, just a slow simmer.

Once cooked, transfer the soup into the heat-resistant blender (or you can use an immersion blender if you don’t have a heat-proof blender) and pulse until smooth.

PRO TIP: if you choose to blend the soup in a blender or food processor, make sure it is heat resistant and especially made for hot foods! (This is the Hot/Cold Blender I have but it is not available at the time, you can look at this alternative blender.)

Transfer the soup back into the pot and stir in heavy whipping cream and parmesan cheese. Stir in the tortellini and make sure it’s completely covered in soup. Cover pot with a lid (but leave a small crack for heat to escape) and cook for a few minutes, until tortellini is done. (Check tortellini packaging for the time it takes to cook it.)

Frequently Asked Questions

Serving Suggestions

This is a great, smooth soup but of course, most of up would love a little texture variation. This is where you can get creative with different crunchy options:

Get some rustic bread or baguette from the deli, you now the one with crusty outside and super soft and plump inside.

You can also serve your favorite croutons or homemade croutons with it. Simple saltines or oyster crackers will work well also.

Fresh parmesan cheese is always a good addition and you can try adding a teaspoon-ful of pesto.

Grilled cheese is an amazing companion for this soup. Try my pesto grilled cheese with this red pepper soup or an Italian garlic bread grilled cheese, you won’t be disappointed!

Garlic bread is another grown-pleasing option that pairs well with a roasted pepper soup.

If you’re up for soup and salad, make my Panzanella, Caesar salad, or Greek salad.