Roasted Tomato Soup
This creamy roasted tomato soup recipe is easy to make and huge on flavor, with fresh garden tomatoes and roasted bell peppers. I make mine with a spicy twist!
My garden is EXPLODING with tomatoes right now. Not only do I grow a lot of chili peppers every year, but I go a bit crazy with tomatoes, too, because I really love them. I usually do a few different varieties of heirlooms because they’re hard to get anywhere else, and they’re usually so much better than anything you can get at the grocery store.
I also almost always grow some type of cherry tomato because they’re super flavorful and so easy to cook into different recipes. One of my favorite recipes to make when the tomatoes are so abundant is roasted tomato soup.
Roasted tomato soup is very easy to make, and you get to use up a lot of those tomatoes. Plus, they’re so fresh picked straight from the garden, you won’t get a better tasting tomato soup. Anywhere.
You can make your roasted tomato soup with just tomatoes, but I like to incorporate red bell peppers into the mix. The addition of roasted sweet peppers strongly compliments the roasted tomato flavor.
I also like to sneak in a few spicy peppers to my own preference, which you can do, too. I’ll discuss some of those chili pepper options below so you can do the same to your own heat level preference.
So, let’s talk about how we make my roasted tomato soup, shall we?
Ingredients Needed for Mike’s Roasted Tomato Soup
Gather up the following ingredients in order to get cooking:
- 3 pounds fresh tomatoes, stems removed, sliced in half (use your favorite type of tomatoes)
- 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, sliced in half lengthwise (~12 ounces total)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil + more as needed
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large bulb garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1-2 hot peppers to taste (*optional – I used 2 devil’s tongue peppers, but see my NOTES section on this)
- 2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon spicy chili flakes
- ½ cup heavy cream
- FOR SERVING: Fresh chopped basil, fresh sliced cherry tomatoes, spicy chili flakes, olive oil
How to Make Roasted Tomato Soup (with a Spicy Twist) – the Recipe Method
First, Roast the Tomatoes and Peppers. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Set the tomatoes and bell peppers onto a lightly oiled baking sheet, skin sides up. Brush lightly with oil. You can see that I’ve used a variety of different types of tomatoes.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the skins char. Remove from the oven then peel away and discard the charred skins. Lightly chop the roasted bell peppers.
Into the Pot. While the tomatoes and peppers are baking, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pot.
Add the onion and hot peppers (if using) and cook for 5 minutes to soften them up.
Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute, or until you can smell that gorgeous garlic.
Add the roasted tomatoes and bell peppers along with your chicken or vegetable broth (stock), paprika, salt and chili flakes. Stir.
Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes to let the flavors mingle.
Blend the Soup. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth. Or, transfer the soup in batches to a food processor or blender. Process until smooth.
Heavy Cream. Return the soup to the pot. Stir in the heavy cream and heat slightly through. Give it a taste and season with salt if needed. Heavy cream adds a depth of flavor as well as the obvious creaminess. If you’d like to cut back on the calories, use Mexican crema or sour cream instead, but swirl it with a bit of milk or water first so it doesn’t get lumpy in the hot soup.
Serve it Up. Serve with fresh chopped basil, extra spicy chili flakes, fresh sliced cherry tomatoes and a bit of olive oil swirled over the top.
Looks wonderful, doesn’t it? Such a great recipe. It really is quite delicious. This will make you about 8 cups of soup. It does upscale quite nicely, so if you have a ton of tomatoes, you can easily make a much larger batch.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Tomatoes. As mentioned, I’ve use a variety of heirloom tomatoes from my garden for this recipe, and finished it off with cherry tomatoes on top for a fresh pop of flavor. You can use whatever types of tomatoes you like. Roma tomatoes are readily available in stores. Sometimes I like to toss a few fresh cherry tomatoes into the pot while cooking and let them simmer into the overall soup. So good that way.
- Canned Tomatoes. If you’re unable to get fresh tomatoes, you can make this with canned tomatoes. Choose good quality canned tomatoes, or try to find fire roasted canned tomatoes.
- Chili Peppers. I like to incorporate sweet red bell peppers for my soup, but I also like to add in a spicy chili pepper or two because I love a bit of heat. Today I used a couple Devil’s Tongue peppers from my garden, along with a jalapeno pepper. Feel free to use whatever heat level pepper you like, something from your own garden perhaps. More commonly found pepper choices would be jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers, habanero peppers, or ghost peppers for you crazy spicy food lovers. You know who you are! I dare you to make this with some trinidad moruga scorpion peppers or Carolina reapers. I double dare you!
- Seasonings. I’ve kept is simple here by using smoked paprika, salt and pepper, but you can bring in other seasonings that you love. Sometimes I make this recipe with a good Cajun or Creole seasoning blend.
Why Peel the Tomatoes?
Peeling the tomatoes after you roast them isn’t completely necessary. In reality, tomato skins have a lot of nutrients in them, as well as flavor. However, they present a texture issue, especially with soups and sauces, where you usually want them to be smooth. The skins tend to roll up and float about the liquid, which some people find unpalatable.
Some of that will be dealt with when you process the soup with a blender or food processor. However, you won’t always get all that floating tomato skin. It’s usually easier to just remove them right after roasting. They pull right off very easily if you’ve roasted them properly.
That’s it, my friends! I hope you enjoy the roasted tomato soup, especially with my spicy twist! I know, I make everything a little spicy. I just can’t help myself. I love it that way! Enjoy!
Try Some of My Other Popular Soup Recipes
- Roasted Poblano Soup
- Creamy Roasted Hatch Chile Soup
- 30-Minute Sweet Potato Soup
- Cheesy Guajillo-Potato Soup
- Sweet Pepper-Sweet Corn Chowder
- Spicy Sausage Soup
- Chili Colorado
- Cajun Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
- 3 pounds fresh tomatoes stems removed, sliced in half
- 2 red bell peppers stemmed, seeded, sliced in half lengthwise (~12 ounces total)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil + more as needed + more as needed
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large bulb garlic peeled and chopped
- 1-2 hot peppers to taste *optional - I used 2 devil’s tongue peppers, but see my NOTES section on this
- 2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon spicy chili flakes
- ½ cup heavy cream
- FOR SERVING: Fresh chopped basil, fresh sliced cherry tomatoes, spicy chili flakes, olive oil
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Heat oven to 400 degrees Set the tomatoes and bell peppers onto a lightly oiled baking sheet, skin sides up. Brush lightly with oil.
-
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the skins char. Remove from the oven then peel away and discard the charred skins. Lightly chop the roasted bell peppers.
-
While the tomatoes and peppers are baking, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pot.
-
Add the onion and hot peppers (if usinand cook for 5 minutes to soften them up.
-
Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute, or until you can smell that gorgeous garlic.
-
Add the roasted tomatoes and bell peppers along with your stock, paprika, salt and chili flakes. Stir.
-
Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes to let the flavors mingle.
-
Use a stick blender to blend the soup until smooth. Or, transfer the soup in batches to a food processor or blender. Process until smooth.
-
Return the soup to the pot. Stir in the heavy cream and heat slightly through.
-
Serve with fresh chopped basil, extra spicy chili flakes, fresh sliced cherry tomatoes and a bit of olive oil swirled over the top.
Makes 8 cups of soup
6 comments
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If you are looking at this and thinking about trying it think no longer.. just get in with it. I used one Aji Cristal one Paper-lantern / Bhut Jolokia cross and a small Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. While it’s probably a bit potent for soup for normal people.. it’s amazing for us chilli heads :@)
There you go, Chris! That’s DEFINITELY a way to spice up this soup! Glad you enjoyed it! I wish I had a bowl of that!
Love all your recipes and can’t wait to try this tomorrow.
I’m also getting a Spicy Dehydrator book for my birthday 😉
Thanks, Chris! I hope you like my book! I hope you enjoy it.
i love a good soup. especially with winter starting to peep over the horizon.
i never go the tinned route…it’s too easy to make from scratch and doesn’t take long at all.
great recipe. the roasting does add a lot to the flavour depth.
personally like to go heavy on the black pepper with tomato soups.
spot on with the cream. adds just enough indulgence.
Thanks, Col! I appreciate the comments! Agreed on the fresh tomatoes. SO GOOD that way, especially with my garden exploding right now.