This vegan roasted red pepper and tomato soup is the perfect fall recipe. It’s full of vegetables, made creamy from the cauliflower and coconut milk and bursting with flavor. Highly recommend pair the soup with the homemade garlic herb bread, too. It’s perfectly seasoned, crispy, and the best thing to dunk in the tomato soup! Have this on the table in less than an hour!
So happy that we are moving into cooler weather and soup season! If you couldn’t tell already, I am not a fan of hot summer weather. At all. And although we don’t have a true Fall season in California, I’ll take what I can get!
Charred Bell Pepppers
Now, you may have guessed by the recipe title that this recipe uses roasted red peppers.
To get all that good roasted flavor from the bell peppers you’ll want to stick them under the broiler for 10 minutes or so or until the skins of the pepper have blistered and charred.
You can also do this on a gas stove by sticking the bell pepper right on the stovetop grates. This method just may take you a little longer and is a little more dangerous so be careful and use tongs!
If you just throw some chopped bell pepper into your soup, you’ll stick get all the good nutrition bell peppers have to offer, but you won’t get that same deep flavor. The flavor that char gives them makes all the difference.
Now, I actually used a couple orange bell peppers because I used what I had on hand, but all red or all orange will do the trick.
I’d steer clear of using green bell peppers as they are more bitter and we want the sweeter taste of the orange and red bell peppers to keep this soup from tasting too acidic!
If you want a recipe where green bell peppers would be more appropriate, check out my Lentil Stuffed Peppers with Cilantro Lime Rice and Fajita Veggies (Chipotle Copycat!).
The Recipe
Once you’ve got your charred bell peppers ready to go, making the rest of the soup is as easy as throwing everything in a pot and letting it simmer. It’s a dump and go recipe with just a little sautéing and immersion blending at the end!
There are a few key ingredients in this soup that really enhance the flavor.
- Vodka – Yep. This soup recipe calls for vodka. You may be familiar with Vodka Tomato Sauce on pasta, but I like to add vodka to my tomato soup as well because it really enhances the tomato flavor. Just a ¼ cup, but it makes all the difference. There’s actually even scientific explanations to back this up. If you want to read more about how vodka can make your tomato sauce better, check out this article: The Reason Why Tomato Sauce with Vodka Tastes so Good.
- Cauliflower – Despite adding additional nutrition and vegetable servings to this soup, cauliflower helps add creaminess to the soup! It also helps thicken it. Don’t skip it!
- Basil and Oregano – I think it goes without saying that a good soup needs good spices. Basil and Oregano give this soup the underlying herbal notes it needs. Their sweet, peppery, bold, and woodsy. Use fresh or dried, but don’t forget these!
Garlicky Herbed Bread
Making this bread to go along with the soup is entirely optional, but highly recommended. What is better than dunking a piece of crispy, herby bread into your tomato soup and soaking up all that goodness?!
Nothing.
This bread is also super easy to throw together and bakes while the soups simmering!
I chose to roughly chop my bread into large crouton sized bites, but you could do larger pieces like sliced bread or pull it apart with your hands.
As long as it’s tossed in the irresistible garlic herb sauce, you can’t go wrong here.
To make the bread, whisk together oil (I used avocado), oregano, parsley, nutritional yeast, minced garlic, and salt in a large bowl.
Then add in your bread pieces and toss until all pieces are well coated.
Then spread the bread out on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until crispy.
Tip! Make sure the bread is spread out enough on the baking sheet. If it’s too close together, it will steam, not crisp!
I love this vegan roasted red pepper and tomato soup so much I hope you guys love it too!
More Vegan Soup Recipes
- 13 Bean Chili with Cornbread Waffles
- Potato Cauliflower and Leek Soup with Smoky Bacon Bits
- Vegan Corn Chowder
- 1 Pot Vegan Pumpkin Soup
Vegan Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Tomato Soup
- 2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
- 4 cups cauliflower - chopped
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 4 red bell peppers - roasted and charred
- ¼ cup vodka - substitute ¼ cup vegetable broth, if desired
- 1 small yellow onion - diced
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano - can substitute 1 tablespoon fresh
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley - can substitute 1 tablespoon fresh
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Pinch red pepper flakes - to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- ¾ cup full fat coconut milk
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- sea salt and black pepper - to taste
Garlic Herb Bread
- 5-6 cups french bread - sliced or chopped
- ⅓ cup avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano - can substitute 2 tablespoons fresh
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley - can substitute 1 tablespoon fresh
- 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Halve and deseed the four bell peppers. Stick them on a baking sheet under the broiler for 10 minutes, or until charred and blistered (see photo in post for reference). Can also do this on an open flame stovetop (be careful)! Once charred, remove from oven and roughly chop.
- If making the garlic herb bread, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large 6 qt pot over medium heat, sauté the diced onion and minced garlic in a splash of the vegetable broth. After a few minutes, add in the vodka, oregano, parsley, thyme, red pepper flakes and bay leaf. Continue to sauté, about 3-5 minutes.
- Next, add in vegetable broth, chopped cauliflower, chopped bell pepper, and both cans of diced tomato. Stir well to incorporate. Reduce the heat slightly, add the lid and allow soup to simmer for 30 minutes, or until the cauliflower is easily pierced with a knife.
- While the soup is simmering, prepare the garlic herb bread. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, minced garlic, and spices.
- Roughly chop or slice your french bread. Then, add the bread to the mixing bowl and toss well to fully coat the bread in the garlic herb sauce.
- Transfer the bread to a large baking sheet. Make sure the bread is spread out well so it can crisp nicely.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crispy and fragrant. Set aside until soup is ready.
- Once cauliflower is easily pierced with a knife, turn off the heat and remove the bay leaf from soup.
- Then, using an immersion blender or a high speed blender, puree the soup. If using a blender, you will need to do this carefully in batches. Be careful to leave extra room in blender as heat expands.
- Once soup is pureed and smooth, season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the ¾ cup of coconut milk and ¼ cup nutritional yeast until warmed through.
- Serve immediately with garlic herb bread.
- Storing: Store this soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. For best results, store in glass. Store leftover bread in airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Vodka is used to enhance the tomato flavor and is completely cooked out of the soup. If you do not want to use it, you can replace the vodka with an additional ¼ cup vegetable broth.
- You can use orange bell peppers too. I don't recommend using green bell peppers as they are too bitter.
General note about salt
Please pay attention to the type of salt called for in the recipe (if applicable). Not all salts are made equal and cannot be substituted 1 for 1. If you are substituting table salt for kosher salt, you will need to cut the amount called for in the recipe by at least half.
Equipment used
Nutrition
Disclaimer: The Nutritional Information provided for this recipe is only an estimate. The accuracy of the facts listed is not and cannot be guaranteed.
Came out great! I had some extra pita bread left over, so I’ll use them instead by brushing the garlic, herb mixture on top. Once it finish out of the oven, I cut them in triangle pieces.
I am so happy to hear! I love the idea of using up pita. So smart and i’m sure delish!
How many tomatoes would recommend if I roasted my own tomatoes?
I realize calorie listing is an estimate, but the real calories is about 300 per serving. Important for people watching calories to know that 188 calories listed is quite a bit lower than reality.
Hello, I just ran this recipe through a second calorie counter and it gave me the same estimate of 189 calories. Are you factoring in bread? The calorie estimate does not include the optional herb bread topping.