Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Bisque
Red pepper bisque is a creamy soup recipe with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, aromatics, and cream. It has the best velvety smooth texture and is so easy to make.
It’s soup season, friends, and to celebrate, I’m sharing one of my all-time favorites: roasted red pepper bisque. It’s easy to make, delicious, and so, so cozy.
There’s something magical about this soup. The cream balances out the acidic tomatoes and peppers, so the flavor is bright but richly decadent. It’s really something special.
It’s also so easy. There are a few things to prep, but you’ll be indulging in a bowl of this creamy soup in about an hour or sooner if you’re handy with a knife.
You can serve it all on its own or dress it up with a garnish. I’m partial to croutons and blue cheese crumbles, but as you’ll see, there are a few options in the garnish department.
Ingredients
- Jarred roasted red peppers: I love a short-cut, and jarred roasted red peppers make this soup easy.
- Crushed tomatoes: Use a good-quality can of crushed tomatoes. I like San Marzano tomatoes.
- Vegetable broth: I use regular broth, so there’s no need to add more salt to the soup. If you use low-sodium vegetable broth, taste the soup and add more seasoning.
- Aromatics: You’ll need onion, carrot, celery, and a bay leaf.
- Flour: A little bit helps thicken the soup, giving it a velvety texture.
- Heavy Cream: Since it’s a bisque, there must be cream and every drop is worth it.
- Garnishes: I like croutons, fresh parsley, and some blue cheese crumbles, but grated Parmesan cheese or crumbled feta cheese works great, too.
How to Roasted Red Pepper Bisque
☑️ Saute the Veggies
Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Stir and cook until softened.
Sprinkle the flour over the top and stir to coat the vegetables evenly.
☑️ Simmer
Add the tomatoes, peppers, bay leaf, and broth. Stir and bring the soup to a simmer for 30 minutes. Give it a stir every so often while it cooks.
☑️ Blend
Discard the bay leaf and add the chopped parsley. Blend the soup until smooth, and then stir in the cream. Warm the soup for a minute or so before serving it with the garnishes.
Recipe Tips
You can make this soup more of a meal with a sandwich, salad, or grilled cheese on the side. You can also make some of my easy garlic bread.
The soup will keep in the refrigerator for several days. I like to portion it into single servings so it’s easy to reheat for lunches or light dinners.
You can freeze the soup, but I recommend leaving the cream out when you freeze it. Reheat the soup on the stove and add the cream as you heat it.
More Roasted Vegetable Soup Recipes
Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Bisque
Red pepper bisque is a creamy soup recipe with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, aromatics, and cream. It has the best velvety smooth texture and is so easy to make.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 1 rib of celery, sliced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (12-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and roughly chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Optional garnished: croutons, parlsey and crumbled blue cheese
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and stir. Cook the veggies for five to 10 minutes or until softened.
- Add the flour and stir. Add the tomatoes, red peppers, bay leaf, and vegetable broth. Stir and bring the soup to a simmer. Adjust the heat to maintain the simmer for 30 minutes. Stir the soup occasionally as it cooks.
- Discard the bay leaf from the soup. Add the chopped parsley and stir. Blend the soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir the cream into the soup. Let it warm through for a minute or so before serving.
- For the garnishes: Ladle the soup into bowls. Top each serving with a few croutons, a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles, and some parsley.
Notes
The soup will keep in the refrigerator for three to four days. You can also freeze the soup without the cream. Reheat the soup on the stove and add the cream before serving it.
Nutrition
- Calories: 338
- Sugar: 17.6g
- Sodium: 829.9mg
- Fat: 23.3g
- Saturated Fat: 14.2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8.4g
- Trans Fat: 0.4g
- Carbohydrates: 30.6g
- Fiber: 7.3g
- Protein: 6.1g
- Cholesterol: 64.4mg
The nutrition is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.
More Recipes with Roasted Red Peppers
Happy cooking,
This recipe, post, and photos were updated from the archives. The post was first published in September 2015.
Oh, I just saw this on Instagram and had to check your recipe, looks so incredible! Great job!
So blue cheese on red pepper and tomato soup is brilliant. I need to make this immediately.
Recently made this soup and it’s terrific. Blue Cheese crumbles are great on top , but the best part is the heavenly smells that fill the kitchen! Great recipe! Can’t wait to make it for friends.
This looks amazing! I would love a big bowl of this right now!
This bisque looks fantastic! I love the croutons and toppings on it. We have lot of peppers and tomatoes so this may be coming to our dinner table soon.
Hope you give it a try – let me know what you think!
This looks amazing April, can’t wait to try it.
YUM! Tomato soup is my husbands favorite. I’ll need to make this recipe for him soon.
A super set of harmonious ingredients that souund and look delicious, although I would have to skip the blue cheese it really is not my thing.
It’s pretty wonderful with the blue cheese, but I bet feta would be just as good!
LOVE that this has a dose of roasted red peppers to it – one of my favorite things! Love the suggestion to serve with blue cheese crumbles, too! Happy that it’s soup weather!
Three cheers for soup weather!
This was so easy and wonderfully delicious. I loved the blue cheese crumbles. I went organic and roasted my own peppers. I didn’t bother to skin, just followed the directions and after simmering, placed ingredients in my nutri bullet which gave it a wonderful texture.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
Absolutely love this recipe!! I used Feta instead of blue cheese, it’s all I had on hand. Turned out wonderfully, will definitely make again.
So glad you liked it, Stefanie! Thank you for letting me know 🙂
I make this every year for a “soup club” that I’m in. The blue cheese is amazing in it! I don’t strain it, texture and taste is wonderful without the extra step.
I just made this. It was fantastic! I did not make the croutons and did not do the blue cheese. We just ate them with grilled cheese sandwiches. They had a ton of flavor and parents and kids both were happy! HUGE step up from plain tomato soup.
So glad you liked it! Love that you served it with grilled cheese 🙂
I was trying to find a recipe that was similar to a local restaurant’s roasted red pepper tomato soup and this was pretty much it! It was easily adaptable to a slow cooker – I just put everything in (other than cream but added the garlic and olive oil) and cooked on high for 3-ish hours until the veggies were soft. I also stirred the flour into the melted butter before adding. Once done, I used an immersion blender and didn’t need to strain since everything was cooked down. Added the cream and reheated for about 30 minutes. Absolutely delicious with some warm crusty sourdough!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing your slow cooker tips 🙂 Also, thanks for the rating – I appreciate it!
Roasted red pepper soup from a local restaurant is my husband’s favorite. Due to restaurants being closed, I decided to try this recipe. It was a hit…I did make the croutons but didn’t add blue cheese as we don’t like it and it wasn’t needed. Will make this again!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me and sharing your rating!