Red Peppers have been on sale at Trader Joes for 2 weeks now. I think they think I'm crazy when I check out with two huge bags full. Honestly, I bought 12 this week. I love them. Little Guy loves them, and I'm working on the baby (click here for our latest baby food adventure.)
We normally eat them straight up or add them to sausage dishes, but I've been craving a good homemade soup. Of course no one else in the house was interested except me. I tried so hard to get Little Guy to try it, but he refused.It saddens me to see his adventurous food spirit dying but I'm going to keep trying. I'm hoping it's just a phase. A long childhood phase that will disappear once he is older. I can't help but think all this exposure will help in the long run.
Anyway, the soup came out AWESOME! I may up the spices a little next time, but the flavor was nice and it was EASY.(UPDATE: I doubled the spices listed below and it's even better!) I see so many red pepper soups that require roasting the peppers and I just didn't feel like doing that. I'm sure it's yummy, but I'm more of the throw everything-in-a-pot type of cook. This worked for me….
- 1 medium-large spaghetti squash
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 carrots chopped
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 red bell peppers chopped
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 4 cups of your favorite broth/stock or 2 cans + a splash of water (I used chicken)
- 1 8oz can of tomato sauce + 1 can of water
Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees.
Cut the spaghetti squash in half. Be warned: it's a bitch!
Scoop out the pulp and seeds. Lay each half on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with non-stock cooking spray.
Bake for about an hour until soft. Side Note: You can microwave the squash which is how I've always done it but I'm going to be honest. I like it better roasted! Another note: You can also roast the seeds of the spaghetti squash just like pumpkin seeds.
While the squash is cooking, start the soup.
Heat the oil in a medium-large soup pot over medium-high. Add the onion, garlic and carrots. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Cook until the onion softens and begins to brown.
Add the peppers and cook for a few minutes until they begin to soften.
Add the cumin, fennel and thyme. Stir and combine all the flavors.
Add the broth, tomato sauce and can of water. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer at least 20 minutes until everything is soft.
Once soft, puree with an immersion blender or transfer to your blender in batches.
Return to the pot and keep warm over low heat.
By this time your squash should be about done.
Take a fork and scoop out squash.
Add ¾ of a cup (116g) of squash to a soup bowl and top with 1 cup of the red pepper soup. I added a little more squash and a sprinkle of parsley for effect.
Isn't it gorgeous?! I loved it! As you can see...
That bowl was 1 cup of soup over ¾ cup of squash and it was a great serving. I measured out 8 cups of broth from the recipe. I'm not sure if I have enough spaghetti squash for 8 servings, but I'm going to share the nutritional information for that size servings. Points are based on nutritional information, although it's all veggies so count however you like.
| Servings | Amt per Serving | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 cup of soup + ¾ cup of squash | |||
| Calories | Fat | Fiber | WWPs | |
| 95 | 2g | 5g | old: 1 | new: 2 |
| Sugar | Sat Fat | Carbs | Protein | |
| 8g | 0g | 18g | 3g | |
Hey there, Roni!
Did you mean that you updated the amounts of spices reflected in the recipe, so that we should do it as written? Or that we should double what's written here?
Thanks!
I do now! I also started just roasting them whole.... https://greenlitebites.com/2012/10/20/cook-whole-spaghetti-squash-video/
Hey! Did you know to soften the spaghetti squash, you can first microwave it so its easier to cut? That's what I do! Four minutes in the microwave and you're able to cut through it much easier.
I meant to say SPAGHETTI squash .... I had butternut on the brain because I made Butternut soup last week. I have several spaghetti squash that need my attention today .
Thanks again
Sounds so good .. I am going to try it today. I have had a. Couple of butternut squash laying around that I need to do something with. Today is going to be cold and rainy .. Good day for soup. Thanks for your recipe .
I just made this for the 3rd or 4th time... LOVE IT! This time was my favorite though. The only thing I did differently was I put the cut up peppers and a purple onion in the oven to roast - once tender and slightly browned I put them in the pot of simmering broth and carrots for another 10 min or so then added the tomatoe sauce and seasoning for another 10 min or so. IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!
Hi Roni! I love this idea! I roast my peppers in a hot oven, about 425 til they are tender, put in a baggie to sweat and remove the skin under cold running water once they cool-use in salads, etc....
Can't wait to try this soup!
OMG this was SOOOO good! I added some red pepper flakes at the end for some heat but otherwise stuck to the recipe. Its definately a keeper! Next time I may try to roast the peppers and the garlic though.
Looks great Roni! I too have been buying those baby peppers (red, yellow, green) from Aldi. It has like 50 baby peppers in it.
One thing I make is salsa to use them up. On a cookie sheet throw the whole peppers, a white onion (with the skin on), a poblano pepper, garlic (with the skins still on).
Preheat the oven to 375 and roast these for about 20 minutes. Take the cookie sheet out of the oven and then take the stems off, remove the seeds from the peppers and remove the skins from the garlic and onion. Throw it all in a blender and blend until your desired consistency and you have a great salsa. If there are any leftovers I'll make salsa chicken, just cook chicken in the salsa and serve over brown rice and a sprinkle of cheese.
That came out sounding like an insult and it was meant to be a comparison that my son isn't adventurous unless it's soup. It looks amazing!
That looks perfect for my son who will eat anything if you call it soup.
I roast my peppers in the oven. I set the broiler on high and either roast the peppers whole, turning every 5 or 7 minutes )or cut in half and broil, cut side down about 10 or so minutes) until skin is charred.
I have never used plastic bags. Instead, I just let it sit on the counter and wait for the peppers to cool. The skins come off quite easily.
when i roast my spaghetti squash i wait until after it bakes to cut it in half and scoop out the gunk and then the good stuff. saves on the pain of cutting open the tough uncooked squash!
I made this for supper tonight. I changed up the spices because I HATE fennel seeds, but it was delicious!! The spaghetti squash was the PERFECT addition to the soup. Loved, loved, loved it!!
My grocery has had red peppers on sale for 2 weeks also. I bought a bunch and diced them up and froze them. I put them in at least one dish a week. This soup recipe looks so good and a great way to use up the few I still have in the fridge. Thanks for sharing.
Roni,
This looks fantastic!! So, after seeing this post, I immediately added spaghetti squash to my grocery list for the weekend! haha I will TOTALLY try this 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Oh. My. Word.
I used to LOVE V8's sweet red pepper soup, but my Target no longer carries it. This looks SO good. So, so, so good.
I know what I'm trying next week. Thank you, Roni!
Looks really good. I throw peppers in with my other roasting veggies all the time. No need for all that extra work as far as I am concerned.
lol didn't think of it that way.
I just couldn't deal with waiting for 2 things to roast I guess. Plus all pepper roasting techniques I found required open flame, plastic baggies and and skinning. Just not a fan. I'll give it a try one day but Sunday I was not in the mood. 😉
You crack me up! You'll roast the squash but not the peppers. What have you got against the poor peppers?! 😛
Looks AMAZING! This is definately going in my fall line up!