This is a new favorite in our house. It’s easy to make, healthy, delicious, and colorful. It comes together so quickly it’s perfect for a weeknight meal but it’s also pretty enough to entertain with. Versatile recipes make me happy.

Low on fresh produce one day I went looking for something I could do with three bell peppers and came across a similar recipe. We liked it so much I tried to find the recipe a few weeks later and couldn’t find the original website! So I made up my own version. It’s hard to mess up soup. I figured it would be fine. And it WAS. So fine that I wanted to share it with you. This could easily be a “choose your own adventure” recipe if you prefer different herbs, like to spice things up, or want to go ultra creamy by stirring in some heavy cream at the end. I’ll give you the base recipe and you can take it from there. 🙂

Bell Pepper Soup

4 Servings

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 large stalks celery, chopped
• 3 large bell peppers – 1 red, 1 orange, and 1 yellow – chopped
• 3 Tbsp butter, olive oil, or avocado oil
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp dried basil (roughly – I never measure. I just pour a little in the palm of my hand and toss it in.)
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme (again – roughly)
• OR – Whatever fresh or dried herbs sound good to you/you have on hand – Ideas for other add ins might include: smoked paprika, garlic, crushed red pepper, or rosemary
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Place a stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the butter or oil and saute the onions and celery for about five minutes. Add bell peppers, add a pinch of salt and pepper and saute for another five minutes.

Reduce heat to medium, sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, stir to combine, and cook for 2 more minutes.

Slowly add the chicken broth (about 1/4 cup at a time at first), stirring as you go. Once all the broth is in, add the herbs, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Transfer the soup to a blender (in batches) and blend until smooth. (Typically I love my immersion blender, and you could use that here, but the blender gives this soup such a smooth consistency that I prefer it to the immersion blender for this recipe.)

Once soup is all blended adjust seasonings to taste and enjoy! I like to serve this soup with Broccoli Quesadillas, which you can find here: http://www.homecookingadventure.com/recipes/broccoli-quesadillas

Entertaining?  Serve this soup as an appetizer in shot glasses for a fun presentation. 😀