Gluten-Free + Vegan Recipe | Roasted Red Pepper Sweet Potato Soup

I couldn’t let winter get away without posting at least one soup recipe. I realize not everyone finds soup recipes very exciting (I really wanted to type “soup-er exciting” there), so this is also a method for roasting peppers in a cast iron skillet – which I had to do because my oven decided to break. And that was a few days before my plumbing decided to stop working, apparently the universe wanted to see if I could cook without an oven or running water. Turns out I can. So there, universe.

Roasted peppers are wonderful in so many things (vegan cheese sauces, pasta sauces, hummus, on their own with sea salt and squeezes of lime juice); so knowing how to roast them is fun and useful.

In this soup, the combo of charred peppers, creamy sweet potatoes, fresh cilantro, and as much hot sauce as you can stand is really enticing. Roast your peppers any old way you want to (or buy a jar of already roasted peppers, I love those things) and be as liberal as you want altering the other ingredients. This is a forgiving soup (as most soups are, they’re really a lovely bunch).

Ingredients:

• 2 T oil (high heat – like Grapeseed)
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 2 sweet onions (like Vidalia)
• 4 red bell peppers
• 2 small hot peppers (optional, I used a few shishito peppers I had lying around, which actually aren’t hot)
• 4 cups cleaned, peeled, cubed sweet potatoes
• 1 t roasted cumin (regular cumin is fine, but roasted cumin, or geera, is amazingly flavorful)
• 1 t coriander
• juice of one small lemon
• 5 cups rich veggie stock
• 1 cup cashew cream (optional if you want a richer, creamier soup, though it’s quite good without it)
• salt and pepper to taste
• hot sauce (like Sriracha) to taste or red pepper flakes
• chopped, fresh cilantro for garnish

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 T of oil in a cast iron skillet big enough to accommodate all of your peppers, place peppers in the hot skillet and roast until each side is charred (turning as you go every few minutes, these took about 20 minutes total). When they are nice and toasty, remove from skillet, let cool, remove stem and seeds, and roughly chop.
2. While your peppers are roasting, in a large, heavy bottomed stock pot, sauté your chopped onions until caramelized (about 10 minutes) in the other Tablespoon of oil.
3. Add in the garlic, cumin and coriander and sauté until fragrant (about 2 minutes).
4. Add the veggie stock, chopped roasted peppers, and sweet potatoes, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are fork-tender.
5. To finish your soup, salt and pepper to taste and add lemon juice (depending on how juicy your lemon is, you may want to start with half the lemon and add more to suit your taste buds). Add cashew cream if you are using it. Puree to desired consistency with an immersion blender or a standard blender (in batches, being careful to let the steam escape and not splash yourself).

I served this in a left over roasted red pepper, garnished with lots of fresh, chopped cilantro and red pepper flakes.

Tagged as: Erin Griffin, Recipe, vegan soup

About Erin Griffin

Teaching and cooking are written in my DNA (thanks mom and dad). I finally relinquished myself to that fact in my early 30s and haven’t looked back. I read nutrition books for fun (like the science-y ones). I love mashing veggies for my 9-month-old while we sing along to 80s pop. And in my spare time I run The Yummy Kind, offering recipes, cooking classes, and nutrition education to anyone who wants to listen. You can find more information, and more of my recipes, at www.theyummykind.com.

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