You’ll love the comforting and vibrant flavors of this smoky sweet potato and red pepper soup. Simply roast all of the vegetables in the oven with chipotle peppers and tomato paste and blend. This vegan and gluten-free soup is a nourishing recipe that comes with a bit of a spicy kick!

Two bowls of soup in white bowls on a grey napkin. With cream and parsley sprinkled on top.

I can’t think of a better way to start the week than with a big bowl of veggie-packed soup. I like to make a big pot of soup instead of doing a more traditional “meal prep”. It means we always have something in the fridge for easy work from home lunches, or a quick dinner.

Why this recipe works

Throw everything on a baking sheet, toss with some seasonings, roast in the oven and puree in a blender. This is one of the easiest and tastiest methods for developing a flavorful soup.

This soup uses a combination of sweet, savory and spicy flavors, and you can stretch the more expensive vegetables (like bell peppers) with regular potatoes.

Ingredients you’ll need

The vegetables in this soup are red bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and white or yellow potatoes. I like to do this combination because you end up with a deeply flavored soup that gets stretched a little bit by the addition of budget-friendly potatoes.
For the aromatics, the vegetables are roasted in a mixture of olive oil, white wine vinegar, tomato paste, chipotle in adobo and oregano. This creates a balance of umami, sweet, spicy and savory.
Finally, you’ll also add onions and garlic for flavor.
As far as the liquid for the soup, I like to use broth. You can use either chicken or vegetable broth. You could also use water, just be sure to add more salt to taste.

Expert tips

You can throw the roasted vegetables into a pot with your broth and use an immersion blender to puree. You can also puree in batches using your blender.
You could also make this soup on the stovetop, but I find roasting really enhances the flavors of the sweet potato and bell peppers.

First four steps for making the soup, stirring flavorings together and tossing it with vegetables on a baking sheet.

Step by step instructions

Preheat oven to 425F. Arrange chopped sweet potato, red bell pepper, onion, garlic and potato on a rimmed baking sheet.
Combine olive oil, tomato paste, chipotle in adobo, white wine vinegar, salt, and oregano in a small bowl. Pour the mixture over chopped vegetables on a baking sheet. Tossing to coat evenly.
Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
Add half of the roasted vegetables to a blender with half of the broth in two batches. Blend on high until pureed. Pour into a pot and repeat with remaining vegetables and broth. You can also do with in a pot with an immersion blender.

Soup being pureed in a blender with broth.

Variations

While this soup is so good the way it is, you could absolutely make some tweaks in terms of the vegetables used.

Add some sliced carrots or even parsnips to the vegetables, this will add more sweetness to the soup. You can also swap out the bell peppers for orange or yellow bell peppers, this will only impact the color of the soup.
The chipotle doesn’t add too much heat to the recipe. So if you want something spicier, add more chipotle, some red pepper flakes, or cayenne pepper.
If you want to add some protein, you can add a can of drained and rinsed white beans when you’re pureeing the soup. You will need to add more broth or water to thin out the soup.

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This recipe was originally published on January 23, 2012 and updated on April 2, 2023.