Healthy roasted cauliflower soup slowly cooked with garlic, sweet red pepper and onion then pureed with vegetarian broth. The finishing touch is a dab of aromatic pesto on top right before serving! It's healthy, easy, nourishing, gluten-free, vegan and delicious!
Red colored soup happens to be one of our family favorite soups! The top of the list being red pepper tomato soup, tomato basil soup and pizza stew! The boys and I love the natural sweetness that comes from fresh tomatoes and roasted red bell peppers!
Did you know that vegetables have natural sweetness that comes out when they are roasted? This roasted cauliflower soup has so much robust flavor from roasting the vegetables first – instead of cooking on the stove-top.
Roasting is one extra step but worth it! You are going to LOVE the combinations of nutty cauliflower, sweet red pepper, a splash of lemon and herbiful pesto that will both fuel your body and keep it energized!
The pesto is kinda like the icing on the cake. It's what MAKES the soup! I used quinoa pesto in the pictures because that is what I had on-hand, but you can use plain or this kale pesto sauce recipe.
One good thing about roasted cauliflower soup is it's hard to mess up. You can roast the vegetables until they are starting to char or keep them cooked on the lighter side. The longer the vegetables roast in the oven the softer they are the smoother your soup.
I recommend not to really char your vegetables whenever you can help it. Here's why:
Charring is when the vegetables are cooked at a high heat and start to turn black and burned. The dark residue matter is called char. When foods are cooked too high- the charring stage is a chemical process removing hydrogen and oxygen from the solid. Charring is a chemical process and it's best to keep those chemicals out of the body:-).
Cauliflower is incredibly nutritious. It tastes best raw with a favorite dressing, roasted, turned into this pizza or turned into this soup for a light and healthy dinner.
How to make roasted cauliflower soup:
- Roast the cauliflower, garlic, red pepper and onion.
- Let the roasted vegetables cool slightly before adding to the blender.
- Blend the vegetables (only using 2 of the garlic cloves removed from the skin) with vegetable broth. In this step you can pulse the soup for a thicker consistency, remove 1/4 of the vegetables and add it in later for chunks, or blend the soup for about 1 minute until it is smooth.
- Heat on the stove and add lemon and apple cider vinegar and simmer until ready to eat! Add your favorite garnishes like pesto on each serving!
That's it! 4 EASY steps!
This roasted cauliflower red pepper pesto soup is so good! I hope you make it! I just finished of the rest of it over the weekend and even the leftovers are just as delicious as the first time I made it.
Don't forget you can make it to your liking by making it super smooth or slightly chunky. I prefer slightly chunky and my family preferred theirs very smooth. Have fun with it- like I said before it's a hard recipe to mess up!
PIN IT! Roasted Cauliflower Red Pepper Pesto Soup
More roasted cauliflower recipes you might enjoy:
- Almond Pesto Cauliflower- This can totally be turned into soup! Add 4 cups of broth and puree until desired texture is achieved.
- Buffalo Cauliflower Wings by Chocolate Covered Katie
- Spicy Roasted Cauliflower by Budget Bites
Roasted Cauliflower Red Pepper Pesto Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower
- 1 red bell pepper stem removed
- 1 garlic bulb roast whole and only use 2 cloves in the soup
- 1/2 yellow onion skin removed and halved
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 Tablespoons pesto
- 1 bay leaf
- Garnish- pesto and nuts or seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the cauliflower into chunks or slices. Add the sliced cauliflower, whole red pepper, garlic bulb, and onion to a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Roast for 35-45 minutes until the vegetables are browned.
- Remove the vegetables from the oven and let them cool slightly before adding to the blender.
- Blend the cauliflower, red pepper, 2 garlic cloves (skin removed) and onion with vegetable broth. In this step you can pulse the soup for a thicker consistency, remove 1/4 of the vegetables and add it in later for chunks, or blend the soup for about 1 minute until it is smooth.
- Using a large pot add the soup and heat on low. Add the apple cider vinegar, juice of 1/2 a lemon, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste. Heat the soup on the stove until ready to eat and add your favorite garnishes like pesto, nuts and a drizzle of olive oil!
Notes
* The recipe calls for 1 garlic bulb. Use only 2 cloves for the soup and save the rest of the roasted garlic for another dish!
Tabitha @ Tabitha Talks Food says
This looks so good and easy. I’m going to have to try this soup!