creamy poblano pepper soup

Fourth recipe of 2015, and this is already the second soup of the year! Which is definitely surprising, considering I've posted a total of like, 4 soups in 4 years of blogging. What can I say? I'm just not a huge soup person. I am, however, a HUGE Tex-Mex person, so that, along with the fact that I'm trying to get back to healthy eating after all the splurges of Christmas break {me and every other human ever, basically}, is what created the need for this soup. Creamy, dreamy, totally vegetarian {almost vegan!}, packed full of healthy veggies and deliciously satisfying. Seriously, all you need is a handful of vegetables, some seasonings, some half & half {and a lil bit of patience}, and you are well on your way to some scrumptious soup. I'd happily eat healthy all the time if it always tasted this good!

My darling vegan BFF friend Emilie used to work at this fantastic fancy cafe downtown in her pre-vegan days, and she mentioned that they used to have this delicious, mysterious poblano pepper soup. She wasn't sure what all went in it because she had never actually tasted it {um, what}, but all she could tell me was that it was creamy and anybody that ordered it fell in love. So, when poblano peppers were on sale this week, I simply couldn't resist, and decided I had to whip up some mythical poblano pepper soup of my own! Be warned that this soup is totally, ridiculously easy, albeit a little bit time consuming. You have to roast and skin the poblanos before you do anything else to bring out the delicious roasted sweetness of the peppers, and then you have to combine those with the rest of the veggies and let the whole thing simmer for who-knows-how-long to make sure everything is tender and cooked through and yummy. Then, all you've gotta do is blend the whole thing up until silky smooth, add a bit of half & half {or almond milk, if you don't dig dairy}, and ta-daaa! A supremely delicious, savory soup with a tiny bit of a spicy kick. You're going to love it! Serve it with tortilla chips for optimum TexMex-ness.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

creamy poblano pepper soup

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course: Vegetarian

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Valentina | The Baking Fairy

Ingredients

• 5-6 medium poblano peppers
• 1 red onion
• 4 stalks celery
• 2 medium carrots {peeled if desired}
• 2 cups fresh spinach {frozen works too!}
• 2 cloves of garlic smashed
• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup half & half {more or less as needed}
• 1 vegetarian bouillon cube
• water as needed

Instructions

• Turn the oven onto broil, as hot as it will go {mine went to 500F}.
• Line a baking sheet with foil, and lightly spray with nonstick spray.
• Wash and dry your poblano peppers, cut them in half lengthwise, and get rid of the ribs and seeds. Lay them, skin side up, onto the baking sheet, and lightly spray the surface with nonstick spray.
• Stick the pan of peppers under the broiler for 5-7 minutes, until the skin has blackened and blistered, then flip them and allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes longer. Remove pan from oven, and let peppers cool completely before handling.
• When cooled, carefully remove and discard all of the crunchy, blistered skin from the peppers, and set the cleaned peppers aside.
• Meanwhile, wash all your veggies, peel if desired, and chop roughly. The size of the chunks doesn't really matter as we will be blending everything up later, anyways.
• In a large pot, nonstick if possible, heat the olive oil, onion, and garlic on medium-high until hot and sizzling but NOT burnt. Add in the roasted peppers {make sure they are peeled!}, carrots, celery, and spinach, and mix everything up. Lower the heat to medium-low, and allow the vegetables to cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring often.
• Add in enough water to cover everything, plus 1-2 inches more, and add in the vegetarian bouillon cube {if you don't have bouillon, you can use some vegetable stock and add water, or just add in a mix of spices including garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, and pepper}. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and allow to cook for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
• When vegetables are all soft and mushy, remove the pot from the heat and allow the mixture to cool a bit before blending. Blend all vegetables up until smooth and creamy, then return to the pot and stir in the half and half.
• If the soup seems too watery and thin. return to heat and cook on medium-high, stirring often, until some of the liquid has evaporated and the soup has thickened.
• Serve immediately with plenty of bread or tortilla chips!