October is fresh red chile time in New Mexico. August and September are the best months for green chile, but October is the month for red. One of the dishes I always make with fall roasted red chile is this Roasted Red Chile and Tomato Soup.
Red chile is green chile that has been left on the the plant until it “ripens” and turns red. The taste between red and green is as different as night and day, even though they are the same fruit. Green chile is savory and earthy while red chile is sweeter. Both can range in heat or spiciness from mild to very hot. If a green chile is hot then you can guarantee that the ripen red will be hot as well.
The green chile category provides many recipes that use roasted green chile. For many of these recipe you could substitute roasted red. The result will be a little sweeter but just as delicious and spicy. Grits and green chile is one of my favorites with red. When I make red chile grits, I usually choose a sharp cheddar that complements the sweet and spicy of the chile. Other favorites with roasted red include deviled eggs, grilled cheese, or mac & cheese. In the gallery at the bottom of this post, you can find some recipes with which I prefer to use the roasted red over the roasted green chile. If your red is mild, you could use it in place of roasted red bell pepper in almost any recipe.
So now for today’s recipe. October is the also the last of the tomato season, so it just makes sense to use these two October crops together in a delicious soup. The recipe below use both roasted red chile and roasted tomatoes to make a sweet, savory and somewhat spicy Roasted Red Chile and Tomato Soup. It’s a beautiful soup and tastes a lot better that those red pepper and tomato soups you can buy in a box. Because it’s homemade, it’s easy to control the salt and to add spices that best complement the tomatoes and chile. The following recipe makes a large pot of soup. Because there is no dairy, it’s a nice soup to freeze and enjoy on a cold winter day.
Roasted Chile and Tomato Soup
A sweet, savory and slightly spicy soup made with roasted tomatoes and roasted New Mexico red chile. If you don't have fresh tomatoes and red chile, you could substitute with canned fire-roasted tomatoes and roasted red bell peppers.
The prep and cook time doesn't included the roasting of tomatoes which takes an hour nor the roasted and peeling of red chile which takes about 2 hours. If you have both of these in the freezer, then this soup is fast and easy to throw together.
Be sure to read the Kitchen Notes for substitutions, more information and related links.
- 5 pounds fresh tomatoes* (See Kitchen Notes)
- 2 – 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium to large onion, chopped
- 5 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 large stalks celery, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups mild or medium roasted red chile* or roasted red bell peppers, peeled and chopped
- 2 to 3 tsp vegetable or chicken broth paste* (to taste)
- 1/2 to 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground mustard powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano, crushed
- Fresh basil – all the leaves from a 6-inch stem, chopped
- 1 – 3 tsp honey (to lower to acidic taste of the tomatoes)
- water if needed
- a drizzle of olive oil
- garlic croutons
- Fresh herbs
- cheese such as feta, queso fresco, Pecorino Romano
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Core the tomatoes.
Cover a sheet pan with parchment or aluminum foil. Place the cored tomatoes, cored side up, in one layer.
Roast in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes until the edges of the skins start to brown.
Remove from oven and let cool. Remove the peels by pinching the skin at the bottom of the tomato and sliding out the flesh and liquid. Set aside until ready to add to the soup.
Prep the vegetables.
- Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. When hot, turn heat down to medium low and add onion, garlic and celery. Sauté until onions start to brown around the edges.
Pour the roasted red chile, tomatoes and their juice into the pot.
Add the bouillon paste, white pepper, mustard powder, smoked paprika and oregano.
Cook for about 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let cool enough to transfer into blender.
Working in two batches, transfer soup to blender, adding half the basil to each batch. Blend until smooth.
Transfer blended soup back into soup pot. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. If too acidic, add 1 teaspoon honey. You can add up to 3 teaspoons without it making the soup too sweet.
- If the soup is too thick, add a little more liquid. (You could use water or broth)
Heat the soup and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Retaste and adjust seasoning to your taste.
Serve immediately with a couple of toppings, crackers, quesadilla, or grilled cheese.
If you have too much, let cool and transfer to freezer containers. Freeze for cold weather lunches.
Thaw and reheat when ready to serve.
Roasted tomatoes – The tomatoes can be roasted up to 2 days before making the soup. If you don’t want to roast tomatoes, substitute with three 14 ounce can of fire-roasted tomatoes and their juice.
Roasted Red Chile – The chile can be roasted up to 2 days before. Follow the link to see how to roast and prep the chile. If you don’t have fresh red chile, substitute toasted red bell pepper. The amount of chile you use depends on how spicy you want the soup and how hot the chile is. For a mild soup, use mild chile or roasted red bell peppers. For a spicy chile, use medium to hot. We prefer medium.
Bouillon paste – I use the vegetable or chicken broth paste made by Better Than Bouillon. The reason you don’t use broth or stock is because there is usually enough liquid from the roasted tomatoes.
Freezing the soup – Because there is no dairy in this soup, it freezes very well. I usually take the leftovers and freeze in 2 cup containers. During the colder months a cup of soup and grilled cheese makes a fabulous meal.
Below are some other recipes that use roasted New Mexico red chile. Most of these could be made with roasted red bell peppers if you don’t have the chile.
MJ – so sorry to see on another post that you’re going offline! I had to step away from mine for a few years due to life circumstances, but it was still there, waiting for me when I got back to it. Very thankful for that. Wishing you all the best!
This sound so fabulous. Thanks for sharing us.
This sounds fabulous! Exactly the kind of combo my hubs would love so I’m putting on the menu for next week to go with grilled cheese sandwiches. YUM!
Thanks Tyler! Hope you both enjoy it. Cheers, MJ
We’ve had two nights of 30 degree weather and a bowl of your soup would be especially nice. I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas.
Oh, I’m envious of all your beautiful tomatoes! And what a delicious way to use them. We have been having a few chilly days and your flavorful soup would sure hit the spot! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. xo
Oh MJ! I wish I could get some fresh red chile and make this delicious sounding/looking soup! Alas, I cannot. We did bring home the best ever 45 pounds of fresh green chile in early September when we were in Las Cruces. I love roasting my veggies for soup, and I know the depth of flavor in the soup is amazing…
I messed around and didn’t make the chile roasting event at our local grocery store this August. I think I still have a few in the freezer but I covet some red chiles now!
Love this deep rich spicy broth! So much flavor but pretty budget friendly too. Win-win!
Oh, how I love the sound of this soup! It would taste so good right about now with this latest cold snap. It’s on my wish list asap!
This is sooo comforting and so tasty bowl of goodness!…. and I am your Salsa Macha fan too !!!!!!!
Thank you. I actually found a source for Mustard Pepper… spicesandtease.com and was prepared to buy some so I could attempt to replicate it, so thank you for the clarification… I plan to make this Friday, using Colman’s, now that I don’t have to mess about making Mustard Pepper. Though, in retrospect, I think I’ll order some Mustard Pepper, to try it, so thank you for the accidental nudge.
Regards,
-Richard
Richard, well you know…you learn something everyday. I didn’t know there was a mustard pepper, but I can see it now after looking at the ingredients. Thanks for the link. I hope you enjoy the soup! Your feedback is always appreciated. Cheers, MJ
My husband travels to New York frequently for business, and always comes back with something from Spice and Tease. I have such interesting spice blends and fantastic teas from them. In any case, I really enjoyed this post, because I don’t know all that much about chiles. I love the idea of red chile in deviled eggs! I’ll have to try that!
MJ, this sounds fabulous! Exactly the kind of combo my hubs would love so I’m putting on the menu for next week to go with grilled cheese sandwiches. YUM!
Do you have a recipe for homemade Mustard Pepper? I likely have the needed ingredients and don’t like buying commercial products if I am able to replicate them at home. Yes, Ma’am, you saw this question earlier and I apologize, I was too dull-witted to realize that I could attach it to the recipe, thereby being of benefit to other like-minded fans/readers.
Thank you,
-Richard
Richard, I did get your email and responded, but I will gladly respond to this comment. 🙂 The use of mustard “pepper” was a mistake on my part. It should have read “mustard Powder” which you can get pretty much anywhere. I have corrected this in the recipe. I am so sorry for the mistake and any confusion it may have caused. I do appreciate your drawing it to my attention. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Enjoy the soup! Cheers, MJ
This sounds fabulous. I have been meaning to get out and buy chilies and think this is probably the last weekend. Maybe now they will have some red ones. Can’t believe that Halloween is upon us! Hope you are doing well!
Hi MJ, Beautiful soup. I think I buy my chile peppers too early and don’t notice red chile peppers available to us. I’m going to make another trip this weekend to see if I can find some. This soup looks and sounds absolutely wonderful.
MJ, your soups always look so good and taste good as well. We’re getting long red Hungarian pepper in our market just now, so this will get made soon. Your tomatoes look wonderful by the way. Thanks for sharing…
Oh yes roasted veg. always tastes marvellous. I like to roast up capsicums etc and then blitz them into a soup. so delish!
What a combination! Perfect time of year to marry these flavors at their peak of intensity; I’ve come to the conclusion that pretty much everything tastes better when roasted 🙂 veggies take on a whole other depth of flavor, so good — the color of your soup is really inviting MJ, looks great — ps: please share any and all tips on how to keep the nocturnal nibblers away from your tomatoes! i’m so jealous (they even get under my metal wiring) also what’s your soil like (my harvest has been meager again this year).
I live in NH and do not have access to fresh red chilis. Can I substitute Chimayo chili powder and if so, how much would you suggest?
Jo Ann, if you are going to substitute a chile powder for the roasted red it would definitely be Chimayo. It has the sweetness that you get from the fresh pepper, just not as much. So I would say yes to your question. I would suggest soaking it overnight in some of the broth so that it rehydrates well and brings out the sweetness. As far as how much, it depends on how hot you want the soup. I would probably use 1 to 1.5 teaspoona, but rehydrate 3 teaspoons just in case I want it spicier. You can always use what you don’t use in the soup in other dishes, like scrambled eggs, soups and stews. I hope this helps. If you have time, please let me know how it turns out and what you did so I can share with others. I know the roasted red is hard to find unless you order it from a New Mexico supplier. Thanks for your question! Cheers, MJ
I agree with Angie’s comment! That’s amazing that you are still getting fresh tomatoes! I’ve never roasted red chile before, but I know the flavor must be more enhanced such as with roasting other peppers and veggies. Perfect timing for soup season, MJ! I hope that your days are full of joy this time of year!
I desperately NEED one huge bowl of this creamy soup!