Stuffed Pepper Soup

Have you ever noticed how you tend to take the same local routes over and over and then one day you have to take a different path and things have changed? This happened to us recently. My daughter and her fiance bought a house in a nearby town and on the drive over to visit them, I’d noticed a new cafe had opened up along the highway. There was a vegetable stand as well. It was called The Farmer’s Wife Eatery and Farm Market. It turns out they’ve been open since last summer, but since we don’t normally travel that stretch of road it was a new discovery for us. Rick and I made a point to have lunch there a few days later and were treated to a nice turkey club sandwich and a stuffed pepper soup which served as the inspiration for today’s post.

The version served by The Farmer’s Wife had hamburger, rice, corn, onions, tomato and of course peppers. I started with those components to build my version of stuffed pepper soup.

For further inspiration, I recalled the stuffed peppers my mother used to make. I don’t think I cared much for the peppers but I loved the Spanish rice and hamburger filling inside and the tomato sauce the peppers were cook in. (In the 60s and 70s if you added tomato sauce to white rice it was called Spanish rice.) My version includes Spanish flavors of cumin and pimenton de la vera, the smoky paprika from the south of Spain. Chili powder gives a little extra kick.

I really wanted my soup to have the strong tomato flavor that I recalled from Mom’s stuffed peppers, so I made sure to use tomato paste as well as a can of diced tomatoes. Feel free to use fresh chopped tomatoes if you like. I had some canned tomatoes in the pantry that needed to be used. I chose to use beef broth instead of my homemade vegetable broth to add more richness to the flavor.

The end result was every bit as good as I hoped it would be. I deliberately made a smaller batch in case it didn’t turn out and it served for dinner one night and lunch the next day. As usual with so many soups, stews and casseroles, the next day’s version Stuffed Pepper Soup was even more flavorful than the first bowl. Next time I’ll make a larger batch!

Stuffed Pepper Soup

This is a quick and easy soup to put together any time of year. The flavor improves overnight so be sure to make enough to have leftovers!

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Course: Soup

Servings: 6

Author: LydiaF

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 large bell peppers diced (I used green and red)
• 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes plus any juices
• 5 cups beef broth
• 1 1/2 cups corn
• 1/3 cup uncooked rice add up to 1/2 cup if you want more rice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon smoky paprika or more to taste
• 1 teaspoon chili powder or more to taste
• salt and pepper to taste you'll want at least a teaspoon of salt
• olive oil for sauteeing

Instructions

• In a large skillet, saute the onions and peppers in a little olive oil over high heat until they soften. A little char is desirable, but keep an eye on them so they don't all burn. Remove from heat and set aside while the ground beef is browning.
• Brown the ground beef and garlic together in the large dutch oven or stockpot you intend to cook the soup in. Drain the fat.
• Add the bell peppers and onions, the tomatoes and broth.
• Season with the chili powder, cumin, smoky paprika, salt and pepper.
• Simmer until the onions and peppers are very soft, about 20 minutes.
• Stir in the corn and rice.
• The soup is ready to serve when the rice is cooked through. Make sure to taste and adjust the seasoning.

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The idea for charring the peppers and onions a little bit came from Kalyn’s Kitchen. If you’re using fresh tomatoes instead of canned, you might want to think about roasting the peppers, onions and tomatoes together before assembling the soup. (She says as she eyes the tomatoes ripening on the plants in the back yard).

You may find the following items helpful in making Stuffed Pepper Soup. The links will take you to Amazon where I’m an affiliate. I’ll earn a small commission for any purchase you may make. Thanks for helping to keep the lights on around here!