The Best Unstuffed Pepper Soup
This easy Unstuffed Pepper Soup recipe is a hearty and delicious soup that is quick to make and chock full of nutritious ingredients your whole family will love. With the classic taste of stuffed peppers, this homemade soup is the perfect comfort food for chilly weeknight evenings.
Equipment
- 1 Large Dutch Oven or Soup Pot
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork sausage see note
- 3 bell peppers any color, diced
- 1 medium yellow onion diced very small (see note)
- 1 cup celery finely chopped
- 2 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes, regular or Italian
- 8 cups low-sodium beef broth see note
- 2 teaspoons Italian herb spice blend
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ cups uncooked instant brown rice see note
Instructions
- Dice the veggies and onion and set aside. In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, fry the ground sausage over medium-high heat until browned, stirring often. Remove from heat and drain any excess fat if needed (this will depend on the leanness of your sausage).
- Return the pot to the heat, add the diced peppers, onions, and celery to the meat, and continue to cook until the vegetables are just tender-crisp, about 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Next, add the diced tomatoes, beef broth (store-bought, homemade, or water and bouillon mixture – whatever you have on hand), Italian spice, and garlic powder to the pot. Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil, watching carefully and stirring often. Once the soup reaches a boil, add the brown rice, then gradually reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer.
- Continue simmering the soup, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- If desired, serve the soup topped with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. For a complete meal, this soup is delicious served with fresh rolls or hearty bread and a garden salad.
Notes
1. Unstuffed Pepper Soup is an effortless and flexible soup and is great for using leftover ingredients. You can substitute the ground sausage for whatever other ground meat you have on hand, and if you have leftover rice that is already cooked, you can replace that with the instant brown rice. Use about 2 cups of cooked rice instead of 1 ½ cups of instant brown rice. I call for brown rice in this recipe because it keeps its texture nicely, whereas white rice tends to get a bit mushier, but I’ve made this soup many times with pre-cooked white rice, which is equally delicious.
2. I typically make my own broth with water and beef Better-than-Bouillon® soup base because that is the most economical, but whatever type of broth you have on hand will work, and feel free to experiment with other flavors, such as vegetable or chicken broth.
3. I often used dried diced onion in place of fresh onion.