Canned piquillo peppers, fresh chorizo sausage and salty feta cheese: this piquillo pepper soup is the perfect quick and easy lunch by the sound of it! And it is absolutely to die for.
Try it out!
It is time for yet another Spanish style yummy soup!
Spanish Peppers
So I thought…
How about turning some of those gorgeous roasted piquillo peppers into a flashy sweet and hearty piquillo pepper soup for lunch then?!
But are you familiar with piquillo peppers?
They are not spicy at all, but rather sweet. Their texture is very soft.
The canned ones taste more like cooked red bell pepper. Piquillo peppers come from Spain where they are charred, peeled and deseeded first before their soft and sweet pepper flesh goes into a jar with brine.
Easy Piquillo Pepper Soup with Fresh Chorizo & Feta Cheese
I always got a jar of these piquillo peppers in my pantry.
I love to serve them for lunch or as a light tapa like a pepper carpaccio sprinkled with fresh herbs. Or on a piece of toast topped with a fillet of salted anchovy.
And the stuffed version is also delicious!
I usually stuff these peppers with salt cod, a classic in Spain!
But earlier today I was craving a quick and easy savory soup for lunch. And I just did not feel like running to the mini supermarket around the corner. So I went to work with whatever ingredients I still had in my kitchen.
The peppers seemed like a great challenge back then!
Feta, Chorizo & Peppers
So I thought I should match my sweeter piquillo pepper soup with something more refreshing and cooling.
Turns out I still had some feta cheese leftover after making my sweet potato casserole. Add to that the smokiness of the fresh chorizo…
And you are in for a real treat.
Absolutely perfect.
This is just the kind of soup I was craving all morning!
Enjoy!
Easy Piquillo Pepper Soup with Fresh Chorizo & Feta Recipe
- 10,5 oz canned piquillo peppers (350 g)
- 1 fresh chorizo sausage
- 2 oz feta cheese (55 g)
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- ½ small onion chopped
- 1 large garlic clove chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- a handful fresh mint
- olive oil
- pepper
- salt
- Add the onion and garlic to a high pan with a splash of olive oil and a pinch of pepper and salt.
- Then place the pan over medium heat and gently fry the onion and garlic in the oil for 6 minutes until softer. Make sure than then piquillo peppers are drained, don’t add the brine. Rinse the peppers if you like. Then add the piquillo peppers to the onion in the pan. Add the bay leaves as well.
Stir the peppers and then pour in the chicken stock. Add the fresh chorizo sausage and the tomato paste.
Bring the soup to a rolling boil. Then turn the heat lower and cover the pan. Simmer the soup for 30 minutes. After that, turn the heat off and remove the bay leaves. Also remove the cooked chorizo and put it on a chopping board to cool.
- Blend the soup the way you want it. I just put my stick mixer in it for a couple of times but kept the rest pretty chunky. You can make it much smoother if you like.
Peel the cooked chorizo sausage and then slice it into small rings. Add the chorizo back to the soup and check the seasoning. Then add extra pepper or salt to taste if necessary.
- Scoop the piquillo pepper soup into bowls. Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese and fresh mint. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil. Serve hot.
What are piquillo peppers?
The piquillo pepper is a variety of chili that is traditionally grown in Northern Spain near the town of Lodosa.
It has a very mild and sweet taste with little to no heat. Piquillo peppers are well-suited for growing in pots and have a distinct sweet and spicy flavor, similar to bell peppers. They are often roasted over embers, peeled, and grilled again for extra flavor and texture.
Piquillo peppers are high in fiber and vitamins C, E, A, and B.
They are often stuffed with meat, seafood or cheese and served as tapas or used to make piquillo pepper soup.
What is a good alternative if you can’t find canned piquillo peppers?
If you can’t find canned piquillo peppers for my piquillo pepper soup, there are several alternatives that you can use.
One option is to use jarred roasted red peppers instead which are often fire-roasted as well, like piquillo peppers. That adds that perfect layer of smokiness to the flavor. You can find them in both the jarred and canned vegetable sections of your supermarket.
Another option is to roast your own freshly roasted bell peppers. While roasted bell peppers will certainly do the trick as an alternative to piquillo peppers, the bell pepper on its own won’t have quite the level of sweetness that the piquillo delivers.
Do piquillo peppers and padron peppers taste the same?
No, they have different flavors.
Piquillo peppers are sweet and mild and have a tangy, smoky undertone.
Padrón peppers have a fresh, green bell pepper taste that is somewhat reminiscent of the flavor of peas. They are mainly benign in terms of heat, but occasionally one can be quite hot.
Hi guys! Oh I’m glad to read you can find the peppers!! And I’m sure feta cheese is not a problem either lol 😉 Enjoy my Athens friends!! 🙂