Cheesy Roasted Poblano Pepper Soup is easy to make and full of flavor. Chicken can be added to make it extra hearty, but it's perfection in a bowl as a vegetarian dish.
This poblano cheese soup stirs up in just minutes and is a meal in itself whether you add chicken or make the vegetarian version. Serve it in smaller portions as a first course for any meal - especially those with a southwestern flair.
Everyone seems to enjoy hearing where recipe inspiration originates, so here's the story on this soup: In 2017 I accompanied Buddy (hubs) on a business-related trip to Arizona.
We attended a rodeo-type event for Caterpillar equipment (those huge yellow trucks and tractors) and yes, I got to drive a bulldozer!
More important to this story, though, they served us the most delicious poblano pepper soup. Now we have a Roasted Poblano & Corn Chowder on the blog already and it's just great, but it has potatoes, lime and corn. The new soup I had was cheesy - really cheesy. Yum!
Enter this year's bumper crop of poblanos. We roasted, stuffed and diced those peppers and still had more in the garden. And then I remembered that cheesy soup and got to work recreating it.
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Roasted Poblano Pepper Soup is so versatile!
Like so many of our recipes this one can be tweaked lots of different ways according to what you have on hand or your family's preferences.
When making this poblano soup I had a tomato, so I diced it up and added it, but it's totally optional. I also had some cooked chicken. I wanted this to be a meal in a bowl, so I chopped up the chicken and tossed it in.
If you want to keep it lighter or vegetarian, leave the chicken out and use vegetable broth instead of the stock. The same goes for Butternut Squash Soup with roasted red peppers and that one is super light.
I remembered the original soup having white cheddar cheese, so that's what I used, but you could certainly use yellow cheddar, or monterey jack. The world is your soup pot!
Roasting Poblano Peppers
The skin of these peppers can be a bit thick and tough, so for most recipes I will roast the peppers first. It's easy to do, and I've given you step by step instructions below:
- Preheat broiler or grill to medium-high to high heat.
- Roast whole peppers until charred and blistered, turning with tongs to roast other side.
- Remove from heat and place in plastic bag or covered bowl for 10-15 minutes.
- Cut slit down one side of pepper. Skin should peel off easily.
- Scoop seeds out with spoon.
The photo below will show you about how the peppers should look after roasting. They could even be charred a bit more if desired. If you're a fan of poblano peppers, try Creamy Poblano Sauce, Chicken Stuffed Poblano Peppers, and these poblano recipes.
Garnish ideas for Cheesy Roasted Poblano Pepper Soup
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- Tortilla strips - we were so excited to find these Fresh Gourmet Tortilla Strips. Order from Amazon here.
- Fresh cilantro
- More grated cheese
- Additional poblano pepper, either diced or cut into strips
- Try some jalapeno peppers for some extra kick
📖 Recipe
White Cheddar Poblano Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1-½ cups cooked chicken, diced optional
- 1 medium tomato, diced optional
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 cup chicken stock use vegetable broth for vegetarian
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups half and half
- 2-3 medium poblano peppers, roasted and diced
- pepper to taste
- 5 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Melt butter in medium sauce pan over medium heat.
- Add onions and cook 8-10 minutes, or until tender.
- Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Add tomato, chicken, cumin, salt, pepper, poblano peppers and stock and simmer for 8-10 minutes.
- Whisk flour into half and half and add slowly to pan, stirring constantly until thickened.
- Add cheese and stir until melted and incorporated.
- Garnish individual servings as desired with tortilla strips, cilantro, additional grated cheese and poblano pepper.
Nutrition
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SUe says
Hands down the best soup I make from my garden goodies! Freezes well,
Pam says
Thanks, Sue!
MJ says
What I love about this recipe is that it was pretty easy and fast. Thanks for providing the instructions for roasting the poblanos in the oven as I do not have a grill or gas stove. I found mine was a bit too spicy (and I have a fairly high spice tolerance), so one tip might be to buy extra poblanos and taste test them before roasting to determine which ones might be too hot. I was wondering if you have any opinion on using whole milk instead of half and half in this recipe (just to save a few calories and fat). I had never made a soup like this before and it was amazing. I will definitely be making it again and I have sent the recipe to my friends to try as well.
Pam says
Whole miilk would be fine. The soup would be not quite as rich, but still good. Thank you for your kind words!
Dionne says
This is so amazing!
We have a local wine bar/high end restaurant that has a soup like this (which is a favorite)
This is very similar and I am so pleased to find this delicious recipe to make at home! Thank you for sharing
Cheers!
Erin says
The soup bar at our favorite grocery store has an amazing poblano soup that I was trying to recreate. We were given a bunch of garden fresh poblanos and this recipe seemed the closest that I could find. It was pretty close! But the poblanos weren’t spicy enough so I added some adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers and that added that little smoky spice I was looking for. I also used my immersion blender to smooth it just a little. So good!!
Pam says
Sounds good! Thanks for letting us know, Erin.
SHERI says
I added cilantro on top of it and the soup is delicious!
AzHil says
Hi Pam! How many servings does this make?
Pam says
It makes about 4 large or 6 smaller portions.