Brunch is typically associated with comfort foods like pancakes, bacon, coffee cake and biscuits and gravy. If you are looking for something equally soul-comforting but lighter, why not try a soup? Here is a cheeky brunch recipe.
A bowl of soup is the ultimate comfort dish. It’s also easy to prepare and goes perfectly with a wide range of side dishes.
Because some disguised alcohol is a must for any sensible brunch, we recommend the Bloody Mary soup.
It’s actually very close to a Bloody Mary cocktail; you’ll use most of the same ingredients. But a Bloody Mary Soup is more savoury, has more flavours and is thicker. Of course, it’s also served hot.
You can prepare the soup in a traditional saucepan or a slow cooker. But you’ll need to use a blender in either case.
If you don’t have a blender handy, or want to make the soup in less time, use a soup maker.
A soup maker blends and heats at the same time. Your soup will be ready in about 20 minutes compared to 1-3 hours with a saucepan or slow cooker.
What You’ll Need
A Bloody Mary soup starts out like a Bloody Mary cocktail but then adds more ingredients to make it spicier, heartier and thicker.
Here are all the ingredients you’ll need.
- Crushed tomatoes, 2 cans (you can also use 4 whole tomatoes, find ones that are very red)
- Chicken broth or vegetable stock, 2.5 cups
- Tomato juice, 1.5 cups
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed
- 2 celery sticks, chopped (you can also get extra for garnishing the soup, if you wish)
- Worcestershire sauce, 3 tablespoons
- Tabasco, 2 tablespoons (reduce or add depending on how hot you want your soup to be)
- Olive oil, 2 tablespoons
- Celery salt or plain salt, 2 tablespoons
- ½ lime and ½ lemon
- Vodka
Directions
- Sauté the onions, garlic and celery to extract flavour from them. To sauté, add olive oil to a hot pan and add the onions, garlic and chopped celery. Stir them until they get tender.
- Add the sautéed onions, garlic and celery into a blender. Add the crushed tomato. If you are using whole tomato, chop them into quarters and add them to the blender. In the blender, also add Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and celery salt (or plain salt). Blend until you get a smooth texture – about 1-2 minutes depending on your blender’s power.
If you are using a soup maker, you do not need a blender. Add the above ingredients directly into the soup maker. But you’ll still need to sauté the onions, garlic and celery first unless your soup maker has sauté function. If it does, sauté first then add the rest of the ingredients (including the chicken broth and tomato juice but not the vodka).
- Add stock and tomato juice to a pan or slow cooker. Then add the blended mixture into the pan as well.
- Squeeze half a lemon and half a lime into the pan (or slow cooker) then stir to combine everything.
- If you are using a slow cooker, leave the soup to cook for 2-3 hours. If you are making it on a pan, cook for 1-3 hours depending on how thick you want your soup to be. Stir occasionally to make sure it’s not burning.
- When your soup is ready, add the vodka. You are the one to decide how much you want in the soup depending on how boozy you want your Bloody Mary soup to be.
Serving the Soup
You can serve the soup as is if your aim is to keep things light.
Garnish with celery sticks. You can also rim the bowl with some chilli powder. Run a lemon wedge around the rim of the bowl then dip it in chili powder.
For a heavier brunch, feel free to add a side dish. Something sweet (like a pastry), toasted (like toasted cheese sandwich) or grilled (like grilled broccoli or fruits) go well with Bloody Mary soup.
You can adjust the above recipe to your liking; it’s hard to mess things up. Add your favourite spices, maybe some heavy cream or even leave out the vodka if you are preparing an all-family brunch.
