This vibrant red pepper and carrot soup is deeply flavored with a tablespoon of harissa and made even more satisfying by stirring in a fluffy couscous swirl. It’s a cozy, bold dish that comes together quickly — I made it on a weeknight in under an hour.
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Do you ever serve soup for dinner? Some people don’t consider soup a full meal, but with bread, tortilla chips, crackers, or other dippable carbs on the side, it’s a comforting and satisfying supper. It’s healthy and soul-warming, too.
If you want the meal to feel more substantial, stir the starch right into the soup. It’s essentially a bowl of pasta — just saucy instead of strewn with noodles. That’s the clever touch Deb Perelman uses in her red pepper and carrot soup by adding a couscous swirl. Leftovers reheat beautifully for lunches, so I usually plan a soup once a week for easy workday meals.
What is harissa?
Harissa is a North African chili and spice paste that brings complex, smoky heat to this soup. It’s commonly sold in tubes or jars. A single tablespoon in the recipe adds lively, layered flavor without overpowering the dish; add more if you like extra spice.
This version is adapted from the Smitten Kitchen Every Day cookbook. The book is full of straightforward, weeknight-friendly recipes that I’ve been cooking from non-stop. If you enjoy reliable, flavorful dinners, you’ll likely appreciate it as much as I do.
Red Pepper Carrot Soup with Couscous
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Ingredients
Soup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 6 large red bell peppers, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 4-5 large carrots (about 1 lb), thinly sliced or chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon prepared harissa
- handful of chopped parsley
Couscous
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup dried fine couscous
Instructions
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Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
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Add the carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 4–5 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook until tender, about 10 minutes more.
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Pour in the stock and stir in the cumin, paprika, and salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 20–25 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender.
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While the vegetables simmer, prepare the couscous: in a small saucepan bring 1/2 cup broth to a boil, remove from heat, stir in the couscous, cover, and set aside for 5–10 minutes until fluffy.
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When the vegetables are tender, purée the soup in the pot using an immersion blender, or carefully transfer to a blender and purée until smooth. Stir in the harissa and adjust salt to taste.
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Ladle the soup into bowls, fluff the couscous with a fork, and swirl spoonfuls of couscous into each bowl. Finish with a handful of chopped parsley.