Unstuffed Banana Pepper Soup

The creamiest soup full of banana peppers and topped with a layer of broiled cheesy goodness!

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! This month's theme is PICKLED PEPPERS because October is National Pickled Peppers Month! The Food Fighters were not given any particular type of dish so long as it has pickled peppers in it and it could also be how to make pickled peppers.

Today I am sharing this awesome banana pepper soup recipe that I have made at least half a dozen times already. I made it a few months ago before deciding or knowing that October would be Pickled Pepper month, but knew immediately I had to share it when the theme was selected.

This soup is creamy, cheesy, and can be spicy. We have used pickled hot banana peppers with fresh banana peppers or Hungarian wax peppers or Anaheim peppers. My personal favorite is Anaheim pepper with the pickled peppers. We got a set of super hot Hungarian peppers one time that definitely made this soup spicy LOL. It's all up to you whether you want a mild soup or one with a kick! My favorite part of this soup is definitely the cheesy crust on top made from mozzarella and Italian breadcrumbs that are broiled until browned. It's the very very best.

What you need:

• 1 lb. ground pork

• 1 large yellow onion, diced

• 3 to 4 fresh banana peppers (we have also used Hungarian Wax peppers and Anaheim peppers)

• 3 cloves minced garlic

• Salt and pepper

• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning

• 1/3 cup all purpose flour

• 4 cups chicken broth

• 1 cup milk

• 1 small jar pickled banana peppers, drained

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened and cubed

• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

• Italian breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot, cook and crumble pork over medium heat. Drain fat, leaving behind 2 tsp.

2. Add onion, fresh peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Cook until veggies become tender, stirring often.

3. Add flour and cook for about 1 minute.

4. Stir in chicken broth, milk, and pickled banana peppers and bring to a boil.

5. Then reduce heat and simmer until mixture thickens, stirring often.

6. Stir in cream cheese until it melts. Season with salt and pepper, if needed.

7. Ladle soup into ovenproof bowls and top with mozzarella cheese and Italian breadcrumbs.

8. Broil until cheese melts and turns golden. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Savory Moments

Originally posted on Fantastical Sharing of Recipes on October 18, 2017

An InLinkz Link-up

The Honey Food Fight winner is Rafeeda of The Big Sweet Tooth with her White House Honey Oat Muffins - these muffins look so so good.