Two Panera Cook-Alikes

Two Panera Cook-Alikes

My friends at work and I all love to go to Panera Bread for lunch. I especially love this chain restaurant because they have several good choices for vegetarians. Our favorites are two vegetarian soups: Roasted tomato and pepper bisque and vegetarian black bean. Panera has foolishly stopped offering the vegetarian black bean, and they will only have the roasted tomato bisque during the winter. So, I have had to learn to make similar soups for myself. Here’s what I came up with:

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Bisque

1. 28 ounce can fire roasted tomatoes

1 15 ounce jar roasted red peppers
1 can tomato soup
3 cups vegetable broth
1 carrot, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 small onion diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
Dash Tabasco
¼ to ½ cup heavy cream

Sauté onion, carrot and celery in olive oil until tender. Add vegetable broth, tomato soup and roasted peppers. Simmer about twenty minutes to blend flavors. Puree with handheld food processor, but leave some chunks. Season with salt and Tabasco. Add cream just before serving. Serve with Crostini made from slices of a baguette brushed with olive oil and garlic.

Muir Glen makes both fire roasted tomatoes and fire roasted tomatoes with green chilies if you want a spicier soup.


A friend gave me this version of the vegetarian black bean soup. It’s pretty close.

Vegetarian Black Bean Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped  
2 cloves garlic, minced  
2 celery ribs, finely chopped  
1/4 large red bell pepper, finely chopped  
2 cups vegetable broth  
2 cans black beans, undrained  
1/2 teaspoon salt  
1/2 teaspoon cumin  
Big dash Tabasco chipotle sauce
Juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 lime
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch  

In a pot, combine the first five ingredients; sauté for 10 minutes. Add half a can of beans, salt and cumin; cook for 5 minutes. Puree soup with handheld food processor. Add the rest of the beans to the soup. Combine the cornstarch with 1 1/2 tablespoons of water.
Add the Tabasco, the lemon or lime juice and the cornstarch to the soup; cook until thickened.

I love my handheld Cuisinart immersion blender. I call it a “boat motor”. If you don’t have one you can purée soups in small batches in your regular food processor or blender.