This Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is the ultimate comfort food meal! Plus, it is so quick to make; you can have dinner on the table in the time it takes to boil water and cook pasta!
It makes a change from your marinara pasta or the Sunday evening red sauce. This sauce is creamy, sweet, rich, and delicious. It tastes like something from your favorite Italian restaurant, yet it is quick and easy to make at home. The whole family loves this vegetarian pasta, and it is packed with vegetables! Winner!
This Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is a great store cupboard meal, perfect for a busy weeknight meal.
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Using Jarred roasted red peppers
Jarred roasted red peppers are amazing! They are smoky and sweet and keep in the pantry for months. Plus, they are great value for money!
They usually come packed in flavored water, vinegar, or oil. Any brand will work here; just be sure to drain your peppers well before adding them to the sauce.
If you have whole roasted peppers, give them a rough chop, but the food processor does most of the work here.
Creamy roasted red pepper pasta sauce
This sauce uses a jar of roasted peppers, some vegetable stock, and a little onion and garlic. These are blended with some Italian seasoning, cream, and parmesan.
The onion and garlic are cooked in a little olive oil until soft and translucent. Then blend this in the food processor with the drained peppers, seasonings, vegetable stock, and cream.
You can leave this as a chunky sauce by only blitzing in the food processor for a few seconds or a smooth sauce if you puree it for several minutes.
I like to pulse chop so I can control the texture. We enjoy a red pepper pesto-style sauce, so leave it with small chunks in it.
Recipe tips
- Jarred peppers can vary, but your sauce will work as long as they have been roasted and skinned. Just be sure to drain them thoroughly.
- I don't recommend subbing the heavy cream for half-and-half or milk. The sauce needs the fat to help it emulsify and coat the pasta. Better to leave out the cream entirely and just add extra broth.
- A long pasta noodle is perfect here as the pesto-style sauce coats each strand. Spaghetti, linguine, or tagliatelle would all work.
- If you don't have a food processor, you can use a blender. Or finely chop the pepper and combine the sauce ingredients in the pan.
Recipe adaptions
- Try adding some shredded cooked chicken to the finished sauce.
- Stir shredded spinach or kale through the pasta.
- Add some pinenuts to the food processor to add a creamy, nutty edge to the sauce.
Why you'll love this recipe
- It is ready in 15 minutes.
- It tastes like a restaurant-worthy dish.
- It is made with pantry ingredients.
- It is easy to adapt by adding protein or extra veg.
What sides to serve with the Creamy roasted Red Pepper Pasta
When there is pasta, there has to be garlic bread or garlic bread pizza! Especially when you have lots of sweet pepper sauce to mop up!
Add a side salad for a healthy quick addition.
What wine to serve with creamy red pepper pasta
For white wine drinkers, this could carry a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, or a crisp Viognier. Both should balance the sweet, smoky peppers and the hint of cream.
Red drinkers, something juicy like a Grenache would be perfect. Avoid anything too smoky (so avoid the Shiraz). A Pinot Noir would also be fab here!
Enjoy x
Recipe
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Ingredients
- 12 oz long pasta - see note 1
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion - finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 16 oz jar roasted red peppers -see note 2
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup heavy cream - see note 3
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- fresh basil
Instructions
- Bring a large pan of water to a boil, salt it generously, and cook pasta according to package directions. When cooked, reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water and drain.
12oz/340g long pasta
salt - While the pasta is cooking, add the olive oil to a skillet and cook the onion and garlic over medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until they start to soften.
1 small chopped onion
1 minced garlic clove - Add the cooked onions and garlic to a food processor or blender. Add the drained red peppers, vegetable broth, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and heavy cream. Place on the lid and puree the pepper mixture until mixed and chopped. (see note 4)
16oz/450g roasted red peppers
½ cup/200ml vegetable broth
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup/200ml heavy cream - Pour the pepper puree back into the skillet, add the drained pasta and the parmesan. Stir to combine and coat the pasta. Keep adding splashes of the reserved cooking water until everything is combined and saucy.
½ cup/50g grated parmesan
reserved pasta cooking water - Serve with fresh basil and extra parmesan.
fresh basil
grated parmesan
Notes
- Pick any long pasta noodles that you like for this recipe.
- Drain your roasted red peppers, but do not rinse them.
- I don't suggest subbing half and half or milk here; it doesn't combine well into the sauce. Better to leave out the cream and use more broth.
- You can pick the texture of your sauce, leave it chunky, or blitz it to a smooth sauce.
Polly Gascoigne says
Really easy to do left mine a little chunky. Added black Basil and thyme as had no Italian herbs. Will do again
Claire McEwen says
So happy you enjoyed it Polly 🙂
Cx
MacKenzie says
This is sooo GOOD. My family and I enjoyed this for Meatless Monday. It was so flavorful and delicious. Perfect on rainy days
k says
This is so comforting! I love the tip about blitzing as smooth or as chunky - We are freaks for smooth sauce, so I totally pureed it. The flavor, awesome!
Claire McEwen says
Oh I am glad 🙂
Cx
Greta says
I love this recipe's simplicity. Delicious, rich in flavors and the roasted red pepper just gives such a nice taste to it.
Jennifer says
I get tired of tomato sauce so this was a welcome change! The roasted peppers gave it such a lovely sweetness, and we all loved it!
Sherrie says
This was amazing! My family loved all the delish flavors and I loved how easy it was to make!
Gen says
This was so good! What a great alternative to another tomato cream sauce. Will be making again!