Roasted Red Pepper Pasta {Vegan}
17 July 2018 by Natanja
A flavourful roasted red bell pepper sauce that’s thick and creamy…without any dairy!
Today I am sharing one of my ultimate favourite dinner recipes with you. This roasted red pepper pasta has been a regular in our household for years, even on nights when we entertain. It has never failed to impress guests and is incredibly easy and quick to make! None of our guests have been able to tell that this is vegan because it is so incredibly creamy. Go ahead and try this flavourful pasta dish, but be warned, you may want to double the recipe because everybody will want seconds!
I came up with this recipe about 2 years ago when we were on vacation with friends. It was winter, there was a ton of snow outside and we were staying in a wooden cabin in the mountains. It was snowing and we were craving some good old comfort food. Since one of our friends was vegan, I tried to tailor our meals so that she could enjoy them as well. I remembered that I had heard of roasted red pepper pasta once and thought that would be a great meal to make a vegan version of. I told my friends of the idea and they were all on board immediately. We all gathered around in the kitchen and everybody helped out with the cooking. Within a little over 30 minutes we had created an incredibly flavourful and delicious dish.
Creamy Sauce
The best part about this dish is the incredibly creamy sauce. To get the sauce thick and creamy without adding any dairy there is a secret ingredient I add: roasted cashews. They create such a beautiful texture and flavour! I prefer cashews because of their rather neutral flavour. It’s important that you have a mixer that can pulverize the nuts so you won’t end up with chunks in your sauce. My trusty Vitamix blender has never let me down, and I love using it for sauces as such or homemade peanut butter!
This is also a great way to thicken cream soups or other sauces to give it an extra oomph without adding any dairy.
You can use any noodles of your choice for this dish. I usually make it with tagliatelle but since we were all out, I opted for spaghetti instead. We prefer spelt noodles for an extra health boost. You could also try this dish with spiralized vegetable noodles for a low carb alternative such as zucchini or carrots. I haven’t tried it but I am pretty sure it’s also delicious.
A little side note on the bell peppers. I use the long and skinny kind of bell peppers for this, which I char in the oven until they are slightly blackened. (What is it about some types of veggies that they taste better slightly burnt?!) You can also use classic bell peppers, just be sure to only use the red ones. They have the most flavour and give your sauce a gorgeous color. Serve this vibrant dish with a side salad for a healthy and quick dinner.
Bon appétit!
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Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This quick and easy vegan dish makes a flavourful and healthy dinner for those busy weeknights.
Ingredients
- 600g red bell peppers (21oz)
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 250ml soy or oat milk (1 cup)
- 35g roasted unsalted cashews (1/4 cup)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 4 springs fresh thyme
- 400g spaghetti (14oz)
- minced fresh parsley or herbs of choice for garnishing, optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C or 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Wash, halve and trim the red bell peppers.
- Place them on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and roast for about 20 minutes or until slightly charred and soft.
- In the meantime, chop the onion and garlic and sauté with olive oil in a medium pan for 3 minutes or until soft and golden brown.
- In the last 10 minutes that the bell peppers are roasting, cook your noodles according to package instructions. Rinse and drain.
- Add the roasted bell peppers to a blender along with the sautéed onions and garlic, vegan milk, roasted cashews, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast and thyme and blend until smooth.
- Combine the noodles with the sauce, plate and garnish with herbs if using.
Notes
Roasted red pepper pasta tastes best fresh. If you have any leftovers store them in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Keywords: roasted red pepper pasta, vegan roasted red pepper pasta, vegan pasta dish
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Tagged With: bell pepper, dinner, healthy, noodles, pasta, quick, red pepper, roasted red pepper pasta, vegan
Filed Under: Healthy: Savory, Main Dishes, Vegan
This looks so delicious! I love the roasted red peppers! I can’t wait to try this.
Thanks Karly! Let me know how you liked it 🙂
I tried this but the grocery store did not have fresh peppers so I used a jar of roasted red peppers. It was not good, I wish I had been able to use fresh to see what t was supposed to taste like! Mine just tasted like almonds.
Hi Joanna! I’m sorry your substitution didn’t work out. It’s really important to use fresh red peppers for the best taste here. I have never used canned peppers before but I can imagine that they do taste different than fresh ones. I hope you’ll give it another try once your grocery stores stocks up on fresh bell peppers. 🙂
How many peppers did you actually use?
Hi Sydney! I used about 6 pointed red bell peppers.