This Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is super quick and seriously delicious. The perfect meal to add to your family rotation dinners!
Creamy roasted red pepper pasta embodies everything a weeknight dinner should be. Simple to prep, quick to cook and packed with flavour. Follow me…
Roasted Red Peppers
I use jarred roasted red peppers for this recipe for 2 reasons:
- Convenience – I’ve really tried to make this as weeknight-friendly as possible and roasted red peppers from the jar are key.
- Brine – They usually come in a vinegary kind of brine and although I don’t pour it in the sauce, what’s left on the peppers after I drain it away actually works nicely with the creamy sauce. The sauce itself is quite rich, so just a touch of acidity cuts through quite nicely.
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Roasted red peppers lend themselves perfectly to a pasta sauce. It makes a nice change from tomatoes AND you don’t have to cook them for a long period of time.
To kick things off, we’ll be frying some onion and garlic in a little bit of butter. From there, they’ll be blitzed together with the roasted red peppers to create the base of the sauce. This actually makes quite a pleasant pasta sauce as it is, but we’ll be sprucing it up significantly for maximum flavour.
Recipe Tip #1
If you’re struggling to get the blender going with peppers, onion, garlic and butter, just add a splash of liquid (stock, milk or even water) to get things going.
Process shots: melt butter (photo 1), fry onion and garlic (photo 2), add to blender (photo 3), blitz until smooth (photo 4).
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
After blitzing the peppers with butter, onion and garlic, you’ll have a perfect canvas to work with. Let’s welcome our good friends cream, parmesan, parsley and smoked paprika. Oh, and pasta.
As I mentioned, you don’t need to cook the sauce for long. Just enough to melt the parmesan and bring everything together. It’ll be pretty thick already!
Recipe Tip #2
If for whatever reason the sauce does over-thicken, just toss through some of the pasta water to thin it out again. This will actually help bind and emulsify everything too.
Process shots: add blended peppers to pan (photo 1), stir in cream (photo 2), stir in parmesan, smoked paprika, parsley and seasoning (photo 3), toss in pasta (photo 4).
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta FAQ
For this recipe, I recommend a long-cut pasta. The way the sauce oozes in and out of the pasta is truly irresistible and has to be experienced. My personal favourite is linguine, but fettuccine, tagliatelle and spaghetti work great. You can also use shortcut pasta!
Double (UK) or Heavy (US). Some recipes use half and half, but I find it thins out the sauce too much and dilutes the flavour. In any instance, just make sure your cream is at room temp so it doesn’t curdle in the sauce.
Always go freshly grated, or at least pre-grated. Stay away from the powdered stuff, it’ll turn the sauce grainy.
Yes! Especially if you’ve got some fresh peppers lurking around that need using up. Here’s what I do:
1. Place your peppers next to the live flame on the hob or under the grill.
2. Rotate it every minute or so until all sides are completely charred.
3. Place in a bowl with cling film over until completely cooled.
4. Peel away the skin.
Serving Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
This recipe will comfortably feed 4 (don’t be deceived, it’s quite rich!). If you want to add any additions to the pasta I recommend either grilled chicken or even chorizo!
It’s pretty hearty as it is, but you could consider adding:
All in all, this quick dinner is the perfect midweek meal to add some heartiness to the table. Thick and creamy yet vibrant and flavoursome, you’d be a fool to not get this foolproof dish a go.
If you like the sound of this recipe definitely make sure you check out my Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta and Roasted Red Pepper Chicken!
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe shall we?!
How to make Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta (Full Recipe & Video)
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Equipment
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
- Large Deep Frying Pan & Wooden Spoon
- Large Pot & Tongs (to boil pasta)
- Food Processor or Blender (to blend peppers)
- Fine Cheese Grater
Ingredients
- 14oz / 400g Long-Cut Pasta (here I use Linguine)
- 16oz / 450g jar of Roasted Red Peppers (see notes)
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 medium White Onion, diced
- 2 small cloves of Garlic, finely diced
- 1 cup / 240ml cup Heavy/Double Cream, at room temp
- 1/2 cup / 40g Parmesan, finely grated (plus extra for serving)
- 1 tbsp finely diced Fresh Parsley, plus extra to serve
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- pinch of Chilli Flakes, to preference
- Salt & Black Pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Pop the pasta in salted boiling water and cook until al dente.
- Squeeze the brine out of the roasted red peppers and discard (don't rinse them).
- Melt the butter in a large deep pan over medium heat and fry the onion until soft and golden. Add the garlic and fry for a minute or so longer, then scrape it all into a blender with the roasted red peppers. Blend to a smooth consistency.
- Pour back into the pan and keep on a low simmer. Add in the cream and stir until completely blended, then stir in parmesan, parsley, smoked paprika and seasoning to taste.
- Use tongs to add the pasta straight from the pot and toss through the sauce until completely coated. The sauce should thicken around and cling to the pasta. If it dries out at all just toss in a splash of the leftover pasta water.
- Serve with extra parmesan and parsley and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition
Looking for more?
You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’
If you’re looking for more easy and delicious creamy pasta recipes then check these out too:
Creamy Pasta Recipes
- Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pasta
- Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Creamy Salmon Pasta
- Creamy Mushroom Pasta
- Cream Cheese Pasta
Delicious. I made this for dinner tonight and it was yummy! I don’t have a food processor, but I improvised with a hand blender and it turned out fine.
That’s awesome to hear! Glad you enjoyed the recipe Linda 🙂
I make this all the time for my fam. It’s a fave with the wife and kid. Tasty and quick. I put less cream than you suggest and it’s still super good! Thanks!
Hey Erick! That’s awesome, thanks for coming back and sharing the kind words. So glad you and the fam love it 🙂
oh WOW this looks amazing! That last photo makes me want to take a big bite of pasta right out of the skillet- forget the plate!
Haha, thanks so much, Liv! 🙂
Hahahaha, first off, the name of your blog is freaking awesome!
Second, smoked paprika is the (swear word). My pantry never goes without it! I sprinkle that goodness on meat dishes, cheese dishes, pasta dishes, you name it, it’s in there!
Third, your recipe looks off the flipping chain delicious! I’m obsessed with red peppers, I buy them every week, so I’m pinning this for later so I can make this recipe soon!
Christina! Isn’t smoked paprika just the absolute *insert several swear words* ! Thanks for brightening up my day with your comment! Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I do 🙂
Dreamy is a great word to describe this dish! Looks scrumptious and I love how easy it is!
Thanks so much, Melissa! 🙂
OMG YUM! These photos make me wish I could grab some of this and chow down. Thank you for sharing, Chris!
Yeah was pretty hard to resist faceplanting not gonna lie. Thanks, Jamie!! 🙂
This looks really tasty and moist! I really love how it’s not dry pasta and has a lot of sauce to it! Amazing!
Thanks, Hannah! Saucey pasta for the win!
OMG, I make a similar pasta and my family adores it! So good!
No way! Great families think alike 😉
I’m dying here…it’s gorgeous, and I have all the ingredients to make it! I adore roasted red peppers and smoked paprika!!!
Sue! Thank you for your kind words! Aren’t roasted red peppers just the best!?
I have just enough roasted red peppers on hand to make this work for homemade pasta.
Oh fantastic! Enjoy 🙂