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    Home » Recipes » Italian and American Pasta

    Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

    Published: Mar 20, 2023 · Modified: Sep 5, 2024 by Vinny · This post may contain affiliate links · 1 Comment

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Eating the same old marinara sauce can get a little mundane. When you're looking to switch it up, a Creamy Red Pepper Sauce can be a delicious option with its combination of roasted and fresh red peppers, calabrian chili peppers, and whole plum tomatoes for a sauce with a kick.

    Serve it with some Classic Italian Fried Meatballs and Sauteed Rapini with Garlic to make it a full meal!

    creamy red pepper sauce with rigatoni

    Looking for more varieties of pasta sauce? Try our Creamy Mushroom Pasta or Lemon Pasta with Spinach

    Jump to:
    • Why this Recipe
    • Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
    • How to Make Creamy Red Pepper Sauce
    • Pro-Tips
    • Why is there tomato in the recipe?
    • Recipe FAQs
    • Add a Protein?
    • What can I Serve with this Pasta?
    • Video How-to
    • Favorite Pasta Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe
    • Reviews

    Why this Recipe

    Creamy red pepper sauce is a quick recipe you can get on the table in under an hour and it's perfect for surprising your family or guests with something completely new and unique. The flavor blast in this sauce is otherworldly and is one of my favorite Friday night pasta choices.

    Roasted red peppers. Tomatoes. Basil. This sauce will have you BEGGING for seconds, thirds, and a spoon to clean the pot. The combination of sweet roasted red peppers and spicy calabrian peppers makes this pasta ADDICTING. Pair it with some Pistachio Pesto and Classic Italian Fried Meatballs for a delicious meal!

    In our house, any pasta that takes less than an hour is a Friday night pasta, and more than an hour is a Sunday pasta. We obviously eat a lot of pasta here, but creamy red pepper sauce is one of my new favorites. I love that I can get even more vegetables into my family's bellies with this dish!

    Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

    Ingredients for the recipe.

    Red peppers. You need a combination of jarred and fresh peppers. The flavor of the roasted and marinated red peppers will add to the depth of the sauce.

    Chicken broth. You can substitute vegetable broth. The broth helps the consistency thin out slightly so it isn't chunky when you take it out of the blender.

    Heavy cream. You could substitute coconut milk, but it changes the flavor of the dish. Coconut milk is not my personal favorite in this recipe. If you are looking for a way to get rid of dairy, consider just leaving it out. The reason we add dairy is to temper the acidity.

    Calabrian Chili Peppers. These peppers in oil add the kick to this sauce but can be substituted with crushed red pepper flakes. The taste of the calabrian chili peppers has a little more zing and sweetness to it that you will miss with just red pepper flakes.

    *Please see the recipe card below for more information on the ingredients.

    How to Make Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

    Thankfully, this is a quick recipe. It's perfect for when you want to cook something really tasty but don't want to spend the whole night in the kitchen!

    Roasting the Red Peppers

    Step 1: Start by preheating the oven to 450° F. Quarter the peppers by slicing down the side of each one. Save one side of a pepper for later to saute. Place the rest of the peppers on a baking pan with whole garlic cloves and season with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

    When you remove the peppers they should be soft. If you see little pockets of liquid still sitting in the peppers, place them back in the oven to cook off this liquid. Once they are completely roasted, they should have slight black edges.

    peppers roasted in the oven

    Simmering the Sauce

    sauteed shallots and red pepper

    Step 2: Bring a large pan to medium heat. Add olive oil and wait until it begins shimmering. Chop up the remaining side of the red pepper. Add the red pepper and shallots to the pan and saute for 5 minutes or until they have softened.

    calabrian chili peppers added to garlic, shallots, and red peppers

    Step 3: Then stir in the garlic and calabrian peppers and saute for another 2 minutes, stirring often.

    Step 4: Add the crushed tomatoes (if you're using whole plum tomatoes, break them down with a wooden spoon). Add in the basil and ½ teaspoon of salt and bring to a simmer.

    tomato base simmering

    Blending the Red Peppers

    roasted red peppers in the blender

    Step 5: Add the roasted peppers to a blender along with the jarred red peppers and garlic. Add chicken broth and 1 teaspoon of salt. Process the red peppers until smooth.

    roasted red peppers blended

    Step 6: Then remove the sauce from the heat, and pour it into the blender. Blend everything together until completely smooth.

    Step 7: While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt the water. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Try to time the pasta to be finished after the rest of the sauce is cooked. Don't add the pasta to the boiling water until after the roasted red peppers and tomato sauce have been combined.

    blended roasted red peppers combined with tomato sauce

    Step 8: Pour all of the sauce back into the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, adding a ¼ cup of pasta water to help smooth out the sauce and bind it to the pasta.

    creamy red pepper sauce in a saucepan

    Step 9: Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the heavy cream. The sauce should develop an orange/pink color shown in the image above, although not as pink as penne alla vodka might be.

    Add the pasta to the sauce and combine. Serve with parmesan cheese and more fresh basil.

    Pro-Tips

    1. Roasting fresh red peppers and using jarred roasted red peppers is done to add flavor.
    2. Blending all of the sauce together makes it easier for the heavy cream to penetrate the sauce and make it extra creamy. Sometimes, if I'm being lazy, I skip that step and just pour the blended red peppers right into the tomato sauce. 
    3. Pasta water is key to binding this sauce to the pasta. Make sure you add a little to the sauce while it's simmering. It will thicken the sauce and help with it sticking to the pasta. Red pepper sauce is notorious for sliding right off the pasta.
    creamy red pepper sauce served over rigatoni

    Why is there tomato in the recipe?

    People always ask why there is tomato in my creamy red pepper sauce recipe. It's a fair question. The answer is simply because I like the way it tastes.

    You can leave out the tomatoes, but simmering the sauce may take a little more time to thicken it up. You also have to make sure that the roasted red peppers are processed really smoothly to make sure the sauce will thicken and you won't feel all the bits and pieces of the peppers.

    Recipe FAQs

    Do I have to blend everything?

    No, just the red peppers. Sometimes, I don't blend the tomato sauce and just pour the blended roasted peppers in. It depends on how creamy I want the sauce.

    How to thicken red pepper sauce?

    This is why I use tomato sauce in my red pepper sauce. It helps make the thickening process easier after 15 minutes of simmering.

    What pasta should I serve with red pepper sauce?

    The best pasta to serve this with is rigatoni or penne. The sauce will fill up the holes in the pasta so each bite is filled with that creamy goodness.

    Add a Protein?

    I love adding Homemade Italian sausage to this dish. You can Brown the ground sausage in the pan before adding the pepper and shallots. Remove it from the pan and set it aside.

    Once you add the sauce back to the pan from the blender, add in the sausage and simmer with the sauce for 15 minutes. Sausage is my favorite protein to add to this dish to make it a complete meal but you can also add ground beef or serve it over our Pesto Stuffed Chicken

    What can I Serve with this Pasta?

    • Looking to add some veggies to the side of your pasta? Try these: Italian Lacinato Kale Recipe (Tuscan) or Italian Cabbage Recipe.
    • If you need some protein with your sauce, you may want to try Baked Italian Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms or Cast Iron Chicken Breast
    • I also love to use this sauce when I'm making sandwiches like chicken parm sliders or an eggplant parmesan sandwich. You can even switch it out for the sauce in pizza like instead of using vodka sauce in our Chicken Alla Vodka Pizza use creamy red pepper sauce!

    Video How-to

    Favorite Pasta Recipes

    • Spicy chicken Riggies
      Spicy Chicken Riggies
    • fra diavolo sauce with shrimp and linguine
      Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Linguine
    • spicy vodka pasta
      Spicy Vodka Sauce
    • Italian pink sauce with sausage in sauce pot
      Italian Pink Sauce with Sausage

    Please leave a comment and star rating below in the recipe card! I love to hear what you think of our recipes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram @vindelgiudice.

    📖 Recipe

    creamy red pepper sauce over rigatoni

    Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

    Vincent DelGiudice
    A sweet and spicy pasta dish with a combination of red pepper and tomato sauce.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 minutes mins
    Cook Time 30 minutes mins
    Total Time 45 minutes mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Italian
    Servings 6 people
    Calories 395 kcal

    Equipment

    • blender or food processor
    • Saucepan

    Ingredients
      

    • 3 red peppers
    • 2 whole roasted red peppers in a jar
    • 1 lb pasta
    • 1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes or whole plum tomatoes
    • 10 basil leaves
    • 4 cloves garlic, whole and unpeeled
    • 4 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 shallot, minced
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 tbsp calabrian peppers or 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
    • ¼ cup heavy cream
    • ½ cup chicken broth
    • 2 tablespoon olive oil

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat oven to 450°. Quarter peppers by slicing down the side of each one. Save one side of pepper for sauteing. Place the rest of the peppers on a baking pan with whole garlic cloves and season with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.
    • Bring a large pan to medium heat. Add olive oil and wait until shimmering. Chop up the remaining side of the red pepper. Add the red pepper and shallots and saute for 5 minutes or until the shallot has softened. Then stir in the garlic and calabrian peppers and saute for 2 more minutes. Add the whole plum tomatoes and break them down using a wooden spoon. Stir in the basil and bring to a simmer.
    • Add the roasted peppers to a blender along with the jarred red peppers. Squeeze the garlic out of the peels into the blender. Add chicken broth and 1 teaspoon of salt. Process the red peppers until smooth. Then remove the sauce from the heat, and pour it into the blender. Blend everything together until smooth. Pour the sauce back into the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, adding a ¼ cup of pasta water to help smooth out the sauce.
    • Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt the water. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.
    • Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Add the pasta in and combine. Serve with parmesan cheese.

    Notes

    1. Roasting fresh red peppers and using jarred roasted red peppers is done to improve the nutritional value of the meal and add flavor, respectively.
    2. Blending all of the sauce together makes it easier for the heavy cream to penetrate the sauce and make it extra creamy. Sometimes, if I'm being lazy, I skip that step and just pour the blended red peppers right into the tomato sauce. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 395kcalCarbohydrates: 66gProtein: 12gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 643mgPotassium: 514mgFiber: 5gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 2660IUVitamin C: 93mgCalcium: 49mgIron: 2mg
    Tried this recipe?We'd love for you to Leave a Review!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Vinny

      June 21, 2024 at 12:32 am

      5 stars
      This easy sauce is a great switch up from a typical red marinara sauce! Hope you enjoy!

      Reply
    5 from 1 vote

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    Vinny in the Kitchen.

    Vinny DelGiudice, MS CCC-SLP

    My name is Vinny. I am an Italian-American home cook, a photographer, and previously, a speech pathologist specializing in swallowing and voice disorders. I share the recipes I grew up eating in my home and the recipes that I cook for my family. Always From Scratch is about cooking homemade meals and eating with family.

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