Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

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 the change of pace you're looking for.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Step-by-Step Directions

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

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.

Simmering the Sauce

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.

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

Blending the Red Peppers

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.

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

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.

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.

Adding cream

Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the heavy cream. The sauce should develop an orange/pink color shown in the image below, 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.

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 to thicken 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.

FAQs

Want to Add a Protein?

I love adding hot Italian sausage to this dish. 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 the best protein to add to this dish to make it a complete meal but you can also add ground beef or 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 Pistachio Pea Pesto Stuffed Chicken.
• I also love to use this sauce when I'm making sandwiches like chicken parm or eggplant parm, or I use the leftover sauce in pizza!

Favorite Pasta Recipes

Video How-to

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📖 Recipe

Print Recipe

Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

A sweet and spicy pasta dish with a combination of red pepper and tomato sauce.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: pasta

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 350kcal

Cost: $20

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.