Roasted Red Bell Pepper Pasta
I love growing red bell peppers in my garden. One of my favorite things to do with them once I harvest is to make roasted red bell pepper pasta. This is one of our favorite meals, and my kids actually really love it. It was inspired from one of my favorite soups, a roasted red bell pepper and lobster soup. This is my take on a creamy, slightly spicy and peppery pasta.
The great thing about this is that I can easily make it a gluten free meal by simply using gluten free pasta. The pasta sauce itself is gluten free. If you have a milk intolerance, that might be more of an issue, but with so many non dairy alternatives available, you can easily make that happen too.
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Pasta Recipe
Watch this video below to see how I made it!
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Pasta
Ingredients
- 4 large red bell peppers
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp choppeed garlic
- 2-3 tbsp chopped basil I use basil paste from Walmart
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup chicken stock or white wine or use both!
- 1 pkg preferred pasta I prefer Rigatoni USE GLUTEN FREE PASTA TO MAKE THIS MEAL GLUTEN FREE
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup pasta water (optional)
Instructions
- Turn your broiler on in your oven.
- PLace your red bell peppers on a baking sheet and place them on the top rack of your oven. Begin to char the skin on your bell peppers.
- Rotate the peppers as they char so that you get all sides of the peppers. Once they are all charred, put them in an airtight container or plastic bag for about 10 minutes.
- Begin removing the charred skin and the seeds from the meat of the peppers.
- Chop up the peppers and set aside.
- In a large skillet, add 1-2 tbsp olive oil and your garlic and heat it on low.
- Add in your peppers after about 3-4 minutes.
- Let the combination cook for about 5 minutes. Now take the mixture as well as the basil and process in a blender or food processor until it is smooth.
- Return the sauce to the pan and heat it through, add the cream and parmesan cheese and mix until the cheese is melted and combined well. Add the basil and stir.
- Drain the pasta but reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water if needed.
- toss the pasta in the sauce and add more parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and basil if desired.If the sauce it too thick, add some of the pasta water to the pasta.
You will need about 4 red bell peppers to start this pasta. The first thing I do is give my bell peppers a nice wash and then I lay them out on a sheet pan and put a little bit of olive oil on them. I turn my broiler on in the oven and I place my baking sheet pan in the oven so that the bell peppers are close to the flame. My oven has an open flame broiler so that makes this really easy to do. You can also use a burner on your stove if you have a gas stove.
What do you want to do is to char all the sides of the red bell peppers. It takes about 30 minutes to charge them all the way by using the broiler. I will occasionally rotate them as they get nice and black. Once all the sides of the bell peppers are chard, I will put them in a plastic bag or a sealed Tupperware. I will let them sit in here for about 15 to 20 minutes or until they cool down and the skins are falling off.
Once they have cooled down I will take them out of the bag and begin to remove the charred skin. The red bell peppers will be soft. Then once the skin of the peppers have been taken off, I will deseed them as well and then give the remaining red bell pepper pieces a good chop and I will set them aside for a couple of minutes.
At this point I put some olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Two that I will add my chopped garlic and I will let that simmer on medium heat to medium-low heat for about five minutes. You don’t want to burn your garlic. To this I will add my chopped up roasted red bell pepper.
Let this all simmer together for another five minutes and let the flavors melt together. Once this is done you’re almost finished. Now I will add about a half a cup of chicken stock or white wine to this mixture. I will then take it and put it in my blender or food processor and blend it up until it is a nice smooth consistency. Now it is back into the large skillet. Turn the heat on to medium heat once again and stir this mixture together while it heats up.
To this I will add my heavy cream Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. I actually like to use this tube of basil paste that you can get at most every grocery store. It is easy to use and gives such a great basil flavor.
While you are making your pasta sauce you can be cooking your pasta as well. I usually cook two separate pots one with regular pasta for my family and a small pot with gluten-free pasta for myself. Boil a large pot of salted water, and add your pasta to it. Cook according to the package directions.
Continue to stir your red bell pepper pasta sauce and if it is too thick you can add some more milk or a small amount of chicken broth. Taste it and make sure it’s where you want it to be. Sometimes I will add extra basil or extra Parmesan cheese. You can also add some salt and black pepper at this point to taste.
Once your pasta is cooked al dente it’s time to transfer it into the pasta sauce. I’ll transfer it with a ladle instead of draining the pasta. I do this because I might want to use the pasta water after I am done. If the pasta sauce seems too thick I can add a small amount of pasta water to thin it out. You can also just reserve a cup of pasta water and drain your pasta.
Stir the pasta into the roasted red pepper pasta sauce and top it with some more fresh basil and Parmesan cheese if you want. Add some of the reserved pasta water if needed.
This pasta sauce is a great recipe. The roasted peppers give a nice smoky flavor with that peppery bite. If you wanted this to be more spicy you could add some red pepper flakes but we prefer not to.
Roasted red bell peppers are a unutilized option in the kitchen I think. They make an amazing pasta sauce. This creamy sauce is amazing with some French bread or some homemade sourdough bread. My pasta of choice for my family is rigatoni. For myself I will opt for a gluten-free penne pasta.
This creamy roasted red pepper pasta recipe is one that I like to make a large amount of and freeze. If you use about 8 red bell peppers you can prepare as the directions up until when you blend it up. At this point take half of the mixture and put it in a freezer-safe container. This can be frozen and defrosted at a later date. All you will have to do is defrost the red pepper base, add it to a pan to heat up, and then continue by adding the cream, parmesan cheese, and basil. I do not freeze it with the cream in it.
This is actually a really quick dinner. My family loves a good pasta dish and this one has such a warm and comforting flavor. This is one of our favorite pasta recipes. The creamy texture with the red bell peppers is a great combination.
If want more pasta recipes, check these out below!
30 Minute Homemade Roasted Tomato Pasta
5 Ingredient Recipe Fast and Easy Broccoli Pasta Dinner
Easy Homemade Alfredo Sauce Recipe
Easy Creamy Tomato and Sausage Gnocchi Recipe
This sounds so good! My SO is gluten intolerant and I am always on the lookout for a new recipe as I am very tired of everything I know how to cook! Once I used jarred roasted red peppers in my 8×8 brownie pan for what I call “Lazy Man’s stuffed peppers.” It was great!