This vegan roasted red pepper pasta is made with jarred roasted red peppers and the sauce only takes five minutes to prepare! It's vegan-friendly and super creamy, and makes for a great meatless meal.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Oatly. As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support this site!
Raise your hand if you’ve tried roasted red pepper pasta. ….no? I hadn’t either, but ever since making this vodka rigatoni, I’ve been on a huge “make your own sauce” kick, and I don’t just mean marinara sauce. Homemade roasted red pepper sauce is SO fresh and is ready in around—wait for it—FIVE MINUTES. So basically you have to make it now.
I’ve partnered with my friends over at Oatly to bring you this recipe and I couldn’t be more excited. I first tried Oatly back in 2017, and I still get giddy when I see it popping up in stores. If you haven’t tried it, Oatly is a plant-based milk made from oats. In my opinion, oats have a pretty neutral taste, so it’s easy to use in virtually any recipe where you’d normally use milk.
ROASTED RED PEPPER PASTA INGREDIENTS
- your favorite pasta
- a jar of roasted red peppers (peppers only)
- raw cashews
- garlic
- Oatly oatmilk
- olive oil
- nutritional yeast
- red pepper flakes
HOW TO MAKE ROASTED RED PEPPER PASTA SAUCE
This recipe starts like most pasta dishes in that you want to begin by making the pasta. Bring water to a boil then cook the pasta until it’s al dente. Drain it, then pour the pasta back into the pot.
For the roasted red pepper pasta sauce, you’re going to heat the minced garlic in a saucepan for 1-2 minutes, and then transfer it into a blender, along with the remaining ingredients (except the basil). Then, pulse for one full minute or until the sauce is creamy and smooth. If you don’t own a high-power blender, use your food processor instead.
To heat the sauce, pour it back into the saucepan you used to heat the garlic and warm it up to your liking. Last, pour the pasta into the saucepan and stir until it’s coated with sauce. Alternatively, you can pour the sauce over the pasta and stir it that way.
The very last step is to add chopped basil. This might seem like a step to skip, but don’t! The basil pairs so well with the roasted red peppers, so it’s an absolute must.
ADD-INS
I didn’t include any add-ins as I wanted to keep this recipe super simple, but if you happen to have one or more of the following ingredients, feel free to throw them in:
- spinach
- kale
- parsley
- mushrooms
- zucchini
- grape tomatoes
WHAT TO SERVE WITH THIS PASTA
- arugula sun-dried tomato salad
- garlic broccoli steaks
- roasted carrots with tarragon pesto
OTHER VEGAN RECIPES
Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb. pasta
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 small shallot
- ¼ cup olive oil divided
- 16 oz. roasted red peppers peppers only, 1 jar
- ⅓ cup raw cashews soaked
- ½ cup oat milk or milk of choice
- 1 ½ tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
- ¼ cup heavy cream if not vegan
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package instructions; drain and set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce: heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, then add the garlic and shallot and sauté for 2-3 minutes; transfer to a blender.
- Add the remaining olive oil, along with the roasted red peppers, cashews, milk, nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to the blender and blend for 1 minute or until the sauce is smooth.
- Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta, then garnish with fresh basil. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Pepper says
If we are allergic to cashews would walnuts be a good substitute?
Erin says
I wouldn't use walnuts... you may want to just omit the nuts, but use less milk OR more red peppers so the sauce is thick (the cashews help to thicken the sauce without adding much flavor, and I'm afraid walnuts would alter the flavor too much). Hope this helps!
Meghan says
This was delicious! Very easy to prepare, and my husband loved it! I doubled the chili peppers, because we like it spicy. I didn't have unflavoured non-dairy milk, so I just made a quick cashew milk instead. Because it's just the two of us, I packed up half of the sauce before heating the first portion, and it kept overnight very well.
Erin says
So glad you both enjoyed the pasta!
Mallory says
I’m excitedly pulling out ingredients to make this for dinner... but I don’t have oat milk! Do you think cashew milk would work!? TIA.
Erin says
Yes any milk will work!
Tiff says
What are the cashews for then i don’t see it i. The recipe instructions
Erin says
The cashews are for the sauce-- you'll end them into the blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients!
Cherri Blair- Drayton says
Do you drain the red peppers?
Erin says
Yes!
Rabma Grandma says
Haven't tried but will!! Love love love the Oatly milk, the chocolate one goes so fast at the supermarket i was able to get it once only...
Ijo Nopuente says
Never tried pasta without any meat or fish so this is kinda new to me. I'll definitely try this on the weekends. 🙂
irene says
I always boil my pasta and am good to go, now i will definitely spice it up.
jess @choosingchia says
This looks so creamy, need to try this!!