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This roasted red pepper pasta recipe might be your new favorite weeknight dinner! The healthy Alfredo sauce is super creamy, flavorful, and delicious. The recipe is vegan (meat-free, dairy-free), quick, and easy to make with only a few simple ingredients!
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
After I posted two new rice recipes in a row, I thought it’s time for a new pasta dish recipe! One which you might like if you are a fan of creamy and flavorful sauces. I know, I am! I love everything saucy and flavorful. That’s why I created this delicious vegan roasted red pepper pasta.
You should give this recipe a try because it is:
- A tasty meat-free weeknight dinner
- Creamy, flavorful, and spicy (if you want to add red pepper flakes)
- Easy to make with simple ingredients
How To Make The Best Roasted Red Pepper Pasta?
- First, chop the veggies. Slice the peppers into strips, quarter the onion, and peel the garlic. Transfer the veggies onto a lined baking sheet and roast them in the oven for 15-20 minutes:
- At the same time, cook your favorite pasta. You can use regular wheat pasta or gluten-free pasta.
- Meanwhile, measure all other sauce ingredients.
- Once the veggies are nicely roasted, add them to a blender or food processor.
- Add all other sauce ingredients and blend on high speed for a few minutes until very smooth and creamy
- Heat up the sauce in a pot or skillet, toss in the cooked pasta and you are done!
Simple Ingredients
This recipe is so easy to make with simple ingredients which you might already have at home. The main ingredients are peppers and since this is a roasted red pepper pasta, I would suggest using red bell peppers. As you might have noticed, I only had one red bell pepper, that’s why I used one orange bell pepper, haha.
I used cashew butter which makes the sauce super creamy. You can use 1/3 cup of cashews instead of cashew butter though. Make sure to soak the cashew nuts in hot water for about 20 minutes, this way they blend much easier and smoother.
Nutritional yeast flakes add a cheesy umami taste, however, you can leave them out. The sauce will still taste great but I think it’s even better with nutritional yeast. I order nutritional yeast flakes online but they are available in most supermarkets. If you can’t find them, you could use 1 tbsp of soy sauce instead, which will also add an umami taste.
If you want to make the recipe low-carb, simply use spiralized zucchini or squash instead of pasta!
How To Store Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo?
This recipe serves 2-3 people. You can double the recipe and store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can simply reheat them in a pot with a splash of plant-based milk.
Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce
The cashew butter and plant-based milk make the sauce creamy and delicious. You can use any plant-based milk of choice, for example, almond milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, or soy milk. I used canned coconut milk because I love the creaminess it adds.
This Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce Is:
- Vegan (meat-free, dairy-free)
- Sweet and savory
- Hearty
- Satisfying
- Flavorful
- Comforting
- Easy to make with simple ingredients
- Perfect for a weeknight dinner
- Completely oil-free
Should you recreate this vegetarian roasted red pepper pasta dish, please leave a comment below and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I love to see your remakes! If you love pasta dishes, definitely also check out the following recipes:
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Ingredients
Sauce ingredients:
- 2 red bell peppers (*see notes)
- 1 small red onion
- 4-5 small cloves of garlic
- 1 cup (240 ml) unsweetened plant-based milk (*see notes)
- 2 heaped tbsp (40 g) cashew butter (*see notes)
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2-2/3 tsp sea salt or to taste
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tbsp cornstarch to thicken
- Black pepper to taste
- Red pepper flakes to taste
Other ingredients:
- 7 oz (200 g) of your favorite pasta (dry) regular or gluten-free
- Fresh herbs to garnish
Instructions
- Watch the video in the post, however, please note that I added the cornstarch and cashew butter at a later point. It's easier to follow the written recipe here in the instructions. 🙂
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice the peppers into strips, quarter the onion, and peel the garlic cloves. Transfer the veggies onto the baking sheet (check the photos in the blog post above).
- You can drizzle some oil on top or roast the veggies without oil in the oven for about 15-20 minutes.
- At the same time cook your favorite pasta as per the instructions on the package.
- Meanwhile, measure the other ingredients.
- Add the roasted veggies with all other sauce ingredients to a blender (or food processor) and blend for a few minutes until super smooth and creamy.
- Pour the sauce into a skillet or pot and heat it up over medium heat. Let simmer for about a minute, add the pasta and stir with a spoon.
- Taste and adjust seasoning. Add more salt/black pepper/red pepper flakes to taste if needed.
- Garnish with fresh herbs and enjoy!
Notes
- I used one red bell pepper and one orange bell pepper. Feel free to use only red bell peppers.
- You can use any plant-based milk of choice, e.g. almond milk, soy milk, cashew milk, etc.). I used canned coconut milk for extra creaminess.
- The cashew butter will make the sauce creamy and delicious. If you need a nut-free alternative, try tahini (keep in mind that it has a slightly bitter taste) or sunflower seed butter.
- You can also use 1/3 cup (50 grams) of soaked cashews instead of cashew butter. Make sure to soak the cashews in hot water for about 20 minutes, then discard the water and blend with the other sauce ingredients.
- You can also check out my creamy Vegan Lasagna Soup Recipe.
- Recipe serves 3. Nutrition facts are for one serving.
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
Equipment
If you are using Pinterest, feel free to pin the following photo:
A tasty and very creamy sauce – my vegan daughter and friend enjoyed it. Mine ended up tasting too strongly of nutritional yeast and cashew butter (maybe I took the “heaping” part of the directions a little too far) so I added a can of tomato sauce and some basil and that made a good difference. It definitely did not need corn starch to thicken; in fact, I had to thin it with a bit of water. Next time I will take the yeast down to just 3TB and the cashew butter to 1TB but I”ll probably keep the tomato sauce and basil in there; it gave a nice flavor. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Holly, thanks for your feedback! 🙂
This recipe tastes quite sweet The coconut milk paired with the sweet peppers make this a very sweet savory dish. I love sweetness, but not in my savory meals, just in desserts. 🙂 But that is just a matter of taste. The rest of the recipe, however, I found lacked something. I am not sure what and I couldn’t quite fix it. I tried adding more onion powder, then garlic powder, to see if that would add that ‘something’ I was looking for, but they didn’t work. We still ate it, it’s just not as wonderful as the other recipes I have tried on here. .
Hi Annie, did you use sweetened coconut milk? 🙂
It’s funny you should ask, Ela, because the same thought occurred to me this morning. So I checked the can to be sure it was the unsweetened version, and indeed it was. Oh well, plenty of other recipes we enjoy from your blog, and looking forward to trying new ones, too!
This sounds and looks really delicious! I am planning on making this tonight, but am a little unsure of the pasta amount. Do you mean 7 ozs dry or cooked pasta? Thanks!
Hi Annie, it’s dry pasta. The instruction in step 5 says to cook the pasta, but I will make it clearer in the recipe. Thanks. 🙂
Wow, that looks amazing! Quick question tho: the nutritional values are the recipe with the pasta or sauce only? Thanks!
Hello Val! That’s including regular pasta. I hope this helps. 🙂
Hi Ela!
I am going to make this recipe today, but im not a big fan of nutritional yeast. Can i leave it out or replace it with something else? Or will that ruïne the the taste or structure?
Hi Susanne, you can leave it out or add a little miso paste for an “umami taste”. 🙂
Thank you! Can’t wait to make it 😁
This week I made this for the 2nd time and I still love it! I didn’t have nutritional yeast and I subbed the cashew butter with roasted, salted cashews that I soaked in hot water for ~3hours before using them. It worked perfectly, although it was just an improvisation. 😀
Still, I have to admit that I needed a larger amount of the spices than the recipe suggests, to give the whole thing an intense flavor besides coconut. But that’s not a problem because you can still add spices when the sauce is reheating so either way you’ll have your desired flavor when you start eating. By the way, my boyfriend and his family loved it! His parents basically couldn’t get enough of it and they ate the leftovers with rice the next day and said that it was also really good!
Wow, that’s really amazing! I am so glad you and your boyfriend’s family loved it. Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
Is there a nut/sesame-free substitute for the cashew butter? My daughter is allergic to all nuts and sesame and i’m desperate for a creamy pasta recipe! Thanks
Hi Lauren! You could use sunflower seed butter. I use it quite often and love the creamy result. 🙂
wow!! that was good :DD I decided just to use the oregano and used coconut milk for the vegan milk, tahini instead of cashew butter and shallots instead of a red onion as that’s what I had on hand! Definitely will make this again!
this looks really yummy, I would like to try it and am wondering instead of oregano, I have lots of fresh thyme to use up, would you recommend that swap ?? Thank you!! can’t wait 😀
Hi Caro, I would add just a little fresh thyme, not too much. 🙂
Hi Ela,
This sauce was absolutely above and beyond:) finally I found canned coconut milk. So happy :)) I am going frizz half portion.
Thanks for sharing your recipes…
You are welcome, Roopa! I am glad you found canned coconut milk and so happy you loved this recipe. 🙂
Absolutely love this recipe. Used peanut butter instead of cashew butter and used coconut milk. This one is a big hit and on the weekly roster now.
That’s amazing! I am glad you loved the recipe. 🙂
Omg so delicious. Made this tonight and was a huge hit even for my non-vegan in-laws!!
This is one of my favourite sites for meals. Thankyou Ela 🙂
That’s awesome, Katy! I am so glad you loved the pasta. Thanks for your sweet comment! 🙂
Ela, this was ridiculously delicious! Thank you for this. This will be one of my regular meals. It’s so quick and easy to make! Oh and my partner was blown away with the lasagna soup as well! Oh AND the mac&cheese. He didn’t believe me when I said there’s no cheese in it hahaha
Wow, that sounds fantastic, Carl! I am glad you and your partner enjoyed these recipes! 🙂
This was amazing- I’m so glad I came across your website! I made enough for two days, but my meat-loving husband ate it all. Thank you so much.
Wow, he seemed to like it a lot. 😀 Thanks for your great feedback, Jacinta. 🙂
hi! first of all i want to say that you are one of my favorite vegan bloggers/cooks and i love every dish of yours that i have tried! this sauce exceeded my expectations. do you think it is possible to freeze it to reheat later in the week?
Hi Margo! Thanks so much for your compliment, I really appreciate it. Yes, I believe it should be totally fine to freeze the sauce. 🙂
I was wondering – what kind of pasta did you use in the picture? Is it regular or gluten free? Looking forward to making this!
You can use any pasta of choice, whether it is wheat pasta, rice pasta, quinoa pasta, buckwheat pasta, etc. I use gluten-free pasta most of the time (combination of rice, quinoa, and corn).
A friend and I made this together tonight and absolutely loved it! So creamy and tasty, and super quick to make too. Perfect for two hungry uni students in exam week!
I am so glad you liked the recipe, Isabelle. Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
I just made this and oh my goodness so delicious! I added some steamed broccoli at the end for some extra veggies and it turned out great! Thank you for your amazing recipes that never disappoint!
I am so glad you love this creamy sauce! Thanks for your feedback, Sarah! 🙂
Can’t wait to try it! With the 410 calories per serving, does that include pasta? 410 calories seems like a lot of calories for 1/2 cup of sauce made primarily with veggies.
Hi Krista! Please note that the nutrition facts are just a rough estimate (calculated with Cronometer). I calculated it for three servings, which might have been wrong because the recipe makes rather 4 servings in my opinion. So, if you calculate 410×3/4, it’s actually rather 307 calories per serving (without the pasta). Hope this helps! 🙂
I made this pasta three time already, Cant thank u enough for this eazy tasty recipe ?
I am so glad you liked the recipe, Gehan! Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Ela this has to be the best vegan pasta recipe ever! My family loved it. The sauce turned out so creamy and cheesy. Thank you for sharing your recipes with us.
I am so glad you like the recipe, Sue! 🙂
Heute ausprobiert und kann nur weiter empfehlen! Vielen Dank ?
Freut mich sehr liebe Katharina! 🙂
Delicious! Had to add more nooch but I loved it!
So glad you loved it, Christine. 🙂
I’ve made this a couple of times now with a couple changes. I used homemade cashew milk instead of coconut milk, and I roasted 40 gr of cashew along with the bell peppers and took them out when they turned golden. I also used yellow onion instead of red because red ones are expensive here 🙁 this pasta recipe is sweet and so comforting! And the leftover pasta is even better! Thank you SO much!
You are very welcome, Lars! I am so glad you like this easy vegan pasta recipe. 🙂
I made this recipe twice and we all love it. My 4 year old daughter especially who said and I quote ” Mommy it tastes like sky, please cook that again!”
Aww, how sweet of your 4-year-old! I am glad you loved the recipe. 🙂
Just made this for dinner tonight! So easy and flavorful! I used soy milk instead of coconut. I also added the juice of 1/2 a lemon for some extra tang and really loved it! Thanks for sharing.
I am glad you liked the dish, Alicia. 🙂
The best red pepper sauce I have ever tasted! I have celiac disease and am allergic to corn, soy, milk, and egg so finding dishes that excite me are rare. I would eat this sauce on cardboard it is so good! Thanks. This one is a keeper.
Wow, thanks so much for your amazing feedback, Susan. 🙂
Wow! Made this today- easy, delicious and so filling!
Wonderful! So glad you liked the recipe. 🙂
Hello, I am wondering if I could make this with a white onion. Red onions are a bit too strong for me.
Thank you
Of course! 🙂
In the words of Paris Hilton, “This is beyond.” It was so easy to make. I made it twice already–super delicious. Thank you for sharing it with the world, Ela.
So glad you loved the recipe, Marvin! Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
Looks great, thanks for the great recipe! Are the nutritional facts including the cannned coconut milk? Or a different plant based milk? 🙂
If I remember well, the nutrition facts were calculated with almond milk. 🙂
Ela, the Notes state you used canned coconut milk, so are the nutrition facts based upon that type of plant based milk?
Hi Dawn! No, based on almond milk or any other boxed milk. Hope this helps!
We LOVE this recipe!! I also add some pre-soaked cashews for extra creaminess, and sometimes we add sautéed veggies too – lots of garlic, mushrooms, more bell pepper, and onion/leek. It’s delicious both ways, plain or with the works!
Sounds amazing, Rachel! Thanks a lot for your great feedback. 🙂
How much is a serving for the sauce? And how much does the sauce make.. example a cup?
I think the sauce makes about 1 1/2 cups, so it’s probably 1/2 cup per serving more or less. But when you add the pasta to the sauce, there won’t be much left because the pasta soaks up a lot of the sauce. Check out the pictures above in the blog post where you can see the sauce in the pan before I added the pasta. 🙂
I am obsessed with this recipe ?. It’s so creamy and delicious.
So glad you like this recipe, Gisel! Thanks a lot for your wonderful feedback! 🙂
Hi I want to make this tonight but don’t have nutritional yeast. Will leaving it out make a big difference. Thanks K
You can leave it out! It will taste less “cheesy” but still delicious. Enjoy! 🙂
Such a quick easy recipe i love it. I added a spoon of hummus to make it slightly thicker as I had no cashew butter and it worked so well. Can’t wait to try again?
Souns great! Thanks for sharing, Alice. 🙂
Just made it as per the recipe – tastes great! Super easy and straight forward. Some folks wanted it spicy so they added pepper flakes. Doubled the recipe and can see that it is not going to last long. Thanks for a simple yet tasty recipe.
Awesome! So happy you liked the recipe, Mike! 🙂
Such a delicious pasta recipe ? love pasta so much ❤️
Thanks, Bianca! I hope you will give it a try. 🙂
Quick question, is the 410 calories for each serving size or all three serving sizes?
Hi! 🙂 It’s actually mentioned in the recipe notes:
“Recipe serves 3. Nutrition facts are for one serving.”
This tastes so good! I just doubled the pasta and it ended up being the perfect ratio. It’s also my first vegan recipie (that’s not by coincidence lol). I’ll definitely be making this again:)
That’s awesome! So glad you liked the recipe, Nicolette. Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Wow, this was insanely delicious… The almond butter worked great – just as you said! Thanks again for another wonderful, yet simple, meall
Fantastic! So glad it turned out delicious, Sam! Thanks for getting back to me. 🙂
Hi there, just a quick question, I see that you mentioned Tahini or sunflower seed butter as alternatives for cashew butter, and it appears that cashews seem to be the go to nut for savoury sauces… Is there any particular reason for using cashews to make creamy sauces, does it have a specific flavour profile, or would almond butter work?
Almond butter would be great as well! I love both in sauces. Cashew butter adds a little bit sweetness which I like. 🙂
Oh thank you so much for your quick, helpful and kind response… I really appreciate it! Planning on trying this tomorrow, love you blog and so look forward to trying your dishes, they always taste fantastic!
You are very welcome, Sam! I hope you will like the recipe. 🙂
Made this tonight, but without cashew butter or cornstarch. I added half of an avocado to the blender to thicken and it worked perfectly! Such good flavor; I will definitely be making this a staple in my house! Thank you so much! ☺️
That’s awesome! And such a good idea to add avocado to thicken (even though I don’t like the taste of cooked avo :D).
Thanks for your amazing feedback, Morgan! 🙂