Roasted Red Pepper and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Our Roasted Red Pepper and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta is a simple dish that can be made in less than 30 minutes. It's creamy, vegan and can be made gluten-free by simply using gluten-free pasta.

This recipe, together with our sweet potato pasta, is one of our favorite pasta dishes for those busy weeknights. The whole family loves the creamy sauce made with roasted peppers and sun-dried tomatoes, so cooking this dish makes it really easy to please everyone.

And pasta, who doesn't love pasta?! We will never get tired of eating pasta at home. Every time Astra has to travel to Italy for work, he comes back with a suitcase full of delicious pasta! For this recipe, we used Cavatappi pasta, but you can use any type of pasta you like or have at home. Use gluten-free pasta to make this recipe gluten-free.

Sun-Dried tomatoes add a nice salty punch of tomato flavour to our roasted red pepper sauce. We live in Spain, and we get good quality, juicy tomatoes all year round. But the best tomatoes are the ones you can find during the summer months in local markets. During winter, we prefer using Sun-Dried tomatoes to still enjoy this delicious ingredient at its best. Check out our Vegan Alfredo with Sun-Dried Tomatoes or our Sun-Dried tomato Pâté for more recipes using this umami-packed ingredient.

If you have been looking for an easy recipe that your whole family can enjoy (from toddlers to adults) and will be ready in less than 30 minutes, then you are in the right place!

How to make our Roasted Red Pepper and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

Pasta. For this recipe, we use Cavatappi pasta but you can use any type of pasta you like or already have at home. To make this dish gluten-free, simply use gluten-free pasta.

Red Pepper. The main ingredient of this recipe: Roasted red peppers. Our favourite peppers for roasting are the long Italian red peppers. They are a bit more expensive than bell peppers, but they are sweeter and much nicer when roasted. But you can use red bell peppers instead and the sauce will still taste delicious.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes. For this recipe, we used dry sun-dried tomatoes; they just need to be rehydrated in warm water for 30 minutes before using them. If you are using oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, they can be added to the food processor straight from the jar as they don't need to be rehydrated.

Cashews. We use pre-soaked cashews to make the cream for our sauce. Leave the cashews soaking overnight in room temperature water. Or you can soak the cashews the same day, just make sure to use boiling hot water so they will be ready in 20 minutes.

Yeast flakes or nutritional yeast. To give our sauce a cheesy touch, we use yeast flakes. We love adding yeast flakes when making pasta sauces as it’s a good source of vitamin B12 and gives your sauces a delicious cheesy flavour.

Sweet Smoked Paprika. For this recipe, we use non-spicy sweet smoked paprika. It gives the sauce a lovely smoky flavour. Our favourite brand when it comes to smoked paprika is La Chinata.

Onion and garlic. To add more flavour to our sauce, we use yellow onion and garlic like in most of our recipes.

Vegetable stock or water. To give the sauce the right consistency and texture, we use vegetable stock but water can be used as instead. Use a homemade or low-salt stock to keep the recipe kid-friendly.

Fresh basil. To finish the dish, we add some fresh basil. Pasta and pizza are just better with a bit of fresh basil or other aromatic herbs sprinkled on top! It adds flavour and a nice contrast of colour.

Method

As we mentioned, this is one of the easiest recipes you can find on our blog. This roasted red pepper and sun-dried tomato sauce comes together in five simple steps:

1. Soak the cashews overnight using room temperature water, or for 20-30 minutes using boiling hot water. Rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes in warm water for 30 minutes.
2. Cut the peppers in half, place in an oven tray and roast for about 20-25 minutes at 200Cº/400Fº. While the peppers are roasting, cook the pasta following the packet instructions. Always use salted water when cooking pasta. Rinse and leave aside.
3. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the finely chopped onion. Fry for a couple of minutes and then add the crushed garlic. When the garlic is cooked and the onion softens, transfer it to a food processor.
4. Add to the food processor the roasted pepper, rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, soaked cashews, yeast flakes, sweet paprika, and vegetable stock. Blend until you have a smooth consistency.
5. Mix the sauce with the cooked pasta, finely chop some fresh basil and sprinkle on top. Your delicious pasta will be ready to serve.

Toddler and Kid-Friendly Recipe

We are really lucky to have a super unfussy eater at home. Our toddler loves eating the same food as us. Sometimes we try to think of veggies that he doesn't really like, but at the moment he is enjoying everything we cook for him.

Pasta is, of course, one of his favourite meals and creamy sauces are always a hit. This is a really healthy recipe to give to your toddler or kid. Cashews are a brilliant source of protein, red peppers contain great benefits for our health such as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, and sun-dried tomatoes are an excellent source of potassium (even better than bananas!).

Choose whole wheat pasta or legume-based pasta such as red lentil or chickpea pasta to make this dish even healthier.

What can I use if I don't have Sun-Dried Tomatoes?

You can find Sun-Dried tomatoes in many supermarkets or online, but if you want to make this recipe and you don't have them to hand, there is still hope!

If you don't have sun-dried tomatoes, you can use cherry tomatoes. Bake the cherry tomatoes with the red peppers and add to the blender with the rest of the ingredients.

Another option is to add tomato paste to the blender to still get that nice punch of rich tomato flavour without using sun-dried tomatoes.

How to make this recipe Nut-free

We use cashew cream for our recipe, but we know that nuts present an allergen problem for many people. Also, many schools won’t allow packed lunches containing nuts.

To make this roasted red pepper and sun-dried tomato pasta nut-free, substitute the cashew cream for oat cream or coconut milk. We use them in many of our recipes and they work really well when making this sauce too.

Serving Suggestions

Before serving, drizzle some olive oil or truffle oil and sprinkle finely chopped fresh basil on top. Serve with some garlic bread or crunchy breadsticks.

Roasted red pepper and sun-dried tomato pasta is a main dish that can be served for lunch or dinner. As it takes less than 30 minutes to prepare, you can make this recipe on a busy weeknight or cook it in advance to have it ready as a packed lunch or for the following day.

This pasta dish will stay fresh in the fridge for 3-4 days. If the sauce has gotten thicker, add some plant-based milk while reheating the dish so that it's as creamy as the first day.

If you tried our recipe, please leave a comment or tag us on Instagram. We are always happy to see your creations!

More Vegan Creamy Pasta Recipes:

• Fettuccine Alfredo
• Vegan Creamy Tomato Pasta
• Vegan Creamy Mushroom Pasta
• Creamy Tahini Pasta
• Trenette al Pesto
• Harissa Pasta