Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Sauce made with nuts, garlic and spices. Easy and fast to make, oil-free and only 8 ingredients!
VEGAN ROASTED RED PEPPER SAUCE
This roasted red pepper sauce pasta is so full of flavor, totally oil-free and is made with gluten-free pasta. Roasting the bell peppers give them the most amazing flavor, not to mention, gorgeous color to this delicious plant-based dinner.
The lemon juice rounds out the depth of flavor and fresh basil brings it all together. It can be made with either pine nuts or cashews. If allergic to nuts, raw sunflower seeds should work great too.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
(Only 8 main ingredients needed. Full details and measurements on the recipe card below.)
- Red bell peppers
- Lemon juice
- Fresh garlic
- Chili powder
- Pine nuts or cashews, or sunflower seeds for nut-free
- Nutritional yeast
- Fresh basil
- Pasta of choice
The pine nuts give this vegan roasted red pepper pasta sauce a slightly sweet flavor and are buttery. I absolutely love them and have more recipes coming up with them!
I absolutely love that you can make dairy-free sauces that taste just as delicious and the butter and cream-filled ones. This vegan creamy red pepper sauce with fresh basil is no exception. It is also oil-free and just 8 ingredients, what a huge bonus!
MORE VEGAN PASTA DISHES
- Best Vegan Garlic Alfredo
- 1 Pot Vegan Cajun Pasta
- Vegan Walnut Basil Pasta
- 20 Minute Vegan Alfredo
- Vegan Pimento Cream Sauce
- Creamy Chili Sauce with Pasta
- Easy Vegan Meatballs and Spaghetti
- Vegan Lemon Florentine Pasta
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup pine nuts OR cashews
- 1 tbsp minced fresh garlic
- 2 tsp chili powder
- Fresh basil 1/4 cup, chopped
- 12 oz gluten-free brown rice spiral pasta, or pasta of choice
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 450 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the whole bell peppers on the pan and roast for 20-25 minutes until well browned.
- Carefully slice the bell peppers and remove the stem and seeds and add to a blender.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients (except the basil) and blend until smooth. Taste and add any additional salt or spices, if desired.
- Garnish with fresh chopped basil and pine nuts. Serve over spiral pasta. I much prefer the spiral pasta over spaghetti noodles for this sauce because it gets in between the grooves and has a better texture.
Bomb!!!!
Thank you so much!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! So so good. My dad even wants some sauce by itself to use as a dip for nachos. Thank you!!
I’m so happy to hear it was a hit Jennifer, thank you for the feedback!
Do I have to use pine nuts in the sauce? What else can I use instead of pine nuts?
Hi Alex, I have listed on the recipe right next to pine nuts that you can also use cashews. They work amazing as well!
I stopped buying pasta sauce because every one I’ve seen has oil in it. I tried this recipe on my favorite pasta (Tolerant red lentil rotini), and YUM! This is such a great pleasant change to the traditional tomato pasta sauce! Love the flavor!
Thank you Jessica, so glad you loved it! It’s one of my favorites in our home!
Hello! Just wanted to drop a note that I have been making this recipe frequently for MONTHS. My (non-vegan) husband and I really enjoy it (-: Thanks for your creation!
Yay! That makes me so happy to hear Paige, thank you so much for that wonderful feedback and letting me know!
Hi Brandi, never have done this before so I hope you get it. I will definitely be trying this red pepper sauce!! Many years ago I came across a sweet potato with vitamin c powder for the kick that tomatoes give. Do you know of a recipe like this? It was a very simple recipe. Since I came down with IBS I am keeping my food simple!.I can’t tolerate nuts right now, maybe that will change! Thank you
Hi Maggie! No, I have never ever heard about that. The nuts in this definitely give body and richness to the sauce, so you are welcome to try other things to sub, but I just don’t know how well it would turn out. I think if you are avoiding nuts, then this other red pepper sauce on my blog would be just perfect for you! It is delicious and I have provided both a nut and nut-free option (made with potatoes)! https://thevegan8.com/roasted-broccoli-rice-bowl-chipotle-red-pepper-sauce/
Hello Brandi, this looks delicious. I am traveling to Italy on a culinary tour. If i cannot find yeast what do you recommend for substitution or can i just omit. Grazi Ciao !
Hi Sharon! You can leave it out, but replace it with maybe a bit more salt (since yeast is kinda salty) and some extra flavor if needed like garlic powder, onion powder and that should work. I actually don’t use the yeast anymore myself since my hubby can’t tolerate it and I just leave it out now for this and add other spices for flavor.
Is it just me or this this blown anyone else’s head off with 2 teaspoons of chilli powder!?!?!?!?! I actually can’t eat it. 🙁
Hi Mel! Oh no, sounds like you used a super hot chili powder, not a typical regular American chili powder. A standard chili powder is not spicy, it is mild and just adds warmth to the sauce, doesn’t make it spicy at all. As you can see from all the reviews above, it is a hit. Nobody has ever complained of the spice. I even make it for my 5 year old all the time and she hates spicy and eats this with no problem. I use just a standard McCormick type chili powder. You need a chili powder that is a combo of spices and not just like a solid pepper powder. Those will be insanely spicy like cayenne and are labeled differently usually.
Hi, thanks for the reply. I’m in the UK and just have standard chilli powder (which is just chilli powder). I did think it seemed a lot but thought maybe the other ingredients would cancel it out a little. We had to chuck it unfortunately! 🙁
Ahhh yes, I’ve heard UK chili powders and Australian chili powders are different than American versions. Sorry about that!
No worries. Maybe I’ll try again another time with just a pinch of chilli powder! 🙂
this is an awesome sauce!! we even added some tumeric and mmmmm. thanks Brandi!
So wonderful to hear, thank you so much for the feedback!
I made this tonight and just wow! It was so easy, flavorful and amazing! My husband is a food snob and he raved about its greatness. I am so glad I tried it! I substituted tahini for the nutritional yeast and served over spiralized zucchini. I couldn’t ask for an easier dish that seemed like I slaved in the kitchen lol!
Oh yay! That is the best review Becky, thank you so much for taking the time to star rate it as well! So happy to hear how much you and your hubby loved this recipe, haha! Thank you!
My husband and I started a plant based whole food diet at the end of January. It has been a struggle. My husband, Guy, still has a bit of meat and the occasional egg or bit of butter but he’s getting better. I signed up for the online cooking course offered by Forks over Knives because I was having a hard time cooking without oil and making dressings and sauces. I made your red pepper sauce and it is the best thing I’ve made since I started this 5 weeks ago. I had cooked a spagetti squash the day before (I had never had that either) and put the sauce on that. Fabulous!!! I ate it for breakfast and will finish up at lunch. If all of your recipes are this good, you website will be up on my screen every day. Thanks so much!
That is so amazing to hear Barbara, thank you so much for the amazing review!
Could you omit the garlic? I am currently following a low fodmap diet.
Thanks !!
Hi Jessica, I’m so sorry I’m just now seeing this comment. Yes, you can leave it out! It does add a lot of flavor but should still be flavorful without it.
Oh WOW!!! SO GOOD!!!! (Yes I am YELLING!!!) We just got home from a trip and I had a jar of roasted red peppers but not much else in the house so made this — didn’t have any any pine nuts so left them out, used dried basil instead of fresh. Then I heated up a can of chickpeas, some frozen corn and frozen spinach and tossed that in with the pasta. YUM!!!! Can’t wait to make this again! Thank you so much!
Woohoo, so glad you loved this Lisa, yay!
Inspired by a raw salad I sampled at an upscale grocery store, I purchased zoodles, basil, cherry tomatoes and their jar of red pepper dressing. It was not refrigerated so I incorrectly assumed it was vegan. I got home ready to make the summer salad when I noticed HEAVY CREAM waaaay down on the list of ingredients! Shame on me for buying without checking. Anyway, I headed straight to your site, Brandi, and found this savory sauce and it was PERFECT for the salad! My husband and I licked our plates clean, all the while thinking of everything we eat with this versatile sauce! 😋
So delicious and so easy to make!!! Thank you
Really glad to hear that Dana, thank you!
This was absolutely delicious!! Also so simple!
Tried for the first time! So yummy! Could eat the sauce right out of the blender!
Easy and really delish! I love red peppers and have made red pepper sauce with cream or cream cheese. This is every bit as good and no oil. Thank you!
Loved this recipe! Perfect over some pasta tonight. I subbed half white beans and half sunflower seeds for the pine nuts, as I didn’t have any. It was still very creamy! I loved the chili powder addition. Definitely something I’d expect from Brandi 🙂 I used your blend of course! I added some zucchini, yellow squash and chopped red peppers too. I’ll definitely make again and again. So easy.