Oil-free Romesco Sauce
Learn how to make an Oil-free Romesco Sauce with roasted almonds, pine nuts, bell peppers and red wine vinegar. This sauce is so creamy, rich in flavor and absolutely delicious!
Servings: 2 cups sauce
Ingredients
- 2 large bell peppers, sliced into strips (330g) or jarred roasted bell peppers
- 3/4 cup (114g) roasted almonds (or see below for roasting directions)
- 1 1/4 cups (300g) tomato sauce/puree (I literally just blended up diced tomatoes from a box into a liquid sauce and then measured. This way I could avoid the added salt.)
- 1 tablespoon (15g) red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (keep in mind raw garlic is very powerful, so start out with 2 medium-large cloves (8g) and add more if desired)
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- optional-pinch cayenne peper
- I use this scale.
NOTE
- I used no salt tomatoes and the 1/2 teaspoon salt was perfect for me. If your tomato sauce is salted, you may need adjustment.
Instructions
- You can skip steps 2 and 3 if you are using roasted almonds and jarred bell peppers.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Place the almonds spread out on one pan and the sliced bell peppers on the other.
- Add ONLY the pan of bell peppers to the oven first and roast for 15-20 minutes until they are starting to look charred on the tips and edges. Remove from the oven.
- Turn off the oven to cool a bit before turning it back on to 300°F and add the pan of almonds. You do this because if you add the almonds while the oven is still so hot, they will burn. Bake for 15 minutes until smelling fragrant, be careful not to burn.
- Add the bell peppers, roasted almonds, tomato sauce, red wine vinegar, pine nuts, water, garlic, smoked paprika, salt and cayenne (if using) to a food processor. Blend for a minute, scrape down the sides well and process again for 3-5 minutes. Be patient with this so it can reach the smooth texture you see in the photo. I liked mine completely smooth, but thick, and no bits of nuts remaining.
- If you prefer more texture, process less. If you want it runnier, or milder in flavor, add a touch more water, adjusting the flavor if needed. Just know that classic romesco sauce is supposed to be on the thicker side, so it can be almost like a topping or dip, not meant to be a runny sauce.
- After it has reached the desired consistency, taste and add more salt or vinegar if desired. I found it to be perfect and 1/2 teaspoon salt was just right. Serve over pasta, as a dipping sauce for fries or potato wedges, top over a baked potato, tacos, alongside veggies or whatever you like. My favorite is with potato wedges!