This Creamy Red Pepper Pasta is seriously delicious and seriously vegan! Perfectly chewy rigatoni, blistered juicy tomatoes, a creamy-but-cream-less roasted red pepper sauce, all sprinkled with fresh chives and basil.
Creamy Red Pepper Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes
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Literally one of the best sauces I have ever tried! Sooooooooo good!!
Stephanie
This recipe is sponsored by DeLallo
This (vegan) creamy roasted red pepper pasta is just such a gift.
It wins all categories: creamy, amazing texture; savory, rich taste; shortness of ingredient lists; versatility; ease of preparation; nutritional punch.
IT HAS EVERYTHING.
We’ve done the creamy red pepper sauce thing before, a few times – like here, with cashews and roasted cauliflower, and here, with almond milk and zucchini noodles, and here, with the butter and fettuccine and shrimp. And we’ve done the creamy cashew sauce pasta before too. But this version is special because it sees us just as we are in this moment:
- at the very end of summer with some lingering peak-season produce.
- wanting to eat well.
- needing food to be easy.
- craving straight-up comfort food.
Whenever I share a short-ingredient-list recipe, I always like to emphasize the importance of the quality of ingredients. These few ingredients are the MVPs that are going to carry the weight of all your simplest, most beautiful recipes.
GOOD olive oil, QUALITY pasta, ACTUALLY DELICIOUS jarred roasted red peppers.
You know we love DeLallo and you know right now that I’m going to recommend DeLallo staples for this recipe.
No, scratch that. I’m going to recommend just making a once or twice annual pasta-loving, joy-bringing, pantry-stocking online order of DeLallo products. Picture this: one order, a shipment of authentic Italian pastas and olive oils and vinegars and antipasti-type yummies, delivered to your door so you can pull together quality meals on the fly and don’t have to think about it for the whole season ahead. Yeah? (Here’s the link if you want to just pasta window shop.)
Brand allegiance aside, I can’t say enough good things about this creamy red pepper pasta situation.
It’s full of flavor, it is adored by me (for it’s flavor, texture, and nutrition, and ease of prep), by my husband Bjork (for having a super satisfying creamy sauce), by my toddler (for being fun to eat), and by my sister (for being totally vegan).
Speaking from experience, it has all the makings of a weekly staple recipe that is both feel-good for the body and crave-able for the tastebuds. ♡
Check Out Our Video For How To Make Creamy Red Pepper Pasta:
The inspiration for this recipe came after seeing this dreamy picture while perusing In Pursuit of More which is one of my favorite vegan recipe sites!
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Creamy Red Pepper Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 generous servings 1x
Description
This Creamy Red Pepper Pasta is seriously delicious and seriously vegan! Perfectly chewy rigatoni, blistered juicy tomatoes, a creamy-but-cream-less roasted red pepper sauce, all sprinkled with fresh chives and basil.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb. rigatoni (DeLallo brand)
- 2–3 cups cherry tomatoes
- a quick swish of olive oil (DeLallo brand)
- salt and pepper
Sauce
- 1 1/4 cup cashews
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 large roasted red pepper (DeLallo brand – not a whole jar, just one, or if you’re using sliced red peppers, about 1/2 cup)
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- chives and basil for topping
Instructions
- Pasta: Cook pasta according to package directions.
- Tomatoes: Preheat the broiler. On a baking sheet, toss cherry tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Broil for 10-15 minutes until very roasty.
- Sauce: Meanwhile, blend up your sauce ingredients in a blender until *very* smooth and creamy. Pour over hot cooked pasta (off heat) and stir to mix – it should cling well to the pasta.
- Serve: Serve with tomatoes over the top, as well as herbs and more salt and pepper.
Equipment
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Notes
The sauce thickens when you reheat it, so be prepared to just add more water if you’re eating leftovers.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: roasted red pepper pasta, vegan pasta, cashew pasta, tomato pasta, pasta with tomatoes
Thank you to DeLallo for sponsoring this recipe!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our creamy and delicious dairy-free recipes. Check it out!
Filed Under: All Recipes Dairy-Free Dinner Fall Main Dishes Pasta Recipes Stovetop Sugar-Free Tomato Vegan
September 21, 2020
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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This looks awesome! Should I buy roasted or raw cashews for this?
Either should work, but we typically use raw!
As someone who cooks with cashews a lot – for sour cream, cheese sauces, etc. – I think it’s got to be raw. It creates more of a creaminess without the cashew flavor. Then you can add the nutritional yeast to it or whatever else and it will combine with that taste to make a creamy cheese sauce, pasta sauce, sour cream, or whatever.
Do you use unsalted cashews?
It is always better to use unsalted nuts when cooking.
I’ve made so many of your recipes and love them so much!
How would you make the creamy sauce if you didn’t want it to be vegan? Replace the cashews for cream?
Is that the correct amount of cashews? Seems like a LOT. Any substitutions to make it creamy, less cashews?
It works!!! The amounts are spot on! Give it a try you won’t be disappointed. This is my families new favorite pasta dish. LOVE it. The nutritional yeast adds the creaminess.
I really want to make this but any way to make without nuts? I’m unfortunately allergic to all.
Great Fodd Website,
This recipe looks delicious! I love cooking with cashews.
http://alexagmarsh.blogspot.com/
I would love to make this but wonder if there is a way I can substitute the raw cashews? Would silken tofu yield the same results?
Great question! I’d think it would be similar, but we’ve never tried. Would love to hear how it is if you try it!
I have a jar of roasted red pepper and was looking for a different recipe to make. Thanks for sharing. I like how you added cashews in the sauce. Great recipe!
I made this pasta dish last weekend-i used raw cashews and followed the recipe exactly. It was AMAZING!! I had the leftovers 3 days later (didn’t need to add water) and it tasted just as good (if not even better!). The only thing that could possibly make it better is if it had fewer calories😩
Glad you enjoyed it, Ana!
Looks so good!! i wish iI could eat
Help?? Mine didn’t turn out at ALL! My sauce was watery and crumbly, it wouldn’t combine! Any tips?
Sorry to hear this, Jessica! It sounds like your sauce needed some extra time in the blender to ensure the cashews are completely broken down.
Same happened to mine 🙁
I put all of the ingredients in the blender and then just let it sit for at least 20 minutes, sometimes up to an hour and then blend…makes it come together quicker (especially if you have an older/weaker blender like I do!)
I have an older, less powerful blender. I often see recipes calling to soak the cashews ahead of blending (like dry beans before boiling), and automatically did that here. Cashews blended up perfectly!
Yum… this is great! Thanks so much for another solid recipe that is quick and delicious…
So happy you liked the recipe, Macy!
This was SO good, and truly so fast. I am not even a big red pepper fan and thought this was fantastic. My husband loved it as well.
So happy to hear that!
Literally one of the best sauces I have ever tried! Sooooooooo good!!
So happy to hear that, Stephanie!
This was really good! I accidentally added my tomatoes to the blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients. It turned out to be a delightful mistake!
Thanks for this tip! My kids hate “whole” tomatoes. I’m gonna blend with sauce and they’ll never know
Thoughts on making the sauce ahead of time? Would it work?
Yes, the sauce can be made ahead of time! Give it a good stir before using!
ça a l’air très délicieux, merci pour le partage.
Very delicious, thank you for share.
easypeasy and tastyyyyy, thanks
I will surely Try this recipe sounds so good Thanks For Sharing
me too I will definitely try this recipe which looks so good Thanks for sharing
OMG SOOO GOOD RECIPE WILL BE TRYING TODAY OR TOMORROW MORNING
This recipe looks delicious!
OMG! This dish is very mouth watering, can’t get enough of the video. I love the fact that you showed us how to create a hearty meal in such a short time and with ingredients that we may have readily available in our pantry. I am not vegan but I would definitely try this on the weekend. Just curious though, can I use regular peanuts instead of cashews? or can I also use almonds?
This looks so delicious and easy! I am totally going to make this for dinner one night this week. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
~ XOXO, Amanda // Blonde out of Water
http://www.blondeoutofwater.com
FAB recipe!!!
Glad to hear it, Aileen!
This is so amazing