Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta

 A wonderfully delicious Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta recipe where your favourite pasta of choice is tossed with a rich and creamy red pepper sauce and wilted greens. This pasta is the perfect veggie-packed weeknight meal or can be made to impress at any social gathering.

More like my favourite pasta ever!

I mean, how can you resist oven-roasted red bell peppers blended with fresh basil and parsley and garlic and lots of parmesan until smooth and silky and then tossed with pasta (a gluten-free 4-grain blend to be exact) and lots of sautéed spinach and more cheese.

It’s just so good. And a completely gluten-free and vegetarian-friendly alternative to the traditional tomato-based pastas while still being rich and creamy and still packed with veggies.

This tomato-less sauce has been all the rage with the tomato haters in my kitchen (umm… yes, you there, J) mostly because I finally made a pasta dish that wasn’t drowning (but in a good way) with my Healthy Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce. J just doesn’t like those tomatoes.

But the pesto has also been all the rage because of roasted red peppers.

I looooove of roasted red peppers. I used to buy jars and jars of the stuff and put them into everything and anything. And it wasn’t until last week or so when I was at the market and saw the biggest bell pepper sale yet – they were pretty much giving red, yellow and orange bell peppers away by the bucket (naturally I bought pretty much all of them because who can turn down a bargain like that) when I got inspired to start roasting them myself.

Game changer.

I cannot get enough!

MORE ABOUT THIS ROASTED RED PEPPER PESTO PASTA RECIPE…

You could definitely use jarred roasted red pepper here but I recommend roasting them yourself.

Side note: We don’t have gas appliances (apparently, roasting peppers on an open flame on your stove makes this job super easy) but the oven works well for this too.  A lot of roasting pepper resources on the internet say to broil whole peppers but I haven’t had much luck with this method either. So instead, I cut my peppers, place them cut side down on a baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes at 425F, flipping them over at about the 20-minute mark.

And then there’s the thing about peeling the skins off of your roasted peppers… It can be a tedious job. Some of those skins will NOT want to come off. And especially so if they’ve cooled too much. But, in this case, it doesn’t make much of a difference if the peppers have the skins or not. Because the peppers are being, more or less, pureed into a sauce, you really don’t notice the skins anyway.

And speaking of pesto… THIS sauce! It’s kind of eat-it-with-a-spoon good. And I kind of wish I was able to put it on everything. There’s all the roasted peppers, lots of fresh basil and parsley and a little bit of garlic and red pepper flakes and parm. Everything goes into the food processor to be blended with a little olive oil, which makes this a super-rich and super savoury sauce.

To make this a VEGAN pasta dish, substitute the parmesan for a couple tablespoons of nutritional yeast.

…But cheese has kind of been my favourite thing ever lately so I may or may not have added extra the last time I made this (which was yesterday… which made it so much more delicious).

For serving, it could be easier – cook your favourite pasta according to package directions and wilt some greens. I always go with spinach because it’s what I always have on hand. You can add even more veggies to this pasta dinner by adding some sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions or crispy roasted broccoli too.  Then you just toss everything together, top with more cheese (or nutritional yeast) and dinner.is.served.

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta

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• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Description

A wonderfully delicious Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Pasta recipe where your favourite pasta of choice is tossed with a rich and creamy red pepper sauce and wilted greens. This pasta is the perfect veggie-packed weeknight meal or can be made to impress at any social gathering.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the Roasted Peppers:

• 3 medium-large bell peppers (red, yellow or orange work; you want to have about 1 1/2 cups of roasted peppers)
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil

For the Roasted Pepper Pesto:

• 1 1/2 cups roasted bells peppers (from above)
• 1 cup (packed) fresh basil
• 1/2 cup (packed) fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (or 2–3 tablespoons nutritional yeast, if vegan)
• 1 small clove of garlic, minced or grated
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
• A pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

For the Greens

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 4–5 cups (packed) greens (spinach, kale, chard, etc – I like spinach the best!)
• Fresh ground pepper, to taste

For the pasta:

• 3/4 lb (or most of a package) of your favourite pasta (my is gluten free, 4 grain blend linguine)
• 1/4–1/2 cup starchy cooking liquid
• For serving: parmesan cheese, torn basil

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Instructions

For the Roasted Peppers:*

1. Preheat the oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
2. Cut each peppers into 4 or 5 pieces to remove the seeds and stem.
3. Brush or rub the cut sides of the pepper pieces with a little oil to prevent sticking then place them cut sides down on the baking sheet.
4. Roast for about 20 minutes until the edges are dark and ‘charred’ and the skins are starting to wrinkle. Flip the peppers and continue cooking for about 10 minutes more.
5. Optional Step to Remove the Skins: Remove from oven and immediately transfer the roasted peppers to a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. This allows the peppers to steam and helps to remove the skins. After about 20-30 minutes, carefully peel the skins away.
6. Set peppers aside.

For the Pesto Sauce:

1. Add the roasted peppers, basil, parsley, cheese (or nutritional yeast) garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to a food processor. Blend until mostly smooth, pausing to scrap the sides of the bowl often. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and continue to blend until a smooth and even consistency is reached. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed. This yields about 1 1/2 cups of pesto sauce.*

For the pasta:

1. Boil a pot of water and cook the pasta noodles according the package directions.
2. Reserve 1/4-1/2 cup of the starchy cooking liquid before draining.

For the Greens

1. While the pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the spinach and cook, stirring frequently until wilted.
3. Turn the heat to low and the pesto sauce. Stir to incorporate and let pesto heat slowly.

Putting it all together:

1. When the pasta is ready, stir in 1/4-1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid into the greens and pesto sauce until desired consistency is reached (you don’t want the sauce too thin).
2. Add the cooked and drained pasta to the pan and toss until each noodle is coated in the sauce.
3. Serve immediately with the extra cheese and basil on top, if needed.

Notes

*Roasted the peppers and preparing the pesto sauce can be done ahead of time and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days.

• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes

Recipe Updated March, 2017.