This homemade Italian Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce for pasta is creamy, tangy, and absolutely delicious! Using only 10 simple ingredients, it is easy to make and whipped together quickly. A plant-based sauce that can be used for pasta and spread on a pizza or in a sandwich.
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💡 The recipe in a nutshell
- Vegan (egg free and dairy free)
- Whole-Foods Plant-Based
- Easy to make
- Pasta sauce made from scratch
- Refined sugar free, and oil-free preparation possible
What is roasted red pepper sauce made of?
To make it you need 10 simple ingredients: red bell peppers, Italian crushed tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil (optional), and seasonings such as garlic, Italian seasoning, onion powder, nutritional yeast, white wine vinegar, sea salt, and pepper.
How do you roast red bell peppers at home?
Roasting peppers at home is super easy to do. You can either roast them in the oven with some olive oil and sea salt or for a quicker and oil-free version, you can broil them. First de-seed red bell peppers and cut them into quarters.
OVEN ROASTING: Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place bell peppers on it. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Roast for 1 hour at 150°C / 300°F in your oven.
BROILING: Roast the peppers on the top rack of your oven, right under your broiler, for about 10-15 minutes. When the peppers are well-charred, remove them from the oven. Transfer peppers to an airtight container and cover. Let steam for 5-10 minutes.
Then proceed as explained in the recipe to prepare the sauce.
How do you thicken the sauce?
The sauce is pretty thick on its own already, but adding pasta water or other starch such as cornstarch helps thicken it.
🥣 Storage and freezing
If you want to store the sauce transfer sauce to an airtight container after blending (without pasta). Keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
You can also freeze the sauce. Store in a freezer-safe air-tight container after blending (without pasta), label with the date of freezing. It keeps fresh for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge overnight and re-heat the next day.
🇮🇹 More vegan Italian recipes
Looking for more Italian vegan recipes? Try this healthy plant-based lasagna recipe for dinner. Or make this delicious vegan tomato burrata salad for lunch.
More European recipes →
📖 Recipe
Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce (vegan)
Equipment
- high speed blender, or food processor
Ingredients
- 12 oz fettuccine pasta, sub with gluten-free if desired (350g)
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (check below for oil-free version)
- 1 can crushed Italian tomatoes (ca. 400g / 14 oz)
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- sea salt and pepper, to taste
- fresh basil for garnish
- optional garnish: cherry tomatoes, vegan parmesan
Instructions
- De-seed bell peppers and cut them into quarters. Peel garlic.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place bell peppers on it. Drizzle everything with olive oil. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Roast for 1 hour at 150°C / 300°F. Remove bell pepper from the oven.
- OIL-FREE ROASTING: Roast the peppers on the top rack of your oven, right under your broiler, for about 10-15 minutes. When the peppers are well-charred, remove them from the oven. Transfer peppers to an airtight container and cover. Let steam for 5-10 minutes. Then proceed as below explained.
- In a blender (or food processor), combine the crushed tomatoes, along with roasted bell peppers, garlic, nutritional yeast, and white wine vinegar. Blend until well combined, or desired consistency is reached. Shorter blending makes it chunkier, longer blending will make it more smooth.
- Cook fettuccine al dente. Before draining, reserve some of the pasta water. Transfer drained pasta back to the pot. Pour in the processed sauce and stir together over low heat until pasta is completely coated. Add a little pasta water to keep it nice and saucy, 1-2 tablespoon at a time.
- Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot and top with some fresh basil. Optional garnish with cherry tomatoes, and vegan parmesan.
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Such a flavorful sauce, I really like the addition of the nutritional yeast!
sounds so delicious! love roasted red pepper and would work so well with pasta!
Finally a good vegan sauce recipe!! It’s absolutely delicious too.
Absolutely delicious and so rich in flavor.
Soooo tasty! And so versatile too.
Best sauce ever! I'm gonna be making this many more times
perfect healthy sauce for my pasta!
The most perfect tomatoes sauce ever! I'm obsessed!