This red pepper pasta is tossed in a flavorful sauce of onions, garlic, roasted red peppers, broth, basil and cream. It's topped with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves.
It's all ready in under 30 minutes from start to serving, but the sauce can also be made ahead.
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Pasta dinners are perfect for busy weeknights. They take little fuss, and make everyone at the table happy. This red pepper pasta dish, Mexican Green Spaghetti (Espagueti Verde), and Pasta alla Vodka are my go-to recipes for nights like that. And for a vegan creamy pasta, I recommend this Baked Boursin Pasta that uses vegan Boursin cheese.
👩🍳 Why This Recipe Works
- Jarred roasted peppers puree very well, for a great sauce texture, like in this roasted red pepper aioli.
- Red peppers on their own don't have a great deal of umami flavor and need some help from friends. The onion, garlic and red pepper flakes makes a big difference in flavor, but adding a little vinegar makes it a star.
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
For the all of the ingredients, measurements and directions, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
- Penne pasta - or other pasta with ribs or nooks and crannies that the sauce can sink into.
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Roasted red bell peppers - I use jarred roasted bell peppers, but feel free to roast your own. But be sure to seed and peel them before popping them into the blender.
- Broth - I use Better Than Bouillon - Roasted Vegetable Paste
- Basil leaves - use fresh herbs instead of dried basil in this recipe.
- Red pepper flakes
- Heavy cream
- Parmesan cheese
- Balsamic vinegar
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products and foods I use in my kitchen. This means that at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view my entire storefront of recommended kitchen tools and equipment, check out my shop on Amazon.
🔪 Recommended Equipment
- Dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot for cooking the pasta
- Strainer for the cooked pasta
- Large skillet
- Chef's knife
- Countertop blender or food processor for making the sauce
- Cheese grater
📝 Instructions Overview
Detailed instructions for making this roasted red pepper pasta are in the recipe card below, but here's an overview!
Step 1
Pasta. Cook the pasta according the package directions. Scoop out some pasta water, set it aside, and then drain.
Step 2
Sauté. Sauté the onions until softened, add the garlic, and cook for another minute.
Step 3
Purée. Drain the roasted red peppers and add them to a high speed blender. Add the broth (or bouillon), onions, garlic, and basil leaves. Purée.
Step 4
Finish the sauce. Pour the purée in the skillet used to cook the onion and garlic and rewarm. Add the red pepper flakes, cream, Parmesan cheese, salt (if needed), and balsamic vinegar. Stir in the pasta and some of the reserved pasta water.
Step 5
Serve. Serve topped with additional Parmesan and fresh basil leaves.
👩🍳 Preparation Tips
- Do not add the cream until the sauce is puréed and back in the pan.
- Once the cream is added to the sauce, warm it up only until the sauce begins to simmer around the edges of the pan. Stir the sauce and continue to warm up. Do not bring the sauce to a full simmer after the cream is added. Doing this often causes the cream to curdle or separate.
💡Ideas for Possible Variations
- Adding umami keeps the sauce from being a little bland. Instead of balsamic vinegar, you can use a little sherry. Or, if you have an extra 10 minutes, make this Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, and add a scoop to the puréed sauce. Adding a couple Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes works great too.
- Roast your own peppers, but be sure to peel and seed them before adding to the blender.
- Substitute oregano for the basil.
- Other pasta forms are fine, but aim for ones with texture to them that catches the sauce.
- Add more umami to this dish by adding some air fryer mushrooms to the pasta.
📇 More Vegetable Pasta Dishes For You
If you grew up with chicken tetrazzini as a kid and loved it, I recommend checking out this vegetarian tetrazzini with cauliflower, kicked up with poblano peppers. I love it so much, I included a version of it in my cookbook!
And if you want another easy pasta dinner, make this espagueti verde, which is pasta toss in a creamy poblano sauce. Save some of the sauce for other uses too, for example in a potato gratin.
Or go with this uber-easy classic pasta dish, Spaghetti alla Vodka.
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Roasted Red Pepper Penne
Equipment
- box grater
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried penne pasta
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 32 ounces jarred Roasted Red Peppers drained
- ½ cup vegetable broth or Better Than Bouillon
- 16 basil leaves plus more to finish
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese plus more to finish
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt (not needed if you use Better Than Bouillon)
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar or to taste
Instructions
- Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Scoop out ¼ cup pasta water, set it aside and drain.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
- If using Better Than Bouillon for the broth, heat up ½ cup water in the microwave or on the stovetop, and stir ½ teaspoon of Bouillon paste.
- Drain the roasted red peppers, and transfer the peppers to a high speed blender. Add the broth, sautéed onions and garlic, and the basil leaves. Blend until pureed. With my Ninja blender, this takes 1 minute.
- Pour the sauce back into the skillet used for sautéing the onion and garlic and stir in the dried red pepper flakes, cream and Parmesan cheese. Add the salt if you used broth instead of Better Than Bouillon. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, taste and add a little more if desired.
- Stir the cooked pasta into the sauce, along with 2 tablespoons of reserved pasta water. Add more if desired.
- Serve topped with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves.
Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
This my kind of pasta recipe. Nice and easy with ingredients I always have on hand~ Great Reveal Day Pick. Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
Karen @ Karen's Kitchen Stories
Awesome photo Susan! This looks amazing!
Nora @ Natural Noshing
Love this! I could easily make this dairy free by omitting the cheese and swap out gluten free pasta for my needs, yum! Happy Reveal day!
Couscous & Consciousness
Oh my goodness, that looks seriously delicious, and just perfect for a quick and easy mid-week dinner. Heading into cooler autumn evenings here now, this definitely looks like a must-try for me one night soon.
Karen S Booth
LOVE the look of that - so tasty and colourful!GREAT pick for SRC this month. Karen
Rebekah @ Making Miracles
Oh my that does look DELICIOUS!! What a perfect pasta dish to share - happy reveal day!
Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm
Always on the lookout for a new pasta sauce and I love the addition of the greens to your dish.
Traci
I love pasta and am loving this combination. Going to have to try it. Great SRC pick!
SallyBR
Lovely write-up, and wonderful choice for your assignment, a mouth-watering photo!
Have a great Reveal Day!
Tara
Yum! Looks delicious. Great pick this month
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel
Ooooh... this sounds SOOO yummy! I love roasted red peppers! Such great, sweet flavor! Great pick!
Melissa
I'm so glad you like this quick meal! I love your addition of the greens. Thanks so much for the lovely write up you gave me! Happy reveal day 🙂
Jeanette Chen
I love easy and delicious this sounds, perfect for any day of the week.
s
Quick, easy and colorful. I love it. GREG
Sam @ PancakeWarriors
This sounds simply amazing!! I love the idea of remaking someone else's recipes!! This was certainly a great one to pick - I adore roasted red peppers
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie
I love roasted red pepper sauces, great pick!
Nicole
great use of gai lan in an non-chinese dish!
Ala
Haha! I love your intro story--threatening the grandkids with kale smoothie is probably the best thing I've ever heard. 🙂 especially considering I have one about once a week! Also, totally digging this recipe and the idea of fried ice. This pasta is right up my alley!
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious
Laughing at the kale smoothie potential torture of your grands!
Nice touch with the greens. I almost always put greens in my pasta dishes, and it's clever to add something interesting like gai lan!
Oui, Chef
My kind of quick, healthy, beautiful meal.
Renee
This looks delicious! I look forward to trying it.
Christina @ Christina's Cucina
OMG, this recipe hit the jackpot with my tastebuds because I absolutely love both roasted red peppers AND rapini! Oh, and lets just say that I bought 45lbs of De Cecco pasta on Saturday and it's not for an event! LOVE this! Making soon!! 🙂