Meow Recipes: Creamy Red Pepper Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes

Creamy red pepper pasta on a plate with tomatoes.

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. 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.

Ingredients for creamy red pepper pasta.

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. ♡

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!

Creamy Red Pepper Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes

Author: Lindsay
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6 generous servings

Print Recipe

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

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

Video

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.