This purple pepper pasta sauce is certainly one of my favourite home made recipes full of candy and smoky grilled piquillo peppers, onion, garlic, and herbs. Serve this straightforward pasta sauce tossed with fettuccine, spinach, and feta cheese for a fast, satisfying vegetarian dinner!
From time to time, I like to interrupt up a stint of meaty pasta sauces like my family-favorite home made Bolognese and sluggish cooker spaghetti sauce with a contemporary and simple, vegetarian quantity. This purple pepper sauce with pasta by no means disappoints.
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This recipe blends the flavors of Macedonia (actually) into one deliciously gentle and creamy purple pepper pasta sauce. It’s so easy. I take a jar of my favourite delicate piquillo peppers and blitz them with seasoned sautéed onions, garlic, and olive oil. The result’s a silky, flavor-packed sauce that I instantly toss with sautéed spinach, then feta, and eventually, fettuccine pasta. HOLY MOLY. Let’s simply say, it’s a really silent dinner. Not as a result of we’ve nothing to say, however as a result of nobody needs to return up for air!
What Makes This Pink Pepper Pasta Sauce So NiceÂ
- Recent Mediterranean flavors. This purple pepper sauce is creamy and garlicky, and just a little smoky from candy however delicate jarred peppers. As soon as I wilted in some contemporary child spinach and sprinkled over salty feta, it instantly jogged my memory of Macedonia. From shakshuka to sausage and peppers and chopped salad, Macedonians are at all times discovering a approach to work peppers and feta right into a recipe!
- Prepared in underneath half-hour. My purple pepper pasta sauce has a super-quick 15-minute cooking time. With just a little little bit of prep in and round that, the entire recipe takes about half-hour. It’s a simple meatless meal, good for weeknights.
- Versatile. This wealthy purple pepper pasta sauce tastes scrumptious on any pasta. I add spinach and feta to maintain issues vegetarian (it’s certainly one of my favourite straightforward Meatless Monday meals). On different days, I’ll whip up a batch of air fryer meatballs to toss within the sauce when serving. It’s tremendous versatile!
Sauce Components
These are the components you’ll have to make this gentle, straightforward, and flavorful purple pepper sauce pasta. You should definitely scroll all the way down to the recipe card after the put up for the total listing and printable recipe particulars.
- Pink Peppers – I really like making this sauce with grilled piquillo peppers, that are marinated purple peppers with a candy, smoky taste. I merely drain off the oil and mix them up.Â
- Olive Oil – Further virgin olive oil or one other high quality cooking oil.
- Yellow Onion – Or shallot, thinly sliced.
- Garlic – In pasta recipes, in my eyes, the extra contemporary garlic, the higher! Be at liberty to adapt the quantity of garlic to style. For those who don’t have garlic cloves to mince, you possibly can substitute ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder per clove.
- Thyme – You need to use dried or contemporary thyme when you have it (you’ll have to triple the quantity when you’re utilizing contemporary). Different herbs like basil, oregano, and rosemary additionally go properly with this sauce, or you need to use a mixture of herbs, like Italian seasoning.
For Serving
- Pasta – You need to use any pasta you want. I really like serving this purple pepper pasta sauce over fettuccine. Different good choices are linguine, spaghetti, penne, rigatoni, fusilli, or bowtie pasta.
- Child Spinach – Recent or frozen child spinach is a good way so as to add greens. There’s no have to thaw frozen spinach first, you possibly can sauté it as-is.
- Feta Cheese – Rounding out the Mediterranean-inspired flavors is creamy, crumbly feta. You too can end this purple pepper pasta with goat cheese or freshly grated parmesan.
Use Roasted Pink Peppers
If I’m making a batch of Macedonian ajvar (purple pepper relish), I’ll roast a double batch of contemporary purple peppers and use the leftovers for this pasta sauce! Professional tip: The ready relish additionally makes an excellent base for this sauce.Â
How one can Make Pink Pepper Pasta Sauce
Like my spinach fettuccine and sun-dried tomato pasta, this purple pepper sauce is a speedy vegetarian recipe with little or no hands-on time. For now, set the drained piquillo peppers apart within the blender. In the meantime, get your selection of pasta boiling in keeping with the bundle instructions and comply with these steps to make your sauce:
- Sauté the onions. In a skillet, season the onions and garlic with thyme, salt, and pepper, and sauté in olive oil till softened.
- Mix the sauce. Add the onions and garlic to the blender with the peppers. Pour in just a little water, and mix till you attain your required consistency.Â
To Serve
Together with your purple pepper sauce blended, you possibly can retailer it for later (see the storing part additional on for particulars). Or, flip it into dinner with a few of my favourite straightforward components:
- Put all of it collectively. Wilt the spinach in your skillet from earlier, then add the cooked pasta and crumble within the feta cheese. Lastly, spoon the purple pepper sauce into the skillet (add as a lot as you’d like) and toss every little thing collectively to coat.
Suggestions and Variations
- Salt and save the pasta water. This can be a useful trick when cooking pasta and sauces. Season the pasta water with a few heaping spoonfuls of salt earlier than you add the pasta. Afterward, reserve a cup of starchy pasta water, simply in case. It’s a good way to skinny out the sauce (if wanted) whereas making it smoother and extra flavorful.
- Alter the consistency. If, after mixing, the sauce is just too chunky on your liking, you possibly can add just a little extra water, pasta water, or olive oil and mix once more to skinny it out. If it’s essential thicken up purple pepper sauce that’s too skinny, your finest wager is to simmer it in a pan over low warmth in order that it reduces.
- Make it creamy. For a creamy purple pepper pasta sauce, mix in heavy cream or cream cheese to style. You too can combine in just a little béchamel sauce.
- Extra add-ins. As a substitute of seasoning with salt, prepare dinner an anchovy alongside the onions to mix up into the sauce for a pleasant trace of umami. You too can sauté add-ins like olives, capers, and sun-dried tomatoes with the spinach to stir in on the finish.
How one can Retailer, Reheat, and Freeze
- Refrigerate. For those who’re not utilizing the purple pepper sauce instantly, switch it from the blender to an hermetic container. Retailer leftovers within the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Reheat. Heat the sauce (with or with out pasta) in a saucepan on the stovetop till it’s scorching all through. You too can use the microwave.
- Freeze. Freeze leftover purple pepper sauce by itself, with out the pasta, for as much as 3 months. Thaw the sauce within the fridge earlier than reheating.
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Boil the pasta. Cook dinner pasta in keeping with the instructions on the bundle.
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Sauté. Place drained piquillo peppers in a blender and put aside. In the meantime, warmth 2 tablespoons additional virgin olive oil in a nonstick skillet. Add sliced onions, smashed garlic, thyme, salt, and floor pepper. Cook dinner for 4 minutes, stirring steadily, till tender.
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Mix. Take away from the warmth and switch the onion combination to the blender with the peppers. Add water and mix till fully clean. If too thick, add a tablespoon or two of additional virgin olive oil or water and proceed to mix till the specified consistency is reached. Style for seasonings and modify accordingly, then put aside.
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Cook dinner the spinach. Warmth the remaining additional virgin olive oil in a skillet. Add spinach and prepare dinner for two minutes, or till wilted.
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Put all of it collectively. Drain the cooked pasta and add it to the skillet with the spinach. Stir in feta cheese, and add as a lot pepper sauce as you would like. Toss round to mix, then take away from warmth and serve.
Serving: 1cup | Energy: 391kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 13g | Fats: 15g | Saturated Fats: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 2g | Monounsaturated Fats: 7g | Trans Fats: 0.03g | Ldl cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 513mg | Potassium: 352mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 3503IU | Vitamin C: 52mg | Calcium: 184mg | Iron: 4mg
Dietary information is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values might range in keeping with the components and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed information.
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