Red Pesto Pasta
This red pesto pasta has bold flavors, yet it’s light enough for everyone to enjoy. With a sauce that can be made while your pasta cooks, this meatless dish is perfect for a quick meal!
What we love about this red pesto pasta
- The flavor combination of roasted red peppers with basil is outstanding.
- The roasted red pepper pesto sauce can be made while the pasta cooks.
- This recipe makes enough to toss two pounds of pasta. You can freeze the remainder, or you can keep it for up to two weeks in the fridge.
Here’s what you’ll need to make it
Kitchen tools
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Ingredients you might need to pick up
- Roasted red peppers – Don’t buy pickled peppers. I can’t tell you how many times I have made this mistake because I didn’t read the package.
- Almonds – You don’t need to buy slivered almonds but it makes the blending process easier for your food processor and quicker for you. Plus you will likely end up with a better consistency to your sauce.
- Fresh basil – You definitely need to use fresh basil leaves for a great pesto recipe. Plus, this is a great recipe for using basil you have in your garden.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
How to make this red pepper pesto pasta recipe
Make the pesto. Add pesto ingredients to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Divide sauce into two containers. Remember: You only need one for the recipe, freeze the other and make it in a month or so, you will thank us on a busy day!
Cook the pasta. Cook pasta to al denté, according to package instructions. Reserve about 1/4 cup reserved pasta water before draining.
Combine pasta with sauce. Stir pasta with sauce, adding about 2 tablespoons of pasta water at a time until pasta is well coated and sauce is creamy.
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Red Pesto Pasta
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
This red pesto pasta has bold flavors, yet it’s light enough for everyone to enjoy. With a sauce that can be made while your pasta cooks, this meatless dish is perfect for a quick meal!
Ingredients
- 16 ounces linguine
- ½ cup pasta water, reserved
For the sauce:
- 1 cup roasted red bell peppers
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1 large garlic clove, peeled
- 2/3 cup slivered almonds
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
- Cook pasta, according to package directions to al denté.
- Reserve about 1/4 – ½ cup pasta water, then drain pasta.
- Return pasta to pot and toss with sauce, adding about 2 tablespoons of pasta water at a time if needed.
- Stir pasta with sauce until pasta is well coated and sauce is creamy.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Linguine
- Method: Stovetop
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 151
- Sugar: 1.1 g
- Sodium: 75.4 mg
- Fat: 4.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 23.6 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 4.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
