Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

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Before going vegan, I would have made a dish like this with A LOT of dairy. I would only make it “once in a blue moon” because it was heavy, left me feeling sluggish, and I feared I would gain weight if I ate it too much. Thank GOD those days are over!

Fast forward four years to his beautiful veganized recipe. Instead of heavy cream, I have cashews as a base to swap in a much healthier source of fat. Instead of a refined pasta, I used a chickpea based pasta for loads more protein, fiber, vitamins & minerals. And of course, a meal like this won’t leave you with that heavy feeling in your stomach, and yet you don’t have to sacrifice taste-this Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is still oh so creamy and delicious.

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Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Yield: 4

Cook time: 30 MinTotal time: 30 Min

Easy, healthy and delicious plant-based dinner, ready in 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 12-16 oz. Jar Fire Roasted Red Peppers
• 1/2 Cup Cashews, Soaked Overnight*
• 1 Small Onion
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1/4 Cup Nutritional Yeast
• 1 Tbsp. Dried Parsley
• 1/2 Tbsp. Thyme
• 1 Tbsp. Oregano
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Handful Fresh Basil
• 4 Cups Chickpea/Lentil Pasta
• 1/2 Cup Pasta Water
• 4 Cups Spinach

Instructions

1. Rinse and drain jar of roasted red peppers. Chop up onion and garlic. Soak cashews in water overnight to soften or add to a pot of water and boil for 10 minutes. Set aside.
2. Saute onion and garlic with a little vegetable broth over medium heat. While this is cooking, start preparing pasta according to package directions. Don't forget to save 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining!!
3. When onion is translucent, add onion, garlic, nutritional yeast, cashews, roasted red peppers, parsley, thyme, oregano, handful of fresh basil, salt and pepper to the blender. Blend until smooth. If you don't have a high speed blender, you may need to add some vegetable broth to thin.
4. Taste and add more salt and other seasonings as desired.
5. Add red pepper sauce to the pan you cooked the onion and garlic in over medium heat. Add in your spinach, cooked pasta and 1/4 cup pasta water. Stir for a few minutes. Add a little more pasta water and stir. The sauce should start to thicken up a bit.
6. Top with fresh basil and nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan. Optional red pepper flakes.

Notes:

• *Soaking cashews overnight softens them to create a very creamy, smooth sauce. If you are short on time, add cashews to a pot on the stove, covered with water. Bring to a boil and boil for ~10 minutes to soften.
• For a spicier sauce, add some red pepper flakes to the mixture when blending. Or top at the end. 
• Use any pasta of choice, but chickpea/lentil/quinoa pastas are higher in protein & fiber.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

350

Fat (grams)

8

Carbs (grams)

50

Fiber (grams)

14

Protein (grams)

23

Nutrition info for 1 serving when recipe is divided into 4 separate servings. Collected from NutriAdmin.com, based on their database. Slight variations in nutrition information depending on ingredients used.