Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is an easy weeknight meal made by blending roasted bell peppers into a creamy sauce with tortellini, spinach, and cheese.  

I love having tortellini in the freezer for those nights when I want something delicious, without too much work.  Some of my other favorite pasta recipes that use tortellini include Creamy Tomato and Spinach Tortellini and Pesto Tortellini Pasta.

A skillet with roasted red pepper pasta in it including tortellini, spinach and parmesan cheese.

Whether you’re looking for a great meatless meal idea or just craving healthier comfort food, this Roasted Red Pepper Pasta will not disappoint! It’s easy to make and the flavors are delicious!

How to Make Roasted Red Pepper Pasta:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.

2. Roast the bell peppers: Turn oven to HIGH broil. Place the red bell pepper halves, skin side up, on a foil lined baking sheet press them flat with your hand.  Broil on the top rack of your oven for 10 minutes, or until the skins are mostly black. Remove from oven and transfer charred peppers to a plastic bag, allowing the peppers to steam in the bag for at least 10 minutes. Remove the bell peppers from the bag and peel the outer blackened skins off the tops of the peppers–they should slide off easily.

3. Sauté onions and garlic. In the meantime, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

Roasted red bell peppers on a baking sheet next to a photo of a blender with roasted red pepper sauce. Blend: Transfer the mixture to your blender or food processor. Chop the peppers and add them with the onions in your blender. Process everything until smooth.

Finish sauce: Pour the mixture back into your skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken broth and season with salt, and pepper. Stir in the cream. Stir in spinach. Add the cooked tortellini noodles and toss to coat. Add most of the parmesan cheese (reserving a little for topping in each individual bowl). Sprinkle parsley on top.

Make Ahead Instructions:

To save time, roast the bell peppers and sauté the onions, garlic, and butter and then blend it all in a food processor (see step 3 of the recipe).  Store this mixture, covered, in the refrigerator until you are ready to finish the meal, then cook the tortellini and continue with step 4.

Variations:

  • Pasta: Use any type of pasta you like, including penne and shell noodles.
  • Veggies: add additional chopped veggies including zucchini, mushrooms or whatever you like. Sauté veggies in step 3 with the onions and garlic.
  • Chicken: stir in chopped and cooked chicken at the final step of the recipe.
  • Vegan: substitute vegan butter, vegetable broth, and soy milk or coconut cream for the heavy cream. leave out the parmesan or add 6 Tbs raw cashews, 4 teaspoons, nutritional yeast, ¼ tsp sea salt, and ⅛ tsp. garlic powder to a food processor, blend until smooth and stir in to pasta in place of parmesan cheese.

Consider trying these tortellini recipes:

You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOKTWITTERINSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!

Recipe

A skillet with roasted red pepper pasta in it including tortellini, spinach and parmesan cheese.
Prep 15 minutes
Cook 30 minutes
Total 45 minutes
Save Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients
  

  • 10 ounces tortellini (the refrigerated kind), cheese or chicken
  • 3 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 small onion , chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic , minced
  • 2 large red bell peppers stems and seeds removed, cut in half vertically from stem to butt
  • 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 2-3 Tablespoons fresh chopped parsley ,or 1 tablespoon dried

Instructions
 

  • Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
  • Turn oven to HIGH broil. Place the red bell pepper halves, skin side up, on a foil lined baking sheet. Press them flat with your hand.  Broil on the top rack of your oven for 10 minutes, or until the skins are mostly black. Remove from oven and transfer charred peppers to plastic bag. Close the opening and allow the peppers to steam in the bag for at least 10 minutes.
  • In the meantime, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to your blender or food processor. 
  • Remove the bell peppers from the bag and peel the outer blackened skins off the tops of the peppers--they should slide off easily. Add the peppers to the blender. Process everything until smooth.
  • Pour the mixture back into your skillet over medium heat. Add chicken broth and season with salt, and pepper. Stir in cream. Stir in spinach. Add the cooked tortellini noodles and toss to coat. Add most of the parmesan cheese (reserving a little for topping in each individual bowl). Sprinkle parsley on top.

Notes

Make Ahead Instructions: To save time, roast the bell peppers and sauté the onions, garlic, and butter and then blend it all in a food processor (see step 3 of the recipe).  Store this mixture, covered, in the refrigerator until you are ready to finish the meal, then cook the tortellini and continue with step 4.
Variations:
  • Pasta: Use any type of pasta you like, including penne and shell noodles. 
  • Veggies: add additional chopped veggies including zucchini, mushrooms or whatever you like. Sauté veggies in step 3 with the onions and garlic.
  • Chicken: stir in chopped and cooked chicken at the final step of the recipe.
  • Vegan: substitute vegan butter, vegetable broth, and soy milk or coconut cream for the heavy cream. leave out the parmesan or add 6 Tbs raw cashews, 4 teaspoons, nutritional yeast, ¼ tsp sea salt, and ⅛ tsp. garlic powder to a food processor, blend until smooth and stir in to pasta in place of parmesan cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 497kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 18gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 101mgSodium: 607mgPotassium: 296mgFiber: 4gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 3375IUVitamin C: 106.7mgCalcium: 275mgIron: 2.4mg

Did You Make This Recipe?

Tag @TastesBetterFromScratch on Instagram with #TastesBetterFromScratch!

HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?!

RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.

I originally shared this recipe July 2015. Updated September 2020.

Tortellini in a delicious, creamy, homemade roasted red pepper sauce. Recipe on tastesbetterfromscratch.com

This post contains affiliate links.

Related Posts

Share Recipe

Categories

About The Author

Lauren Allen

Welcome! I’m Lauren, a mom of four and lover of good food. Here you’ll find easy recipes and weeknight meal ideas made with real ingredients, with step-by-step photos and videos.

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. 4 stars
    Pretty darn good! I, unfortunately, have to agree with the other comments regarding the sauce being way too thin. Thankfully, I only used about 1/2 of the recommended chicken stock & let it sit on the stove with the lid on for about 3-5 mins to thicken, & it turned out fine. I cannot imagine how liquidy it would’ve been if I had used the full amount. I also felt that it was a bit bland, so I added some red hatch chili powder for flavour.

  2. 5 stars
    I was looking for ways to use up a jar of roasted red peppers & a carton of vegan cream, and came across this recipe. I omitted the parmesan & instead added a smidge of white miso paste for umami, and it was delicious! So easy to throw together, and tasted great with ravioli. I think the sauce would go well with any pasta/grain!

  3. This is very versatile! The sauce is amazingly easy. I added red pepper flakes for a little heat and the serve over Linguini Noodles topped with Sautéed Scallops. Don’t get me wrong, I also love it with the Tortellini too! Like I said versatile. Many ways to use the sauce!

  4. 5 stars
    This sauce is great! We used a package of Costco spinach and cheese ravioli so omitted the spinach in the sauce itself. It did make a bit too much sauce but I think it’s good on plain pasta too.

See More Comments