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I love the flavors in this Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, with cheesy tortellini in every bite. It's easy and delicious.
Our Roasted Red Pepper Tortellini is quick enough for any night of the week.
Our Roasted Red Pepper Tortellini is quick enough for any night of the week.It tastes like something you’d get at a fancy restaurant, but it comes together in no time, with ingredients I almost always have on hand. I've made the sauce healthier over the years, with the same amazing taste. And let’s be honest, when my whole family clean their plates, the meal idea goes straight to the top of our dinner rotation.
If you love tortellini, don't miss my Creamy Tortellini Soup, Pesto Tortellini, Tortellini Pasta Salad, or Vegetable Tortellini Soup!
How to make Roasted Red Pepper Pasta:
Make Sauce: Place red bell pepper halves skin-side-up on a foil lined baking sheet and press them flat with your hand. Roast under the broiler on HIGH for 10 minutes, until skins are blackened. Remove, place in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap to steam for 10 minutes, then peel and discard skins. Sauté onions and garlic in butter, then blend with peeled peppers until smooth. Return sauce to skillet, stir in chicken broth, cream, spinach, salt, and pepper. Simmer until warmed through.
Assemble: Cook tortellini according to package directions; drain. Add to sauce and toss to coat. Stir in most of the parmesan cheese (reserving the rest for topping individual bowls) and sprinkle parsley on top. Serve with breadsticks or a wedge salad.
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
- 20 ounces tortellini, , (the refrigerated kind), cheese or chicken
- 6 Tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion, , chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, , minced
- 4 large red bell peppers, , cut in half vertically from stem to butt, stems and seeds removed
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, , to taste
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 cups fresh spinach leaves, (or one 5oz bag)
- 1 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.20 ounces tortellini
- Roast 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 plastic bag. Close the opening and allow the peppers to steam in the bag for at least 10 minutes.4 large red bell peppers
- Blend sauce: 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.6 Tablespoons butter, 1 large onion, 6 cloves garlic
- 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.
- Finish: 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. Stir in parmesan cheese. Sprinkle parsley on top and garnish with extra parmesan, if desired.1 cup low-sodium chicken broth, ½ cup heavy whipping cream, 4 cups fresh spinach leaves, 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, 2-3 Tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Notes
- 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe July 2015. Updated September 2020 and August 2025 with updated thicker sauce, and less cream.
This is really good. I love red peppers!
Where does the heavy whipping cream come in I don’t see it anywhere in the recipe
In step 5 when it says stir in cream.
I have leftover jarred roasted red pepper strips I need to use. Can I substitute those and if so how much do I use?
This is one of our new favorite recipes.
It was delicious!
I added nutmeg for some sweetness
How can I make this vegetarian?
Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
I tried it w Faffalle. Good choice but frankly I had left over sauce I added some cauliflower and a few fresh mozzarella roiled into balls and with a rustic bread toast served the gravy as soup!
Very Good. My husband wants to try it with fettuccine noodles and shrimp.
I LOVE that idea! Happy you liked it 🙂 Thanks so much for coming back to comment!
That’s how I made it tonight. Delicious!
The red pepper sauce is amazing!
Just made this for Christmas Eve dinner–YUM! I doubled the amount of pasta and spinach though. The amount of sauce was a bit overwhelming but still was delicious with twice the tortellini. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
This looks delicious! I want to try the roasted red pepper sauce with zucchini noodles. Is it possible to make the sauce ahead of time and store in the fridge?