This purple pepper pasta sauce is certainly one of my favourite selfmade recipes filled with candy and smoky grilled piquillo peppers, onion, garlic, and herbs. Serve this simple pasta sauce tossed with fettuccine, spinach, and feta cheese for a fast, satisfying vegetarian dinner!
Once in a while, I like to interrupt up a stint of meaty pasta sauces like my family-favorite selfmade Bolognese and gradual cooker spaghetti sauce with a recent and straightforward, vegetarian quantity. This purple pepper sauce with pasta by no means disappoints.
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 gentle 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 got nothing to say, however as a result of nobody needs to come back up for air!
What Makes This Purple Pepper Pasta Sauce So Nice
- Contemporary Mediterranean flavors. This purple pepper sauce is creamy and garlicky, and just a little smoky from candy however gentle jarred peppers. As soon as I wilted in some recent 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 all the time discovering a approach to work peppers and feta right into a recipe!
- Prepared in below 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 straightforward 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 simple 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 elements you’ll have to make this gentle, simple, and flavorful purple pepper sauce pasta. Make sure to scroll right down to the recipe card after the submit for the complete checklist and printable recipe particulars.
- Purple 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.
- Olive Oil – Additional 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 recent garlic, the higher! Be at liberty to adapt the quantity of garlic to style. In case you don’t have garlic cloves to mince, you’ll be able to substitute ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder per clove.
- Thyme – You need to use dried or recent thyme if in case you have it (you’ll have to triple the quantity in case you’re utilizing recent). Different herbs like basil, oregano, and rosemary additionally go properly with this sauce, or you should utilize 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 – Contemporary or frozen child spinach is an effective way so as to add greens. There’s no have to thaw frozen spinach first, you’ll be able to sauté it as-is.
- Feta Cheese – Rounding out the Mediterranean-inspired flavors is creamy, crumbly feta. You can too end this purple pepper pasta with goat cheese or freshly grated parmesan.
Use Roasted Purple Peppers
If I’m making a batch of Macedonian ajvar (purple pepper relish), I’ll roast a double batch of recent purple peppers and use the leftovers for this pasta sauce! Professional tip: The ready relish additionally makes an awesome base for this sauce.
How you can Make Purple 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 accordance with the bundle instructions and observe 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.
To Serve
Together with your purple pepper sauce blended, you’ll be able to retailer it for later (see the storing part additional on for particulars). Or, flip it into dinner with a few of my favourite simple elements:
- 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 all the pieces collectively to coat.
Ideas 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 an effective way to skinny out the sauce (if wanted) whereas making it smoother and extra flavorful.
- Modify the consistency. If, after mixing, the sauce is simply too chunky in your liking, you’ll be able to add just a little extra water, pasta water, or olive oil and mix once more to skinny it out. If you have to 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 can too combine in just a little béchamel sauce.
- Extra add-ins. As an alternative of seasoning with salt, cook dinner an anchovy alongside the onions to mix up into the sauce for a pleasant trace of umami. You can too sauté add-ins like olives, capers, and sun-dried tomatoes with the spinach to stir in on the finish.
How you can Retailer, Reheat, and Freeze
- Refrigerate. In case you’re not utilizing the purple pepper sauce immediately, 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 sizzling all through. You can too 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 accordance 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 further 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 utterly easy. 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 alter accordingly, then put aside.
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Cook dinner the spinach. Warmth the remaining further virgin olive oil in a skillet. Add spinach and cook 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 want. 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 data is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values might range in accordance with the elements and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
