Romesco roasted red pepper sauce is a flavorful, creamy vegan blender sauce made with no added oil. It’s ready to ramp up your favorite foods from veggies, pasta, burgers – even toast!
Table of Contents
⭐ Recipe Highlights
- Creamy Spanish Romesco sauce gets its full flavor from combining roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and garlic with a splash of red wine vinegar and smoked paprika.
- Ground hazelnuts and almonds provide the thickener; well, there you have it. Is it a sauce, dip, or spread? Yes – check all three boxes. Romesco sauce at your service!
- This blender sauce is made even better because the peppers, tomatoes, and garlic are roasted first. This might take a few more minutes than digging out jarred roasted peppers swimming in oil, but it will be well worth the flavor. Besides, you’ll get the bonus of saving all that extra fat and calories.
📋 Ingredients and Notes
Below are the basics of the ingredients you'll need plus notes on prepping them and substitutions, just in case.
Red bell peppers. Start with 6 fresh red bell peppers. Cut them into quarters and clean out the seeds and core.
Tomatoes. This recipe is based on fresh tomatoes (because we’re going to roast them). Aim for 2 large or use 4 more petite plum tomatoes. Leave the tomatoes whole for roasting but cut the stem and core (if they are larger).
Garlic. Peel 3 plump cloves of garlic and get ready for the marvel that is roasted garlic. Beware. You might well get addicted to the soft, mellow flavor.
Almonds. Use raw almonds and avoid any that are called roasted, salted, or smoked. Do you have leftover blanched almonds or flaked almonds? Great! Use those instead.
Hazelnuts. This is a double-nuts recipe (small amounts respectively). Again, use raw hazelnuts.
Smoked paprika. If you like sauces on the spicy side, use hot smoked paprika or, for a milder flavor, sweet smoked paprika.
Red wine vinegar. The sweet yet tangy flavor of red wine vinegar makes it ideal for pepper sauce. If you need a substitute, sherry vinegar is best.
Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the complete list of ingredients, measurements, and instructions.
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions and Pro Tips
Here are the step-by-step instructions with pro tips included, so you'll be successful on your first try. There are more details included in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Roast the peppers and tomatoes
Place the peppers with the skin upwards. Roast them along with the tomatoes and garlic. When the skin on the peppers is loose and dark brown in places, they are done.
When roasting peppers and tomatoes, it’s always best to line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Roasted peppers and tomatoes are always messy, making your baking tray difficult to impossible to clean. Who’s got time for scrubbing anyhow?
Denise's Tip for easy peeling: After roasting the peppers and tomatoes, place them in a bowl or dish and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave the veggies to cool for about 10 minutes. The skins should slide right off.
Step 2: Grind the almonds and hazelnuts
Use a spice grinder to pulverize the nuts or, if you have a high-speed blender, grind the nuts before adding the rest of the sauce ingredients.
Tip - Grind, don't soak: The skins of almonds and hazelnuts are thick, so it’s easier to grind the nuts rather than soak them as you might for cashews.
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Step 3: Blend
Add all the ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Blending tip: Gradually increase the speed of the blender as the ingredients start to combine. Scrape the sides a few times.
🍴 Serving Suggestions
This versatile sauce deserves a double batch. It’s delicious, with pasta topped with baked vegan parmesan cheese sprinkled over it.
You can also use it as a pizza sauce over a homemade sweet potato pizza base. Top it with tofu sausage crumbles or vegan tofu bacon. It’s also great spread over toast and grilled with a bit of seasoned vegan mozzarella. Primo!
If you want something to rev up roasted or steamed veggies, this sauce fits the bill and includes a generous tip. It can even be used as a gravy for mashed potatoes or homemade plant-based lentil loaf.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
Place unused red pepper sauce in an airtight container or jar and keep it in the refrigerator. It stays fresh for 5 days. You can also freeze this sauce for up to 3 months.
2 cups of cherry tomatoes can be substituted for larger tomatoes in red pepper sauce. Because they are small, start roasting the red peppers first. After they have baked for 10 minutes and start to soften, create space on the baking tray and add the tomatoes. Continue roasting until the tomatoes are getting soft and the peppers have roasted.
You can use only almonds or only hazelnuts for this recipe. You can also substitute one or another with cashews. If you want a nut-free sauce, consider sunflower seeds. If you eliminate the nuts or seeds, the sauce will still be delicious, just not as thick and creamy.
If you want to add a cheesier flavor to this vegan Romesco sauce, consider adding 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast. Another option is to add a teaspoon of yellow mustard powder or a few teaspoons of prepared yellow mustard. You may want to experiment with the amounts depending on your taste. You might also want to include a little lemon juice to make it zestier.
📖 More Healthy Sauces
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👩🏻🍳 Recipe
Romesco Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
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Ingredients
- 6 medium red bell peppers - cleaned and quartered
- 2 medium tomatoes - or 4 small, washed with the stem at the top cut out
- 3 cloves garlic - peeled
- ¼ cup almonds - raw or lightly roasted with no added salt
- ¼ cup hazelnuts - raw or lightly roasted with no added salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 ½ tablespoon red wine vinegar - sherry vinegar will work here too
- ½ teaspoon salt - optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).
- Prepare the red peppers, by cleaning them and cutting them into quarters. Peel the garlic and leave whole. Wash the tomatoes and cut the brown core out.
- Place the peppers, tomatoes and garlic on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or foil. Start the peppers skin side up. Roast and turn the peppers as needed until the peppers have charred and the skins are blistered. Turn the peppers as needed and consider rotating the tray for even roasting. This should take about 20 minutes.
- Remove the peppers and allow them to cool. You can cover the peppers tightly in plastic wrap and let them sit for 10 minutes. This loosens the skins and makes them easier to peel.
- While the peppers cool, grind the almonds and hazelnuts in a spice grinder or blender. This ensures that all the nuts will be ground before you finish the sauce.
- When the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skins and any leftover seeds. Peel the tomatoes as well.
- Add the peppers, tomatoes, garlic, ground nuts, smoked paprika, and red wine vinegar.
- Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust the paprika and add salt to taste.
- Serve sauce warm, hot or cold.
Notes
- Nutritional information is based on making 5 cups of sauce and serving a size of ½ a cup. Your usage may vary.
- Smoked paprika provides a spicy kick, but if you want something more mellow, consider using sweet paprika. If you want it even spicier, try 1 tsp. red chili flakes.
- Other spice options for this sauce include fresh or dried basil or oregano. If you add fresh, just blend them toward the end or use them as a garnish for the finished dish.
- Romesco sauce will keep in the refrigerator for several days. It can also be frozen for months (be sure to heat frozen sauce so it can thicken back up).
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimation only.
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