Easy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
This simple and quick sauce is not only beautiful, but absolutely delicious! It’s slightly tangy and super scrumptious on fish, chicken, or pasta.
This delicious roasted red pepper sauce is a great make ahead recipe and perfect for entertaining. The best part is it gets better over time. It can be made the night before and is a wonderful sauce for any white fish or chicken. Add a touch of cream to make it a great sauce for homemade pasta or gnocchi! Read more about this blog at the bottom of this page.
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EASY ROASTED RED PEPPER SAUCE
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a 2.5 quart non-stick saucepan, heat olive oil on medium heat until glistening. Add shallots and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened and translucent.
- Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add rosemary and thyme leaves, and stir. Once it bubbles, carefully add wine, bring to a brisk simmer, and reduce by half.
- Turn up to medium high heat, add roasted red peppers, salt, pepper, and parsley. Stir and bring to a fast simmer. Lower heat and simmer partially covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add lemon juice and stir. Taste to check flavors and seasoning. If needed, add more salt and pepper. If too acidic, add honey to taste and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Add basil leaves, stir and immediately remove from heat. You can use an immersion blender or a high speed blender for this step. Using an immersion blender, puree sauce directly in the pan until it becomes a thick puree. Do NOT over blend. Taste and adjust seasoning. Heat on low for an additional 5 minutes until ready to serve. For an alternate blending method, allow to cool down in the saucepan for about 10-15 minutes. Transfer warm sauce into a high speed blender and pulse to a slightly chunky puree. Taste and adjust seasoning. Return pan to stove and simmer on low for an additional 5 minutes until ready to serve (or cook a little longer on low until flavors have mellowed).
Notes
- If you don’t have a high speed blender, cool sauce and use an immersion blender directly in the saucepan. This sauce should be thick, but not perfectly smooth.
- For Make Ahead Recipe: Transfer to a heat proof airtight glass storage container and allow to cool uncovered on the counter. Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate overnight. We highly recommend doing the make ahead version. It can be made up to two days ahead and tastes even better as the flavors macerate and mellow over time.
- Best served with a moist white fish (such as Grilled Chilean Sea Bass), chicken, or even pasta. Tastes great with gnocchi, cheese raviolis, or over penne pasta. If using over pasta, double the recipe and add a little cream (¼ to ½ cup) during the last 1-2 minutes of the reheating process and stir to incorporate.
- This recipe can be made with fresh red peppers, which are roasted in your oven, peeled and then deseeded. Although it takes a little more time, try out our fresh version of this recipe on our website; Fresh Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
126.77Fat (grams)
9.04Sat. Fat (grams)
1.25Carbs (grams)
5.47Fiber (grams)
0.33Net carbs
5.14Sugar (grams)
1.79Protein (grams)
0.37Sodium (milligrams)
323.17Cholesterol (grams)
0.00Nutritional information provided is strictly an estimate and will vary based on ingredient brands and cooking methods.
Step by Step Instructions
PREPARATION
Organize all your tools and ingredients before you begin. Getting all your ingredients in one place at the beginning will shorten your prep time.
STEP 1
In a 2.5 quart non-stick saucepan, heat ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil on medium heat until glistening. Add ¼ cup chopped shallots and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened and translucent.
STEP 2a
Add 4 cloves of chopped garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant.
STEP 2b
Add ⅛ teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary and ¼ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, and give it a quick stir.
STEP 2c
Once it bubbles, carefully add ½ cup dry white wine, bring to a brisk simmer, and reduce by half.
STEP 3
Turn up to medium high heat, add 2 jars (two twelve ounce jars - NOT packed in oil) of roughly chopped roasted red peppers (rinsed, drained, and patted dry), salt, pepper, and chopped parsley. Give it a quick stir and bring to a fast simmer. Lower heat and simmer partially covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
STEP 4
Add juice from half a lemon (about 1-2 Tablespoons) and stir. Taste to check flavors and seasoning. If needed, add more salt and pepper. If too acidic, add 1 teaspoon honey (or to taste) and simmer for another 5 minutes. The flavor will mellow over time, especially overnight.
STEP 5a
Add ¼ cup torn basil leaves, stir and immediately remove pan from heat.
Note: Next steps can be done with either an immersion blender or a high speed blender. See Notes section below for instructions on the Immersion Blender Method, which is the quickest way to finish this sauce and make it a one-pot recipe!
STEP 5b
Allow to cool down a bit in the saucepan for about 10-15 minutes.
Using an immersion blender, puree sauce directly in the pan until it becomes a thick puree. Do not over blend, as you don’t want it to become liquidy (see photo in Step 5d below for example of pureed sauce).
Taste and adjust seasoning. Return pan to stove and heat on low for an additional 5 minutes until ready to serve (or cook a little longer on low until flavors have mellowed).
STEP 5c
High Speed Blender Method: Transfer to a high speed blender and pulse in quick spurts to a thick puree. Do NOT over blend sauce, as it will become too liquidy (see Step 5d for example of thickness).
STEP 5d
The sauce should be thick, luscious and vibrant orangey-red, with specks of fresh herbs peaking through. This sauce should not be perfectly smooth. It should have a little texture, as shown in this photo.
Transfer back into saucepan. Taste and adjust seasoning. Stirring occasionally, heat on low for about 5-10 minutes until hot (do not boil) and ready to serve. Taste and adjust seasoning, or cook a little longer on low until flavors have mellowed.
Note: This NutriBullet blender is a life changer! Although the popular Vitamix Blender is an amazing high speed blender, this NutriBullet is versatile, more affordable and is an equally efficient blender that can withstand daily use for years on end.
Serving and Storing
Make Ahead Recipe
Transfer to a heat proof airtight glass storage container and allow to cool uncovered on the counter. Once completely cooled, cover and refrigerate overnight. Reheat on stove on low medium heat until sauce comes to a gentle simmer and serve.
Notes:
The puree process can be done with either an immersion blender or high speed blender, whichever you have on hand. The immersion blender is more of a one-pot recipe. We used the high speed blender method in the step by step photos, which was easy, but added about 10 minutes to the preparation of this recipe because the sauce needed to be transferred back into the pan to reheat.
Immersion Blender Method: Using an immersion blender, puree sauce directly in the pan until it becomes a thick puree. Do not over blend, as you don’t want it to become liquidy (see photo in Step 5d below for example of pureed sauce). Taste and adjust seasoning. Return pan to stove and heat on low for an additional 5 minutes until ready to serve (or cook a little longer on low until flavors have mellowed). This is the easiest and quickest way to finish up the sauce, as you don’t have to transfer the sauce to the blender and back to the pan.
We highly recommend doing the make ahead version. It can be made up to two days ahead and tastes even better as the flavors macerate and mellow over time.
Best served with a moist white fish (such as our Grilled Chilean Sea Bass), chicken, or even pasta. Tastes great serves over gnocchi, four cheese raviolis, or penne pasta. If using over pasta, double the recipe and add a little cream (¼ to ½ cup) during the last 1-2 minutes of the reheating process and stir to incorporate.
This recipe can be made with fresh red peppers, which are roasted in your oven, peeled and then deseeded. If using freshly roasted peppers, reduce the amount of extra virgin olive oil (EVO) and use only 2 Tablespoons EVO. Although it takes a little more time, try out our fresh version of this recipe, Fresh Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. It has a slightly less acidic flavor and is SO delicious!
Blog Comments & Tips
This is a definite make again recipe!
This simple and quick sauce is not only beautiful, but absolutely delicious!
It’s slightly tangy and REALLY scrumptious. Our favorite way to serve it is with our Grilled Chilean Sea Bass, but this sauce pairs well with any white fish, chicken, or even pasta. To make it extra special, adding a touch of cream during the last few minutes of cooking makes a lovely sauce for homemade pasta or gnocchi!
We suggest doubling the recipe when serving with pasta or gnocchi, as they tend to soak up the sauce.
We honestly couldn’t believe how well this turned out, considering how easy it was. I was looking for something special to serve for my husband’s birthday gathering. He requested Chilean Sea Bass as the main course. So, I searched long and hard for special sauce recipes and decided to serve the fish grilled with this Easy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.
I never like my own cooking when I’m entertaining. I guess it’s because I’ve been slaving over the stove all day and inhaling all the aromas, so the meal is not new to my senses by the time we sit down to eat. However, I must say this sauce even impressed me! I was shocked at how perfectly it complemented the fish.
He and our guests actually “fought” for the last piece of bread to soak up the remaining sauce on their plates!
Because of that experience, the Pimp My Recipe Team decided to bring this easy recipe to you. The roasted peppers give this sauce an extra special flavor and the best part is it gets better over time. It’s best made the night before. Although I personally tend to use this sauce when entertaining, it’s also the perfect addition to a quick weeknight meal for the family. Because it can be made one or two days ahead of time, it leaves you free to actually spend time with your company or family.
With it’s beautifully red color, it creates a gorgeous palette as a base sauce to the rest of your meal. It’s super versatile, as it can be served to vegetarians, vegans, dairy free, gluten free, pescatarians, and carnivores alike, by serving over chicken, fish, gnocchi, or pasta.
To make this recipe quick and easy, we chose to use jarred roasted red peppers packed in water instead of roasting our own peppers. Jarred red peppers are quite acidic, so the combination of adding a little more olive oil, simmering the sauce a little longer, adding honey to help offset the acidity, and allowing this sauce to sit overnight and macerate, is what really made the difference. We hope you enjoy it!
Enjoy and let us know what you think!
Mich
Footnote: We recommend trying the Fresh Roasted Red Pepper Sauce recipe. It takes a bit more time to roast the peppers yourself, but it’s worth the effort.
Adapted from the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (with Gnocchi) recipe by Georgia Downard on FoodNetwork.com, we’ve amped up this recipe to make it a flavorful and healthy sauce for your main course.
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