Roasted Red Pepper Sauce - The Bold Appetite (2024)

Stop eating canned tomato sauce, make this instead. This roasted red pepper sauce is naturally sweet, velvety, with rich deep flavor.

Canned tomato sauce, you love to hate them, but love them anyways because of the convenience. If you told me 10 years ago that I would be making my own tomato sauce I would laugh at you. For one because I LOVE canned tomato sauce and two because I always pictured an Italian grandmother in the kitchen stewing tomatoes for hours to get deep rich flavor. Yes, making your own tomato sauce is a lengthy process even when starting with canned or crushed tomatoes.

This creamy roasted red pepper sauce starts with your basic ingredients, and in only an hour you are left with a velvety and sweet tomato sauce perfect for pasta. The best part it’s 8 ingredients you can pronounce and there is no extra sugar or preservatives. At first taste you are amazed that this sauce developed SO much flavor so fast. Let it sit overnight and it might just become your new favorite sauce.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR ROASTED RED PEPPER SAUCE

• Tomatoes – Roma tomatoes work best since they have a low water content and are fleshy. However, if you can only find generic ‘plum’ tomatoes, buy those! Roma is just one variety of plum tomato. What you want to avoid are super watery tomatoes, such as vine or slicing tomatoes. The higher the water content in your tomato, the waterier your sauce will be, which is why plum/Roma tomatoes are the best. If you want to get really fancy, find San Marzano tomatoes.
• Red Bell Pepper
• Yellow Onions
• Garlic – Fresh only, in the bulb.
• Basil – Fresh!
• Red Chili Flakes – Don’t worry this sauce isn’t spicy. The chili flakes balance out the natural sweetness you get from the roasted tomatoes, bell pepper, and onions.
• Olive Oil – Good EVOO will apart a lot of flavor here.
• Salt

HOW TO MAKE ROASTED RED PEPPER SAUCE

Roast the Vegetables – On a sheet pan, toss tomatoes, red bell peppers, onions, and garlic generously in olive oil, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Don’t worry about how everything is cut; it will all get puréed later. I roughly chopped everything and kept the garlic in the skin to prevent over-browning or burning.

Roast at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 35-45 minutes. The tomatoes and onions will shrivel, the bell peppers will char, and the garlic will become super soft and sweet. Let the roasted vegetables cool for 10 minutes.

Blend – Once cooled, toss the roasted vegetables into a blender or food processor. To make this even easier, you can dump the tray into the pot you will use for stewing later and use an immersion blender. Include all the residual juices, but be sure to remove the garlic from its skin.

Blend until you reach the desired consistency. If not already in a pot, transfer the mixture and add chopped basil, salt, and chili flakes. Salt to taste, starting with 2 teaspoons and adjusting as needed based on your preference.

Simmer to Perfection – Simmer the sauce for 5-7 minutes with the lid on. From here you can can it, place in the fridge in an airtight container OR enjoy right away with pasta or crusty bread.

STORING/REHEATING

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 5-6 days. This sauce can also be frozen. If opting to freeze let the sauce cool to room temperature then section out as you please in airtight containers. This can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Looking for another homemade sauce? Try my Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce … this one has a kick.