This one goes out to all of you “one pot pasta” lovers out there. …And I know there are a lot of you! Allow me to introduce to you this amazing One Pot Roasted Red Pepper Pasta!
This pasta dish combines roasted red peppers, fire roasted tomatoes, a hefty dose of garlic, sweet Vidalia onion, and dried basil for a smoky sweet pasta that practically cooks itself. Using vegetable broth in place of water gives the pasta extra depth and takes care of most of the need for the usual added salt and seasonings. The ingredients all simmer together in one pot (yes, even the pasta!) and creates its own thick, silky sauce. There’s so much flavor here you’ll wonder why you ever boiled pasta in plain water.
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Make it Creamy or Not.
The other great thing about this One Pot Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is that you can choose to make it creamy (like I did) or not. Once my pasta was finished cooking, I stirred in a few dollops of cream cheese until it melted into the sauce and made the whole pot luxuriously creamy. It’s a little indulgent with the cream cheese, but I also tasted it before adding the cheese and it was still amazing. So, you have the option of no cream cheese, full cream cheese, or even half cream cheese. It’s up to you!
Can I Add Meat?
Yes, chicken or Italian sausage would both go great with this recipe! To add chicken, simply dice up a chicken breast or two and sauté it in the pot before adding the remaining ingredients. Or you can add shredded rotisserie chicken after cooking the pasta. To add Italian sausage, simply brown some sausage in the pot before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Tips for One Pot Pasta Success:
One pot pasta recipes can be a bit tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, they’re a breeze! Here are some tips to get you started:
- Use heavy, thick cookware to make sure the ingredients heat evenly.
- Make sure the pasta is simmering the whole time and adjust the heat as needed. If the heat is too low, the pasta will just get mushy.
- Stir to prevent the pasta from sticking, but not too often or you risk breaking down the pasta.
- Use your intuition. If the mixture dries up before the pasta is tender, add a splash more liquid. If the pasta is almost finished cooking and there is too much liquid, allow it to simmer without the lid for the last few minutes.
How to Store the Leftovers
This recipe makes a very large batch. I froze one serving last night to test the freeze/thaw cycle and it held up pretty well. The sauce was a bit more dry after reheating in the microwave, but the flavor was still great! Refrigerated portions will stay good in the refrigerator for about five days.
One Pot Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Servings 6 (1 1/3 cup each)Ingredients
- 5 cups vegetable broth ($0.60)
- 1 lb. Fettuccine ($1.00)
- 1 small Vidalia onion ($0.61)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1 12oz. jar roasted red peppers ($2.49)
- 1 15oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes ($1.29)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried basil ($0.07)
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional) ($0.03)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 4 oz. cream cheese (optional) ($1.08)
Instructions
- Thinly slice the onion and mince the garlic. Remove the red peppers from the liquid in the jar and then slice them into thin strips.
- In a large pot, combine the broth, onion, garlic, red pepper slices, diced tomatoes (with juice), basil, crushed red pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper (10-15 cranks of a pepper mill). Stir these ingredients to combine. Break the fettuccine in half, then add it to the pot, attempting to submerge the pieces as much as possible.
- Place a lid on the pot and turn the heat up to high. As soon as the pot reaches a full boil, give it a quick stir to loosen any pieces that may have stuck to the bottom, return the lid, and turn the heat down to medium-low.
- Let the pot simmer on medium low for 10-12 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Return the lid as quickly as possible after each stir. After ten minutes, test the pasta to see if it is al dente. Once the pasta is tender, remove it from the heat. (If the pasta becomes too dry before it is tender, simply add a small amount of water and continue to simmer.)
- Divide the cream cheese into tablespoon sized pieces, then add them to the pot. Stir the pasta until the cheese melts in and creates a smooth sauce (it will look lumpy at first, just keep stirring). Serve hot.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make One Pot Red Pepper Pasta – Step by Step Photos
Begin by slicing one Vidalia onion and mincing four cloves of garlic. Remove the peppers from a 12oz. jar of roasted red peppers, and slice them into thin strips.
Using both fire roasted red peppers AND fire roasted diced tomatoes gives the pasta a slightly smoky/sweet flavor.
Now it’s time to add everything to the pot. For the pictures, I added everything at one time, but it will help if you add everything in two steps. First add 5 cups of broth, the sliced onion, minced garlic, sliced red peppers, diced tomatoes (with the juices from the can), 1/2 Tbsp dried basil, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional), and some freshly cracked black pepper. Stir all those ingredients together, then break the pasta in half and submerge it under the liquid. Breaking the past in half helps it incorporate into the other ingredients better and makes it fit better in the pot (and under the liquid).
Place a lid on the pot and put it over high heat. Once it reaches a boil, stir the pot to loosen anything that has stuck to the bottom. Return the lid quickly, turn the heat down to medium-low, and let the pot simmer for 10-12 minutes. Stir the pot every couple of minutes or so to make sure nothing sticks, but always replace the lid quickly so that it keeps simmering and you don’t loose too much of the moisture. After 10-12 minutes, the pasta should be tender, but still slightly firm (al dente). Remove it from the heat.
If you want creamy pasta, add 4 oz. of cream cheese in dollops to the pot. I added half of the 8oz. package, but I bet it would still be pretty creamy if you cut that amount in half. It’s pretty flexible.
Stir the pot until the cream cheese is fully melted in. It may look a little chunky at first, but keep stirring and it will eventually become smooth and creamy.
Then eat this delicious and creamy bowl of One Pot Roasted Red Pepper Pasta. :)
Just made this dish – lovely! Many thanks and warm regards from Scotland!
Thanks so much for your fast response! One more question…I see quite a few comments saying 5 cups of liquid was too much and their pasta ended up soupy. However, there was one comment that says it was because they accidently used a standard 8 oz pack of pasta instead of a pound. It seems unlikely that ALL the people commenting about the liquid are making the same mistake, but I guess it’s possible? Do you have any thoughts on that? Should I still use 5 cups as long as I have a pound of pasta? Thanks!! :)
Honestly, this is an older recipe and I’d like to test it out again to give you a definite answer. Enough people are saying 4 cups is enough liquid for me to believe that would be a good option. You could always keep an eye on it and add more liquid if it looks like the liquid is reducing too much. I also don’t know if these people are possibly using spaghetti instead of fettuccini which would make a big difference in how much liquid is absorbed. You could definitely give it a try!
Would we be able to make this in a 4 qt pot? I saw in comments you used a 5 qt, but I don’t have that size :/
I would say if you have bigger than a 5qt that would be great, but I don’t think I’d go smaller. You’re welcome to try it, but since everything is cooking in one pot, I fear there wouldn’t be enough room for everything to cook properly and the pasta might come out gummy or stick together.
I really like this recipe but if you have the time you will need to do some improvising to make it great (which Beth kind of alludes to anyway in her “Tips”):
– I sautéed the onions and garlic in the pan for about 5 minutes before adding everything else. This softens the onions and brings out the flavor of the garlic
– Like everyone else is saying, use 4 cups of broth instead of five unless you want a very runny sauce
– I cooked everything for 12 minutes covered and then 2-3 more minutes uncovered to let the sauce thicken up a little. Adding the cream cheese also helps thicken it up
– When serving I added Parmesan on top which I thought made it even better
– The recipe is good as is but I think adding spicy Italian sausage would elevate it
The problem with these “one-pot recipes” is that they are meant for people who are in a hurry and are ok with their food not coming out perfect as long as it’s tasty, quick, and doesn’t require a lot of clean up. But that means the pasta may not be cooked just right, the sauce may be too runny, etc. There’s a reason why most traditional pasta recipes call for using more than one pot! If you want to have everything be cooked perfectly you might need to take extra steps or use more than one pot/pan.
My picky 3 yr old loves this, and I do too! I substituted DIY vegan buttercream instead of cream cheese, and it worked great. I also added a bit of flower to help the sauce stick to the noodles, because I like it on the thicker side. This recipe is a keeper!
My family doesn’t like cream cheese. What could I use in this in place of that please?
Hi, Danie. As the recipe card says, the cream cheese is optional. Feel free to just leave it out.
How do you freeze pasta meals?
If just freezing the pasta, cook until al dente, cool, add a touch of oil, and then freeze on a sheet pan in a single layer. When frozen solid, portion, and place in a freezer-safe container. If freezing with the sauce, cool, portion in individual portions, and add to a freezer-safe container. If it’s a bag, squeeze out as much air as possible. If it’s a container, top the pasta’s surface with plastic or freezer-safe paper to keep it from being exposed to air. XOXO -Monti
should be 4 cups, and dial back the red peppers by 1/3. Otherwise quick and easy. Not sure what that onion is, dont have it in my store
This is great, but definitely should not be 5 cups in my opinion. I had way too much liquid left over at the end. Should probably be 4, and if you need to add more liquid, then you add additional vegetable broth.
By far one of my FAVORITE dishes! Especially the next day. My question now is… if I am trying to be semi-healthy and cut out the cream cheese, any suggestions on what I can use to replace it?
Honestly, I thought this pasta was great even before adding the cream cheese, so I’d probably just leave it out and enjoy it as is! Or just stick to a little Parm sprinkled over top!
My Aldi sells something called Neufchâtel cheese with their cream cheese. It’s apparently a lower-fat version of cream cheese, made with milk instead of cream. I don’t know why you don’t want to use cream cheese, but if the fat content bothers you, I tried Neufchâtel cheese in this and it tasted exactly the same!
As it was cooking, I could see that I was going to have the same trouble others had had… there was too much liquid. When I read over the recipe, I realized my mistake. The recipe calls for a pound of pasta and my brain had translated that to “a box” of pasta. I believe most pasta used to come in 16 oz. packages, but mine was only 12 ounces. Luckily, I did have some more fettuccine in the cupboard, so measured out an additional 4 ounces and added it to the pot just at the cooking time was up. I let the whole thing cook for another ten minutes and it came out fine.
Fine meal when fresh, awful when reheated. The cream cheese gums up and it doesn’t taste the same. So if you’re not feeding a family, half or even quarter the recipe.
I LOVE this recipe, it’s in my regular dinner rotation now. I use just 4 cups of vegetable broth (which equals one carton), add a bit of salt, and only use about half the jar of peppers. Those are the only tweaks I’ve made and it is one of my favorite pasta dishes now. Thanks for the recipe!
Can I sub Chicken Broth for Vegetable Broth without losing flavor
Yes, chicken broth will also work well here.
any suggestions on what I could use in place of cream cheese?
A little heavy cream will also give a nice creamy effect, you just won’t have that tangy flavor. But this dish is also really good even without the cream cheese. :)
Overall really liked it! Flavor-wise I’d say it was a little acidic for my taste. Any suggestions?
Just add some fat: butter, or cream to counteract the acid! :)