This healthy Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo pasta dish is a made without all the butter and heavy cream of traditional versions while still delivering big on flavor. Bonus: This lightened up meal comes together in just 20 minutes! Serve it as is or add your favorite protein for the perfect weeknight meal.
While a traditional Alfredo consists of pasta, butter, and cheese, the Alfredo sauces served up at restaurants around here are laden with heavy cream as well. This creamy sauce is delicious, no doubt, but packs so much fat and calories, a plate of pasta will set you back a whole days allotment of calories.
As a lover of cream sauces, I am often tempted by the decadent piles of noodles, though the calorie count is often enough to put me off. Thankfully, whipping up a homemade version makes it possible to have that plate of creamy noodles while significantly cutting down on the butter and cream.
My Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo is my lightened up take on a traditional Alfredo. This Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo dish is another variation that is so darn good. Roasted red peppers are pureed and added into the sauce, adding so much flavor, not to mention nutrients. This sauce is so good, I highly recommend keeping some crusty bread on hand to make sure you soak up every last bit of it.
This healthier roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce can be tossed with pretty much any pasta you like. I love a long noodle like fettucine, linguine, or spaghetti, but pretty much any pasta shape will do. You can even opt for healthier options like spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles (aka zoodles).
Why we love this recipe
- It’s delicious! This dish has all the creamy comfort of a traditional Alfredo but with added flavor from roasted red peppers.
- It takes just 20 minutes to whip up this dish.
- This healthy roasted red pepper Alfredo sauce is made using no heavy cream and much less butter than restaurant versions. If calories are important to you, this homemade version is far more diet-friendly than a serving from restaurants.
- You can keep this as a vegetarian meal or add any protein you like. Shrimp and chicken are my personal favorites but pretty much any protein can be served alongside this dish.
- You can easily change things up to suit your own tastes or the ingredients you have on hand. Add herbs like basil or parsley, add a bit of heat with red pepper flakes.
- With some tweaks, you can make this meal gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan. See the Variations and Substitutions section below for tips.
Ingredients in Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo
- Pasta: About 10oz or 285g or your favorite pasta. I personally love long noodles like spaghetti, fettuccine, or linguine but any pasta shape can be substituted. If you want to slash calories or carbs further, you can substitute spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles instead.
- Roasted red peppers: You can easily roast your own peppers and use them in this sauce but in the interest of making this a super-easy weeknight dinner, I chose to use jarred peppers instead.
- Butter: salted or unsalted butter.
- Garlic: minced garlic, for flavor.
- Flour: all purpose flour, used to create a roux with the butter. This will thicken the sauce since it will be made using milk and not heavy cream.
- Milk: whole milk or 2% milk is ideal for this recipe. You can use a low-fat milk or even nondairy milk like coconut milk if you wish to lighten up the sauce more.
- Parmesan cheese: grated.
- Seasoning: salt and pepper to taste.
**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**
How to make Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions.
- Puree the peppers. Meanwhile, remove as much char from the roasted red peppers as you can. Add the peppers to a food processor and puree until smooth. If needed, you can add some of the milk to the peppers to thin it out and make it easier to puree.
- Make a roux. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute it for a minute. Then add the flour and whisk to create a roux, a couple of minutes.
- Finish the sauce. Whisk in the milk, pureed peppers, and Parmesan cheese. Continue to whisk until it begins to thicken. Season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Toss pasta and sauce together. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the sauce. Toss to combine and coat the pasta evenly. Transfer the pasta to a serving dishes and sprinkle with extra grated Parmesan cheese.
Variations and Substitutions
- Gluten-free roasted red pepper Alfredo. This recipe can easily be made gluten-free with a few tweaks. You can opt for a gluten-free pasta choice or simply swap in spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles instead. To make the roux, instead of using regular all purpose flour, you can use a gluten-free all purpose flour mix.
- Dairy-free and Vegan Alfredo. While I have not tried this version myself, you can make tweaks to this recipe to make a vegan version. Using olive oil or a vegan butter substitute in place of the butter in this recipe and using a nondairy milk like coconut milk is one way to help make this recipe vegan-friendly. The Parmesan cheese can simply be omitted or replaced with some nutritional yeast.
Storing leftovers and reheating
Once cooled, leftover pasta can be placed in an airtight container and stored in the fridge.
To reheat it, place the pasta in a saucepan, adding a little milk to rehydrate the sauce. Heat it over medium heat until heated through.
Roasted red pepper Alfredo makes a great vegetarian pasta dish but you can easily enhance and bulk up this dish by adding your favourite veggies and protein to it.
I hope you enjoy this pasta dish as much as I do!
Love creamy pasta dishes? You may also like:
Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo
Pumpkin Fettuccine Alfredo
Butternut Squash Alfredo
Creamy Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta
Lemon Parmesan Pasta with Spring Peas
Creamy Pesto Pasta
Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta
Lightened Up Creamy Seafood Pasta
Creamy Orzo with Zucchini
Creamy Penne Pasta with Peas and Crispy Prosciutto
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Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo
Ingredients
- 10 oz pasta spaghetti, fettuccine, or any pasta of choice
- 1 cup roasted red peppers
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated + more to serve
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, remove as much char from the roasted red peppers as you can. Add the peppers to a food processor and puree until smooth. If needed, you can add some of the milk to the peppers to thin it out and make it easier to puree.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute it for a minute. Then add the flour and whisk to create a roux, a couple of minutes.
- Whisk in the milk, pureed peppers, and Parmesan cheese. Continue to whisk until it begins to thicken. Season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the sauce. Toss to combine and coat the pasta evenly. Transfer the pasta to a serving dishes and sprinkle with extra grated Parmesan cheese.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.