Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Recipe

This Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Recipe is super fun to make and delicious to eat on just about anything. Spice up your favorite dish with this easy homemade pesto sauce!

If you want a great dish to pair this pesto with, try it on my tasty Shrimp Scampi with Zucchini Noodles!

Easy Homemade Pesto Recipe

Homemade Pesto is super easy to make and a great quick sauce option. This Roasted Red Pepper Pesto has a great combination of fresh roasted red peppers and a touch of basil for herb flavor. You will love it!

Alright, folks, today we are talking about Pesto! Pesto is extremely versatile, super easy to make,  and basically my favorites sauce option. So why not make it from scratch! It can be used as a sauce for pasta {which is what it is most known for}, but you could also use it as base for a pizza, a finishing sauce for fish or chicken, or a topping for garlic bread. What I love most about this simple sauce is that you can put whatever you want into it. If the recipe calls for pine nuts but all you have are walnuts throw them in. If you need to put basil in but you only have parsley, great, throw it in. It is basically the best sauce option ever and you can use it for anything. It is a great way to mess around with different ingredients to see what you like, plus its fun to fee like a mad scientist in the kitchen throwing in this and that. 🙂 

My all time favorite pesto besides the basic Basil Pesto is Roasted Red Pepper Pesto, and that is what I’m sharing with you today. I love the sweetness that the roasted bell peppers bring to this sauce and the touch of basil gives it a good herb flavor. The best part is you can freeze this recipe and put it in ice cube trays to use later as you choose. I hope you enjoy!

How to Make Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Sauce

To get started, preheat oven to 350º. Halve and seed 2 red peppers. Roast in oven for 15 minutes with the inside side down. Flip them over after 15 minutes and roast for another 15 minutes on the other side.

Remove from oven and place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes. {this will keep the heat in the bowl and make it easier to remove the skin}. After peppers are finished resting, remove the skins and set aside.

Put 1/3 cup of pecans in a saute pan and toast until just fragrant. {about 7-10 minutes}

In a blender put, 2 roasted red peppers, 1 garlic clove, 1/3 cup of toasted pecans, 1/4 cup of shredded parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of basil, salt and pepper. Blend together.

Slowly start to add 2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil {depending on how you like your consistency} to the pesto mixture. Toss with fresh pasta and serve!

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