So many sauces on the market have lots of added stabilizers, sugars, and pure junk. I wanted to make a relatively quick and easy recipe for a creamy, vegan roasted red pepper sauce, which is my FAVORITE kind of sauce. For those of you who follow my Instagram, you know that I eat all the foods and am completely vegan, dairy free, paleo etc., but a lot of my followers are, which is one of the reasons why I created this recipe. The cashews give the sauce a really nice creaminess and roasting the peppers beforehand brings out such a great flavor ✨ I think that recipe makes enough sauce for two boxes of pasta, but even if you are only making one, I LOVE this sauce for drizzling over veggies, dipping veggies into, mixing in with some rice... the list could go on and on. Basically, if you have a little sauce left over, you will find a use for it, I promise.
What you'll need:
2 fresh red bell peppers
1/2 of a fresh lemon
1/2 cup of cashews
1/4 cup of avocado oil
1/4 tsp of dried basil
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 tsp of minced garlic
Salt to taste
Let's get to it!
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Coat WHOLE pepper in a bit of avocado oil and place on baking sheet.
Place the baking sheet in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes, flipping the peppers to the other side halfway through.
While the peppers cool, bring a small pot of water to a boil.
Add cashews to the boiling water for 10 minutes- drain afterwards.
While the cashews are boiling, cut the peppers lengthwise, removing the stem, seeds, and skin.
Place the pepper flesh, the boiled cashews, avocado oil (can sub for olive oil), the juice of 1/2 of a fresh lemon, dried basil, red pepper flakes (less if you dislike spicy things), minced garlic, & about 1/2 tsp of salt into a blender or food processor.
Blend/process until the sauce is creamy. You can add some water to the mixture if you like a thinner sauce :)
If you try out this sauce- be sure to tag me on Instagram and let me know what you think!
xx Alexis