Roasted Cauliflower Pasta with Red Pepper Sauce

a pan with orange red pepper sauce with cauliflower and pasta noodles in it.

Roasted Cauliflower Pasta with Red Pepper Sauce

Learn how to make this delicious roasted cauliflower pasta with a luscious red pepper sauce that takes just minutes to prepare!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword cauliflower pasta, red pepper sauce pasta, roasted cauliflower pasta

Freezer Friendly Yes

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings

Calories 423kcal

Author Bethany Kramer

Ingredients

1 8 oz box pasta noodles (see notes)
1 medium head cauliflower
2 teaspoons oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & black pepper to taste

Red Pepper Tomato Sauce

12 oz jar roasted red peppers, drained
1 1/2 cups marinara
1/3 cup raw cashews (see notes)
1/3 cup filtered water
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)

For Serving

2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese for serving *optional
2 Tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F.
Prep cauliflower: chop head of cauliflower into small to medium sized florets.
Roast: lay cauliflower on sheet pan and drizzle with oil, generous pinch of salt, and garlic powder. Toss until evenly coated and bake for 30 minutes, flip halfway through.
Blend sauce ingredients: add all of red pepper sauce ingredients into a high-powered blender with pinch of salt. Blend on high for 30 seconds until consistency is creamy and smooth. Heat up sauce in small pot on LOW while you prepare the pasta.
Boil pasta: bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook pasta as box instructs or until texture is "Al Dente" in texture. Drain the pasta but leave a tiny bit of pasta water behind with the noodles (several tablespoons of pasta water should work). Note: "al dente" means "to the tooth" - meaning your pasta shouldn't be too soft but should have a slight bite of texture to it!
Assemble ingredients: in the same pot with the noodles, add 1/2-1 cup red pepper sauce and toss to coat the noodles with the sauce. Then serve with roasted cauliflower, fresh chopped basil, fresh parmesan, and additional red pepper sauce. *Omit parmesan to keep vegan* Enjoy!

Notes

Types of noodles to use: you can use just about any type of pasta for this recipe! Some of my personal favorites are pappardelle, tagliatelle, rigatoni, fusilli, rotini, penne, or bucatini.

cashew notes: usually before blending cashews you need to soften them by soaking in water. This step is not necessary if you have a high-powered blender (such as a vitamix, ninja, blendtec, ect.) If you do not have a more powerful blender, then you will need to soak your cashews covered in boiling water for 15 minutes to soften them.

Leftover red pepper sauce: this recipe yields several generous cups of red pepper sauce. You most likely won't need to use it all at one time, so I like freezing it to serve for another time or keeping it chilled in the fridge.

Nutrition