I love pesto, but I’m going to be honest, mine usually comes from a jar. And I don’t know why, it’s one of the easiest things to make, and the versions that come in a jar usually have a million less than necessary ingredients, so I decided to make this simple 6 ingredient red pepper pesto recipe.
This makes a relatively small batch, so I haven’t included a preservative here. If you’re wanting to keep this fresh for more than 2-3 days, add the juice of a lemon to your ingredients list.
I opted to make a red pepper pesto as it seems to be one of the most common flavours. When I’m searching through the free from aisles at the supermarket, I typically see basil, red pepper, maybe chilli and that’s about it. And although it seems a little bit dull to make one of the most accessible flavours, they obviously sell that one everywhere for a reason, so it seems like a great choice to make a healthier version of it with a more minimal ingredients list.
If you want a flavour that’s not found in every supermarket, you can find my other pesto recipes below:
- Sundried Tomato Pesto
- Lime & Basil Pesto
- Festive Pesto
- Lemon & Olive Pesto
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
I think I’ve said this in every pesto recipe, but I hate calculating the serving sizes because it can be used in so many different ways requiring varying amounts. For the sake of this post, I’m going with four servings as this is roughly the number of pasta servings you could generously coat with this recipe. Just to be clear, if you want to compare the values to a store bought option, this recipe probably contains more like 7-8 official servings that you would find on a jar.
Each ‘serving’ of this recipe contains 3g of both fibre and protein, along with half of the recommended daily amount of vitamin A and 20% of your daily vitamin E.
STORAGE AND DOES IT KEEP?
Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated if not used straight away. If you’re not planning to use the full batch within 2-3 days, add lemon juice to your recipe to make it last 7-10 days.
ROASTED RED PEPPER PESTO RECIPE
Simple six ingredient red pepper pesto recipe, a quick and easy versatile condiment recipe.
This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, soy free and vegan. It does contain nuts.
Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Recipe
Simple six ingredient red pepper pesto recipe, a quick and easy versatile condiment recipe.
Course Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Red Pepper Pesto
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 226 kcal
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 red peppers
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup vegan parmesan
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- Pinch of salt
- Chilli flakes to taste optional
- Juice of a lemon optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°c
- Slice the peppers in half and place them skin-side up on a baking tray. Cook on the top shelf for 10 minutes, add the whole cloves of garlic to the tray and cook for a further 15 minutes.
- Set aside until they’re cool enough to handle, then peel the garlic cloves and add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and mix until smooth.
- Add the juice of lemon if you wish to store your batch for longer than a few days, or simply serve if it’s going to be used straight away.
