This roasted red pepper sauce will be your new favorite weeknight sauce to jazz up your meal! With only about 5 minutes of hands-on cooking time, it is a quick and easy sauce anyone can make!
Making Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Perhaps the best thing (besides the fact that it is delicious!) about this sauce is that it is so easy to make.
All you need to do is roast and peel the red peppers.
Then, throw the peppers into a food processor with the other ingredients. Blend and voila! Roasted red pepper sauce!
Serving Suggestions
Fish or Chicken
Try spooning this delicious roasted red pepper sauce over baked or broiled fish or chicken. I think this sauce tastes best with mild fish such as cod, tilapia or whitefish.
Serve this with a side of vegetables to complete your meal.
Pasta or Other Grain
This sauce is a delicious over your favorite pasta. It is a great way to sneak some veggies into Italian night!
You could also serve this sauce over other healthy whole grains such as brown or wild rice, couscous, bulgur or quinoa.
Vegetables
Serve this sauce with your favorite veggies to add delicious flavor without much salt! Try potatoes, asparagus, eggplant, cauliflower, parsnips, squash or zucchini.
Eggs
This sauce is an amazing way to elevate your eggs. Try with scrambled eggs or as a topping for omelets.
Flatbread Pizza or Crostini
Use this red pepper sauce in place of pizza sauce on flatbread or English muffin pizzas. Or, spread on toasted baguette slices with a sprinkle of cheese for a fancy appetizer!
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce vs. Tomato Sauce
Low Sodium
This roasted red pepper sauce is a tasty low sodium sauce. Making it an excellent option for people people with kidney disease, kidney stones, high blood pressure, liver or heart disease.
At only 72mg of sodium per 1/4 cup, it has about 1/3 of the sodium of jarred pasta, alfredo and most other sauces.
Remember that you can always make your own tomato sauce at home to keep it low sodium!
Low Oxalate
Although not everyone with kidney stones needs to limit oxalate, some people do. Always remember that healthy eating for kidney stones is much more than monitoring how much oxalate you eat.
Tomato sauce has about 60% more oxalate compared to this roasted red pepper sauce.
Low Potassium
This red pepper sauce has about half of the potassium in traditional tomato sauce. Some people with kidney disease need to avoid eating too much potassium. Swapping this sauce for tomato sauce in spaghetti or pizza can help cut back how much potassium you eat.
Happy Eating!
Melanie
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 large red bell peppers
- 5 tbsp Parmesan cheese shredded
- 12 leaves fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 lemon juiced (or more to taste)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar (or more to taste)
Instructions
- Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove stem and seeds. Place on baking sheet and bake at 400'F for 30 minutes. Rotating pan halfway through baking.
- Let peppers cool a few minutes. Peel the skin off peppers. The skin should be slightly charred and come off easily. If not, roast them for a few more minutes. It is okay if you don't get all of the skin off!
- Combine peeled & roasted peppers with remaining ingredients in a food processor. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Serve immediately! You may want to heat the sauce on the stove or microwave.
Uhhm, Red Peppers are very high in Oxalates… So , this may not be of help to those with kidney stone issues.
Red peppers are very low in oxalate. I provide oxalate content for all of my recipes (see immediately below the recipe itself). Also, a strict low oxalate diet isn’t necessary for most people with kidney stones.
I haven’t tried this, yet. But I would like it spicier. Sriracha sauce is my favorite flavoring. That and jalapeño.
I also love spicy food!! This sauce DEFINITELY isn’t spicy – but you could absolutely add some sriracha and jalapeno to give it a kick!
I don’t use the Parmesan but I do add slivered almonds so as to get a small serving of healthy nuts. And I add a few red chili flakes to make it a bit spicy. It’s perfect on toast!
Yum! That all sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing!
I’m making this tomorrow night as a sauce for ravioli accompanied by Veal Parmesan and sauteed spinach. Our family is free of kidney disease & stones, but I’d like to keep it that way by always cooking healthy. Thanks for this great recipe!
Sounds delicious! Let us know how it goes!
I have End Stage Renal Disease, so I really need to pay close attention to my diet. This sauce makes me all kinds of happy! I’ve used it for spaghetti and as a pizza sauce. Next is kidney friendly lasagna!
Hi Emily:
Is the cheese essential for this recipe? I’m allergic to casein so can’t have cheese.
Thx.
MC
I’ve never made it without the cheese, but I’d imagine it would come out just fine. You might want to sub some nutritional yeast in for the parmesan to add a little of that “umami flavor” to the sauce – but not necessary!
I have made a similar red pepper sauce in the past without the Parmesan and it is very tasty. I freeze it in ice cube trays so is easy for a single serving option if everyone else in the family is have a tomato based pasta sauce. At serving time I add a little grated cheese then which adds a nice garnish and makes me feel spoiled!
Love it! Great idea with the freezing!
My husband has ckd n had high potassium. I am at a lost of how or what to cook anymore. He also has diabetes. I am so overwhelmed with meals. Can u help
Hi Betty! This article about diabetes and CKD and this one about potassium should help! Ultimately, EVERYONE with CKD should be working with a dietitian who specializes in kidney disease. I have a list of dietitians who do here.
Melanie,
Have been looking for something like this for so long. I have both Cardiac disease (by pass surgery, stents, etc., etc). My wife was Italian, and you know, “if it doesn’t have tomatos it’s not Italian”!! I just saw this recipe and cannot wait to try it. Pizza. pasta, chicken, etc. I will try them all. My local store has several low sodium cheeses so I will do my best to make the most tasty low sodium/low potassium meal I can. Is a cauliflour crust much better than a regular crust??
Thanks
I’m glad you are excited to try it! Let us know what you think. All cauliflower crusts I’ve seen are PACKKKKKED with sodium. I’d recommend making your own whole wheat pizza crust – here is a recipe!
Thank you!
Can homemade pesto/ olive oil be a healthy replacement as a base sauce for pizza? I have spinach and mushrooms added, easy cheese. Thanks!
I love this idea! Some commercial pesto can be high in sodium – but make it yourself to control that sodium. Love all those veggies!
This is my go to recipe for roasted red peppers. For a mellow garlic flavor I roast the garlic in aluminum foil with the peppers. I also replace the wine with smoked paprika. Devine on pizza, pasta, chicken or seafood.
AH! YAY! I’m so glad you love this sauce so much. I agree it is quite tasty, as super versatile 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!
Can you freeze this sauce? If so, how long will it keep?
Thanks.
David E
Absolutely! This sauce freezes wonderfully. I’d keep it frozen for no more than about 6 months.
I just made the sauce and it is yummy but I would like it a bit thicker. What would you suggest doing?
Glad you liked it! I might up the amount of peppers in the sauce next time to thicken it up a bit.
Thank you thank you thank you! I am going to try this tonight.
Yay! Let me know what you think. It is one of my favorites.
I have some jarred roasted red peppers. I’m thinking I can probably use them in this recipe. I have only dried basil, but that should present no problem. We’ll give this a try at our house. Thank you!
Absolutely! Let us know how it goes. Double check the sodium in those jarred bell peppers. I’ve found some brands are surprisingly low sodium, and others are quite high!
I’m wondering what ingredients the potassium is in?
Nearly all foods have a little potassium in them (except for fats/oils!). Most of the potassium is coming from the bell peppers and cheese in this particular recipe!
Hi from Australia. Thank-young for this great sounding lie it was made for me recipe.
Thank-you for the nutritional list. However I would like to know where the 70 grams of sodium comes from is this from the Parmesan cheese?
Many grateful thanks for your recipe.
Cherie.
Hi Cherie! Yes, most of it is from the Parmesan cheese. I hope you love it!
Hi from Australia, recently diagnosed with CKD from my 37 year journey with type 1 diabetes. Iam trying so hard now to find alternatives for things zImno longer have. .
Hello! I’m sorry to hear about your diagnosis. But, hope you find my site helpful in your journey! Know that a renal diet is VERY individualized to your labs and stage of CKD. This article might help you figure out where to start!
Plan to add fire roasted (no salt) seasonings and leave it a little chunky to use as a base for soups calling for tomatoes and also for a sauce on eggplant parm…
Love this idea! Thanks for sharing!
I have Stage 4 CKD. I was looking for a replacement to tomato sauce for homemade flatbread pizza. I will definitely try this red pepper sauce. Thanks!
Woo hoo! I’ve actually never personally tried it on pizza, but a few people have told me it is great on pizza. Let me know what you think!
This is delicious. My husband has just been diagnosed with kidney disease and I was looking for flavorful recipes. This fit the bill. Even with our palettes being used to a high sodium diet, we really enjoyed this sauce.
Woo hoo! Thank you so much for sharing Nicole. It makes my day that you and your husband enjoyed it!