This sun-dried tomato pesto pasta is just TEN ingredients and so comforting. Sun-dried tomatoes are an ingredient I often forget about, so I’m doing it justice now. This tangy pesto features sun-dried tomatoes, basil, red bell pepper, garlic, and walnuts. If you have a thriving basil plant, now’s the time to use it for this pasta!
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I always forget how good sun-dried tomatoes are. They’re so tangy and chewy! And my basil plant has been thriving lately, so making sun-dried tomato pesto pasta was only natural. It’s a simple sauce of sun-dried tomatoes, red peppers, basil, garlic, and walnuts! The pesto recipe makes twice as much as you need for the pasta, so you already know it will be going on some toast this week.
This sun-dried tomato pesto pasta is 10 ingredients, takes 30 minutes, has all the tangy flavor, and is packed with veggies, though you wouldn’t know it!
10 Ingredients You Need for this Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta
sun-dried tomatoes
basil
red bell pepper
walnuts
red chili flakes
black pepper
olive oil
garlic
olives
spinach (optional)
your favorite pasta – I like using Banza’s chickpea rotini.
The Rundown
Sauté the red bell pepper and garlic in some olive oil. A lot of recipes call for roasting red bell pepper, but I find that cooking it in a saucepan is easier because you don’t need to wait for the oven to preheat and the bell pepper cooks faster. The olive oil and garlic you use to sauté the bell pepper is the only garlic and olive oil that will be going into the pesto!
Process the pesto. Make sure you use a small processor so it is easy to process. Combine the red bell pepper and garlic with sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, red chili flakes, and black pepper. You probably won’t need any extra oil or water for blending because if you’re using jarred sun-dried tomatoes, they’re already soaked in olive oil, so some of that oil will probably get in your pesto for easier blending anyways.
Cook pasta and reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Then combine the pasta water with about half the pesto you made in a saucepan. Add olives, sun-dried tomatoes, the pasta, and the spinach.
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¾ cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 cup fresh basil
- ¼ cup walnuts
- ½-1 tsp red chili flakes *adjust depending on your desired spice level
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 8 oz. your favorite pasta
- ¼ cup sliced olives optional
- handful of spinach optional
- squeeze of lemon juice
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente (in salted water and firm when taken off the heat) according to package instructions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
- Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic cloves and red bell pepper. Stir occasionally until the bell pepper is cooked (about 5 minutes).
- Process all ingredients for the pesto: sun-dried tomatoes, basil, walnuts, red chili flakes, black pepper, and bell pepper, garlic, and olive oil from the previous step.
- Add ¼ cup sliced olives and some more sun-dried tomatoes (I used ~ 2 tbsp but this is up to you!) to the same saucepan used for the bell pepper earlier. Then add ½ cup pasta water to the saucepan. Add ¾ cup pesto (~ half of it) to the water and mix until it forms a creamy sauce. Add more pesto and/or pasta water if necessary. Stir in the pasta and lower heat to medium-low. If using, add the handful of spinach now. It will wilt in the heat of the pasta. Stir the pasta together for a couple minutes before taking it off the heat.
- Stir in the pasta and lower heat to medium-low. If using, add the handful of spinach now. It will wilt in the heat of the pasta. Stir the pasta together for a couple minutes before taking it off the heat. Top it with red chili flakes, basil, and a squeeze of lemon juice!
If you like this sun-dried tomato pesto pasta, here are some more ways to enjoy pesto because it sure is the besto:
Broccoli Pesto Pasta with Lemon Sage Walnuts
