Romesco Sauce

A fast and easy, rustic and hearty, versatile sauce with Spanish influence; Romesco Sauce takes about 5 minutes from start to finish! It’s made with roasted red peppers, garlic, and almonds, and it’s so delicious!

We all love a good sauce, right? Romesco Sauce is super easy to make and super delicious to eat too. I cooked a double batch of pasta and stirred the drained, hot pasta into this sauce for a very fast dinner after work one night. There was lots of pasta and sauce leftover, which in my opinion, tasted even better the next day.

Romesco sauce is one of those sauces that you don’t hear much about. It’s relatively new to me too. I kept seeing the recipe pop up in my food Pinterest feed, but never really had much interest in it until one day when I was searching for a way to use up my leftover Roasted Red Peppers. This just might be the best way yet!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Roasted Red Peppers – You can buy jars of roasted red peppers just about anywhere canned and jarred food items are sold. However, if fresh red bell peppers are on sale, buy those instead and make your own roasted red peppers. It’s so easy!
• Garlic – Fresh garlic will result in the best flavour every single time. 
• Almonds – Buy whole, unsalted almonds. You will need to toast them, but it’s very easy to do.
• Vinegar – You can use flavoured vinegars, but I found plain white vinegar is the best. It provides that acidic note without skewing the flavour of the main ingredients.
• Spices & Seasonings – You will need paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and ground black pepper.
• Olive Oil – I normally use light extra virgin olive oil, but full bodied olive oil is great in this recipe.
• Parsley

ROAST YOUR OWN RED PEPPERS TOO!

You will note in the recipe card below, I listed a 10 ounce jar of roasted red peppers as the first ingredient. If you are so inclined, you can make your own roasted red peppers right in your own oven. Click on the link for my recipe and instructions above and you’ll have lots of roasted red peppers on hand for this sauce. Otherwise, you can purchase a jar from your local grocer.

Now, when I think sauce, I almost automatically think of pasta. After all, what is pasta without sauce? But, when it comes to romesco sauce, you don’t have to limit yourself to just pasta. Romesco sauce has a deep and wonderful flavour. No doubt, you are familiar with the taste of roasted red peppers – a little earthy, a little sweet, and a great smokiness. In romesco sauce, that flavour is elevated with a few pantry ingredients.

The vinegar adds a slight bitterness to the sauce, and the garlic and parsley help to enhance the aroma and freshness. In my opinion though, it’s the cayenne pepper and the paprika that bring this sauce home. The cayenne adds a little more smokiness and heat, while the paprika not only brightens the colour to that gorgeous deep red, but also adds to that Spanish flavour.

HOW TO MAKE ROMESCO SAUCE

This is a quick and easy sauce recipe, that almost warrants no instructions at all, but there they are, nonetheless! Begin by toasting the almonds. Add the almonds to a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir until almonds are browned and you can smell the aroma. Remove from heat and transfer the almonds to a shallow plate to cool.

Once almonds have cooled, add all of the ingredients, including the cooled almonds, to a food processor. Pulse until well blended and smooth. Transfer to a clean mason jar and keep refrigerated. Will keep fresh for up to one week.

PUTTING ROMESCO SAUCE TO USE

So now that you have this lovely romesco sauce, what are you going to do with it? Pasta is one very quick and easy way to go, but this recipe makes quite a bit of sauce, so you might have a lot left over. Don’t worry, Dear Reader, romesco sauce works in so many other ways.

If you’d like, you can try smearing this sauce onto your bread instead of mayonnaise or mustard when making your favourite sandwich. The smokiness will add such a great flavour to ham and roast beef sandwiches. It’s also really great on fish and chicken.

Try marinating your fish or chicken into some of the romesco sauce. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. When ready, grill the fish or chicken until just cooked. You’ll love the sweet roasted bell pepper taste, along with the smokiness and heat. If you don’t have a grill, just place the fish or chicken onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until cooked through.

YES, YOU MUST TOAST THE ALMONDS!

There is really only one steadfast rule that you should totally abide by when preparing this romesco sauce. Whatever you do, do not skip the toasting of the almonds. It’s super easy to do and adds so much more flavour to the sauce. In reality, whenever cooking or baking, you should always toast nuts a bit first before using them. Trust me on this!

To toast the almonds, place them into a dry skillet and over medium heat, stir them around just until you can smell the woodiness and they start to turn a golden brown colour. Once you see that colour change, remove them from the hot pan right away and onto a shallow plate. This will stop the toasting process and prevent the almonds from burning.