Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (No-Cook!)
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Oct 10, 2025 
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce – Not only fantastic for dipping chips and veggies, bagels, toast, and sandwiches, it is a quick no-cook SAUCE for pasta, zoodles, and grilled meats!
Why We Love This Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
This Roasted Red Pepper Dip started out with a bag of bagels. I had bagels. I had cream cheese. Yet something was missing.
What could possibly make cream cheese even better? You guessed it… Roasted reds, baby!
A puree of cheese, roasted red peppers and spice makes a tangy Roasted Red Pepper Dip that begs to be slathered over bread and veggies.
It transforms a plain turkey sandwich into something AMAZING.
Plus, after making it a few times I discovered it also acts as a fabulous No-Cook Red Pepper Sauce for pasta or raw vegetable noodles. It doesn’t have any tomatoes in it, so this pasta sauce has the flavor of peppers and it super creamy and flavorful!
You can thin it out by simply stirring in a little broth, water, or reserved pasta water to make it smooth creamy low-effort high-impact sauce that tastes amazing on everything.
Ingredients You Need
This easy no-cook recipe requires only 5 ingredients (+ salt) and less than 5 minutes to make.
- Cream Cheese
- Roasted Red Peppers drained and dried
- Hot Smoked Paprika
- Garlic Clove
- Cayenne Pepper + Salt
How to Make This Red Pepper Sauce
First, you have to roast your red bell peppers! This will lend a smoky taste to the sauce. Chop the red bell peppers and remove the seeds and white pith. Place on a baking sheet with the skin side up, and broil in the oven until the tops of the peppers are black.
Then, to remove the skins, place them in a ziplock bag to let them steam in the bag and allow the skins to loosen. Take them out of the bag and gently remove the burnt skins.
Put all the ingredients into the food processor or a blender.
Puree or blend the ingredients until they are smooth.
Place it in a bowl for dipping, toss it with pasta, or spoon in over proteins.
It is literally one of the easiest and most delicious recipes you will find on this website! It is also one of my favorites!
How to Serve Red Pepper Sauce
You’ll find all sorts of delicious ways to enjoy it. Scoop it up as a pepper dip with raw veggies, pita wedges, or potato chips. Toss it with zoodles. Spoon it over grilled fish, pork, chicken, or steaks.
Or slather it on bagels and english muffins.
You might be asking yourself, if this is a pepper dip, then how does it turn into a sauce?
If you want to make this thick spreadable dip into a sauce for raw zoodles, then you just add ¼ to ½ cup water to thin out the dip into the sauce. Add as much liquid as you need to make it into your desired consistency. Then just add it to the zoodles and mix together for an amazing vegetable pasta dish! Top it off with parmesan cheese, a scrunch of black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Recipe Variations
- Make it mild! If you don’t like a spicy sauce, you can add less cayenne pepper or add a pinch of red pepper flakes instead.
- Make it vegan! For a vegan red pepper sauce, replace the cream cheese with a vegan cream cheese instead.
- Add some herbs! Blend some bright herbs like fresh basil or parsley into the sauce for an added herby flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I roast red bell peppers?
Roasted peppers is a fairly easy process. I have a whole post for How to Roast Red Peppers. All you have to do is follow this easy tutorial… It is much easier than you might think it would be! You can also find jarred roasted red peppers in your local grocery store or even off of amazon, just depending on what you would rather do!
Can you use any other cheese?
Yes! You can definitely make this with another type of cheese, it just needs to be on the creamier side and spreadable. Half the time I make this with goat cheese! It makes it a little more tangy, but SO GOOD. Mascarpone is also a good choice.
How should I store leftover red pepper sauce?
Store any leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days! You can also freeze it for later in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before heating up and using it!
Looking for More Sauce Recipes to Try? Be Sure to Also Try:
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 ounces cream cheese
- 12 ounces roasted red peppers drained and dried
- 1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a food processor.
- Puree until smooth.
So good
What a great blend of wonderful flavors, sweet, spicy, smoky, all in a nice creamy dip. I will have to try this at my next party! As always, lovely photos.
Thank you for this recipe – it is exactly what I was looking for to use as a spread on sandwiches. Today, my husband is taking a chicken sandwich to work that has this spread and thin-sliced cucumbers on it. I’m thinking this might also be good mixed into a pasta dish. I did add some mild Peppadews to the puree in order to give it just a hint of sweetness. Yum!
Love this dip idea & fun to put it on bagels too!
This looks great and I plan to use it for an Oscar party I am hosting. Thanks!
This spread looks and sounds delish. I’m filing this in the to-make. I usually buy red pepper hummus, but I’m loving the cream cheese factor vs the grabanzo bean base.
It looks FANTASTIC! i’m a HUGE fan of roasted peppers….not green – RED, YELLOW or ORANGE! YUM! Thanks for sharing and Happy Valentines Day!
Wow..you bowled me out with those red pepper recipes, Sommer….need to check each one out!
You definitely have a thing for red bell peppers. That is ok. I have a thing for chile peppers.
BTW, we just bought our first bag of Udi’s Bagels. Haven’t tried them yet. Will Friday morning. My son’s allergist suggested that we start getting gluten out of his life so I bought a package the other day. Can’t wait for him to try them. Glad for a good review. They are expensive, that is for sure.
Thanks for the Udi’s Community link.
Yum! This looks so wonderful! And, of course, the pepper heart is adorable :)
I wish I had picked up some bell peppers today…the dip looks great!
Oh that looks so, so delicious! Love the little pepper heart, too! :)