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Nothing is better than a bowl of creamy spaghetti but it’s even better when served with homemade sweet potato pasta sauce! This easy weeknight recipe combines roasted sweet potatoes with smoky, roasted red peppers for a pasta sauce that will knock your socks off!
Pasta and sweet potatoes make a wonderfully delightful combination! I think it works especially well for cooler fall days when you’re craving something warming and satisfying!
I love to make a big batch of pasta sauce that I can use throughout the week! Adding this one to the mix really changes things up and excites the tastebuds.
If you need more easy pasta dishes for meal planning, I think you’ll love this vegan pasta primavera and this spicy tomato basil pasta.
Don’t forget to add on a simple side dish, like this vegan focaccia bread or an easy cucumber salad.
Why This Recipe Works
- Great flavors. This easy pasta dish has it all. Smokiness, sweetness, and creaminess are all from one amazing vegan pasta sauce.
- Healthy and nutritious. Lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants such as vitamin C in the red bell peppers and vitamin A in the sweet potatoes.
- Easy recipe. Most of the cooking for this meal is hands-off! Plus you can meal prep it to make things even easier.
What Goes Into This Recipe
Let’s take a look at the simple ingredients you will need to gather to make sweet potato sauce for pasta.
- Red bell pepper: Definitely use a red pepper which is sweeter than other colored peppers.
- Sweet potato: Lightly sweet and creamy for the perfect pasta sauce.
- Spaghetti: This dish works great with long noodles! But of course, you can use any pasta you prefer. Just be sure to cook it according to the package instructions for al dente pasta.
- Oil: Any neutral flavored vegetable oil works.
- Aromatics: Onion and fresh garlic cloves.
- Plant-based milk: Make sure you are using plain and unsweetened milk. Any variety of plant milk will work but I prefer to use one that’s more neutral in flavors such as soy and oat milk.
- Nutritional yeast: Perfect for adding ‘cheesy’ flavor to vegan dishes. Learn more about nutritional yeast, including how to store it and use it!
- Smoked paprika: This spice is the perfect pair for a bit of extra smokiness to compliment the roasted bell pepper and sweet potatoes.
How To Make Sweet Potato Sauce for Pasta
- 1) Before getting started, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and gather up all your ingredients.
- 2) Poke a few holes into the red pepper and roast in the oven on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes. Then add the sweet potato to the baking sheet and bake for another 20 minutes.
- 3) While the vegetables roast, cook the pasta according to package instructions.
- 4) In a large skillet, heat the oil and saute the onions until fragrant and translucent. When they become tender, add in your garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- 5) When the roasting is complete, remove the tray from the oven and allow everything to cool. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove the skin from the pepper and take out the seeds.
- 6) Blend the roasted and sauteed vegetables in a blender until a smooth and creamy sauce is formed.
- 7) Toss the sauce with the cooked pasta and serve!
Expert Tips and FAQs
- Need to make this dish quicker? Roast the bell pepper and sweet potato ahead of time. Then pick up with cooking the pasta and preparing the sauce. The sauce will need to be heated over low heat before combining it with the cooked pasta.
- Have leftovers? Store the sauce and pasta separately in the fridge for up to five days. Reheat the sauce in a saucepan on low heat and drop the pasta in boiling water for just a few seconds to quickly heat them up.
- Cook your pasta just until al dente. For the perfect texture when mixed with sweet potato sauce for pasta.
- No sweet potato? Make it with butternut squash or pumpkin.
What flavors work well with sweet potatoes?
If you’re looking for ways to jazz up this sweet potato pasta sauce even more, add some chilies, fresh or dried, toasted walnuts to the top, a squeeze of lime juice, or even some fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary, or sage on top.
Variations
Want to change your vegan pasta sauce up? Here are some of my favorites.
- Add some greens. Saute the greens separately and stir them into the sauce after blending!
- Want a creamier sauce? Use coconut cream instead of plant milk!
- Add a protein on top! Crispy chickpeas, breaded tofu, or white beans would be great options.
- Add more crisp roasted sweet potato cubes on top!
- Want low carb? Opt for zucchini zoodles or serve with a protein pasta option!
More Sweet Potato Recipes
- Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake
- Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries
- Vegan Sweet Potato Salad
- Sweet Potato Biscuits
Photos by Alfonso Revilla
Sweet Potato Pasta Sauce with Spaghetti
Nothing is better than a bowl of creamy spaghetti but it’s even better when served with a homemade sweet potato pasta sauce! This easy weeknight recipe combines roasted sweet potatoes with smoky, roasted red peppers for a pasta sauce that will knock your socks off!
Ingredients
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 large sweet potato peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
- 12 ounces of spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- ½ of a medum sized onion diced
- 3 large garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup of unsweetened, plain plant-based milk
- 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
- ¾ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Stab a few holes into your red pepper and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add the sweet potato to the baking sheet, and bake for another 20 minutes.
- While the vegetables roast, cook your pasta according to package instructions.
- In a large skillet, heat the oil and saute the onions until fragrant and translucent. When they become tender, add in your garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- When the roasting is complete, allow it to cool and then remove the skin off your pepper and take out the seeds.
- Blend the roasted and sauteed vegetables in a blender until a smooth and creamy sauce is formed.
- Mix the sauce into your pasta.
Notes
Notes: Serve with your favorite herbs or vegetables.
- Need to make this dish quicker? Roast the bell pepper and sweet potato ahead of time. Then pick up with cooking the pasta and preparing the sauce. The sauce will need to be heated over low heat before combining it with the cooked pasta.
- Have leftovers? Store the sauce and pasta separately in the fridge for up to five days. Reheat the sauce in a saucepan on low heat and drop the pasta in boiling water for just a few seconds to quickly heat them up.
- Cook your pasta just until al dente. For the perfect texture when mixed with sweet potato sauce for pasta.
Nutrition
Calories: 307kcalCarbohydrates: 58gProtein: 10gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 0.5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gSodium: 381mgPotassium: 434mgFiber: 5gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 8743IUVitamin C: 28mgCalcium: 86mgIron: 1mg
Additional Info
Tried this recipe?Please tag us at @PlantBasedOnABudget! 🙂
Great recipe! We didn’t have any smoked paprika so we substituted smoked salt and used Kashmiri chili powder (it has a little spicy kick).
WOW! It was good.
The only issue we had was that the recipe instructions are missing a few steps.
The instructions as written do not indicate when to add the plant based-milk, nutritional yeast, paprika and salt & pepper – we added this to the blender stage (Step 5 in the recipe instructions.). We just had a snow or I would have added fresh sage from the garden (it’s covered by 2 feet of snow right now) but I think sage would be a great addition!
Thanks for this easy recipe. We made a full recipe and had a lot of leftover sauce, so we’re going to try to freeze it. I’ll let you know how it worked out.
Great flavour. It will be going into our rotation!
So glad you enjoyed it! Let us know how it goes with freezing it!
Can this recipe be frozen? If not how long will it keep for in the fridge? Thank you.
PS: looks very yummy
You could freeze the sauce itself, and make some fresh noodles when you warm it up. Or you can also store the sauce and pasta separately in the fridge for up to five days. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
My husband is craving pasta tonight and our old sweet potato sauce recipe is loaded with fatty butter. I am really excited to try this new sauce. The print feature let me change the number of servings, and automatically adjusted the ingredient amounts! Genius! This is my new favorite website.
Love to hear that! So glad you guys enjoyed this sauce!
This recipe is absolutely fabulously! I made as is and it’s perfect. I sprinkled more smoked paprika on top to serve.
So glad you gave it a go! Love the added smoked paprika on top!
This is such an interesting pasta dish but looks like it would taste delicious and be super nutritious
This recipe is genius!
Yessss! Such a yummy and veggie packed delicious pasta!
My new favorite way to enjoy pasta! I never thought to mix sweet potatoes with pasta, but it really works!
Love how the smokiness of the peppers, the richness of the nooch and the sweet potato’s creaminess all work together here to make a perfect sauce.
Yessss – such a yummy combination of delicious flavors all in one!
Love this veggie heavy pasta sauce! Makes me feel good eating it knowing I’m getting lots of nutrition!
my kind of spaghetti! love this easy, creamy, delicious sauce!