Pasta with Roasted Pepper Sauce & Pumpkin
Everything roasts together in one pan — bell pepper, red onion, and pumpkin at 200°C for 15 minutes. Then they split. The pepper and onion go into an immersion blender with a raw clove of garlic and become a smooth, roasted pepper sauce. The pumpkin stays whole.
That separation is the entire trick. Silky sauce underneath, caramelized pumpkin on top, tossed through whole wheat penne with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. 543 kcal, 30 minutes, and the kind of roasted depth that usually takes longer to build.
Everything roasts together in one pan — bell pepper, red onion, and pumpkin at 200°C for 15 minutes. Then they split. The pepper and onion go into an immersion blender with a raw clove of garlic and become a smooth, roasted pepper sauce. The pumpkin stays whole.
That separation is the entire trick. Silky sauce underneath, caramelized pumpkin on top, tossed through whole wheat penne with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. 543 kcal, 30 minutes, and the kind of roasted depth that usually takes longer to build.
Ingredients
- pumpkin (frozen) 6 ounces
- bell pepper 1
- red onion 0.5
- Italian seasoning 2 teaspoons
- olive oil 1.5 tablespoon
- penne, whole wheat 3 ounces
- garlic 1 clove
- balsamic vinegar 0.5 tablespoon
Method
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Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
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Thaw the pumpkin pieces.
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Cut the bell pepper lengthwise into sections and remove the seeds. Cut the onion into wedges.
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Spread the pumpkin, bell pepper, onion and Italian seasoning in a roasting pan and drizzle with oil. Toss together and season with pepper and salt. Roast the pumpkin mixture in the oven for 15 minutes until cooked.
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While the vegetables are cooking, boil the penne according to the directions on the package. Save some cooking water, then drain the penne.
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Blend the bell pepper, onion and garlic into a puree in a tall bowl using an immersion blender. If the mixture isn't smooth enough, add a little cooking water. Season with pepper and salt.
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Mix the pepper puree with the pasta and serve in a deep plate. Top with the roasted pumpkin and drizzle with balsamic vinegar to taste.
The garlic goes in raw — not with the roasted vegetables. Blending a raw clove into the hot pepper and onion puree tempers its sharpness without losing the bite. Roasted garlic would melt into the sauce and disappear behind the sweetness of the peppers.
Behind this recipe
Is 15g of protein enough for a dinner?
15g is on the lower end for a main meal if building or maintaining muscle is the goal. Research on per-meal protein has examined how much your body can direct toward muscle building in a single sitting, and 15g sits below the thresholds most of those studies start at. This works well as a lighter evening meal or alongside a protein-rich side.
Read the full evidence reviewDoes roasting at 200°C damage the olive oil?
No. Short-duration roasting at this temperature is well within olive oil's working range. There's a broader question about whether cooking changes olive oil's beneficial compounds — research has looked at this directly, and the answer is more reassuring than most people expect.
Read the full evidence reviewCan I use regular pasta instead of whole wheat?
Yes. The calorie count stays close. The main difference is fiber — the whole wheat penne in this recipe accounts for most of the 10g of fiber per serving. Regular pasta will drop that number but won't change the sauce or the cooking process.
