Romesco Sauce! Roasted red peppers, plum tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, parsley, salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice? Put this on everything = food goals achieved.
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So good. Not just for summer. Took this with roasted baby potatoes to a party, and everyone loved it. And we appreciate that it’s naturally (or accidentally) vegan.
Here’s the deal. This beautiful thing I’m showing you is called Romesco Sauce and it is in the business of saving the Summer Meal.
You know, the Summer Meal for the day when you’ve been outside all day or a lot of the day or, to be honest, none of the day (!!!!) which means that now it’s 6pm and you need to get outside ASAP because SUMMER IS AMAZING. It’s the day when the best possible meal would be one that could involve as little time as possible indoors.
In This Post: Everything You Need To Know About Romesco Sauce
- Watch How to Make Romesco Sauce
- Ingredients in Romesco Sauce
- How to Make Romesco Happen
- What to Serve with Romesco Sauce
- Romesco Sauce: Frequently Asked Questions
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?

Related Terms –> Grills. Sunsets. Margs. Chicken. Brats. Veggies. Sangria. Decks. Potatoes. Burgers. Juicy Lucys (Minnesota represent). Friends. Music. Smores. Bonfires. Help I can’t stop drinking romesco sauce.

Ingredients In Romesco Sauce
- Roasted red bell peppers – you can make your own and we’ll all be proud of you! But it’s summer and the whole point here is to NOT spend a ton of time in the kitchen so the rest of us will be over here with our jarred roasted red peppers and we’ll be proud of ourselves, too.
- Plum tomatoes – canned is fine but HECK YES it’s summer and HECK YES there are tomatoes growing in your garden and HECK YES you can use them here. Bonus! Take your sauce to the next level and roast your tomatoes.
- Almonds – they make it more textured and thick and generally just satisfying and interesting, which is just how I like my food.
- Olive oil – we’re talking creamy-like emulsion here. DREAM COMING TRUE.
- Lemon juice, garlic, parsley, and salt – the makers of good tasting food.
How To Make Romesco Happen
Let’s get this happening up in your life right now. Big flavors ahead!
Do you have a blender? And do you have a small spatula to preserve every last lick? Awesome – then we are set. Let’s blend!
Plop these items in your blender or food processor. Give them a go-round a few times till everything gets nice and friendly with each other. ANNNNND GO.


And just like that, you made the ultimate sauce with which you can create hundreds of summer meals. YOU ROCK!
What To Serve with Romesco Sauce
Do we even need to talk about what this sauce could be paired with or is your mind already spinning with ideas? (Leave a comment I’m greedy for your ideas 👇 )
Most recently, I had this Romesco Sauce over chicken mozzarella meatballs (but for real) and crispy potatoes which basically makes the BEST combo for meal prep. In case you’re wondering, I made broccoli to go with it which conveniently got charred to a crisp and wasn’t able to join the party. Some things are just not meant to be, amiright?
Romesco sauce plus grilled chicken slash grilled ANYTHING with a shmear of this over top sounds amazing. Maybe even just this dip by itself? We’re here for it!
A lil’ romesco drizzle on top of cauliflower? Yep. Tossed with some pasta? Uh-huh. Over a poached egg?? BIG YES!
This is the lifesaver of the Summer Meal and I think you’re going to love it because around here we are lovers of all the sauces. Cheers to you and your Romesco Sauce adventures. Go forth and be saucy!

Romesco Sauce: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you could sub in sunflower or pumpkin seeds/pepitas. Some classic romesco sauces actually use a piece of crusty bread to thicken the sauce as well, so that’s an option as well if you’re not gluten-free!
Look at you, fancy! Yes, you can. A jar of roasted red peppers *should* be about two peppers, but feel free to weigh out 12 ounces after roasting.
Yep! Highly recommend those summer-fresh tomatoes though.
This will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Yes! If frozen, it will keep for about 6 months.
5 Minute Romesco Sauce
- Total Time: 7 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups sauce (about 4 servings) 1x
Description
Romesco Sauce! Ready in 5 minutes and perfect for serving with grilled chicken, vegetables, crispy potatoes, eggs, and more. Made with roasted red peppers, plum tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, parsley. vegan / vegetarian.
Ingredients
- one 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
- 4 small plum tomatoes
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of half a lemon
Instructions
- Pulse everything together in a blender until it’s texturally right for you (I like it right between chunky and smooth – I leave a little texture with the almonds, but it’s mostly a smooth emulsion).
- Serve hot or cold with grilled chicken and vegetables, crispy potatoes, eggs… the possibilities are endless.
Notes
You can used sliced almonds but since you’ll be able to pack more into a cup, use about 3/4 cup vs. the whole almonds where you would use a full cup. This is a very forgiving recipe. Add or subtract as you like, but the almonds do help thicken the whole thing so don’t omit those!
If you have a nut allergy, try sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds instead.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 2 mins
- Category: Sauce
- Cuisine: Spanish
Keywords: romesco sauce, easy romesco sauce
More Roasted Red Pepper Recipes
- Mediterranean Quinoa Bowls with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (fresh and easy to prepare)
- Creamy Red Pepper Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes (with a sauce that’s simple to prep!)
- Creamy Garlic Roasted Red Pepper Pasta (made with our fave summer veg – zucchini!)
One More Thing!

This recipe is part of our Sauces That Make Everything Better roundup. Check it out!






This was such an easy, quick and healthy recipe! Husband love the fresh flavors! Definitely a keeper! Thank you!
Could I use chives instead of parsley, or another herb?
Yes!
It’s recommended, and I agree with it, that you should roast the almonds first. I roast everything first, then blend. It’s really richer.then. thx. This is so good, with a little imagination, I have used this as a base for criollo sauce. Yum.
Thx again, A
This is easy and delicious. I added everything EXCEPT the oil, parsley and lemon and it was so good that my tasters voted to stop there. I mostly used almonds but finished off some pepitas as well. Yum! I am serving it with roasted cauliflower.
Delicious and the Romero sauce is beyond brilliant. I will be using that for everything I can think of.
Just made this and it is so delicious! I just want to be left alone with it and a crusty loaf of bread.
This would make a great food gift. How would it be prepared for gifting – freezer, refrigerator, canning process – means it would be heated to get the seal…
Thanks for reply…..
Hi Selena! We’d recommend prepping it for the fridge or freezer. We haven’t tried canning it!
Question: a cook time of 2 minutes is stated at the beginning but it does not appear in the detailed instructions.
No need to cook the sauce unless you want to serve it warm! Thanks for pointing that out!
So this was delicious buuuut I will say there was some confusion about the tomatoes used. The recipe says “4 plum tomatoes” which are apparently the same as Roma tomatoes, however in the video it looks like the tomatoes are a bit bigger than cherry tomatoes. Needless to say I made WAY too much. Any clarification to the tomato type in the ingredient list would be awesome.
Super late to the party but just made this sauce and its so delicious, added some smoked paprika too and so glad I made loads so I can save the rest for other things! Thanks so much for posting!
So glad you enjoyed the romesco, Eve!
I love ur sauce
Love at first bite.
This sauce is amazing! I made it last night and have put it on everything I’ve eaten since!
Do I have to add the oil?
We’d strongly recommend it or the texture will be off.
This was so good and easy! First time making Romesco sauce and had it with fish and it was great.
Fantastic! Could eat with a spoon!
🎉
Great recipe! Besides almonds, what other nuts can you use?
You could try subbing pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead of almonds. Enjoy!
How long will this keep in the fridge?
We’d say it could keep for about 1 week in an airtight container. It’ll keep even longer in the freezer. 😉
Can you use canned diced tomatoes? If so how much?
We haven’t tried this before to know, but we’d suggest using one 14-ounce can if you try it out!
In the Penedes region we use it for escaroles winter salad, called Xato
This recipe is so good, and so easy. I subbed sunflower seeds for the cashews. I will be using this for everything!! 😍
YUM! Sunflower seeds sound good!
So good. Not just for summer. Took this with roasted baby potatoes to a party, and everyone loved it. And we appreciate that it’s naturally (or accidentally) vegan.
YUM!
Reminds me of muhammara, a very similar sauce but without the tomatoes and with a couple of other differences. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/muhammara-10982.
I doubled the garlic and lemon and increased the salt after tasting a couple of times. I didn’t have as much parsley as it calls for but still yummy.
Glad you enjoyed the sauce, Barb!
How long will this keep in the refrigerator?
Should keep for about a week!
Almonds aren’t nuts, dried pits of a peach family. Did it with Cajun grilled swordfish, roasted potatoes and asparagus