Pair Roasted Tomatoes With Chipotle In Your Next Pasta Dish

If you want to add Mexican flare to your next pasta dish, there are two ingredients that will accomplish the fusion of cuisines with incredible flavor. You might like sweet bell peppers in pasta, but chipotle peppers will add spice and smokiness with a Mexican touch that can then be balanced with the addition of roasted tomatoes. It's an easy meal to pull off by following Tasting Table's roasted tomato and chipotle cream pasta recipe created by developer Miriam Hahn, who ensures that the combo gives you a sauce "so good you could almost eat it with a spoon."

Chipotle peppers, which come from red jalapeños that are ripened in the sun, can be quite spicy, so the roasted tomatoes in Hahn's recipe will balance some of the intensity. That's because by perfectly roasting tomatoes you release their natural sugars and turn them slightly sweet. The smokiness of the two ingredients allows them to complement one another, while those differences in sweetness and spiciness add depth to the dish. To effortlessly combine the flavors, you'll mix the tomatoes and chipotle peppers with additions like garlic and Mexican oregano in a blender to make a sauce.

To follow our recipe, you'll need two chipotle peppers for every four servings. Now, if you are serving people that are sensitive to heat, reduce the quantity to one pepper. You might think it's necessary to remove the seeds to temper the spice factor, but it's actually the mushy white pith inside the pepper that packs the heat due to capsaicin. So, if you're worried about spice levels, remove the pith with a spoon. The adobo sauce in which the peppers are often packed provides smokiness; add a spoonful of the sauce for additional flavor. Alternatively, step up the heat with an extra chipotle or two, or add other ingredients often used to spice up pasta dishes like crushed red pepper flakes.

Don't hesitate to customize our recipe with other ingredients that will lean further into the Mexican inspiration with spiciness and smokiness. Use chorizo or spicy Italian sausage to add more heat, or use sweet Italian sausage for balance. To give it a try, make our one-pan orecchiette with sausage recipe and replace the crushed tomatoes with roasted while also adding the chipotle peppers. For any sensitive eaters, extra parmesan can neutralize some of the kick from the smoky and spicy notes.