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This healthy pasta recipe features spiralized sweet potato noodles tossed in a fast, dairy-free roasted red pepper sauce. It makes a delicious plant-based weeknight meal, and it’s great for allergy-friendly homes as it’s nut-free and gluten-free, too.
Spiralized sweet potato noodles are one of my favorite healthy pasta substitutes, because they have a comforting flavor and texture, while also providing loads of nutrition in each bite. (I use this spiralizer at home– it’s my favorite!)
Sweet potatoes are a good source of vitamin A and magnesium, which are thought to help protect against the effects of stress and aging, and they’re also loaded with fiber to help leave you feeling satisfied.
This dairy-free roasted red pepper sauce gets its “creaminess” from additional sweet potato, which I simply steam while my red peppers are broiling in the oven.
The combination of sweet red peppers, creamy potatoes, and a touch of sauteed garlic makes this sauce slightly sweet, a little spicy, and ultra comforting.
You can add any other vegetables you like to this quick noodle stir fry. My family is partial to adding fresh or frozen peas when we have them on hand, and we’ve also added sauteed mushrooms and asparagus, when it’s in season.
Since you can taste this stir-fry as you go, it’s hard to go wrong. Just be sure to season these “noodles” generously with salt and pepper, since you’re not using a traditional pasta (which traditionally has plenty of salt already included.)
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Noodles
- 2 large sweet potatoes , peeled (save 1/2 potato for sauce)
- 1 tablespoon butter or coconut oil
- 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
- sea salt , to taste
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 cup steamed sweet potato (mashed)
- 1 roasted red pepper
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Slice one of the large sweet potatoes in half, and cut that half into chunks so that you can steam them for the sauce. You'll need roughly 1 1/2 cups of raw sweet potato chunks to produce 1 cup of mashed sweet potato for the sauce.
- Steam the sweet potato by placing the chunks into a small saucepan fitted with a steamer basket and an inch of water. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot with a lid, and then lower the heat to let the potatoes steam until fork tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- While the potatoes are steaming, you can roast your own red peppers or use about 1/2 cup of jarred roasted red peppers.
- Use a spiralizer or vegetable peeler to create "noodles" out of the remaining sweet potatoes, then set them aside.
- To prepare the Red Pepper Sauce, warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and briefly saute the minced garlic, just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the cooked garlic to a blender, along with the steamed sweet potato chunks, roasted red pepper, water, basil, and salt. Blend until smooth.
- To prepare the sweet potato noodles, saute them in a touch of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add in the peas and sauce, and saute until the noodles are as tender as you'd like them to be. Adjust any seasoning to taste, and serve warm.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. To reheat, simply saute everything in a warm skillet again until piping hot.
Nutrition
Calories per serving: 378, Fat: 26g, Carbohydrates: 34, Fat: 26, Protein: 6g
Recipe Notes:
- Sweet potatoes come in two varieties– the classic orange color that people also call yams, and a type with white flesh. I think you can use these interchangeably, so feel free to use whichever type is easiest for you to locate. I used orange fleshed sweet potatoes for the noodles, and steamed white sweet potatoes for the sauce, because I already had those pre-steamed for my baby to eat, as well.
- Because this is an easy skillet meal, feel free to make any modifications you see fit, and just taste as you go. You could use zucchini noodles for a lower-carb noodle, and steamed cauliflower instead of the potatoes in the sauce, if you like. Just adjust the seasoning as you see fit!
- If you’re in a hurry, you can skip sauteing the garlic for the red pepper sauce, but it will have more of a spicy bite that way!
As always, please leave a comment below if you make any modifications, so we can all benefit from your experience.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite way to serve sweet potatoes?
What an amazing recipe…it definitely makes me want a spiralizer…do you find they are easy to use? easy to clean? worthwhile? Happy Friday!!!
Yes, I really LOVE my spiralizer. I’ve had two different kinds over the last 4 years, and this one is definitely the best! (this brand: http://amzn.to/xnvn05)
It’s easy to clean and use, and now that I’ve discovered sweet potato noodles, I have a feeling I will be using it all the time! 😀
Ohhhhhh, I LOVE this!! Such a great idea! I’m making a chicken cacciatore for my BF tomorrow and was trying to think of how I could make it more detox friendly for myself. I will definitely be trying these sweet potato noodles as a base for the veggie sauce!! Yum! You are so creative!!
That sounds delicious! Hope you enjoy your “noodles!” 😉
sounds heavenly!! roasted peppers are so good. and we still need to try using sweet potatoes as our ‘pasta’ looks delicious!
This was my first time trying it, and I’m sold! 😀
Love the new header!
Thanks!
I didn’t know about roasting peppers in the oven! I feel like tons of new possibilities are now available to me!!!
Yes, it’s SO easy! I know other recipes call for roasting the WHOLE pepper for 45 minutes or more, and I’m way too impatient for that.
Hope you enjoy some roasted peppers soon! 😉
Yum! Can’t wait to try it!
I didn’t know you could buy roasted red peppers! I have always roasted my own when I make sauces.
Keep on roasting ’em! I have a feeling the homemade version tastes WAY better than any jarred kind anyway. 😉
Wow do I ever wish I read this before my grocery trip! This looks to die for delish!!! I don’t have a spiralizer, are they easy to find at kitchen stores? I’m not sure I could wait for amazon to ship it to me…. gotta make this one sooooon! (think my kids will love it too).
Thanks ~ YUM
They might carry them at a specialty kitchen store… I’ve never seen one at a big box store, though. Make sure you get the Paderno brand (linked above) that’s pictured, because it makes the BEST noodles! I used to own the Joyce Chen brand, but the noodles got really mushy, and wouldn’t hold up well for recipes like this.
Hope you get one ASAP! 🙂
I have the Paderno but struggled making sweet potato noodles. The spiked end that holds the vegetable just shredded the heck out of the sweet potato but wouldn’t actually grip it. Any tips?
Make sure you cut off the end of the sweet potato, so the spiked end is going into a wide, flat surface for the most grip. Then you have to use a good deal of arm power to keep pushing the potato towards the blades, so the grips don’t slip! Sweet potatoes are probably the most challenging vegetable to spiralize, but once you practice at it, it does get a lot easier!
Thanks so much. I’ll give that try. Can’t wait to try this recipe.
This looks and sounds amazing!!!
Yum to the max. and I actually love eating the black part of the red pepper skin 😉