Try this easy romesco sauce for steaks, pan grilled chicken, fish and vegetables. It’s a fast sauce recipe packed with flavor that will make any dish taste like it’s restaurant quality. Let’s make it!
What is romesco sauce?
An authentic romesco sauce recipe is made with fire roasted tomatoes and red pepper as a base. This version is a super quick romesco sauce without tomatoes that uses roasted red pepper, almonds, lemon juice, and garlic cloves.
Why this is the best romesco sauce recipe
- Super quick recipe.
- Learn exactly how to roast peppers for romesco sauce.
- Use it on anything. Add it to your favorite dishes or smear on toasted bread or pita.
- Add leftovers to crockpot recipes with main ingredients like chicken or beef.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make it.
- Red peppers (or try orange bell peppers)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Fresh garlic
- Almonds (or try pine nuts or hazelnuts)
- Lemon juice
- Smoked paprika
- Cilantro
How to make romesco sauce
It comes together pretty fast – here’s how to make it.
Quick recipe overview
- Season and oil whole red peppers and add them to a baking sheet.
- Drizzle garlic in a foil packet with olive oil, and add it to the baking sheet, too.
- Roast red peppers and garlic then transfer roasted red peppers to a bowl, let cool, and remove the skins, seeds, stems.
- Toast almonds on the stove.
- Add all romesco sauce ingredients to a food processor. Pulse / blend romesco sauce to your desired consistency.
- Top with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and enjoy.
Detailed instructions
- Preheat oven to 500°F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with foil.
- Coat the whole red red peppers with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add peppers to the baking sheet.
- Add peeled garlic cloves to the center of a large piece of foil. Drizzle with olive oil, and form a ball shape around the garlic (keep the seam up so the oil stays in the packet). Add the garlic packet to the baking sheet.
- Roast red red peppers and garlic for 15-20 minutes, flipping the red peppers halfway through, until all sides are roasted and beginning to char. When done, set aside the roasted garlic packet. Add the roasted red peppers to a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let ingredients steam inside the bowl for about 10 minutes.
- Add almonds to a medium sized pan (without oil) on the stove. Set the burner to medium-low heat and toast almonds for 4-5 minutes. Stir almonds every 30-60 seconds so they don’t burn. Once toasted almonds are golden brown and fragrant, take them off the heat and set aside.
- Remove the plastic wrap from the red peppers. Carefully (they may still be hot so try using a fork and knife) remove the pepper skin, stems, and seeds.
- Add roasted red peppers, toasted almonds, roasted garlic cloves, garlic olive oil, lemon juice, and smoked paprika to a food processor. Pulse a few times, scrape down the edges, then blend romesco sauce so it’s a little bit creamy, but still has texture – the exact consistency is up to you. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.
- Top romesco sauce with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and use romesco sauce on steak or other food immediately at room temperature, or store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Creative recipes using romesco sauce
Here are more ways to use romesco sauce…
- With grilled fish like grilled striped bass, cod, or halibut
- As a dipping sauce for raw vegetables
- As an appetizer spread for grilled bread or pita
- As a condiment for chicken sandwiches or turkey sandwiches
- With sous vide shrimp or prawns
- As a sauce for grilled skirt steak, flank steak, or air fryer filet mignon
- With roasted vegetables, like cauliflower steaks
- Toss it in soups
- Freeze leftover romesco sauce to add flavor to slow cooked recipes
FAQs
You can freeze romesco sauce for later use. I like to place it in ice-cube trays, then, when they’re frozen, move them to Ziploc bags for future use. They’ll keep up to three months with no lessening of flavor or freezer burn!
A good romesco sauce will taste sweet and nutty, with a creamy thick consistency.
Romesco sauce goes well with vegetables, fish, chicken, or steak. Really: everything! I’ll serve it with baked barramundi, or with sous vide chicken breast, or on a sous vide t-bone steak.
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Meat thermometer recommendations
Every home chef needs a reliable meat thermometer to cook food perfectly.
On Sip Bite Go, you’ll often see me using:
- Meater thermometer – a fancy wireless thermometer that connects to a phone app – gifted to me from a Traeger partnership.
- ThermoPro digital thermometer – which has a wire that connects the thermometer to a display box outside the oven/grill.
It’s like being psychic! The great thing about either of the thermometers above is that I don’t have to take the food out of the oven to know the temperature.
How to use ‘em… What I do is stick the digital thermometer in steak, pork, chicken, whatever… Then put the food in the oven, on the smoker, or grill.
While the meat cooks, it reads the temperature so I know exactly what temp meat is as it’s cooking. Without having to take it out and check. It’s really difficult to overcook food when you know exactly what temp it is inside!
Why I wrote this recipe
One of my favorite dishes from when we lived in Maryland was at a tapas restaurant that served a delicious Mediterranean mezze platter with a classic romesco sauce and skirt steak.
I made a dinner reservation and ordered it every time I visited when I lived in the area. But now that I’m in Portland, Oregon I don’t make it back there much. Hence having to make it myself for my favorite sous vide steak recipes and other steak dishes.
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, hope that answers all your questions about making a tasty romesco sauce. To get my latest and greatest recipes before they’re shared on the site, connect with me on Instagram @sipbitego. And for more deliciousness, subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel and see the Sip Bite Go recipe collection.
Easy Romesco Sauce For Steaks, Chicken, Fish Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
- 2 medium red peppers whole
- 2 tbsp olive oil divided
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup almonds whole or pieces
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp cilantro fresh chopped (optional, for serving)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500°F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with foil.
- Coat the whole red peppers with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add peppers to the baking sheet.
- Add peeled garlic cloves to the center of a large piece of foil. Drizzle with olive oil, and form a ball shape around the garlic (keep the seam up so the oil stays in the packet). Add the garlic packet to the baking sheet.
- Roast red peppers and garlic for 15-20 minutes, flipping the red peppers halfway through, until all sides are roasted and beginning to char. When done, set aside the roasted garlic packet. Add the roasted red peppers to a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let ingredients steam inside the bowl for about 10 minutes.
- Add almonds to a medium sized pan (without oil) on the stove. Set the burner to medium-low heat and toast almonds for 4-5 minutes. Stir almonds every 30-60 seconds so they don’t burn. Once toasted almonds are golden brown and fragrant, take them off the heat and set aside.
- Remove the plastic wrap from the red peppers. Carefully (they may still be hot so try using a fork and knife) remove the pepper skin, stems, and seeds.
- Add roasted red peppers, toasted almonds, roasted garlic cloves, garlic olive oil, lemon juice, and smoked paprika to a food processor. Pulse a few times, scrape down the edges, then blend romesco sauce so it’s a little bit creamy, but still has texture – the exact consistency is up to you. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.
- Top romesco sauce with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and use romesco sauce on steak or other food immediately at room temperature, or store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
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