Quick Romesco Sauce

This quick romesco sauce is going to become your new go-to sauce. It’s great on salads and meat, or even as a dip for your favorite crudité!

This can’t-stop-eating-this romesco sauce has become one of my favorite sauces. It’s light, fresh, flavorful, and great on sandwiches, pasta, and more!

Traditional romesco sauces were made in Spain just south of Barcelona with a mortar and pestle. The sauce was added to cooked fish to give it a bold, rich flavor. It’s an easy recipe to make at home with your blender or food processor.

I love the Trader Joe’s Romesco Dip, but now that I’ve been making this at home, I can’t go back! This recipe is sweeter, fresher, and even lighter on your macros. It’s also extremely easy to whip up. And for those of you who are sensitive to spicy foods, I’ve created this romesco sauce recipe to be just the right amount of spicy.

The sauce will last about a week in the fridge, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll finish it up well before then!

Different Ways to Use Romesco Sauce

There are so many different ways to use romesco sauce, you can’t go wrong with drizzling it on just about any protein.

Here are 5 different ways I love to use my homemade romesco sauce:

1. Use as a pasta sauce. I love being able to transform boring pasta into something spectacular with this simple sauce.
2. Pair with a protein. This romesco sauce recipe tastes great on just about anything, but I love to put it on chicken, steak, or fish. (check out how I pair with steak in these yummy pitas)
3. Spread on tacos or sandwiches. Tacos and sandwiches are staples at my house, and I love adding this romesco to switch things up without adding a lot of extra work. It’s perfect for leftover protein like these quick, blackened chicken sandwiches I whipped up with leftovers.
4. Use as a dipping sauce. This sauce is a great dip for your veggies or crackers!
5. Drizzle on salads. I love adding this to my salads when I have it in the fridge for that extra kick of flavor. Seriously! If you want a specific salad recipe, I love this Salmon Romesco Salad.

There are so many different ways to use this sauce, and I keep discovering more! Let me know how you like to use this sauce in the comments below!

Romesco Sauce Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe are so simple and easy to find! Not to mention, romesco sauce is gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan!

So here’s what you’ll need to make this sauce:

• Jarred roasted red peppers
• A can of Rotel or fire-roasted tomatoes
• Roasted, salted almonds
• Red wine vinegar
• Fresh Garlic cloves (or use frozen cubes)
• Fresh parsley
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• A small amount of Fresh Parsley or Cilantro (optional)

Optional Romesco Sauce Ingredients

There are a few different versions of romesco that use extra virgin olive oil to enhance the creaminess. Extra oil is always delicious, but I don’t feel like this romesco sauce recipe really needed it. And as an added bonus, not adding oil helped keep things pretty light! Of course, feel free to adjust this recipe according to your tastes. Just know it’ll also affect the macros, if that matters to you!

I’ve found that I really love this romesco sauce made with parsley OR cilantro. You can’t go wrong with either. You might think the cilantro would make it taste too much like salsa, but it really doesn’t! Instead, it’s sweeter and nuttier, and the cilantro plays so well against the roasted red bell peppers. Think of it more as a roasted tomato and roasted red pepper pesto.

Also, a quick note, people ask about using different almonds. I love the flavor of the roasted almonds, but if you choose to use toasted almonds or regular almonds instead, there might be some minimal changes in the macros.

How to Make Romesco Sauce

This romesco sauce comes together so fast! You don’t even have to get out a knife or cutting board, so easy. All you’ll need is your blender or food processor!

Here’s the step-by-step process of how to make romesco sauce…

1. Start by placing all of your ingredients into your food processor.
2. Process until you reach your desired consistency. I like to leave mine a little chunky, so it’s more like salsa.
3. Enjoy! If you don’t use all this sauce right away, you can store in the fridge for up to one week.

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I love to make this quick romesco sauce once a week so I can have it on hand to add to a variety of different meals. I’m telling you, don’t sleep on this recipe. You’ll absolutely love it.

Serving Suggestions

You’re going to love this easy romesco sauce on chicken, fish, steak, tacos, and sandwiches. Lately, I’ve been loving it on almost every salad I make. It would work great as a dip, too! Try it as a dip for carrots, celery, peppers, and crackers. The possibilities are endless!

If you need some more inspiration, here are a few recipes this romesco sauce would be great with:

• Easy Blackened Chicken Tenderloins
• Fresh and Healthy Taco Salad (This recipe calls for Trader Joe’s Romesco sauce, but this romesco sauce would be even tastier!)
• Summer Salad with Arugula, Basil, Pasta, and Crispy Chicken
• Easy Baked Chicken Parmesan Sandwich (I would sub the jarred marinara this recipe calls for with this quick romesco sauce; depending on the sauce you’re using, this romesco sauce will probably fit your macros better anyway!)
• Salmon Romesco Salad
• Steak Pitas with Romesco and Whipped Herb Feta
• Steak and Arugula Salad

For more recipes, make sure to sign up for my email list! That way you’ll never miss my new macro-friendly recipes! And you can get my FREE macro-friendly appetizer e-book.

More Dip and Sauce Recipes

This isn’t my only macro-friendly sauce! Light sauces are the KEY to not feeling ripped off when eating macro-friendly food. I love to keep 1-2 sauces in the fridge to use throughout the week.

I haven’t found too many light store-bought sauces that I really love, so I’m constantly trying out new homemade recipes!

So if you’re in the mood for something different, try one of these sauce recipes:

• Lightened Up Chimichurri
• Creamy lemon basil dressing
• Jalapeno Avocado Dressing
• Lightened-up Creamy Cilantro Lime Ranch
• Trader Joe’s Lentil Dip

For more macro-friendly sauces, you can find them on my blog, in my cookbooks, or in my weekly dinner meal plan!

Quick Romesco Sauce

I love having this quick romesco sauce recipe in my fridge to add to just about anything. Seriously, it’s so good. I could eat it by the spoonful!

It makes all of my salads, tacos, sandwiches, etc. so much yummier without adding a ton of extra calories, which is great when I’m trying to keep my tracking tight. Having a protein prepped in the fridge with 1-2 sauces is game-changing when it comes to macro-counting and eating macro-friendly.

If you want to make eating macro-friendly easier, make sure to get my weekly dinner meal plan subscription here. And I know all we need is another subscription, but I honestly think this one is an amazing deal! You can even get the first 7 days free.

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And don’t forget, if you make this quick romesco Sauce, be sure to tag me on Instagram @lillieeatsandtells! I want to see what you serve it with. I love to see what you’re cooking!

Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read the full privacy policy here.