Easy Roasted Red Pepper Aioli Recipe with Garlic
This delicious roasted red pepper aioli uses a base of mayonnaise with fresh garlic cloves and jarred roasted red peppers for a sauce that’s as easy as it is delicious! With the help of a food processor or immersion blender, it’s ready in only 5 minutes and gets better overnight in the fridge.
About this aioli
This recipe is a variation on my popular cheater’s garlic aioli. While “true” aioli is made of an emulsion of garlic and olive oil, it’s time consuming and very difficult to do without breaking the emulsion. Sometimes people use an egg yolk to help emulsify the mixture.
But we’re going to take a shortcut and start with something that’s already an emulsion of egg yolks and oil: mayonnaise. (Most aiolis you find in restaurants are just flavored mayo anyway.)
From there, we can add the fresh garlic cloves, fresh lemon juice, a bit of extra virgin olive oil for flavor, and pureed roasted bell peppers. I also add a dash of cayenne pepper.
Ingredients
How to Make Roasted Red Pepper Aioli
Step 1: Make a garlic paste. Mince your garlic cloves or press them through a garlic press. Sprinkle kosher salt on top on a cutting board and use the flat of a knife to scrape the salt into the garlic. Repeat until you have a fairly smooth paste. I’ve included more details and step by step photos in my garlic aioli recipe post.
Step 2: Prepare the roasted red peppers. I don’t mean roasting them, although roasting your own red peppers would certainly take this sauce to the next level! I mean dicing them and most importantly, squeezing any excess liquid out of them.
Place the diced peppers on a paper towel or clean kitchen towel and squeeze. You don’t need to be gentle since they’re going to get pureed anyway. Get as much water out as you can to avoid a runny aioli.
Step 3: Puree the ingredients. Add the mayo, garlic paste, roasted red peppers, lemon juice, olive oil, and cayenne pepper into the bowl of a food processor or an immersion blender cup. Blend until smooth.
Step 4: Store it or enjoy immediately! Refrigerating overnight will help marry the flavors, but I don’t blame you if you want to use this right away. I’ve got some great ideas for how to use red pepper aioli.
How to Use Roasted Red Pepper Aioli
Aioli is a super versatile condiment! Here are a few of my favorite ways to use it:
- Drizzled over steak
- On a steak sandwich
- On a grouper sandwich
- As a sauce for grilled salmon (like my favorite blackened salmon!)
- With asparagus or artichoke hearts
- As a “special sauce” on a hamburger
- As a dipping sauce for fries
- On crab cakes
More sauce recipes you’ll love
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Roasted Red Pepper Aioli Recipe with Garlic
Print Recipe Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 whole roasted red pepper
- dash cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Finely mince garlic cloves or smash them through a garlic press. Place on a cutting board.
- Add kosher salt and smash together with the garlic with the flat of a chef's knife, scoop it into a pile, and smash it again until it forms a relatively smooth paste.
- Dice the roasted red pepper and place in a paper towel or clean kitchen towel. Squeeze out any excess liquid (otherwise your aioli will be runny). You don't have to be gentle with it, since you'll be pureeing it anyway.
- Add garlic paste, mayonnaise, lemon juice, olive oil, roasted red peppers, and cayenne pepper to an immersion blender cup or the bowl of a mini food processor. Blend until smooth.
- Spread on a sandwich or enjoy as a dip! Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week.
