Creamy chipotle pasta with peppers and corn
Smoky chipotle in a creamy tomato sauce with sweet peppers and corn, finished with lime, cilantro and salty cotija.
- 30 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.68 a serving
- 550 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced, plus 1 tbsp of the sauce
- 12 oz penne
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 lime, juiced
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- ¼ cup cotija cheese, crumbled
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp ground cumin
Each serving has about 550 calories, 17 g protein, 83 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $1.68 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No penne? Rigatoni or elbow macaroni works.
- No frozen corn? Canned corn works.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add the salt, cover and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
While it heats, the pepper and onion, the garlic, and one chipotle pepper.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Dolly’s tip: One pepper is plenty. Freeze the rest of the can in a small bag for next time.Cook the penne 1 minute less than the package says.
High heatTimer: 10 min
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large over medium-high. Cook the pepper, onion and corn 5 minutes, stirring, until soft and lightly browned.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the garlic, chipotle, adobo sauce and cumin for 30 seconds, then add the tomato sauce and cream cheese and stir over low heat until smooth.
Low heatTimer: 2 min
Scoop out 1 cup of , then the penne.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Add the penne and ½ cup and until creamy, then squeeze in the lime juice.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Low heat
Serve topped with cilantro and cotija.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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