Jarred roasted red peppers are one of those things I often don’t have on hand when I need them. Can you relate? It’s the same story with several other things, which is why I developed the very best recipes for items like tahini paste, marzipan/almond paste, teriyaki sauce, Chinese black bean sauce and hoisin sauce. Not only can I whip them up whenever I need them, they taste about a gazillion times better than the store-bought stuff!
But back to roasted peppers. Does anything beat the flavor of fresh peppers that have been charred and blackened in the oven? Roasted peppers are one of those things that make the culinary world go round. If you’ve added them here and there to spruce up your dishes you know exactly what I mean.
How Do You Use Roasted Red Peppers?
Lots of ways! Add them to your pasta salads, potato salads, tossed salads. Add them to your sandwiches, place them on bruschetta or add them to a pasta dish.. Make a roasted red pepper aioli or add them to your next batch of hummus. Make a roasted red pepper pesto with the usual ingredients (pine nuts, basil, garlic, Parmesan, etc) and enjoy it on crackers or tossed in pasta. Puree them with some almonds and cream and chicken stock for a delicious pasta sauce. Or puree them with some cream cheese for a cracker and veggie spread. Add them to a tapenade, on pizza or flatbread. Fold them into omelets or frittatas. Add them to a potato hash or your favorite chicken casserole. The sky’s the limit!
Here are just a few recipe examples featuring roasted red peppers:
Portuguese Potato Hash with Linquica, Peppers & Olives
Roasting your own peppers is the perfect way to put a bumper crop of peppers to use or to take advantage of those grocery store sales.
This method for roasting bell peppers works for most kinds of peppers. All peppers vary in their thickness of skin and flesh and so roasting times will vary, you’ll need to check on them. But other peppers that work well for roasting are Poblanos, Anaheims, Hatch-style chiles, paprika chiles, jalapenos and pimientos.
Let’s get started!
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place the oven rack on the top position about 4 inches under the broiler.
Cut the peppers in half and remove the stems, seeds and membranes.
Lay the peppers on a foil-lined baking sheet, cut side down. Parchment paper is considered safe up to 400 degrees without the risk of scorching, but I often push the limits to 450 degrees. If you want to remove all risk, use foil.
Roast the red peppers for 15-20 minutes or until the skins are very dark and have collapsed.
There’s no need to rotate or turn the peppers.
Once the skins are blackened remove the peppers from the oven.
At this point most people recommend placing the roasted peppers in a paper bag to steam for about 10 minutes to help loosen the skin. I’ve never found that to be necessary, but I guess it depends on how stubborn your particular peppers are. Simply let the peppers cool for a few minutes until comfortable enough to handle and then peel the skins off and discard them. They’ll slip off easily.
You can slice or dice the peppers in advance or store them in halves. Stored in the fridge in an airtight container they’ll keep for up to about a week. If you store them covered in oil in the fridge they’ll keep for at least 2 weeks. For longer storage you can freeze them in ziplock bags.
Enjoy your freshly roasted peppers!
How To Roast Red Peppers
Ingredients
- Bell peppers or other peppers of your choice (see note in description box above)
- A foil-lined baking sheet
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place the oven rack on the top position about 4 inches under the broiler.
- Cut the peppers in half and remove the stems, seeds and membranes.
- Lay the peppers on a foil-lined baking sheet, cut side down. Roast the red peppers for 15-20 minutes or until the skins are very dark and have collapsed. (There is no need to rotate or turn the peppers.) Once the skins are blackened remove the peppers from the oven.
- At this point most people recommend placing the roasted peppers in a paper bag to steam for about 10 minutes to help loosen the skin. I've never found that to be necessary, but I guess it depends on how stubborn your particular peppers are! Simply let the peppers cool for a few minutes until comfortable enough to handle and then peel the skins off and discard them.
- You can slice or dice the peppers in advance or store them in halves. Stored in the fridge in an airtight container they'll keep for up to about a week. If you store them covered in oil in the fridge they'll keep for at least 2 weeks. For longer storage you can freeze them in ziplock bags.
Toni says
doesn’t removing the skin completely defeat the purpose — ?? the char on the skin is what provides the roasted flavor isn’t it??
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Toni, the charred/black skin is burnt and bitter and should be removed. In removing the skins the charred flavor will have penetrated through the entire pepper but you won’t have the burnt/bitter flavor.
Jon Richt says
Hi Kimberly,
I agree with your comment about the charred skin needing to be removed – but I’d add that having a LITTLE left on the peppers is completely acceptable. Part of the flavor of roasted red peppers is a bit of the char. You’ll even see specs of it in the jarred stuff you can find at the grocery store.
Sorry to nitpick. For cooks like myself who aim for perfection, the small details matter. If a person were to take the time to remove all traces of charred skin from the peppers they’ve roasted, it’d taste great – but not as authentic as you’d find in the Mediterranean.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Jon, yes, a little is absolutely fine. I always a few small stubborn bits that don’t want to come off and I personally like the appearance of those specks of black in the dishes I’m using the peppers in.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Jon, yes, a few remaining bits of charred skin is absolutely fine. I like the appearance of those black specks, it adds to the aesthetics of the dish I’m using the peppers in.
Mariela Gonzalez says
do I need to take the skin off bell Peppers? Is there a taste difference?
Thank you
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Mariela, the skins will be burnt and should be removed or you’ll have a burnt flavor.
Mariela Gonzalez says
thank you for your reply. one more question.
I was advised to cut the bell pepper in half and the to slice that in half again. Then flatten it with the hand and slice of the inner whit film from the inside of the bell pepper.
this is supposed to make the pepper taste better.
After this you may roast the peppers.
Is this really necessary?.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Mariela, no I don’t think it’s necessary. I’d be surprised if anyone could taste a difference. You can experiment and try it both ways at the same time – do some one way and some the other way and then compare the flavor.
Joan Trzcinski says
Have you ever used the liquid that comes off when roasting the peppers?
Anonymous says
I’m pretty sure it would be a great in a salad dressing or tomato or vegetable soup…. or tomato sauce….. waste not, want not
Callie says
I use the liquid, absolutely! It’s a terrific crowd pleaser on store bought hummus, whether it be regular hummus, roasted garlic, or my fav flavor- the roasted red pepper hummus. Roast a variety of your choice of bell peppers, but make sure to include some green bell peppers, they really give the hummus a sharp and freshly-made tang. I use about 1oz of the juice run off and to that I add a pinch of salt, 2-3 tsp of fresh lemon juice (roughly-as much lemon juice as you can squeeze from a 1/4 or 1/6th sized chunk of a lemon (depending on the size and type of lemon), and a few dashes of paprika. Give it a brief swirl with the far end of a spoon to dissolve and disperse the salt and paprika. Put your hummus into the vessel you’re going to serve it in, if not using the original container, and then press the spoon into the hummus a few times to create a depression (or a bunch of them) and pour the mixture into them. Some aesthetically pleasing pleasing and tasty optionals: bit of horseradish, a few drops of hot sauce, sprinkle with tiny pieces of cut chives or dill; my crew’s must-have is fresh cilantro.
A few final notes:
1. If you don’t have roasted pepper juice run-off, gently scrape the green areas inside of a fresh green pepper to release some of the meat and the juice, and proceed with that, it’s just as good-if not better. Scrape using the tip of a teaspoon-if you’ve got a grapefruit spoon, even better.
2. If serving alongside a fresh and very crusty bread, or a drier kind of cracker like Melba toast or a wheat/multi-fiber pita-you’ll want to add a little drizzle of olive oil, about 1/2tsp or so (yummy substitute-steal a bit of the oil out of a jar of refrigerated, minced garlic; if you have some). Adding olive oil doesn’t so much alter the flavor, but decidedly improves the mouth feel, and it prevents the more highly absorbent types of breads from quickly sucking up half of your mixture, the oil will also increase the volume of your batch.
3. You can omit the salt to accommodate the very health conscious, those on calorie or sodium-restricted diets will VERY much adore the infusion of sharper flavor-that doesn’t come with a side of guilt. This recipe also makes a terrific, tasty, low-to-no calorie salad dressing. Try it on a leafy spring greens mixture with baby spinach: make as directed and customize with a bit of garlic pesto, black pepper, olives, a dash or two of Parmesan cheese or herbed feta crumbles.
You can experiment with all of these ingredient measures to best suit your personal tastes. Every single time I’ve served this hummus add-on to a crowd someone has cornered me wanting to know how I make it and what’s in it. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.
Julie says
This has become my go-to method for roasting red peppers. It’s so much simpler than the broiling recipes where you have to watch every second. (Thank god for the ability to search Chrome’s history. lol.) A couple of things to add:
1. Sometimes my peppers are stubborn, and even after 20 minutes, they only have a couple of black spots. In that case, I just blast them with the broiler for 2-3 minutes, and carry on.
2. Stubborn peppers again: for peeling, I just taken them out of the oven, put ’em in a pile on the baking sheet and put a pyrex bowl over the top for about 10 minutes. (Gave up on brown paper bags long ago.) It doesn’t hurt them, if they don’t need that extra help to make them easy to peel, but it’s a lot more dependable and less of a PIA than the paper bag method, for times when steaming is necessary.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Julie, thanks so much for the tips and feedback!
Dawn says
Oh my, I just tried this with 10 beautiful peppers & they look nothing like yours. They are so flat & like nothing worth saving? What could have gone wrong?
Bonnie says
Dawn, I have had a fear of roasting red peppers. They have turned out like yours with the flesh being very thin. I determined it was a fear of high temp. Today I made sure the temp was 450F (actually over, had to turn it down). I sat on the floor & didn’t leave them. I flattened them quite a bit. They ‘burned’ fairly quick. My husband distracted me so I don’t know how long they took. They ‘burned’ up extensively & beautifully, leaving the thick flesh underneath. Let them cool & peeled them quite easily. Even tho there weren’t any burnt bits left they were very tasty & difficult not to gobble up right away. So, crank up the heat & don’t leave them! ( :
Anita says
Thank you! I have always let the peppers steam in a bag before removing the skin. BUT, I did it your way and it was SOOOOOOO much easier!!! The skin just pealed right off. I roasted mine in my airfryer – 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Came out perfect!!!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Anita, thanks so much for the feedback!
Denise Thaller says
My gas oven has the heating element at the bottom of the oven only. Unless I turn on broiler. Broiler is on top. Do I still put the peppers on the top position, 4″ from broiler. That instruction confused me as I’m not broiling them right?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Denise, yes, you can put it on the top position and use the broil function – just keep a very close watch on the peppers.