Roast Red Peppers

Store-bought roasted red peppers can be tasty, but they can't hold a candle to home-roasted red peppers. Roasting red peppers isn't difficult and brings out the natural sweetness of the peppers. Whether you're using your oven or a grill, you can roast red peppers a few at a time, or stock up when they are in season and inexpensive.

  • Prep time (Using Oven): 30-40 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 50-60 minutes

Ingredients

  • Red peppers
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Steps

Using Your Oven

  1. Pre-heat your oven broiler. While you do this, you can begin to prepare the peppers. Wash the red peppers under cool running water. Remove any labels or stickers. Alternately, you can turn your oven on to 400º-500ºF (204º-260ºC) if you'd like to cook them that way.
  2. Slice the peppers and remove the tops. Place the red peppers on a cutting board. Cut the top, stem-end off, making the cut straight across. Cut each red pepper in half lengthwise. Eat the stem end of the pepper or put it in the refrigerator to use later. Use a paper towel or spoon to scoop out the seeds from the pepper. Leaving the seeds on won't harm you, but the peppers may not taste as good with the texture of the seeds getting in your way.
    • Some people just roast 'em whole and then cut them up and remove the seeds. This will work too, but it will make the peppers a bit more difficult to work with. If you do this, you'll also have to manually turn those peppers every few minutes, so you'll be giving yourself a bit more work to do. It will also take more like 40 minutes to cook them whole instead of 20 to cook them when they are cut in half.
  3. Cover a baking sheet or cookie pan with aluminum foil. Place the red pepper halves on the aluminum foil with the skin side up. In the end, the skin will be charred, but you can peel it right off when you're done roasting the peppers.
  4. Move your oven rack to the highest notch, then place the baking sheet on the rack. The peppers will be directly underneath the broiler. Turn on your oven fan, as the peppers may be smoky. Some people like to cook the peppers in the upper third of the oven, so they have room to soften up a bit as they char. You can open a window in the kitchen to keep the air fresh too.
  5. Leave the red peppers under the broiler for about 20 minutes. Keep going until the skin of the peppers gets nice and charred. It doesn't have to be 100% black, but it should be mostly black. Leave your oven door open a crack and check them every few minutes. Turn the pan if some are turning black sooner than others.
  6. Remove the blackened red peppers from the oven. Using tongs, place them in a zip-close bag. Or you can place the red peppers in a bowl, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set the bag or bowl aside and leave the peppers to sit untouched for 20 minutes. Either way, you'll need to steam them a bit before you eat them so you can soften them up enough to remove the skin.
  7. Remove the skin from the peppers. Take each roasted red pepper from the plastic bag. The roasted peppers should be cool enough to handle, and the blackened skin should slide easily from the peppers.
  8. Put the roasted red peppers in a glass or plastic airtight container. Cover with extra virgin olive oil, or use the marinade of your choice, which can include salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. The roasted red peppers will keep in the refrigerator for one to two weeks. Use these peppers on sandwiches or in salads, or just enjoy them on their own.

Using Your Stove

  1. Turn your gas stovetop flame to medium. You can only use your stove to roast red peppers if it isn't electric. This method is ideal if you're just roasting one or two peppers and don't want to spend the time necessary for using your oven.
  2. Wrap your peppers in a double layer of aluminum foil. You can also use a single layer if you're using heavy duty foil. Just make sure that you've sealed your pepper nice and tight so that no parts of your peppers are directly exposed to the flame.
  3. Place the peppers directly over the top of the gas flame. Be careful when doing this. Make sure you stay in your kitchen the entire time and don't leave the peppers alone for a minute. You don't want juices from the peppers to get into the flame or for anything unexpected to happen. This method is easy, but it can be a bit messy, so it's important to watch over those peppers and to keep the juices from spilling everywhere.
  4. Roast them for 20-25 minutes. Use tongs to turn the pepper a quarter about every 4-5 minutes. This will ensure that the pepper gets a nice, even roast. After the 20-minute mark has passed, you can squeeze the pepper gently to check if it's ready. If it gives easily, it's ready; if it's a bit firm, you can roast it for another few minutes, checking on it every 2-3 minutes until it's ready.
  5. Remove the pepper from the stove and steam them. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes in its foil. It will steam in the foil; this will help the skins get nice and loose and will make them easier to peel.
  6. Open the foil. Be careful because it might still be hot. Gently use tongs to remove the pepper from the foil. It'll be soft, charred, and almost ready to eat.
  7. Prepare the pepper. Now, you've got to gently remove those skins, cut those peppers, and use a paper towel or spoon to gently scoop out the seeds. Cut up the peppers as thinly as you like and enjoy them in your favorite foods. They are delicious when covered with a bit of olive oil.

Using a Grill

  1. Wrap the peppers in foil. Wrap the peppers in two layers or one layer of heavy duty foil, making sure that you've got them completely covered. If you don't wrap them up, you'll still be able to roast them on your grill, but they can get a bit messy. You can, of course, just roast them without wrapping them if you don't mind the messiness.
  2. Place the peppers on the open grill over a medium gas flame. This will be hot enough to give them enough of a roast, but it won't be so strong that they'll get overly burned.
  3. Roast them for 15-20 minutes. Every few minutes, you should give them a quarter turn with tongs, just as you would do if you were roasting them over a gas grill. The peppers should feel charred and soft, and ready to collapse. This will let you know that you're finished. If they still feel tough, you can roast them for a few extra minutes, as long as you continue to check on them.
  4. Steam the peppers. Not done yet! Now you've got to carefully place the peppers in a sealed plastic bag or in a bowl covered with a plate so they can continue to cook and so that their skins become nice and soft and easy to remove. Do this for about 20 minutes if you want the peppers to be steamed to perfection. Then, you can cut off the tops of the peppers, gently remove the skin, and scoop out the seeds with a paper towel or fork and you're all done! Drizzle them with olive oil for best results.
  5. Finished.

Tips

  • Marinate roasted red peppers in an olive oil marinade. Mix olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar, finely minced garlic, with salt and pepper to taste. Add a bit of fresh basil, if desired.
  • Roasted red peppers can easily be stored in the freezer. Divide the roasted peppers into small batches, then place each bag in a small plastic zip-seal bag. Use the red peppers as needed.
  • If you use your stove, once the pepper has been roasted, but is still warm, put it in a freezer bag and tie the handle. Sometimes the steam causes the skin of the pepper to fall off on its own
  • Any type of pepper can be roasted, including yellow or green peppers, or hot peppers such as Anaheim chilies or jalapeno peppers.

Things You'll Need

  • Cutting board
  • Knife
  • Baking sheet or cookie pan
  • Aluminum foil
  • Tongs
  • Large zip-close bag or bowl and plastic wrap
  • Airtight plastic or glass container
  • Extra virgin olive oil or marinade

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Sources and Citations

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