I adore roasted peppers. Like adore them. Maybe it's because I've spent a good deal of my life in the Southwest, but I find the smell of roasting peppers delicious and intoxicating. When peppers are on sale I have a hard time resisting. It is so, so easy to roast up a few while I'm puttering around the kitchen and then squirrel them away in the freezer. I'm consistently amazed at how easy it is to roast peppers, and they freeze terrifically. I like to stock up when peppers are on sale and roast a whole mess at once. It is also a great way to use up the slightly shriveled specimens you find at the back of your fridge that you had every intention of using for whatever dish but never quite got around to making. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this!)
Although "roasted peppers" typically means roasted red bell peppers, don't limit yourself! Any kind of pepper can be roasted. Some of my favorite peppers to roast are bell peppers (any color works here!), jalapenos, and Hatch chiles.
So what do you do with them? Roasted peppers can be used just about anywhere you'd use a non-roasted pepper. Roasted hot peppers are great in salsa and chili. I love roasted bell peppers in sauces, pasta salads, and on pizza. Be creative!
There are several ways to roast peppers, and you'll find loads of tutorials with a quick Internet search. Here's how I like to do it.
The method
When you roast peppers you are essentially blistering the skins off of the peppers and roasting the pepper flesh with intense, direct heat. The peppers should be very close to the heat source. The most flavorful method is on a grill, either charcoal or gas. If you don't have access to a grill (like me), the easiest method is straight under your broiler. I've seen people roast the pepper directly over the burner flame of a gas stove, but I don't recommend it. I find this method to be really messy and kind of awkward.
The roasting
Pre-heat the broiler and give it a good 5 minutes (at least) to heat up really well. You want the peppers to start roasting immediately.
Assemble your peppers and given them a quick rinse and then dry very well. In these photos I used a few bell peppers and three red jalapenos. A coworker gave me a big bag of jalapenos from her garden and these three slightly shriveled peppers were all that remained. Perfect candidates for roasting!
Line a baking sheet with foil (half-sheet pans from the restaurant supply store are the best) and add your peppers. I like to space them out a bit at first, as it allows for more even roasting.
Get your pan as close to the broiler as you can and let the peppers roast at first for a good stretch - about 5-8 minutes. Don't open the door! You want the peppers to get good and hot. After the initial roast, start checking your peppers a little more regularly. Once the skin is blistered (it will start to separate from the pepper flesh) and skin has many large black spots, rotate the peppers to expose the next section. The skin may even begin to split open during the roasting. This is a good thing. Continue to check and rotate the peppers.
As the peppers soften they will collapse so you'll need to nestle the peppers against each other to prop them up and keep the un-roasted sections exposed. Let them be friends; you'll be eating them soon and they need the support. If the peppers have thicker ends (like the yellow pepper below), you will need to stand it upright on both ends so the bottom and tops get nice and roasted.
Here they are about halfway through.
Smaller peppers with thinner flesh (like the jalapenos above) roast up much more quickly than the bell peppers, so keep a closer eye on them.
Your peppers are done once they are blackened all the way around and most of the skin has separated and wrinkled. Here they are just before I took them out of the oven. I had already removed the jalapenos and positioned the yellow pepper upright to make sure the bottom roasted well.
The peeling
Once they are done you want to let them rest in a closed environment. Transfer the roasted the peppers to a paper bag and fold the top over a few times OR transfer them to a large bowl and cover them with plastic wrap or a plate (my favorite method). This serves two purposes: (1) the residual heat from the peppers will steam the skin off, and (2) they will cool down enough to handle. Let them rest for around 10-15 minutes (depending on your patience or level of forgetfulness).
This next part gets messy! One at a time, peel the skin off of the peppers. The skin should peel off pretty easily at this point and the goal is to get most, if not all, of it off. Leaving behind a few small pieces of stubborn skin won't do any harm, but those more diligent than me are welcome to scrape off the offending skin with a sharp knife. Just don't rinse the peppers to try and get the skin off. You'll rinse off some of the flavor!
WARNING: If you are peeling hot peppers (basically anything other than bell peppers), I highly suggest using plastic gloves for this part. Even though the peppers are cooked, the pepper heat may seep through your skin so that you taste peppers for hours or you may get a heat rash. Or both. (Speaking from experience here.)
If you find that the skin simply won't come off of the pepper, the pepper likely didn't get roasted enough. No biggie. Just roast that section of the pepper again for a few minutes then let it stem in a bag or covered bowl for a few minutes and the skin should come off easily. The first time I roasted peppers I had to re-roast about half of the batch and I still occasionally have to pop one under the broiler for a few minutes.
Once the skin is removed, pop out the stem with your fingers or a knife.
Next I like to remove the seeds and veins. (Some people don't bother with this so feel free to skip if you'd like.) Split the pepper open with a sharp knife. The interior will still probably be steaming hot, so be very careful and don't burn yourself! I usually let the pepper sit for 30 seconds to one minute and that seems to cool it down enough. Scrape out the seeds and whatever veins you can get. You will not get all of the seeds but get as many as you can. Set aside to cool completely.
If you want to freeze them, proceed with the next step. If not, congratulations! You are now the proud owner of freshly roasted peppers!
The storing
Roasted peppers freeze really well. Let them cool completely, wrap each pepper individually in a double or triple layer of plastic wrap, put them all in a freezer storage bag, and stash in the freezer.
Done!!
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