How to Roast Peppers

When you roast peppers over high heat, their skins blacken and blister. Peel it off and you'll find a treasure below: sweet, tender flesh with a pleasantly smoky taste. Any fresh pepper can be roasted, but those with thick flesh, such as bell peppers and jalapenos, work best.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Peppers
• Metal Tongs

1. Select a heat source. Peppers are best roasted over a live fire, such as a gas burner or a charcoal or gas grill. Lacking those, you can use a broiler.

2. Turn the heat to High (or turn on the broiler).

3. If using a broiler, cut the pepper in half and remove the stem, veins, and seeds. Place the pepper on a broiler pan.

4. Coat the pepper lightly with oil.

5. Broil for 5 to 7 minutes, or, using metal tongs, place the flesh of the pepper directly in the flame of the burner or as close to the heat source as possible.

6. Rotate the pepper as the flesh closest to the heat blackens and blisters.

7. Remove the pepper when it has blackened completely.

8. Place it in a bowl and cover to allow it to steam (or put the peppers in a paper bag and close it).

9. After 15 to 20 minutes, scrape off and discard the blackened skin.

10. Remove and discard the seed pod, stem and inner ribs before using.

Tips & Warnings

• When one part of the skin has blistered and turned black, try to keep it away from the heat while you blacken the rest of the pepper.
• The pepper should be very black. In fact, it will look burned, but if done properly and quickly, only the outer skin will blacken, and the flesh of the pepper will remain its natural color.
• To preserve as much of the smokiness and roasted flavor, try to scrape the skin off and discard it without rinsing the pepper in the sink.
• Roasted peppers can be eaten as antipasto, pureed into a sauce, or used almost anywhere fresh peppers are called for.
• If roasting peppers indoors, make sure your kitchen is well ventilated.
• Don't hold metal tongs in the heat for very long. They can heat up and possibly burn you.

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on 10/3/2008 I just followed your directions and made some excellent roasted peppers under the broiler. The peppers were black on top but not the rest. The peppers were juicy. Thank you for your directions.

on 9/16/2006 When I broil or toast peppers over a flame, I find it more convenient not to cut them up first. If you do, lots of the water contained in the pepper starts to flow. It's easier to handle a whole pepper when it comes time to peel.

If you are not seeking the blackened taste, you can stop the heating process much faster when the skin is just blistered and black in parts. You don't need to get the whole thing black to get the skin off. The paper bag (or plastic bag or bowl) method to let them steam a little is a very good tip.

Finally, try the microwave with whole (not cut up) peppers. I don't know what timing to recommend, but I have seen friends heat them up in the microwave in an appropriate plastic bag and then have them right out of oven.

Again, the point here is to get the skin off, not to get a blackened flavor. Peppers are great even without that smoky taste. Try marinating the skinned strips in good olive oil with a crushed clove of garlic and oregano. I don't think the Italians were looking for the smoke when they invented that!

on 11/22/2005 Heat the oven to 525 degrees. Place peppers on an oiled cookie sheet. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until they turn completely black. You can leave them alone, but when they are black, remove them. It's not necessary to turn them. Put them in a plastic bag and let them cool until you can handle them. The blackened skin will then just peel off.