How to Roast and Skin a Red Pepper

Published on Thursday, February 7, 2008, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

How to Roast and Skin a Red Pepper

There are plenty of uses for roasted red peppers, and though a jar of them will do in a pinch, freshly roasted and skinned peppers are easy enough to do yourself. This method involves a little more energy than others—a little dinner-prep calisthenics.

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  • An alternative method is to place the whole pepper on the burner and turn them as the outside skin on each side blackens and blisters. (Be careful that the flesh does not brown or blacken). Keeping the peppers whole, means you can roast four at a time on a conventional four-burner range. Also, the bag step can be skipped. I find this steams the peppers and dilutes the hearty, slightly smoky...+READ

    An alternative method is to place the whole pepper on the burner and turn them as the outside skin on each side blackens and blisters. (Be careful that the flesh does not brown or blacken). Keeping the peppers whole, means you can roast four at a time on a conventional four-burner range. Also, the bag step can be skipped. I find this steams the peppers and dilutes the hearty, slightly smoky flavor imparted by the flame roasting. Instead, let the peppers rest for a few minutes on a cutting board. When they're cool enough to handle, peel the skin by rubbing the charred skin off with your finger tips or the spine of a paring knife. Discard the seed clusters, but try to keep the yummy juices from inside the pepper. Keep a jar of roasted peppers in the refrigerator stored in their own juice, salt and olive oil. They are a bright accent to many dishes, tasty in salads and fantastic on tuna or chicken sandwiches. They will keep for about a week this way, but in our household they're gone well before.-COLLAPSE

  • Simple...yep...looks like a great workout too!

    Jonny
    www.SundaySauceNY.com

  • we oven roast, as I'd prefer not to drip any veggie acids on my rangetop. 10 mins under the broiler on a piece of foil. Nothing else. counter cool for 3 mins, then peel. We've found this to be a more uniform cook then the burner method.
    Why waste the water, the plastic bag and the gas, especially since the oven was just used in our case.

  • Simple but great idea.

  • I agree with itsapeugeot: I usually roast red peppers in the oven (no gas here) with a bit of olive oil until the skin is blackened and then plunged them in cold water to remove the skin. I've also peeled them first and then roasted them (following a Marcella Hazan recipe), and obviously used no cold water during this. I noticed no difference in the taste between the two techniques.

  • I actually ate that pepper after it had been washed off and can attest that it completely retained the roasted flavor. definitely something to try out and it see if it works for you though.

  • WTF? Take them to the sink and wash them?

    Great idea. Go through all this trouble and then wash away all the flavor so that it's tastes just like a non roasted pepper.

  • roast poblano peppers. they are awesome

  • 7AM and I've already learned something today. I guess I can go back to bed. Thanks for great idea.