Blistered Padron Peppers are a delicious, 10-minute authentic Spanish tapas recipe that's incredibly easy to make with just 3 ingredients. About 1 in 10 of these peppers are hot, so it's a game to see who gets a hot one! Enjoy these cooked Spanish pimientos de Padrón with a cold glass of beer or as a starter to a hearty meal.
We love serving them for a Spanish tapas night, along with Spanish Beans, Sopa de Ajo (garlic soup), or Spanish Tortilla.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy appetizer that’s made of vegetables and ready fast, then this recipe for blistered pimientos del Padron is the perfect food to make.
Padron peppers originated in northwestern Spain. They are small and green and look similar to a flattened jalapeno pepper or a shishito pepper. These peppers have a mild garden pepper taste for the most part unless you get a spicy one!
About one out of every ten Padron peppers are as spicy as chili pepper and there’s no way to tell except by tasting. This makes this appetizer even more fun! We love playing padron roulette at home to see who gets a hot one.
For this recipe, you’ll simply blister the peppers by frying them up in a hot skillet with olive oil until they are blistered, lightly charred and hot. They then get served as is or with your favorite dipping sauce or on their own with a little sea salt.
Serve Blistered Padron Peppers tapas-style or as an appetizer to keep everyone on their toes!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
This classic Spanish appetizer is made with just 3 simple ingredients.
All you need is 10 minutes of time to get these tapas on the table from start to finish.
Padron peppers are a fun food to eat as you’ll be wondering who is lucky (or unlucky!) enough to get the spicy pepper. We consider ourselves lucky when we get a hot one!
You can serve them as an appetizer or cut them up for soups, or you can put them over a bed of rice or your favorite grain.
Ingredients
You only need 3 simple ingredients for this dish!
- Padron Peppers - You’ll need about 3 cups of peppers to make this dish.
- Olive Oil - This cooking oil is used to pan-sear the peppers to get them hot and blistered.
- Sea Salt - Enhances the flavor of the blistered peppers once cooked.
Please see the recipe card below for quantities.
Instructions
Wondering how to make this blistered Padron peppers recipe? It's easy! Just follow this step-by-step photo tutorial. Then, scroll down for the recipe card for the full ingredients list and recipe method.
Prepare the Padron Peppers: Soak or rinse the peppers in cold water to remove any dirt or impurities. Discard any peppers that have bruises or mold.
Heat the skillet: In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. The oil should be shiny and lightly smoking when ready.
Blister the Padron peppers: Using tongs, add the peppers to the hot skillet and allow them to sear on all sides turning occasionally. The peppers are finished cooking when they are hot and blistered with black or brown on the outside.
Serve: Remove the peppers with tongs, sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately by themselves or with a dipping sauce.
Top tips
Before pan searing your peppers, make sure they are fully dried after washing. A dry surface area will help them cook easier.
A cast-iron skillet is the best way to blister these peppers as it holds heat evenly. But use whatever pan you have!
Make sure the skillet is not overcrowded as you don’t want the peppers to steam and become soggy. You may need to cook these peppers in batches and add more oil as necessary.
Serving Suggestions
Serve blistered padron peppers on their own, with a dusting of sea salt.
Spanish pimientos de Padrón tastes great when served with a zesty dipping sauce such as Alabama White BBQ sauce, Cane's Sauce or Copycat Zax Sauce. Perfect with Marinara too.
Toss some into this Vegan Chili Mac & Cheese for some fresh pepper flavor and green color.
Make a pitcher of refreshing Vanilla Mango Soda to serve alongside the peppers as a cooling treat.
Serve with some cold beers or a jug of Sangria.
Variations
Drizzle with a bit of Chili Garlic Oil after cooking for even more flavor and spice.
A pinch of smoked paprika on the finished peppers adds a delightful smoky flavor note.
Can’t find Padron peppers? Shishito peppers make an excellent alternative that’s almost identical!
Flaky sea salt on top such as Maldon salt makes an excellent presentation and gives the peppers a rich salty bite.
Storage
Storing: Cooked peppers are best served immediately, but any leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-4 days to be chopped up and repurposed in other recipes.
Freezing: Because the pepper is already cooked, the texture will not hold up well once thawed. Therefore, freezing is not recommended.
FAQs
While they have very similar characteristics and tastes, they vary in shape slightly. Shishito is the Japanese version of Padron peppers.
Most are very mild in spice. If you happen to get one of the hot peppers (around 1 in 10), the spice level is similar to jalapeno or mild chili pepper.
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📖 Recipe
Blistered Padron Peppers
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups (500g) padron peppers
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Heat the oil until hot, then add the padron peppers and fry, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until blistered and hot.
- Serve warm sprinkled with a little sea salt.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors, so is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietician for special diet advice.
Wayne Lind
Hope I get the hot one! sounds good, will hunt down the peppers. My wife makes me cook out side when I have scrambled eggs . I fry up peppers from hell and she chocks from the fumes.
Thanks for the recipe
Wayne Pepper Head
Nakusp B.C.
Canada
Michele
I'm from Texas and so I'm used to roasting all kinds of peppers. However, I was not familiar with Padron peppers. Thank you for introducing them to me. I followed the recipe and blistered them, and they were wonderful. Ours were not too spicy, which is quite a nice contrast from the other hot peppers that we have down here. Thanks for the recipe. I'll be making these from now on.
Beth Sachs
We're having a tapas night soon so I will be giving these beautiful padron peppers a go for sure!
Alisa Infanti
One of my new favourite low cal snacks instead of chips. So good.
Shashi
I love blistered peppers and these are making my mouth water! Simply delicious!