Roasted red peppers are a delicious condiment and a crucial ingredient in many recipes. They are not hard to make, but what do you do if you don’t have any red peppers in your kitchen? Are jarred roasted red peppers a suitable alternative? That is the subject of this Cooking Tip.
Red peppers are a type of sweet pepper. They are wonderful raw or cooked in many different savory dishes. A favorite way of using them is roasting them. There are various ways of doing this in your kitchen.
Oven method
- Preheat oven to 500°F.
- Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Wash the peppers and place them on the baking sheet.
- Many people will cut them in half, remove the seeds and ribs, and then place them flat on the baking sheet.
- Many others like to roast them whole as they feel you are less likely to get burned edges. They also find precut roasted peppers more difficult to peel.
- If whole, rotate the peppers every 10 minutes.
- Roast until charred on all sides and the skin looks wrinkled, 30-40 minutes.
- Once charred, remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the peppers to cool before peeling. Placing them in a covered bowl, plastic or paper bag, or even wrapping them in the cooking foil causes the peppers to steam, resulting in a softer texture. Many say it also makes them easier to peel.
- Leaving them uncovered to cool will give you a firmer texture.
- When cool, remove the stem and seeds, peel them, and use them in your dish as directed.
Grill pan or dry cast iron skillet
- Preheat the pan until very hot.
- Place the peppers on the pan and cook, turning as they char.
- Finish as in the oven method.
Directly over a gas flame
- You may also roast the peppers using the flame of your gas cooktop.
- Using tongs, hold the pepper directly over the flame, turning until all sides are charred.
- Finish as in the oven method.
Broiler
- Cut the peppers to lie flat, removing the stem, seeds and ribs.
- Heat the broiler with the rack 2½ to 3½ inches from the broiler element.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and lie the peppers on the sheet pan.
- Broil until the skin is charred but the flesh is still firm, about 8-10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
- Finish as in the oven method.
Grill
- You may also roast them on a grill, which is the method that will result in the most robust smoky flavor.
Jarred peppers are already roasted until they are charred and then peeled. They are shelf-stable until open. Are they a suitable alternative to homemade ones? Most chefs would say yes in certain preparations.
Make them yourself if you want to put them in salads, on a pizza, or on an antipasti plate. However, if you will be pureeing them into a soup or a sauce, the jarred variety will work fine. Just be sure that you like the taste of them and that you check for any ingredients that might have been added to the jarred peppers.
Supermarkets carry various brands in my area. Here are the ingredient lists for these brands. Note that some contain sugar, and one even contains vinegar.
Mt Olive
- Roasted red bell peppers, water, salt, sugar, citric acid
Mezzetta
- Peppers, water, sea salt, citric acid
Delallo
- Red bell peppers, water, salt, brown sugar, citric acid, calcium chloride
Safeway’s Signature Select
- Roasted red peppers, water, salt, citric acid, calcium chloride
Walmart’s Great Value
- Roasted red peppers, water, salt, citric acid, calcium chloride
Trader Joe’s Roasted Red Peppers
- Red peppers, water, sea salt, red wine vinegar
I looked for taste tests on jarred roasted red peppers. There were only a handful and they disagreed on which brand was best. Another problem with taste tests is that they often taste different brands, making it hard to compare results.
America’s Test Kitchen tasted them plain and in roasted red pepper soup. For plain, the tasters preferred firm, smoky and sweet peppers and those that were packed in a brine of only salt and water. Bottles that contained other ingredients such as vinegar, garlic and olive oil were felt to have an interesting flavor, but they also thought that the vinegar masked the red pepper flavor. In soup, the texture was not important, but tasters still preferred sweet and smoky ones. Those packed in vinegar gave a sour note to the soup. Their two preferred brands were Dunbars and Cento. Further down on their rating was Divina. They did not recommend Mt Olive or Mediterranean, among other brands.
Another taste test showed that Divina came out on top. Looking at the brands America’s Test Kitchen also tasted, they did not like Cento. You will note that this was one of the two preferred brands in the testing by America’s Test Kitchen.
Because there are not many taste tests and the above two are inconsistent, I recommend that you just do your own taste test and find one you like.
Whether you make your own roasted red peppers or buy jarred ones, what do you do with them? Here are a few ideas.
- Red pepper sauce – puree with or without additional seasonings. Use on pasta or meat.
- Romesco sauce: Pulse in a food processor with olive oil, sherry vinegar, toasted almonds, garlic, salt and pepper. Serve with raw veggies or crackers.
- Make a soup.
- Use on an antipasti platter.
- Add to salads.
- Use as a pizza topping.
- Make a delicious twist on hummus.
- Make a red pepper pesto.
- Use in a quiche or scrambled eggs.
- Throw in a summer veggie tart.
There is also a difference in cost between making your own and buying the jarred variety. Currently, in my area, one fresh pepper costs $1.59. The jarred ones vary from $2.15 for a 12 oz jar to $4.49 for a 16 oz jar. The first is $0.18 an ounce and the latter $0.28 an ounce. My fresh red pepper weighed 8 ounces. Not accounting for the weight of the peel, seeds and ribs, that price came to about $0.20 an ounce. Of course, with the fresh ones, there is also the cost of the foil, the power to run the oven as well as your time. Considering all of this, we can say that there is not a huge difference in cost between making your own and buying the jarred ones.
Roasted red peppers will last in the refrigerator for a week or two. For longer, freeze them for up to 3 months. I have a bottle in my refrigerator right now that I want to use up. I will be making a pasta sauce. One choice uses red peppers, parmesan cheese, green chili and cilantro. The other one uses peppers, garlic and feta cheese. Which sounds better? What about you? What will you make with your roasted red peppers?
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