Next week is grilling week here on WGC - and in honor of one of my favorite weeks of the years, here's a little preview! Charred Pepper Salad with Feta and a super light vinaigrette! OMG
As you can imagine, my mind is SPINNING when it comes to grilling recipes. Not only is it too hot to cook inside this month, but I'm going to be relegated to my grill for the foreseeable future as we start the kitchen renovation process. Like say goodbye to my stovetop for a few weeks, it's history! So I've been dreaming up grilling recipes on the regular.
This Charred Pepper Salad with Feta is PERFECTION as it requires almost no prep and works as a side dish or salad for just about any main course! Make it ahead for a grilling party with grilled ribeyes. You could also fold in some pasta or grains into this dish and make it into a more hearty bowl or side. Bottom line - you're going to be obsessed!
A few tips + tricks when it comes to roasted peppers on the grill:
- Get creative! We all love bell peppers on the grill but try using padrons, shishitos, poblanos, Anaheims etc. They are all super flavorful!
- Use high heat - a good char is key to flavorful peppers! Most of the skin will come off when you peel / slice so not to worry if the outside becomes totally black.
- Direct heat is best! Unless you want to take a long time to char, use high heat and let the peppers get in there and start to blister.
- Rotate. Turn the peppers with a pair of tongs every 3ish minutes once the skin is charred until the entire pepper is uniformly charred.
- Be patient when it comes to peeling. Once the peppers are charred, I like to put them in a plastic bag or bowl and cover with plastic wrap to let them steam. This makes the skin even easier to peel off.
Charred Pepper Salad with Feta
Ingredients
- 3 pounds mixed bell peppers and shishitos if you can find them (red, orange, yellow, poblano and shishito or padrons) large peppers cut off of cores into quarters and shishitos or padrons left whole
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 12 ounces fresh feta, in the brine, crumbled or torn into small pieces
- fresh basil and mint for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare a grill for high heat.
- Transfer peppers onto the grill, turning occasionally, until blackened in spots and nearly cooked through, 10-ish minutes. If you're using padrons or shishitos, they won't need quite so long for grill marks to appear. Let cool and cut into 1" strips. You can remove the skin if you prefer. Some of it will come off when you slice the peppers into strips.
- Toss cooked peppers with olive oil, vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Arrange the peppers on a platter. Top peppers with feta and basil and mint.
Notes
- Get creative! We all love bell peppers on the grill but try using padrons, shishitos, poblanos, Anaheims etc. They are all super flavorful!
- Use high heat – a good char is key to flavorful peppers! Most of the skin will come off when you peel / slice so not to worry if the outside becomes totally black.
- Direct heat is best! Unless you want to take a long time to char, use high heat and let the peppers get in there and start to blister.
- Rotate. Turn the peppers with a pair of tongs every 3ish minutes once the skin is charred until the entire pepper is uniformly charred.
- Be patient when it comes to peeling. Once the peppers are charred, I like to put them in a plastic bag or bowl and cover with plastic wrap to let them steam. This makes the skin even easier to peel off.
My favorite way to eat peppers! Literally made these all summer
This is the perfect combination of flavors. It’s smokey, salty, acid, heat, fat from the oil, and bright with the herbs. I usually put the peppers on top of a bed of arugula which I think is perfect. BEST SALAD EVER.
This sounds amazing. I plan to take it to a friend’s house as the “salad”. My husband says it’s not a salad bc it doesn’t have lettuce/greens.... So what do you think about adding some arugula? Would it be too bitter of a choice? HELP!
Arugula would be a great addition!
This recipe was a huge hit with my family. I used Shishito, red bell peppers and a couple of poblanos. I added a sliced yellow onion that I grilled in my grill box. Tossed everything in the vinaigrette with fresh basil, mint and topped with sliced feta. I used this as a side to grilled bratwurst sausages. This made an easy, all cooked on the grill summer meal. Great recipe!
Mmmmm. Grilled peppers are one of my favorites! Brings back such great childhood memories of my dad sweating the peppers in newspaper packets for easy peeling. That was my job!
This looks delicious!