Charred Pepper Salad with Feta

5 from 4 votes

The summery Charred Pepper Salad with Feta and a light vinaigrette is the perfect side dish for just about any main course!

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Side Dish, Salad

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: people

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

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.

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.