Looking for a fun summer appetizer or snack? Make these blistered shishito peppers! Tender, charred, and occasionally spicy, they're always a hit.
This blistered shishito peppers recipe is the simplest summer appetizer. It relies on just 3 main ingredients—shishito peppers, salt, and oil—but it’s still flavorful, satisfying, and totally addictive. You might think you’re going to eat one pepper, maybe two, but before you know it, you’ll have devoured half the pan! Um…yes, I’m speaking from experience.
If you’re not familiar with shishito peppers, they’re small, thin-walled peppers that are traditionally used in Japanese and Korean cooking. These days, you can often find them at farmers markets and at major grocery stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Most of the time, shishitos have a sweet, mild flavor, but rumor has it that one in every ten peppers is spicy. If you’re sensitive to spice, be careful when you bite into one of these blistered shishito peppers!
How to Cook Shishito Peppers
This recipe is my favorite method for how to cook shishito peppers. It’s insanely easy, which makes it a great last-minute appetizer or side dish. Here’s how it goes:
First, preheat a cast-iron pan over high heat. No need to worry about heating oil in the skillet—we’re going to cook the peppers in the dry pan.
When the skillet is hot, cook the peppers. Do your best to arrange them in a single layer in the skillet. Then, cook over high heat, tossing occasionally, until they’re tender and blistering.
Finally, serve! Drizzle the blistered shishitos with olive oil and season them with salt. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to take them over the top.
Variation: Blistered Padrón Peppers
Padrón peppers are small Spanish peppers that are very similar to shishitos. The major difference between the two is that Padrón peppers are more likely to be spicy.
In the US, Padrón peppers are harder to find than shishitos are, but if you can get your hands on some, feel free to use them in this recipe. Topped with olive oil and lemon, they’re a classic addition to a tapas spread. I love them so much that I actually shared a recipe for them in The Love & Lemons Cookbook!
How to Serve Blistered Shishito Peppers
When shishito peppers are in season, this recipe becomes one of my go-to appetizers. I typically serve them in one of two ways:
- With olive oil, lemon juice, and sea salt. A little lemon zest is lovely here too!
- With toasted sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. I love this version with a tasty dipping sauce, like my peanut sauce or sesame ginger dressing. In a pinch, plain tamari or soy sauce is also great.
Serve them with drinks for a fun summer happy hour, or make them part of a larger meal. They pair well with Asian-inspired dishes like soba noodles and okonomiyaki. I also like them with classic cookout fare. Serve them as a side dish with veggie burgers or black bean burgers, and they’ll vanish in no time.
How do you like to serve shishito peppers? Let me know in the comments!
More Favorite Pepper Recipes
If you love this shishito peppers recipe, try one of these pepper recipes next:
Blistered Shishito Peppers
Ingredients
- 8 ounces shishito peppers
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- Sea salt
- Lemon wedges, for squeezing, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large cast iron skillet to high heat. Add the peppers to the dry skillet and cook, tossing occasionally, until tender and blistering, about 6 to 8 minutes. As you work, try to keep the peppers in a single layer so that they make consistent contact with the hot pan.
- Drizzle the peppers with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and squeeze with lemon juice, if desired. Find additional serving suggestions in the blog post above.
I kept hearing about these addictive peppers, so this year I planted seeds (Baker Creek Seeds). I blistered my 1st harvest of the summer for a Father’s Day appetizer, and now I am hooked! Thankfully, the bushes are very prolific, and I will try many different recipes–yours next. I simply drizzled some avocado oil in an iron skillet, let them blister, and added salt and pepper. They were devoured by everyone immediately!
Wow wow wow I had about a million of these peppers and made this recipe and it was delicious. I could have eaten all of them with that perfect peanut sauce.
I JUST made this with some of our fresh shishitos from the garden. Modifications: I tossed the raw peppers in a bit of sesame oil before putting them in the pan. After they were done I sprinkled with Hawaiian lava salt (the best stuff ever) and the sesame seeds. DELICIOUS! Thank you for your recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
This was an awesome and quick side to an Asian inspired dinner. I had some Shishito peppers I needed to use up and loved the idea of doing a quick stove top method instead of an outside grill. Loved the sesame oil drizzle and the peanut sauce to go with too.
thank you, a nice alternative snack, and a new one for me, much appreciated!
We top our peppers with Everything but the bagel seasoning. Yummy!
hi! do you prep the peppers in any was…de-stem, de-seed, slice them open????
Hi Em, I wash and dry them, that’s it! When you bite into a pepper, just hold onto the stem and discard it.
A friend introduced me to shishito peppers just last year. She grew her own, and the plants are, apparently, quite prolific, so I was gifted a lot of them all season.
I made them on my grill pan (indoors) with olive oil and sriracha-infused salt on them last year, This year, I doused them with a smoky barrel-aged balsamic vinegar. I tried this recipe and liked them this way, too! Always nice to have options . . .
I’ve seen them offered at Whole Foods, but they’re also available at our local farmers’ markets. Great to be able to “Buy Fresh/Buy Local.”