Best Spanish Padron Peppers Recipe

All Spanish tapas recipes result in delicious dishes, but some take longer to make or have more ingredients.

Here we bring you a recipe that only needs 3 ingredients and you can have it ready in less than 30 minutes: the one and only padron peppers recipe.

We promise it’s not clickbait, all you need are little green peppers, coarse salt, and olive oil. Keep reading the article to learn how to make this easy, fast, and cheap recipe.

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Background of the Dish

The history of recipes with pimento peppers in Spain is directly related to the church since the priests and missionaries who had gone to America and returned to the country in the 16th century brought the peppers and the seeds to adapt them to this region.

The padron peppers underwent an alteration and became smaller than other types of pepper, so you can’t prepare other pimento pepper recipes such as Spanish Stuffed peppers with them.

The padron peppers recipe became popular immediately since you only need 3 ingredients to make it (salt, padron peppers, and oil), and in less than 30 minutes they are ready.

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Things You’ll Need for Padron Peppers Recipe

To prepare the padron peppers recipe you only need padron peppers, salt, and olive oil (no tricks, that’s all you need).

The original recipe (and the one in this article) is made by frying the peppers, but you can do it like other pimento pepper recipes and cook them on a grill or in the oven.

Ingredients

• 250g padron peppers
• 1/2 cup (120ml) olive oil
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt

How to Make Padron Peppers Recipe – Step by Step Guide

1. The first step in this pimento peppers recipe is to wash the padron peppers and dry them with kitchen paper. Make sure they are completely dry because otherwise, the water will make the oil pop.

2. After that, put the olive oil in a pan, and heat it on high heat.

3. When the oil is hot, add the padron peppers (lower the heat to medium).

4. For the next step in this padron peppers recipe, cook them until they are golden on all sides, for that you have to flip them halfway through. It should take up to 5 minutes in total.

5. Then remove the pimiento peppers one by one (you can do it with the help of a slotted spoon or something similar). Put them in a tray with kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.

6. After removing the excess oil, sprinkle the tablespoons of coarse salt on top of the Spanish pepper. Serve the pimientos de padron warm.

Substitution of Ingredients

For this pimento pepper recipe, you just need padron peppers (small green peppers), coarse salt, and olive oil, so it is better if you avoid doing replacements.

However, you still can make them. For example, you can use any type of pimientos peppers: jalapeño, poblano, and bell pepper (takes longer to cook).

You can reduce the amount of salt that you use, but we don’t recommend adding other seasonings since the padron pepper already takes on that job.

At last, you can make this padron peppers recipe with sunflower or corn oil. You could also cook them on a grill or in the oven and reduce the amount of oil needed.

Tips on Serving Padron Peppers Recipe

Like all traditional Spanish tapas, you have to serve them as an appetizer for lunch, dinner, or with a few beers (or soda) in the afternoon.

You could have a table filled with the best Spanish tapas and serve these padron peppers with Ham croquettes or Berenjenas Fritas con miel.

Finally, you can serve these pimentones by themselves, or with some dipping cream like cream cheese, aioli garlic sauce, sour cream, cheese dip, etc.

How to Store Padron Peppers Recipe

There are always discussions about which are the best tapas recipes, but a determining factor is whether they can be stored (and the padron peppers get a 10 on this test).

When you finish preparing the padron peppers recipe, if you plan to store it (and not eat it right away) then do not add the salt, and let them come to room temperature.

Put the peppers in a covered container and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 15 days.

However, padron pepper recipes are so quick to make (this one takes less than 30 minutes) so it’s best to make it the same day and avoid freezing it (so the peppers retain their freshness).

Recipe Card: Padron Peppers Recipe

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