How do I skin peppers properly?
Charring then steaming, which is the only method that works, and why the skins matter in the first place.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 3 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Char the skin black under a hot grill, over a gas flame or in a very hot oven, then put the peppers straight into a covered bowl for ten minutes. The steam lifts the skin off the flesh and it peels away in sheets.
Pepper skin is thin, tough and does not soften with cooking, so it ends up as unpleasant transparent shreds in a sauce or a salad. Removing it is worth the twenty minutes, and there is only one method that works easily.
Safety
Step by step
- Use whole peppers, not slices.The skin needs to blacken while the flesh stays intact. Whole peppers hold their shape and their juice.
- Char them until the skin is properly black.Under a hot grill turning every few minutes, directly on a gas hob with tongs, or at 240°C in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Blistered is not enough — it needs to be genuinely blackened over most of the surface.
- Get them into a covered bowl immediately.A bowl with a plate or film over it, or a bag. Ten to fifteen minutes. This is the step that does the work — the trapped steam separates skin from flesh.
- Peel them with your fingers.The skin comes away in large pieces. Do not rinse them under the tap — it washes away the sweet smoky juice, which is the best part.
- Work over a bowl.Catch the juices that run out. Strain them and add them back into whatever you are making.
- Remove the stalk and seeds last.Tear the pepper open rather than cutting it — the flesh is soft and it opens naturally along its ribs.
- Store them under oil.Peeled roasted peppers keep four or five days in the fridge covered with olive oil, and the oil becomes worth using in its own right.
- Consider jarred peppers for convenience.Good jarred piquillo or roasted red peppers are genuinely useful and save half an hour. Rinse off the brine if they are packed in it.
Tips
- Blacken the skin properly. Under-charred peppers do not peel.
- Never rinse them — you wash away the flavour you just spent half an hour making.
- The bowl-and-cover step is not optional. Without steam the skin sticks.
Common mistakes
- Stopping when the skin is blistered rather than blackened — The skin needs to separate from the flesh, and that only happens once it has burnt through. Lightly blistered peppers peel in tiny frustrating fragments.
- Rinsing the peppers to remove the black bits — It takes the sweet, smoky juices with it and leaves a watery, bland pepper. Wipe stubborn black flecks off with a piece of kitchen paper instead.
If it doesn't work
Skin will not come off
Cause: Not charred enough, or not steamed — Fix: Put them back under the grill until properly black, then cover and steam for ten minutes.
Peppers collapsed to mush
Cause: Cooked too long after charring — Fix: Char fast and hot rather than slowly — the aim is burnt skin, not cooked-through flesh.
Bland
Cause: Rinsed — Fix: Do not rinse. Wipe instead, and add the collected juices back.
Bitter
Cause: Charred flesh, not just skin — Fix: Turn them more often so no side sits on the heat long enough to burn through.
Questions people ask
Do I have to skin peppers?
Only when the texture matters — in a sauce, a salad, a soup or anything where the skin would show up as transparent shreds. For a stir-fry or a roast tray of vegetables it is unnecessary.
Can I skin peppers without charring them?
A vegetable peeler works on flat-sided peppers but it is slow and takes flesh with it. Charring is faster and adds the smoky flavour that makes roasted peppers worth eating.