Homemade Roasted Red Peppers

I used to be so intimidated by roasting my own red peppers, but homemade roasted red peppers are SO easy to make, and taste SO much better than store-bought red peppers.

Homemade roasted red peppers add depth and a hearty flavor to so many dishes -- I love tossing them in a creamy pasta sauce, in homemade red pepper hummus, added to a pizza as a topping, or in cranberry, apple and red pepper relish for topping cream cheese and spreading on crackers.

Bonus: I've found that blistering older red peppers makes them easier to peel, so this is a great way to use your red peppers that are past their prime!

How to Make Roasted Red Peppers

To start, preheat the oven to 500º F and cut four peppers in half lengthwise. Remove the pepper's stems, seeds and the membranes. Place the halved peppers on an aluminum foil-lined sheet pan, cut side down.

Place the sheet pan on the top-most oven rack, about four inches from the broiler. Roast the peppers for 30-40 minutes, or until the pepper skins are wrinkled and blackened, turning the sheet pan halfway through the cooking time.

Remove the sheet pan from the oven and cover it tightly with aluminum foil for 30 minutes, allowing the peppers to cool and the steam to loosen the pepper skins for peeling. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel the skins from the peppers and cut the peppers into strips.

Place your roasted red peppers in a bowl, along with any collected juices, and cover the peppers with olive oil and plastic wrap. Your peppers will keep for one week in the refrigerator in an airtight container, or two weeks if kept in an airtight container and covered in olive oil.

Try them in soups, hummus, pasta sauce, or as a tasty pizza topping!

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