Easy Sautéed Red & Yellow Peppers

A simple, colorful summer side dish to serve warm or at room temperature, just vibrant hues of red and yellow peppers turned tender and sweet when sautéed in a skillet with onion and duded up with a touch of tangy mustard and savory, salty olives. It's simple yet stunning, a celebration of bold flavors and effortless cooking. Your taste buds are in for a treat!

For An Easy, Healthy Summer Side Dish, Just Six Everyday Ingredients. Whole Food, Simply Prepared, Fast & Flexible. Beautiful Color! A Long-Time Family Favorite. Mere Minutes to the Table. Not just easy, Summer Easy, a Kitchen Parade Specialty. Budget Friendly. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Perfect When Cooking for One or Two. Scales from Small Plates to Large Platters. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Naturally Gluten Free. So Good!!

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BEST RECIPES

• Best Recipes of 2003

COMPLIMENTS!

• "...it was so good!" ~ Carol

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Come Mid Summer ...

... the farmers market is bursting with garden produce. There’s no resisting the overflowing baskets of sweet peppers in bright summer skins of red, yellow and orange. And green! And purple! And rainbow colors!

Shoppers scoop up peppers in grocery stores year-round, commercially grown with perfect, thick flesh (as shown in the photo below).

But savvy shoppers know that here in the Midwest, July, August and September are the best months for locally grown, just-picked peppers. These home-grown lovelies are often smaller and a bit misshapen but the big difference is that the fleshy walls are much thinner and the taste, well, there's no comparison. In addition, they are often quite inexpensive: I've even seen ten for a dollar!

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Recipe Overview: Sautéed Red & Yellow Peppers

• This is a simple recipe that yields a special vegetable side dish that's colorful, light and healthy. It combines sautéed onions and sweet bell peppers with Kalamata olives and a touch of acidity from mustard. It makes up in minutes and may be served either hot or at room temperature.
• When to Serve = as a dinner side dish or a dinner "under" dish
• The recipe is Vegetarian + Vegan + Gluten Free + Dairy Free
• Distinctive Ingredients = Bell Peppers (Red & Yellow) + Mustard + Kalamata Olives
• Short Ingredient List = all the above + onion + garlic + olive oil + salt & pepper
• For Garnish = No garnish is needed but chopped fresh herbs always look pretty!
• Kitchen Tools = I like to use a non-stick skillet for sautéing vegetables, this Cuisinart non-stick skillet gets a workout in my kitchen. If you use a stainless steel skillet or a cast iron skillet, you may need to increase the amount of oil.
• It takes about 15 minutes start to finish to cook the peppers. Serve them hot straight from the skillet or let rest a bit to serve at room temperature.
• This is such a pretty dish, especially with red and yellow peppers but also with other colors as well. The olives create a dramatic color, taste and texture contrast.
• The cooking technique is called "sauté" [pronounced saw-TAY], this French word means to cook a food in a small amount of oil in a skillet, tossing the food occasionally. I like to cook these peppers just until just barely cooked and crisp-tender but if you like them more cooked, cook them a little longer to your own taste.
• When sautéing the peppers, keep the heat a bit low, this will prevent the edges from turning brown, not quite so pretty.
• This is a time-friendly recipe, just a little slice-slice, cook-cook and done-done.
• This is pantry-friendly recipe, you may well already have all the ingredients on hand!
• This is a calorie-friendly recipe, lots of veggies quickly cooked in a little olive oil.
• This is a budget-friendly recipe, a good way to cook inexpensive garden-grown peppers from the farmers market and use up large containers of store-bought peppers from Sam's Club and Costco.
• Two large peppers yields about four side-dish servings, that allows about a half pepper per serving. For an "under" dish as a base for a piece of fish or chicken or sausage, say, consider a whole pepper per serving.
• This recipe works especially well for those Cooking for One or Two.
• So good! I hope you love it!


• If you like this recipe, you'll also appreciate my Grilled Pepper Salad, where peppers are grilled to smoky goodness, then tossed in a pesto-ish dressing.
• Not quite what you're looking for? Check out my other bell pepper recipes.

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Choose the "Right" Peppers

Here's the great news: pick your favorite peppers, starting with sweet bell peppers all the way to the hottest chiles.

Commercially grown sweet bell peppers (as pictured below) are the easiest to find but it's also easy to add a measure of heat with a finely minced jalapeño or some smokiness with a chopped or sliced poblano.

But don't stop there. Look for (in order of mildness) shishito peppers, Italian frying peppers, banana peppers, pepperoncini, anaheim, jalapeño, serrano and more.

The bottom line: all peppers are the "right" peppers, just aim for lots of color and manage your tolerance for heat.

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EASY SAUTÉED RED & YELLOW PEPPERS

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time-to-table: 15 minutes
About 4 servings, easily halved or doubled

• 1 tablespoon olive oil (or half oil, half butter)
• 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• A sprinkle of salt
• 2 large bell peppers, preferably one red and one yellow, seeds & membranes removed, cut lengthwise into strips, then halved
• 1/4 cup (about 12) pitted Kalamata olives, halved if large, optional but great color, taste & texture contrast
• 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Salt & pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat until shimmery. Stir in the onion and garlic, stirring to coat with fat. Sprinkle with a little salt then sauté until beginning to soften, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the pepper strips and sauté until just soft, about another 10 minutes. Stir in the olives and mustard and sauté until warmed through and the onions and peppers are as crisp or tender as you prefer.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

ALANNA's TIPS Naturally, use the peppers you have, the more colors the better. My personal favorite is two sweet peppers (usually red and yellow) and a single poblano pepper, that's a chile that's usually quite mild though definitely more flavorful than the usual bell peppers. And don't overlook the less-expensive, easy-to-find green peppers, especially from the farmers market or even your own garden. They've got a lovely astringency, almost a bitterness, that's wonderful.

SUPPER VARIATION I turn this from a side dish into a supper dish by adding a pepper with some extra taste (usually a poblano); tomato (fresh, usually but canned would work too); adding a cup of water (to simmer a bit for the last few minutes); and upping the mustard (most recently some Famous Mustard Sauce (Carolina BBQ Mustard Sauce)). This yields the sautéed peppers slightly softer with a mustard-y sauce that really works with baked, broiled or grilled fish, especially if it's rubbed with a little oil and My Spice Rub. So good!

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2003/09/bell-pepper-relish-pickles.php .

RECIPE HISTORY I first shared this recipe on Kitchen Parade way back in 2003, a full two years before I started to write my blog about vegetables, A Veggie Venture, one of the very earliest original food blogs. That first version called for considerably more oil, 2 tablespoons and maybe even 4. But with A Veggie Venture, I quite quickly learned that nearly all the time, just one tablespoon of fat is plenty for a whole pound of vegetables. With one tablespoon of oil, there were just one Weight Watchers point per serving. And that's how I make the recipe now, with just one tablespoon of fat, either 50:50 butter:olive oil or 100% olive oil. That little bit of butter does pack a flavor punch!

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per serving (assumes 4 servings total): 84 Calories; 5g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 4mg Cholesterol; 140mg Sodium; 0g Carb; 3g Fiber; g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 2 & PointsPlus 1 & future WW points CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = generous 1/2 cup serving (2g protein).

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Seasonal Cooking: This Same Week, Across the Years

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If you like Kitchen Parade's recipes, you'll love A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables with more from-scratch recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, home to the famous Alphabet of Vegetables and vegetables in every course, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

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More Summer Fun Building Meals
Based on Colorful, Healthy Bell Peppers

more
~ bell pepper recipes ~

• THE RECIPE Cabbage & Pepper Chakchoukah aka OogaChaka Eggs A savory Tunisian stew, perfect for nesting runny eggs.
• ANOTHER TAKE Shakshuka (Eggs Nested in Summer Vegetables) A traditional North African and Israeli dish.

• THE RECIPE Sweet Pepper Pasta Skillet Colorful bell peppers in a light cream sauce. (PIN This)
• ANOTHER TAKE Chicken a la King A retro Quick Supper, tender chicken with mushrooms, veggies in a creamy sauce. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Stuffed Peppers An old-fashioned favorite, pretty pepper halves parcooked then baked with an adaptable filling of cooked meat, rice and corn.
• ANOTHER TAKE Fresh Tomato & Basil Stuffed Peppers Bound with soft and melty goat cheese.

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The Recipe for Pied Pipers Has Moved

please see

~ Pickled Bell Peppers (Pied Piper Refrigerator Pickles) ~

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ bell pepper recipes ~
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~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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