Charred Bell Pepper Salad
Peppers blistered black then peeled, tossed with lemon, garlic, cumin and feta.
Ingredients & method
Method
Amounts inside the steps follow the servings dial, so you never have to hold the arithmetic in your head.
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Char the peppers
Rub the 4 Bell peppers (red, yellow, green) lightly with oil and char directly over an open flame or on a hot tawa, turning with tongs until the skin blackens and blisters all over.
An even, all-over char is what lets the tough waxy skin lift away cleanly and gives the flesh its smoky sweetness.
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Steam and peel
Drop the hot peppers into a bowl and cover tightly with a plate or cling film for 10 minutes, then peel off the blackened skin, pull out the stem and seeds, and tear the flesh into strips.
Trapping the steam loosens the skin further so it slides off without scraping away the smoky flesh underneath.
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Prep the aromatics
While the peppers steam, slice the 1 Red onion, medium paper-thin and grate the 2 Garlic cloves.
Thin slicing lets the raw onion soften in the dressing instead of staying sharp and crunchy.
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Make the dressing
Whisk the 4 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil, the juice of the 1 Lemon, the grated garlic and the ½ tsp Cumin seed together with the Salt to taste and Black pepper to taste.
Blooming cumin's oils into the dressing rather than using it dry gives the salad a rounder, less dusty spice note.
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Toss the salad
Toss the charred pepper strips and sliced 1 Red onion, medium through the dressing and leave to sit for at least 10 minutes.
The warm-ish peppers drink up the dressing much faster than they would once fully cold.
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Finish and serve
Scatter over the crumbled 60 g Feta, torn a handful of Basil and Red chili flakes to taste, then serve at room temperature.
Adding the cheese and herbs right at the end keeps them fresh rather than wilting into the dressing.
About
Charring vegetables over an open flame is one of the oldest ways to cook without a pot, and bell peppers — carried back from the Americas by Spanish traders after 1492 and adopted right across the Mediterranean and Middle East within a century — took to it especially well.
Roasted, peeled pepper salads turn up under different names all along that belt: Turkish köz biber salatası, Levantine roasted pepper salads dressed with olive oil and garlic, and the tomato-heavy Moroccan matbucha family. This version keeps to the simpler, brighter side of that tradition — charred peppers peeled and tossed with lemon, garlic, cumin and feta, rather than cooked down into a relish.
Cook’s notes
Char the peppers over the strongest flame you have — a weak char just steams the skin instead of blistering it.
The salad actually improves after an hour or two at room temperature, once the peppers have properly drunk up the dressing.
Skip the feta for a vegan version; a pinch of extra salt makes up for the saltiness it would have added.
Health benefits
- Bell peppers are one of the richest common vegetable sources of vitamin C, and charring only knocks a modest amount off that.
- Olive oil and lemon help carry the fat-soluble carotenoids in the peppers further into the body than eating them raw would.
General information about the ingredients, not advice about you. Nothing here is a medical or dietary recommendation, and no dish treats or prevents any condition. If you are managing a health condition, pregnant, or on a prescribed diet, ask a doctor or a dietitian.
Cons & who should be cautious
- Peppers are a nightshade, so this isn't the salad for anyone who has found nightshades trigger joint or gut symptoms.
- Feta brings meaningful saturated fat and sodium — go lighter on it if you're watching either.
- Raw garlic and onion can aggravate acid reflux or IBS in people who are sensitive to them.
Not a complete allergen declaration. Ingredient lists describe what we used and cannot account for cross-contamination or what your particular brand contains, so check the packaging of everything you cook with.
Nutrition facts (estimated)
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