What to do with fresh peppers? We love peppers of all kinds, sweet bell peppers, hot peppers, chile peppers…. love them all! We have grown several varieties and they are all so good!
So this is the next topic in our Ideas for using fresh garden veggies series. We hope that these ideas are generating a lot of inspiration and motivation to really use up all of your produce, and use it well and in yummy ways. We talk about produce A LOT because it is the #1 food in our house!
Well, let’s get on with some ideas!
Fresh Garden Peppers Idea #1 – Use in Soups/Chilis
So for the first idea, we wanted to share this great recipe for Pueblo Green Chili HERE. Check out the recipe.
We also find that peppers are a great addition to the cowboy chili recipe that we share. Roasting this in the pan with the meat makes for great flavor!
You can find the recipe for Cowboy Chili HERE (uses leftover meats and veggies!)
Fresh Garden Peppers Idea #2 – Grilled Peppers
We have done this a few times and they are go good! We love spicy things. We will eat nearly anything if it is spicy. 🙂
However, a couple of months ago, we picked up a big bag of a variety of peppers for $1 and grilled them up with our kabobs and boy were they hot! I really couldn’t eat them and Alex did, but didn’t handle it well. However, those were the hottest we had tried and they were an unmarked bag from a Farmer’s Market. It was a fun experiment, but super hot! The peppers on the grill in the above picture are from this exact experience. We share this on our Instagram profile.
But, most all peppers that are Jalapeño or lighter, will taste great. Grilling may increase the heat some, but not too bad.
We actually shared a picture of our kabob and pepper grill on Instagram a couple of months ago too!
How to Grill Peppers on a BBQ Grill
- Wash the peppers and keep them whole for the small and spicy ones, cut in half for the sweet bell peppers.
- Prepare your grill to the high temperature.
- Brush your eggplant with an olive oil, salt and pepper blend.
- Place oiled side down on the top rack of the grill and cook for about 5 mins.
- Similar to the zucchini – we find it is best to cook these with the grill open on the highest heat and on the top rack.
- Flip the peppers over, and brush the other side with the olive oil/salt/pepper blend and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Serve immediately and warm.
This is best served right away, reheated or leftover grilled peppers are not that great.
Of course, for another grilling use, don’t forget that sweet bell pepper chunks are a fabulous addition to shish kabobs.
Fresh Garden Pepper Idea #3 – Stuffed Peppers
We wanted to share a couple of ideas for stuffed peppers. There are many recipes found online.
The classic is the stuffed with beef and rice. I will be honest, I personally LOVE stuffed pepppers, and before we had kids, I made them a lot!
However, our kids will not eat them! They end up eating the insides and leaving the shell of the best part – the roasted pepper. So it really ends up being a waste, but they are good if you like them!
The recipe we follow is the one here on the Allrecipes site, except that we also add ground beef.
Another idea for stuffed peppers, is stuffing the sweet or small peppers with cream cheese! You can eat them fresh, or you can “roast” the spicy ones with cream cheese in the oven! Both the sweet and fresh or spicy and roasted cream cheese stuffed peppers are really good!
Fresh Garden Pepper Idea #4 – Add it to Stir-Fry or Fajitas
If you want me to be honest, these are the two biggest uses in our house! Besides eating sweet peppers fresh, all peppers go well in stir-fry. We make stir-fry at least once a week as a way to clean out the fridge. 🙂
Recipe for It’s A Guy Stir-Fry here
Also, for a Mexican themed meal – a bit of chicken or beef, some sliced peppers and our homemade taco seasoning are a perfect fajita dinner night! This is literally a few minute meal and often a “go-to” for us on our busy nights!
Fresh Garden Peppers Idea #5 – Use in Hot Breakfast Dishes
We have a few hot breakfasts that couple well with peppers! It’s a great way to use up peppers!
Breakfast Casserole with Peppers recipe HERE
Ham breakfast cups recipe HERE – NOTE that this is just one of the process photos – there are some yummy and fun things on this recipe!
Savory Breakfast Rice recipe HERE
Fresh Garden Peppers Idea #6- Freeze Pepper for Laters
Now the next thing we wanted to share, was how to freeze peppers.
Finally, we do freeze many of our peppers. They are great for the hot breakfasts especially!
We have shared how to freeze peppers (and onions) in a separate post!
How to Freeze Peppers and Onions HERE
What do you plan to do with your peppers?
Keep watching for more ideas on using your garden veggies as we have many more veggies recipes and ideas to share this summer with you as you make the most of your garden and farmer’s market finds!
For actual garden ideas, we wanted to remind you that we have been sharing so many gardening ideas on our Garden Gallery of Ideas HERE, Pinterest HERE and Facebook HERE that we hope you are seeing some incredible results with your homegrown food supply. And, as always, we will continue to share gardening tips and ideas on all our site.
See more Recipes
See our Recipe Pinterest Board
Leave a Reply