How to Roast Peppers in an Air Fryer

Learning How to Roast Peppers in an Air Fryer could not be simpler! Use any type of pepper and season them with olive oil, garlic, oregano, and crushed red peppers or leave them plain! Roasting peppers really highlights and brings out their unique flavour and is ridiculously easy to make!

this recipe

Homemade Roasted Peppers

I can not believe that I have never tried roasting peppers in my air fryer!

I have always seen it done over an open flame such as a grill or a gas stove but never in an oven.  Well, I am here today to tell you that roasting peppers can be done without the use of any flame!

Why don't I want to use fire to roast my peppers?

Well, truth be told, I am a little fearful of fire.

When I was really young, I was sitting in front of the fireplace when a piece of firewood crackled and a piece of ember came flying out of the fireplace.  Didn't we have grates in front of the fire to prevent such a thing?  We did, however, my Dad felt that they blocked his view of the flames.  So, if he was in the room with the fire crackling, oftentimes, the protective grate was not in place.

All I truly remember is seeing the rug that I was sitting on start to light on fire.  My dad quickly pushed me off the rug and ran outside with the rug.

As a child, it was pretty traumatizing even though nothing really happened to me or the rug!

Fast forward to high school and I couldn't get myself to light a Bunsen burner in high school science class.  In college, candles were the "it" thing but do you think I ever had one lite?  HECK NO!

Recently, I placed a  coconut wrap in my toaster to make a quesadilla and within minutes, the toaster oven had lit the wrap on fire.  Luckily, Mr. Grumbles was around to save the day but for the rest of the day, I was really shaken up.

Now can you understand why the word "fire" and "Cat" don't go hand in hand?

With that being said, I created and started using these Roast Peppers in the Oven recipe although it is a wonderful recipe, with it being 94 degrees F. outside, the idea of turning on my oven was not at all appealing.

So, I decided to use my Ninja Foodi All-in-One Air fryer to see how well I could roast peppers in an air fryer...

SUPER DUPER UTTERLY EASY!!!!!

By simply combining peppers with olive oil and placing them in an air fryer, you can achieve roasted peppers without ever turning on your oven!

This was inspired by my How to Roast Peppers in the Oven as well as my How to Make Roasted Shishito Peppers on this site, and pairs well with this my Moist Dill Pickle-Brined Chicken.

Air Fryer Recipe Ingredients

You'll only need a few simple ingredients to make these homemade roasted peppers. The exact measurements are included in the recipe card below.

Here's an overview of what you'll need:

Peppers: In these pictures, I used poblano peppers but red, orange, green, yellow or any other type of pepper will work. If you are going to be serving these in a side dish or salad, like my Healthy Keto Roasted Vegetable Pepperoni Salad recipe, the more colours the better!

Olive oil: I love cooking with this delicious oil. But if you'd rather use an oil with a higher smoke point, you can use avocado oil instead. The quality of olive oil is important so make sure that when you buy olive oil, you do not choose a cheap brand.

Optional Spices - You can use any type of seasonings such as salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano. Watch out if using salt if you are not serving these pepper plain as you do not want to end up with too salty of a dish.

See the recipe card for quantities.

Homemade Roasted Peppers Instructions

This is the simplest air fryer recipe and only requires about 2 minutes of hands-on time!

Step 1: Prepare the peppers

First, clean and dry the peppers. If you are roasting peppers such as poblanos or want to make homemade peppers for sauces, you can leave the peppers whole and not cut them or remove their seeds. If your recipe calls for slices of roasted peppers (like my Weeknight Sheet Pan Steak Fajitas), slice the peppers and remove their seeds.

Step 2: Place the peppers in the air fryer and add oil

Place the peppers in the air fryer basket and drizzle them with olive oil. Using your hands, rub the oil all over the peppers. Sprinkle with additional seasoning if you want.

Hint: Using different pepper colours makes for a pretty presentation, pretty enough to serve to guests if you're so inclined. There are also subtle flavour differences, so it makes for a more interesting dish all around, not just visually.

Step 3: Air fry the peppers

Turn your air fryer on at 400 degrees and set the timer for 15 minutes. At about 8 minutes, turn the peppers and continue to air fry them. If using slices of peppers, remove them from the air fryer once roasted. IF you want to remove the skin from whole peppers, leave the peppers in the air fryer with the lid closed for about 10-15 minutes. Remove the peppers and the skin (and seeds!) will slide right off the pepper.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Should roasted peppers be peeled?

That depends on how you intend to use them. Peppers do not have to be peeled but if your recipe does call for them to be peeled, all you have to do is leave them in the air fryer after they have roasted for about 10-15 minutes. Once they have cooled, the skin will literally just slip right off from the pepper.

Why do you roast peppers?

It's true that they are excellent when eaten raw. But roasting completely transforms them. It deepens their flavour considerably, and the olive oil and spices further enhance it. It's a completely different experience than eating them in their raw state.

Do different colour bell peppers taste differently?

Yes, absolutely. The most noticeable difference is between green (the least ripe) and red (the ripest) peppers.

Poblanos, jalapenos and other types of peppers will vary in terms of heat instead of taste.

Red peppers are significantly sweeter than their green counterparts, which are slightly bitter. They taste sweeter when eaten raw, but they also taste sweeter when baked in the oven.

Should I turn the peppers midway through baking?

Yes, you will need to turn them after about 8 minutes.

Can I slice and seed them before placing them in the air fryer?

Since I was making these roasted poblanos for a recipe that needed them to be skinned and seeded, I opted to roast them whole and then just slip the skin and seeds from the peppers. However, if you want to keep the skin in the peppers, I suggest you slice the peppers and seed them before placing them in the air fryer.

Variations

This recipe is very versatile which is why I love it so much!

In case you'd like to vary the basic recipe, here are a few ideas for you:

• Instead of olive oil, coat the peppers with melted butter.
• Use fresh minced garlic (about 1 teaspoon) instead of garlic powder.
• After 10 minutes in the oven, sprinkle the peppers with dry-grated parmesan, then return them to the oven to finish cooking.
• To make them spicier, add chili pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish, or banana peppers
• If you are NOT wanting to peel the peppers, slice and seed them BEFORE adding them to the air fryer.

See this oven-roasted pepper version of this recipe on my website!

Equipment

This recipe is written using a Ninja Foodi All-In-One on the "air fryer" command. If you have a different type of air fryer, you may need to monitor the time to ensure the peppers roast properly.

Storage

These peppers keep really well in the fridge, in a sealed container, for 3-4 days. Gently reheat them in the microwave on 50% power.

Top tip

Leaving the peppers in the air fryer for about 10-15 minutes ensures that they will be easy to peel. Just keep the lid shut and the peppers will steam their skins right off! Also, don't add too many peppers all at once in the air fryer or they will not roast well.

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