Sometimes it’s the little changes to a dish that make a world of difference. One example of this is switching out raw jalapenos with roasted ones. While you still get a kick, it’s mellowed out and gives a nice smoky flavor and a completely different texture. I love both raw and roasted jalapenos, but there are certain times that the raw version just doesn’t work. I love using these roasted jalapenos in soups and salsas, on sandwiches, in our Roasted Jalapeno Pesto, on tacos and quesadillas, and so much more. I mean really, anywhere you would use a jalapeno this will work and give your food an elevated, more sophisticated taste. I also like using them whenever possible because you get a lot of flavor for less than 10 calories, always a positive when trying to have a healthier lifestyle.
This method also makes it easy to skin your jalapenos if necessary for your recipe or for personal preference. I usually don’t skin mine but sometimes it just makes more sense. For example, if I’m adding this to my burgers I don’t want the skin making the burger difficult to eat, but if I’m adding this to black bean soup where it will be blended, no need to remove the skins.
Ingredients
- 10 lg jalapenos
- cooking spray
- salt optional
- pepper optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F and lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Wash and dry jalapenos, then cut in half, remove stems, and de-seed. Place on baking sheet with inside of pepper facing up spaced about 1 inch apart. Lightly spray with cooking oil and salt and pepper to taste. Flip over and lightly spray with cooking oil.
- Bake for 16-19 minutes, until edges of jalapeno start to brown and skin starts to separate. Put in an air proof container (I prefer glass due to high temperature) and cover for 10-15 minutes if peeling off skins. This will help loosen the skins so they come off easily.
- Once cooled, store in covered in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Great tip on the spacing being important for roasting… likewise, if you are looking to roast some sliced onions, you want to somewhat pile them up together so that they do steam and don't get too crispy and dried out.
I followed the above instructions with mixed success. I started with 12 jalapeno peppers. I removed the seeds from half of them. These peppers were very difficult to peal. I had to used a paring knife to scrape the pepper out of the skin, resulting shreds of pepper. Those that i did not remove the seeds pealed like they should. Since I grew up in New Mexico eating very hot Mexican food, the unseeded peppers were no problem. I was very disappointed in my results with the seeded ones.
Hi Richard,
Thanks so much for your feedback. When you remove the peppers from the oven it helps to seal them immediately in a container for about 15 minutes then the skin should peel right off. If the skins are still sticking to the flesh of the pepper then it most likely means the peppers needed a little extra time in the oven. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions, thank you!
Angie