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Sautéed peppers and onions are a simple, versatile, healthy, vibrant side dish. They work beautifully with with Italian food, Mexican food, and so much more.
Why we love this recipe
This side dish couldn’t be simpler, yet its bright, colorful, sweet and savory vibe adds so much to your plate. These peppers:
- Are ready in under 30 minutes and keep well in the fridge, so they’re great for batch cooking and meal prep
- Go well with so many meals, from tacos to roast chicken to grain bowls
- Are naturally vegan, gluten-free, low in fat, and just generally great for your bod.
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.
The peppers
This is a very versatile recipe that can accommodate different types of peppers. I’ve shown a variety of types here so you can see what they look like.
- On the top right are green bell peppers, and below them riper, sweeter rainbow-colored bell peppers. Those are traditional choices for this dish.
- On the bottom left are cubanelle peppers. Along with the fairly similar Anaheim peppers, they make another traditional choice for peppers and onions.
- On the top left are poblanos, which have a great combination of flavor and very mild heat — they’re a bit of an unusual choice for this dish, but they work well too.
The other ingredients
- A nice big yellow onion is my usual go-to, but you can use a big red onion (pictured here) or a white onion for a little extra sweetness if you like — or if that’s what you’ve got on hand.
- Beyond that, all you need is olive oil, salt, and pepper. If I have it on hand, I like to use basil salt or this herb salt.
How to make it
Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to make a great batch of sautéed peppers and onions. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Peel and halve the onion from root to tip, discarding ends. Then cut it into slices (also from root to tip).
- Quarter the peppers and remove the inner white ribs and seeds, then slice the peppers.
- Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high. Add the peppers and onions, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring once in a while, for about 15 minutes.
- It’s up to you how soft and browned you want it all to get. We like our peppers fairly soft and our onions with some nice gentle brown spots here and there.
Expert tips and FAQs
This recipe makes a great side dish for fried or scrambled eggs, Italian sausage, a hot dog bar, or tacos. They also make a nice component of a grain bowl.
For sure. This recipe keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. Reheat in the microwave or with a quick spin in a frying pan.
More favorite sautéed veggies
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Sautéed Peppers and Onions
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 medium bell peppers, see note 2 below
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, or herb salt if you like
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Peel, halve, and slice the onions from root to tip.
- Quarter the peppers, discard seeds and ribs, and slice.
- Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a 12-inch frying pan.
- Add peppers, onions, salt, and plenty of freshly ground pepper.
- Cook, stirring from time to time, for 15 to 20 minutes, until peppers are as soft as you like and onions have softened and browned in spots.
Notes
- A nice big yellow onion is my usual go-to, but you can use a big red onion or a white onion for a little extra sweetness if you like — or if that's what you've got on hand.
- This is a very versatile recipe that can accommodate different types of peppers. You can use green bell peppers or the riper, sweeter rainbow-colored bell peppers. Cubanelle or Anaheim peppers make another traditional choice. Or use poblanos, which have a great combination of flavor and very mild heat — they're a bit of an unusual choice for this dish, but they work well too.
- This recipe keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. Reheat in the microwave or with a quick spin in a frying pan.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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