Best Padrón Peppers Recipe - How to Cook Pimientos de Padrón - Spanish Sabores (2024)

FAQs

Are you supposed to eat the seeds in Padrón peppers? ›

Padrón peppers are often served as tapas or side dishes in Spain. They are loved for their easy preparation and the surprise elements that make eating them interesting. It is customary to eat the whole pepper, including the seeds and stalk.

They range from 500 to 2,000 Scoville heat units. If you happen to bite into one that's on the upper end of the Scoville scale, it'll rank about half as hot as a jalapeño.

Padron chile peppers are an excellent source of vitamins C, B6, and K and are a good source of dietary fiber, which can help improve digestion. The peppers also contain some potassium, copper, magnesium, and niacin.

Remove the Core

The core of the pepper is inedible, and while the seeds are edible, they don't add much to a dish, so most recipes will call for removing them. The easiest way to do this is to stand the pepper on its end, and slice off the outer layers in large pieces around the core.

While some may choose not to eat seeds inside bell peppers due to personal preference or texture issues, bell pepper seeds are perfectly safe to eat and do not pose risk of sickness. “It is safe to consume bell pepper seeds (and there are) no health risks noted,” registered dietitian Jess Bryan tells Southern Living.

Some like it hot, as the saying goes, but those heat-seekers better also be gamblers if they're looking to pimientos de Padrón to stoke their flames: Only about one in ten of the small green peppers from the Spanish municipality of Padrón, in Galicia, are wildly hot, while the rest are as mild as a green bell pepper.

Padróns should be harvested when they are 2-4" in length.

If left on the plant, fruits will grow much larger and reach up to 8" in length. These fruits however have very tough skin and are often extremely spicy!! Smaller fruits are more tender, palatable, and have a manageable heat.

The age of the plant also determines the amount of capsaicin in the fruit, and older plants usually show more pungent fruits [5]. Probably as a consequence, the Padron pepper fruits are also hotter at the end of the season, in September–October (Figure 5).

The dictionary lists "pimiento" as the first reference for spelling the pepper's name and lists "pimento" as a variant. Per Southern Living style, we choose to use the first-reference spelling listed in Merriam-Webster, so "pimiento" it is.

You can use pimientos the same way you would roasted red bell peppers. They add a sweet pepper flavor and a pop of color to anything from rice dishes to pasta salad. They're most popular use however, is probably in a classic pimiento cheese.

What is Spanish pimiento? ›

Pimiento de Padrón is an heirloom frying pepper from the town of Padrón in Galicia, in the northwest of Spain. Pimientos de Padrón are now enjoyed all over Spain, usually as a tapa. They are so popular that they are now grown in the south of the country and even imported from Morocco.

But what is beyond doubt is that Pimientos de Padrón are nutritious, since they contain vitamins A, B1, B2, C, P, proteins, calcium, iron and almost no calories. The peppers also have medicinal properties and are good for digestion. They have even been proved to lower cholesterol levels and reduce high blood pressure.

Perfect for Spanish Tapas Dishes. Quality Checked - Chosen with Care for Freshness and Taste.

Legend has it that these unpredictable lime-green peppers made their way from South America to Galicia in northwestern Spain with a group of 16th-century Franciscan monks. They cultivated the seeds on the their monastery grounds in Herbón, near the town of Padrón.

To be on the safe side, you can remove all the seeds before using a cherry pepper to help eliminate any spiciness that may be present.

They're crunchy, juicy, and sour. The added benefit is the additional spice. Plus, with pepperoncini, you get one of my favorite things in the entire world: the seeds! Eating the cluster of seeds that live at the top of this pickled pepper is a luxury.

The seeds don't actually contain most of the heat. The ribs and membrane do. But with dried peppers, the seeds turn leathery. So it's important you remove them.

If possible, remove the seed cluster with the top. Then rip open the rest of the pepper to get to any remaining seeds. Scrape all the seeds into a pot with enough water to ensure plenty of space for them to separate by sinking and floating. Mature seeds sink.