Blistered Shishito Peppers
What are shishito peppers?
To be techinical, shishito peppers are a type of the species, Capsicum annuum. This species contains a wide range of peppers throughout the world including bell peppers, jalapenos, and cayenne peppers. Shishito peppers specifically come from East Asian regions, in particular, Japan.
In Japanese, the name “shishito” translates to “lion head,” referring to the appearance of the tip of the pepper. I guess the head sort of looks like lion’s mane and the tip might resemble the head?
Are shishito peppers hot?
The short answer is yes and no. Most shishito peppers are measured as a 50 on the Scoville Heat Units Scale, which is pretty mild. As reference, sweet peppers range from 0 to 50 on this scale, Anahiem peppers are 500-2500, and Jalapenos are 5000-5500. Habanero peppers (which we use in this recipe) score a 100,000 – 350,000 on the Scoville Heat Units Scale.
This is why shishito peppers can be eaten by themselves as a side dish (something you wouldn’t typically do with jalapenos for instance).
A fun fact about shishito peppers is that about every 10 to 20 of them are actually more spicy (about a 200 or more on the Scoville Heat Units Scale). In this way, it’s kind of a fun game to play with your dinner guests. Like Russian Roulette of spicy peppers! But don’t worry, even the spicy ones aren’t thaaat spicy.
What makes certain shishito peppers spicy?
Capsaicin is what gives peppers their distinctive spicy/hot taste. Another fun fact is that we use capsaicin cream medicinally to in essence “overwhelm” pain receptors on the skin to help with medium term pain relief in certain conditions.
About one out of every 10 or 20 shishito peppers is more spicy than the rest because it has a higher concentration of capsaicin. This has to do with the growing conditions of the specific shishito pepper plants. The type of seeds used, the soil, the weather, and when they are picked all affect the capsaicin concentration, allowing some peppers to “hoard” all the capsaicin from the other peppers on the plant.
You can’t actually tell which peppers are the spicy ones just by looking at them.
Why do shishito peppers blister?
This dish works so well because shishito peppers tend to blister when they are cooked. This is because their outer layer is much more thin than other types of peppers. This blistering effect makes for a really easy-to-eat texture. You just hold it by the head and eat the entire pepper in one bite.
What is the best way to eat shishito peppers?
You just hold it by the head and eat the entire pepper in one bite (but don’t forget the dipping sauce first!)
Tips for making this pepper recipe
Why keep the garlic unpeeled when cooking?
Simply put, keeping the peel on the garlic lets it cook inside without actually burning the garlic itself (especially since we’re using a cast iron skillet). Once the peppers have cooked, the garlic should have slightly shrunk inset its peel. As it shrinks, the flavor intensifies and the sharp bite of raw garlic is removed.
Do you have to use a cast iron skillet for this recipe?
We love using our cast iron skillet since it’s easy to clean, easy to cook with, and imparts a delicious smoky flavor that you otherwise only get from a barbecue grill (grilled shishito peppers are definitely the way to go whether you use a barbecue or cast iron skillet). However, if you don’t yet have one, either get a cheap one here or you can otherwise just use a regular pan (but make sure it is large enough to hold all the peppers on a single layer). We later tried using the conventional oven to make roasted shishito peppers but they didn’t quite blister as much as we had hoped. However, since we’ve been getting into air frying, we might try air fried shishito peppers for our next endeavor.
Shishito Peppers Dipping Sauce
For this recipe, we used a spicy truffle mayo dipping sauce.
Where to buy Truff hot sauce
It used to be hard to find but now it seems like Truff is everywhere. I see it in Whole Foods and Safeway alike. But we just got ours online here.
What does Truff hot sauce taste like?
We got Truff hot sauce for Christmas one year as a gift and we have since been obsessed. We have been using it in our cooking, either by itself (like using it on eggs or pizza) or by working it into a sauce (such as the current one!). It’s a bit expensive but a little bit goes a long way so it lasts a long time.
Truff has a lot of different delicious flavors going on at once. At the same time, it’s sweet, spicy, umami, and of course has the aroma and taste of truffles as the star flavor.
Is Truff hot sauce really spicy?
Some might say it’s spicy but we would rate it as mild-to-moderate. Especially when you mix it into a sauce such as our spicy truffle mayo, the heat calms down and allows the other flavors to stand out. That’s why it goes so well with this shishito pepper recipe. It adds just the right kick to the peppers.
Is Truff made with real truffles?
YES! Like most truffle products in the US, it contains both real truffles and truffle flavors to create its unique taste. As an added bonus, it’s also gluten-free and vegan for people with specific food restrictions.
What is kewpie mayonnaise?
Kewpie mayonnaise is a savory and tangy Japanese mayonnaise made with egg yolks, vinegar, and a bit of MSG, imparting a rich umami flavor. You can get it cheap and online here.
However, don’t fret if you don’t have or can’t find this type of mayonnaise. Regular mayonnaise will do just fine with this spicy truffle mayo recipe!
Another delicious use for kewpie mayonnaise is topping Shrimp Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancakes).
What are other types of Shishito peppers dipping sauces?
Although this recipe calls for spicy truffle mayo dipping sauce, other recipes call for dipping it in soy sauce, garlic aoli, or cilantro lime sauce. And if you don’t feel like making any of these, no worries! Shishito peppers and delicious and fun to eat all by themselves!
Other delicious spicy recipes
If you like this recipe and are a spicy fanatic, you should definitely check out some of our other spicy recipes at GradFood (below). You can also find other shishito pepper recipes here. But don’t worry- scroll just a bit more to see the Garlic Shishito Pepper recipe…
Garlic Shishito Peppers with Spicy Truffle Mayo
Ingredients
- ~3 cups shishito peppers
- 2 garlic cloves unpeeled
- 1-2 tsp coarse Sea salt
- 2 tbsp mayo preferably Kewpie if available
- 1 tbsp Truff hot sauce
Instructions
- Heat up a cast iron skillet to low-medium heat with a small splash of vegetable oil (or other similar oil with high smoke point). Add the shishito peppers to the skillet along with the two unpeeled garlic cloves.
- Cook on low-medium heat, stirring/flipping frequently, for about 10 minutes (by this point, all the peppers should be partially blistered).
- Remove garlic cloves, peel and dice them, and toss them in a bowl with the shishito peppers and coarse salt.
- For the Spicy Truffle Mayo sauce, mix together the mayo and Truff hot sauce.
- Serve the peppers warm and dip them into the Spicy Truffle Mayo sauce.
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