Roasted Pepper Salad with Feta, Pine Nuts & Basil
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Take your summer gatherings to the next level with this colorful, make-ahead roasted red pepper salad—perfect alongside your favorite grilled dishes.
Next time you’re asked to bring a veggie or salad to a summer gathering or cookout, consider these sweet and smoky bell peppers. With tangy feta, toasted pine nuts, fresh basil, and briny olives, the salad not only looks stunning on a platter but also pairs wonderfully with toasted pita bread, grilled lamb burgers, lamb kofta, or chicken kabobs. A special thanks to Linda Grimes, a South Lake Tahoe restaurateur and one of my wonderful readers, for sharing this delicious recipe.
What You’ll Need To Make Roasted Pepper Salad With Feta, Pine Nuts & Basil
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by placing the pepper halves face-down on a foil-lined baking sheet.
Broil until blackened and charred all over.
Place the cooked peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. This steams the peppers and makes them much easier to peel.
Once the peppers are cool, the skin will peel right off. Cut the peeled roasted peppers into slices.
Combine the peppers with the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, basil, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper.
Toss to combine, then refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.
Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a small skillet to enhance their flavor. Keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn.
Transfer the salad to a serving bowl or platter and top with feta, olives and toasted pine nuts.
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Roasted Pepper Salad with Feta, Pine Nuts & Basil
Take your summer gatherings to the next level with this colorful, make-ahead roasted red pepper salad—perfect alongside your favorite grilled dishes.
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers (any combination of red, yellow or orange), halved, seeded and cored
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, divided
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts
- 2 ounces (a scant ½ cup) crumbled Feta
- ⅓ cup pitted kalamata olives
Instructions
- Set an oven rack in the top position and preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the pepper halves on the prepared baking sheet and broil for 5-10 minutes, rotating the pan once, until well charred. Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap (so they steam) and let cool until luke warm.
- Peel the skin from the peppers (do not rinse under water) and cut into ¾-inch strips. Place back in the bowl; add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, 2 tablespoons of the basil, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.
- Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and cook, stirring frequently, until golden, about 4 minutes. Immediately transfer the nuts to a small bowl to stop the cooking process. (Pay close attention: they go from perfectly golden to burnt quickly.)
- Transfer the marinated peppers to a serving dish and top with the feta, olives, toasted pine nuts and remaining tablespoon basil (do not toss). Garnish with whole basil leaves if desired.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 194
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated fat: 4g
- Carbohydrates: 11g
- Sugar: 7g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 4g
- Sodium: 673mg
- Cholesterol: 13mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Comments
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It’s my second time making this, so delicious 🙂
We have something similar in Europe, but simple. Just oil, vinegar, salt. Ah and most of the people prefer to keep the bell peppers a whole.
I prefer yours a lot more !! And my partner (Japanese) as well 🙂
Thank you for your inspiring blog!
Ildi
Hi Jenn,
I made this 2 weeks ago and it was delicious! I want to make it again for a large group with grilled beef tenderloin (have any good recipes?) and grilled salmon. My question is I had to broil them almost 20 minutes to get the skin black, should the peppers be quite soft or still have a little firmness? Also, I would like to serve another make ahead salad, do you have a suggestion from your website?
Thanks, Mary
Hi Mary, So glad you enjoyed it! Sometimes broilers are finicky…if my oven gets too hot, my broiler turns off intermittently, which can increase cooking time. Don’t worry too much about the cook time; just cook them until they are blackened enough to peel. The peppers should be quite soft by the time they steam after broiling. As for another salad, I’d go with my fresh corn salad with basil — it will be delicious with everything else on the menu. Here’s a link: https://www.onceuponachef.com/2012/05/fresh-corn-salad-with-scallions-and-basil.html
This salad was excellent. I made 8 peppers for 6 people, and it was all gone. People were scrounging around the bottom of the owl for an extra bite! Best of all was the methodology for roasting the peppers. I used to hold them individually above the flame and char them all around, which was so time-consuming that I usually avoided recipes that required it. But this one -cut in half and under the broiler, into a bowl with plastic wrap till cool- worked perfectly and took about 15 minutes to do 8 of them. This recipe is a keeper.
Made this recipe for my sorority year end gathering…the women loved it…excellent party dish…
I am doing your chicken curry for a small dinner party. Would you suggest the appropriate salad to go along! Love your black bean salad and also the roasted pepper salad with feta, but I am not sure either is quite right.
Just discovered your site, baked the molten chocolate cakes today and I am thrilled. Hope to hear from you.
Thank you
Niels mandoe
Hi Niels, So glad you’re enjoying the recipes! I’d probably go with more of a green salad, like one of these:
https://www.onceuponachef.com/2009/09/mesclun-salad-with-goat-cheese-mapleglazed-pecans-maple-dijon-vinaigrette.html
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/roasted-beet-salad-with-goat-cheese-walnuts-honey-dijon-vinaigrette.html
https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/baby-spinach-with-fresh-berries-pecans-goat-cheese-in-raspberry-vinaigrette.html
Thank you for your suggestion on salad. I’ll try that combination.
Niels
Niels – which chicken curry recipe have you tried? Thanks! I’m in search for The Perfect Chicken Curry!
Hi Ann, I think Niels used this recipe from my blog. (Niels, feel free to weigh in if I’m wrong 🙂
This is scrumptious! Have prepared it twice and guests can’t get enough of it. It has become a summer go-to salad for me but I’m torn because the Black Bean & Corn w/Chipotle-Honey Vinaigrette has been the one!
You read my mind! Need a new side dish for steaks next weekend & this will be delicious. A restaurant near us serves a roasted red pepper puree soup with feta…wondering if I could turn leftovers into something similar?
Hi Jill, Definitely, I think that would work!
This is Summer on a Plate! Easy,flavorful! We ate it with homemade soup, but Im thinking a platter of this next to a grilled steak for Fathers Day….or paired with a roast chicken and a crusty loaf of good bread!! Another five star!!!!!!!!!!!
We are just organizing an office pot luck so guess what I am making. This looks delicious.
How many inches from TOP of peppers to broiler coil in an electric stove, and about how long should they broil. Trying to avoid mushy peppers. Yours look great!
Hi Carol, I’d place the oven rack in the top position so the top of the peppers are just a few inches from the heating element.
This recipe was stunning, fun to make, pretty to look at and delicious to eat! A colorful dish that looked beautiful to serve. I was so upset when I realized I forgot to add the pine nuts, but no one knew the difference as it was perfect! Adding them tonight with the leftovers!