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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It’s Amazing! Becoming one of my favorite salads!
Excellent salad. I have been looking for alternatives to lettuce salads and this is a delicious one. I plan to make this again. I used walnuts. I did not have pine nuts. With Jennifer’s thoughtful instructions this was very easy to make.
Colorful salad full of flavor. I will scale down recipe next time, that’s a lot of peppers for two to eat in 24 hrs. I will also cut the pepper up, as I found the texture of the strips of pepper to be a little off putting.
Does the pepper salad need to marinate for any length of time, or should it be dressed right before eating?
Once the peppers are dressed with the other ingredients, how long will it last in the fridge?
You’ve done a great job on this website, Jennifer…
Hi Deb, it’s best if it is dressed and sits for at least an hour and up to overnight. After that, I would eat it within about 24 hours. And glad you like the blog! ❤️
Hello! I have a question regarding the cooking technique. I roast my peppers whole without blackening them; no need to cover with plastic wrap, because they steam from within (one must be careful cutting them open, as the juices are hot) and the skin just slides off. Am I doing it wrong? Missing out on flavor? Is it important to char the peppers?
PS I am not as keen on raw garlic as I used to be, so I heat oil in a pan and add anchovies plus a couple of smashed garlic cloves, fry till the garlic is golden and the fish fall apart. Mince the garlic and add the whole thing to the peppers. Yummy.
No Mags, it’s not necessary to char the peppers from a flavor standpoint — as long as you’re able to peel the skin, that’s all that matters. Hope that helps!
Thank you. 🙂 The salad is wonderful.
Another fabulous recipe. This dish turned out beautifully, and was very flavourful. I made it to bring to a bbq. Everyone loved it and helped themselves to a 2nd helping! For someone such as me who is a nervous cook, Jenn’s recipes always turn out.
thank you Jenn!
Lisa
😊
Somehow through the years, cooking became a chore rather than a pleasure, but we still want to eat good food, so cook once, eat twice, recipes are my favorites. I made this salad and reserved half without the final add-ins. It went well with my trusty Greek lemon chicken, harissa yogurt side sauce, and a couscous pilaf. The next day I hit the Mediterranean bakery for some good pita, used left over chicken, added the olives and feta to the remaining salad, and made pita sandwiches. The sandwiches were absolutely stellar. I used walnuts rather than pine nuts, and omitted nuts for the sandwiches. I’ll absolutely make this year round.
I made this salad a few years ago and was disappointed, which rarely happens with recipes from this site. It was beautiful, but the flavor was underwhelming, so I tried it again recently with a few minor tweaks and it was excellent! I added a 6 oz. jar of marinated artichokes, drained them first, and mixed the brine with the vinegar and omitted the olive oil from the dressing. I subbed a few tablespoons of pesto for the chopped fresh basil in the dressing which seemed to give it more flavor than the fresh basil, and added grated lemon zest. The first time I made the salad I used a feta cheese that wasn’t very salty. This time I chose a much saltier feta and it made a big difference. Delicious!
A further note to my review – This salad makes an excellent filling for a tortilla wrap, either at room temperature or slightly warmed in the oven or microwave. It’s best to drain it well so that the wrap doesn’t get soggy. It also helps to line the tortilla with bibb lettuce. Sprouts add a bit of crunch.
I found this recipe last year and made it for every gathering we had, which was several. It is absolutely delicious and so different from most other salads. Packs a lot of wonderful flavor. I just came on pinterest to find the recipe so I could make it for this weekend and thought I should finally rate it. Thanks for a great recipe.
Absolutely amazing!!! Highly recommend!!