Some like ‘em hot: Padrón peppers pack an irresistible wallop

Published April 9, 2023

by Janet Blaser

Last weekend at one of my favorite vendor’s stands at the local organic market, I spied a small bag of — could it be?! — bright green Padrón peppers leaning up against a basket of heirloom tomatoes. Had someone forgotten them, I wondered? But no, Lorenzo had, in fact, grown them, and these were the first small harvest.

To say I was thrilled would be an understatement. I’ve loved these spicy little peppers ever since I first ate them a decade ago at a huge farmers’ market in Los Angeles where they were being served from a food truck. Since then I’ve learned that grilled or broiled Padrón peppers, drizzled with a flavorful olive oil, are a standard Spanish tapa, their slightly spicy, earthy flavor the perfect accompaniment to other, more mild dishes.

I won’t go so far as to say I cooked up a table full of tapas and invited friends over, but the Padróns did turn my own personal happy hour into something special.

Like shishito peppers (their longer, thinner cousins), Padróns are thin-walled, making them easy to broil or grill and blister. They have a mild taste, only somewhat spicy, although every once in a while, (plant biologists say every 10–20 peppers) one will be really hot. A popular northern Spanish adage says, “Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non.” (“Padrón peppers, some are hot, some are not.”

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