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A plate of blistered shishito peppers being served with ponzu dipping sauce
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5 from 3 votes

Easy Blistered Shishito Peppers With Dipping Sauce

This recipe for blistered shishito peppers is both easy and quick to make. It makes for a great side dish or can be served as an appetizer or snack alongside your favorite drinks. I also show you how to make a simple tangy and savory Japanese citrus ponzu sauce as a dipping sauce as well.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine: Japanese
Servings: 2
Calories: 155kcal
Author: Joyce Lee

Ingredients

  • 220 g shishito peppers (approx. 22 peppers)
  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • ¼ teaspoon sesame oil (Optional)

Ponzu Dipping Sauce (Japanese Citrus Sauce)

  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice (approx. ½ large lemon)
  • 1½ tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2½ tablespoons mirin (or 1 teaspoon of sugar mixed with 2 tablespoons of water)
  • ¼ cup bonito flakes

Instructions

Make the Ponzu Dipping Sauce

  • In a small bowl, squeeze 2 tablespoons lemon juice into the bowl.
    If you like it very lemony, you can also zest ¼ teaspoon of zest of the skin into the sauce as well. Make sure not to grate any of the white part of the skin (the pith) it's bitter.
    Lemon juice squeezed into a small bowl
  • Mix in 1½ tablespoons soy sauce and 2½ tablespoons mirin into the bowl.
    (If you don't have mirin, mix 1 teaspoon of sugar with 2 tablespoons of water to substitute it.)
    Adding soy sauce, and mirin to the shishito dipping sauce
  • Add in ¼ cup bonito flakes and let it soak for at least 5 minutes. You can prepare the shishito peppers while the bonito flakes are soaking
    Adding bonito flakes to shishito dipping sauce
  • After the bonito flakes had time to soak in the sauce, you can remove it and discard it.
    Discarding bonito flakes from shishito dipping sauce

Prepare the Shishito Peppers

  • Wash the shishito peppers, and dry them very well with a tea towel or paper towel.
    Drying shishito peppers on a towel
  • (Optional, but Highly Recommended) Puncture each shishito pepper with a toothpick or a fork at the tip. This will help the steam release during the blistering stage and not build up and burst, which can spray hot liquids on you.
    Puncturing shishito peppers with toothpick
  • Put the peppers in a bowl, and add 1 teaspoon oil. Use your hand and mix the peppers in the oil to coat them all very well.

Blister Them In A Hot Pan

  • On a cast iron pan, set the stove medium heat and let the pan get really hot. Make sure the pan is really hot before you put the peppers in, that is how you will get the blistering.
    If you are using a regular frying pan, set it to medium-high heat.
    Alternatively, you can also use a grill for this as well on medium heat.
  • Since you already oiled the peppers, you don't need to oil the pan.
    Add the shishito peppers into the pan, and spread them out so they are on a single layer.
    Add shishito peppers to hot cast iron pan
  • Cook the peppers for about 5-6 minutes, flipping every 30 seconds to a 1 minute.
    If you are using a frying pan, you don't need to flip them as often and you may need to add 1-2 minutes more to the cooking time since it doesn't get as hot as a cast iron pan.
    Shishito peppers being blistered on hot cast iron pan
  • (Optional) Once the peppers are done cooking, toss them in ¼ teaspoon sesame oil and place them on a serving plate.
  • If you are not tossing them into sesame oil, remove them from the pan and plate it. Serve it with a side of dipping sauce, and enjoy!
    Eating blistered shishito peppers with dipping sauce

Notes

  • Make The Sauce First: Make the sauce first, so that it will be ready to serve as soon as the shishito peppers are done cooking.
  • You Can Use a BBQ or Grill As Well - You can also blister shishito peppers in a hot BBQ or grill on medium-high heat with the same cooking time.
  • Use a Neutral Tasting Oil: Since you are working with very high heat, try to avoid using olive oil because it has a very low smoking point. I like to use avocado oil instead which has a higher smoking point and because it is a healthier oil as well.
  • Dry Them Very Welll After Washing: If you put water and oil on a very hot pan, the oil will splatter everywhere and possibly burn you. To avoid this, make sure you dry the shishito peppers very well once you have washed it. I like to use paper towel, or a dry dish towel to do this.
  • Coat the Shishito With Oil: Since you will be blistering these shishito peppers on a very hot pan, you don't want to add oil to the pan itself because that will create a lot of smoke. Toss the shishito peppers in to coat them in oil instead to prevent your house from getting overly smoky.
  • Alternatively, you can also serve this plain and sprinkled with a bit of salt or furikake.

Nutrition

Calories: 155kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 242mg | Potassium: 272mg | Fiber: 0.04g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 0.01mg
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