Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe·Leave a Review

Air Fried Shishito Peppers

Name: Air Fried Shishito Peppers
Prep time: 2 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: Plant based
Ingredients: 8oz of shishito peppers; 1 teaspoon sesame oil; 1/2 lemon; 1 teaspoon sesame seeds; pinch of salt; Soy sauce or Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce

It does not get easier than this! This Air Fried Shishito Peppers recipe is super quick and simple to make. Wow your guests or your family with this tasty and healthy snack. My kids even love this one. I first had blistered shishito peppers in a fancy restaurant a couple years back and was hooked. It is such a wonderfuly simple finger food. Shishito peppers have just the right amount of heat, not too spicy but a little kick. Some do say that about 1 in 10 peppers is a little on the spicy side. Overall, I find these peppers to be very mild, heck my kids eat them and don’t find them spicy. I love this recipe because it has all the same flavor and texture of fried shishito peppers, but without the excessive oil. There is only a smidge of sesame oil for a flavor boost.

How to make Blistered Shishito Peppers in an Ary Fryer

Once you make these in an air fryer, you will NEVER go back to pan frying shishito peppers. It is just so simple to toss them in the air fryer and uses way less oil. To make air fried shishito peppers, pre-heat your air fryer to 400. Toss in the washed shishito peppers when the air fryer is ready. Cook for about 8 minutes until they are starting to get brown spots. You may hear them “pop” in the air fryer. When this happens I usually just open the air fryer and give things a good stir. This can be as simple as shaking the air fryer basket. Once the shishito peppers are cooked, toss them with a little season oil, fresh lemon juice, sesame seeds and a pinch of salt. Again I just add these ingredients to my air fryer basket and give the whole thing a little shake. That’s it!

Shishito Pepper Dipping Sauces

These air fried shishito peppers are great on their own, but I do love to dip them in a little something. Soy sauce is always a good option or another easy favorite at our house is Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce. I discovered Mae Ploy many many years ago on a trip to Thailand. It is more sweet than spicy, but nonetheless reminds me of a much younger version of myself taking in all the sights and smells of the city of Bangkok. It’s lovely that this sauce is now readily available in U.S. grocery stores. Warning it is delicious, but high in sugar. I do try to use it sparingly.

My Favorite Air Fryer

To be perfectly honest the Instant Pot Air Fryer is the only air fryer I have ever owned. But it has been great, and I am amazed how often we use it. It is one of my favorite kitchen tools. The 4 quart size seems just right for our family of four. The only thing that we make with it that I wish it was larger is french fries. Mostly because air fried french fries are so good, we eat a lot of them! When we make fries we usually have to make two batches. Otherwise this 4 quart size basket is plenty large for us. We use our air fryer almost every day from cooking up cubes of tofu, to making potatoes for breakfast burritos. It has so many uses.

Health Benefits of Shishito Peppers

Shishito peppers are of course good for you. High in vitamin A and C, they also contain calcium, iron, and fiber, and a good deal of potassium. But it’s not just about what is in these tasty little gems, more importantly its about making healthy choices and choosing whole foods over processed foods. Instead of grabbing a bag of potato chips, try something like these shishito peppers instead. Upgrade your snacking with whole fresh foods. The more fruits and vegetables you can add into your diet, the better you’ll feel. These air fried shishito peppers are one of my favorite snack swaps, even my kids enjoy them.

Growing Shishito Peppers

It is spring time in Maine, well almost spring time. It is the third of April and still snowing! Nevertheless I have gardening fever. I love these blistered shishito pepper so much we just got some Shishito pepper seeds and are going to attempt to grow these in our garden. This is a first for us, I’ll let you all know how it goes and update this post with any growing tips we stubble upon along the way. If you’ve successfully grown shishito peppers and have any advice please leave a comment! I cannot wait to have the most fresh shishito peppers on a late summer evening. Yum!