Padron Peppers substitute

Best substitute

Shishito peppers

Use the same amount by weight or by piece as the padron peppers you are replacing

Best for blistering in olive oil as a tapa

Close match

Shishito peppers are the substitute, full stop - they are the same size, the same thin-walled shape, the same mild-with-occasional-heat character, and they blister identically in a hot pan. Swap them 1:1 and nobody will know. If you cannot find shishito either, small Anaheim or cubanelle peppers cut into pieces work but need longer cooking, and mini sweet peppers give you the look with none of the grassy bite or any chance of heat. Remember what the dish is: peppers charred until the skins blister, tossed with flaky salt, eaten by the stem - so the pepper needs thin walls that blister fast.

Other padron peppers substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Small Anaheim, cubanelle or Hungarian wax peppers
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by weight; cut larger peppers into 2 inch strips or chunks
These are all mild, thin-to-medium-walled frying peppers, so they blister and sweeten in hot oil the way Padron do.
What changes
The differences are size and thickness: they are much longer, so you have to cut them and lose the eat-by-the-stem charm, and their walls are thicker, so they take six to eight minutes instead of three and come out meatier and softer rather than crisp-blistered. Flavour is sweeter and less grassy, with no heat surprise at all.
Best for
blistered pepper side dishes, grilling, tossing with potatoes or eggs, sandwiches and bocadillos
Cubanelle is the closest of the three because it has the thinnest walls. Cut them into wide pieces rather than thin strips so they still have some presence on the plate. Because they take longer, start them in a slightly less ferocious pan or the skin blackens before the flesh softens. Hungarian wax peppers can be genuinely hot, so taste one raw before committing.
3Mini sweet peppers (the small red, orange and yellow bag)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by piece
Right size, right eat-by-the-stem shape, right convenience, wrong flavour.
What changes
Mini sweet peppers are properly sweet with no grassy bitterness and absolutely no possibility of heat, so a plate of them blistered and salted tastes like candy compared to Padron's savoury green edge. They also blister to a softer, jammier texture because they have thicker walls and more sugar. Multi-coloured, so the plate looks quite different too.
Best for
blistered pepper snacks, kid-friendly versions, grilling and skewers, charcuterie plates
Genuinely good eating, just a different dish. If you want to push them towards Padron, squeeze lemon over them at the end and be generous with the flaky salt, which counteracts the sweetness. Their sugar means they char and blacken faster than Padron do, so watch the pan closely.
4Green bell pepper, cut into large pieces
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight; cut into roughly 1.5 inch squares
The everywhere-available option.
What changes
Green bell pepper has the right grassy, vegetal, slightly bitter flavour that Padron carry - genuinely closer in taste than mini sweet peppers - but the wrong build. Thick walls mean it takes a good eight to ten minutes to soften, it never blisters to that thin papery char, and it stays juicy and squeaky rather than collapsing tenderly. And there is no eating it by the stem.
Best for
blistered or charred pepper sides, adding to rice, eggs and potatoes, grilling, sofrito bases
Get the pan very hot and leave the pieces undisturbed for two or three minutes at a time so they actually char rather than steam. Finishing under a broiler for a minute helps blister the skin. Salt heavily and add a squeeze of lemon, which is what makes the dish taste deliberate rather than like sauteed peppers.
5Jalapenos or green serranos, if you actually want the heat
Different taste
Use about ⅓ the quantity, or slit and deseed them and use 1:1
Not really a Padron substitute, but the right answer for the person who liked the hot one in ten and wants that reliably.
What changes
Blistered whole jalapenos are a real dish, and they char beautifully. They are far hotter than even a hot Padron, thicker-walled, and their flavour is sharper and more aggressive rather than sweet-grassy. Serranos are hotter still and thinner-walled, so they blister more like a Padron does.
Best for
blistered pepper tapas for people who want heat, grilling alongside meat, toreados-style charred chillies, salsas
Slitting them lengthways and scraping out the seeds and pale ribs cuts most of the heat while keeping the pepper flavour and shape. Serve them alongside a milder pepper rather than instead of one if you are feeding a group, or half the table will be in trouble. Blistered whole chillies like this are chiles toreados in Mexican cooking.
6Nothing, plus another blistered vegetable
Taste and texture differ
Substitute by volume with green beans, asparagus, broccolini or spring onions
The honest answer if the recipe is simply pimientos de Padron as a tapa and no small peppers exist near you.
What changes
What you are really cooking is a vegetable blistered hard in olive oil and hit with flaky salt, and green beans, asparagus, broccolini or trimmed spring onions all do that beautifully. The dish stops being a pepper dish, obviously - no grassy pepper flavour, no heat lottery - but the technique and the eating experience carry over almost entirely.
Best for
tapas spreads, quick vegetable sides, grilling, when no suitable peppers are available
Keep everything else identical: screaming hot pan, a little good olive oil, do not crowd, blister until spotted and blackened in places, then flaky salt and a squeeze of lemon off the heat. Blistered green beans in particular are close in shape and in the eat-with-fingers spirit. Do not pretend it is Padron on the menu.

What is Padron Peppers?

Padron Peppers is the small, thin-walled green frying pepper from Galicia in Spain, sold as pimientos de Padron, usually mild but with roughly one in ten unexpectedly hot, and blistered whole in very hot olive oil and salted, so what you want from it is char, a soft collapsing skin and the occasional jolt of heat.

Cooking tips

A Padron pepper's job on the plate is charred grassy sweetness plus salt plus the occasional flash of heat, and the thin wall is what makes it possible - it lets the skin blister and the flesh collapse in three minutes. Any substitute with thick walls needs longer cooking and will eat softer and juicier rather than papery and charred.
The pan must be genuinely hot before the peppers go in, and you must not crowd it. Peppers in a merely warm or overloaded pan release water and steam themselves grey-green instead of blistering. Cook in two batches rather than one crowded one.
Use less oil than you think - a tablespoon or two for a large handful. This is blistering, not frying. Too much oil and the peppers turn greasy and the skins slip off instead of charring and clinging.
Salt after cooking, never before, and use flaky or coarse salt. Salting in the pan draws out water and stops the blistering; salting off the heat gives you the crunch and salt burst that makes the dish. A squeeze of lemon at the end is not traditional in Galicia but improves almost every substitute pepper.
The one-in-ten heat lottery is real with both Padron and shishito, and it depends on growing conditions - peppers left on the plant longer and grown in hotter, drier weather are more likely to be hot. There is no way to spot the hot one from the outside, which is the whole point of the dish.

Frequently asked questions

Are shishito peppers the same as Padron peppers?

Different varieties from opposite ends of the world, but so alike in use that they are effectively interchangeable. Both are small, thin-walled, wrinkly green peppers, both are mostly mild with roughly one in ten hot, and both are traditionally blistered whole in oil and salted. Shishito are Japanese and slightly sweeter and thinner-skinned; Padron are Galician and a touch more bitter and grassy. Swap 1:1 in any recipe. Since shishito are far more common in American supermarkets, this is usually the practical choice rather than a compromise.

Can I just leave Padron peppers out?

If the recipe is pimientos de Padron, the peppers are the dish, so no - you need small thin-walled peppers or you need to cook something else. If the peppers are an element in a larger dish, a rice dish or a tapas spread, then yes, drop them and nothing breaks. In that case blistered green beans, asparagus or spring onions cooked the same way keep the same charred-and-salted note on the table.

Why is only one in ten Padron peppers hot, and can I tell which?

Padron peppers naturally vary in capsaicin depending on how long they stayed on the plant and how hot and dry the growing season was, so a single harvest contains both mild and hot fruit. There is no reliable way to identify a hot one by looking at it - not by size, colour or shape - which is exactly why eating them is a game. Larger, older peppers picked late in the season are statistically more likely to be hot, so a bag of small early peppers will generally be milder overall.

What can I use instead of Padron peppers if my store only has bell peppers?

Green bell pepper cut into large one-and-a-half-inch squares is the best option from a standard supermarket, because it has the right grassy vegetal flavour even though the thick walls mean it will not blister the same way. Get the pan very hot, leave the pieces undisturbed so they char in spots, cook eight to ten minutes, then salt heavily off the heat and squeeze lemon over. Mini sweet peppers look more like Padron and are easier to eat, but they are much sweeter, so bell pepper actually tastes closer.

How do you cook Padron peppers properly?

Heat a heavy pan until it is very hot, add a tablespoon or two of olive oil, then add the whole peppers dry and in a single uncrowded layer. Toss or turn them every thirty seconds or so for three to five minutes until the skins are blistered and blackened in patches and the peppers have gone slightly floppy. Tip them onto a plate, scatter over flaky sea salt, and eat them hot by the stem. They spit oil when the skins burst, so keep a lid nearby as a shield.

Related substitutes

More peppers substitutes

Padron Peppers substitute

Other padron peppers substitutes

2Small Anaheim, cubanelle or Hungarian wax peppers

3Mini sweet peppers (the small red, orange and yellow bag)

4Green bell pepper, cut into large pieces

5Jalapenos or green serranos, if you actually want the heat

6Nothing, plus another blistered vegetable