Air Fryer Blistered Shishito Peppers (Only 6 Minutes)

Yes, you can make perfectly blistered shishito peppers in the air fryer and it’s super-quick. They’re bursting with great flavor and make a great snack, appetizer, or condiment-like side dish.

What Are Shishito Peppers?

Shishito peppers are a small green pepper from East Asia. They’re thin, a few inches long, shiny, but with creases running along them. 

While they’re usually mild in flavor, I do want to mention that about 1 out of 10 of these peppers can be quite spicy. You can make a game of it and everyone has peppers and then announces if they got a hot one! If anyone is particularly sensitive to spice, maybe take a tiny nibble first though. It might not be that big of a deal for most people though since even the odd hot one is around the heat level of a poblano or mild jalapeno–not a crazy amount of heat.

Why Cook Shishito Peppers In The Air Fryer?

Just like with our Air Fryer Roasted Red Peppers recipe, the air fryer is a great way to quickly get beautifully cooked peppers with a little bit of char and a lot of flavor. It only takes a few minutes and minimal ingredients and is much easier than grilling or pan-frying them. 

The Popping and Sizzling

Since we’re cooking these peppers whole, they are essentially sealed unto themselves. So, when they get hot, the air inside heats and expands and needs to escape, causing the peppers to open a bit, which is the popping sound you’ll hear. If the popping sounds bother you, you can make a tiny puncture hole with a knife or toothpick before cooking, but it’s not necessary. The sizzling and popping is part of the fun!

How Long To Air Fry Shishito Peppers

I’ve seen a lot of recipes that do 5 minutes and then another 5 minutes after that. But I found that to be too well done in my air fryer. In fact, the darker more shriveled ones in the picture above are from the first test where they were in there for 10 minutes total. I preferred the ones that were only cooked for 5 minutes. I’ve kept both of them in the picture so you can see the difference. It’s up to you though how well done you want them. 

It’s important to preheat the air fryer before you start though. You want the intense heat right when they go in. I don’t usually preheat the air fryer but it matters here.

Don’t Skip The Salt!

Make sure to add a bit of coarse crunchy salt at the end after cooking. It makes a huge difference! The lemon you can skip if you’d like, but please don’t skip the salt.

Play With Flavors

I love the version in the recipe below with salt and lemon, but you play around with the flavor and seasoning to match your mood or main dish.

• Switch out the lemon juice for lime juice.
• Try drizzling a little soy sauce on them or using a dipping sauce with Asian flavors.
• Use toasted sesame oil and add sesame seeds on top.
• Increase the heat with red pepper flakes.
• Toss the peppers with one of our seasoning blends for tons of variety!

What To Serve With Shishito Peppers

They can be served as a side dish, and are especially good alongside steak, chicken, or salmon. You can leave them whole and serve them on the side or cut them into bite-sized chunks.

They’re also great served as an appetizer accompanied by a delicious dip. I have a whipped cottage cheese dip that is amazing with them. I like to choose something cooling as a dip, like this homemade ranch or tzatziki sauce.

But note that you might want to thin your dip out a bit to serve with the shishitos. After cooking, the peppers are a bit soft and won’t penetrate into a firmer dip. You want something more the thickness of a ranch or Caesar salad dressing, more than like a French onion dip, if that makes sense. If the dip is a bit thinner, then the pepper will easily plunge in there and come out with a bit of a dip coating.