Following the right technique, you can quickly and efficiently slice bell peppers into perfect strips without the need for any fancy kitchen tools. Here's our step-by-step guide to slicing bell peppers!
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Step 1: Choose the Pepper
Select bell peppers that are firm and vibrant in color, with shiny skin. Avoid peppers with wrinkles, soft spots, or blemishes. Wrinkly, old peppers are much harder to cut than fresh peppers, even with a properly sharp knife. You can use red peppers, green peppers, yellow peppers - any kind will work!
We personally prefer to buy the "stoplight" peppers that come in packages of three. ALDI often has great deals on these.
Step 2: Wash the Pepper
Rinse the bell pepper under cold water to remove any dirt or residue clinging to the pepper (and be sure to peel off the sticker, if it has one). Pat it dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel.
Step 3: Prepare Your Tools
Place a cutting board on a flat, stable surface. The cutting board should be clean and dry to avoid cross-contamination, and free from warping. Any style of cutting board will work for cutting peppers so long as it is stable.
Make sure your knife is sufficiently sharp, clean, and dry. A sharp knife makes cutting vegetables much easier and is also much safer than using a dull knife.
From here, you can slice your bell peppers into strips or into rings.
Slicing Bell Peppers into Strips
Step 1: Cut the Ends Off
Using a sharp chef's knife, carefully cut off both ends of the bell pepper. Feel free to trim off the edible parts of it to use and toss the stem.
Step 2: Remove the Seeds
Stand the pepper up on the cutting board and make a vertical cut down the side of the bell pepper. Run the edge of the knife along the inside of the pepper, removing the seeds and white membrane as you go. Discard the seeds and membrane.
Our video, featured in this guide, shows how to remove the seeds efficiently.
Watch the Video
Step 3: Slice the Pepper into Matchsticks
You should have a long strip of pepper. With the bell pepper skin side down, use your knife to make vertical cuts along the short sides of the pepper to create slices of your desired thickness. You can adjust the width of the slices according to your recipe requirements.
Continue slicing until you have cut the entire bell pepper into uniform slices. If you encounter any seeds or membrane, simply remove them as you go!
Optional: Dicing the Pepper
Once you've cut the pepper into strips, you can very easily dice it by lining up the strips and cutting in the opposite direction at the thickness you desire, whether that's a fine dice or thicker.
Slicing Bell Peppers into Rings
Step 1: Removing the Stem, Membrane, and Seeds
Using a sharp knife, carefully slice a ring around the stem of your bell pepper without cutting through the center of the stem. Think of it in the same way you would carve a pumpkin!
After you've sliced a ring around the stem, carefully pull the stem to dislodge the membrane (the white pith) and seeds from the pepper. It should easily come out. Some seeds may be left behind, but you can take care of those as you slice.
Step 2: Begin Slicing into Rings
Carefully hold your bell pepper steady with one hand, and use the other to cut slices starting at the stem end of the pepper at your desired thickness. Be very careful when slicing and work slowly if necessary. You must be sure your knife is sharp for this step! Using a dull knife when slicing peppers in this way is dangerous.
Storing Sliced Bell Peppers
Once sliced, you can use the bell pepper immediately, or store it in an airtight container such as tupperware or a tightly sealed zip-top plastic bag in the refrigerator for later use. Cut bell peppers are good for 5-7 days when stored properly in the fridge, but you may want to use them sooner than that, as they will begin losing their quality after 2 days.
Using Sliced Bell Peppers
Bell peppers are great for a lot of different recipes, from mixing with onions for fajitas and tacos, to rice bowls, stir-fries, chilis, salads, soups, stews, sausage and peppers, wrap sandwiches, and more - seriously, the list goes on! You can even serve them with your favorite dips as an alternative to chips or fries. Here are just a couple of our suggestions:
Try bell peppers with...
More Guides on Prepping Vegetables
- How to Dice an Onion
- How to Slice an Onion Crosswise
- How to Prepare Butternut Squash
- How to Cut Spaghetti Squash
Leave a review in the comment section below if you enjoyed this guide, or if you have questions about any of our air fryer recipes!
How to Slice Bell Peppers: Step-by-Step with Video
Equipment
- Sharp chef's knife
- Cutting board
Ingredients
- 1 bell pepper any color
Instructions
Step 1: Choose the Pepper
- Select bell peppers that are firm and vibrant in color, with shiny skin. Avoid peppers with wrinkles, soft spots, or blemishes.
Step 2: Wash the Pepper
- Rinse the bell pepper under cold water to remove any dirt or residue clinging to the pepper (and be sure to peel off the sticker, if it has one). Pat it dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel.
Step 3: Prepare Your Tools
- Place a cutting board on a flat, stable surface. The cutting board should be clean and dry to avoid cross-contamination, and free from warping. Make sure your knife is sufficiently sharp, clean, and dry. A sharp knife makes cutting vegetables much easier and is also much safer than using a dull knife.
Slicing Bell Peppers into Strips
Step 1: Cut the Ends Off
- Using a sharp chef's knife, carefully cut off both ends of the bell pepper.
Step 2: Remove the Seeds
- Stand the pepper up on the cutting board and make a vertical cut down the side of the bell pepper. Run the edge of the knife along the inside of the pepper, removing the seeds and white membrane as you go. Discard the seeds and membrane. Our video, featured in this guide, shows how to remove the seeds efficiently.
Step 3: Slice the Pepper into Matchsticks
- You should have a long strip of pepper. With the bell pepper skin side down, use your knife to make vertical cuts along the short sides of the pepper to create slices of your desired thickness. You can adjust the width of the slices according to your recipe requirements.
- Continue slicing until you have cut the entire bell pepper into uniform slices. If you encounter any seeds or membrane, simply remove them as you go!
Optional: Dicing the Pepper
- Once you've cut the pepper into strips, you can very easily dice it by lining up the strips and cutting in the opposite direction at the thickness you desire, whether that's a fine dice or thicker.
Slicing Bell Peppers into Rings
Step 1: Removing the Stem, Membrane, and Seeds
- Using a sharp knife, carefully slice a ring around the stem of your bell pepper without cutting through the center of the stem.
- After you've sliced a ring around the stem, carefully pull the stem to dislodge the membrane and seeds from the pepper. It should easily come out, but if it does not, run your knife along the inside of the pepper to separate the membrane.
Step 2: Begin Slicing into Rings
- Carefully hold your bell pepper steady with one hand, and use the other to cut slices starting at the stem end of the pepper at your desired thickness. Be very careful when slicing and work slowly.
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