The Padron pepper (Pimiento de Padrón) is a chili pepper about 3 inches in length originating from Padrón, Spain. It is typically mild but every now and then delivers a surprising blast of heat. Learn more about them here.
Scoville Heat Units: 500 - 2,500 SHU
Capsicum Annuum
Padron peppers (aka pimento de padron, pimiento de padrón or just "padron" peppers) originate from the province, Galicia, in the northwestern Spanish municipality, Padrón.
They are small green peppers averaging about 3 inches in length. The color ranges, starting out bright green and maturing to a vibrant red. The interesting thing about padrón peppers is that most of them are very mild peppers with no heat, but a small percentage of them will give you a shock of heat.
The only way to know if a padron pepper is hot is to give it a taste. It all has to do with the peppers' particular growing conditions.
How Hot is a Padrón Pepper?
Most pimiento de padrons are as about as mild as your typical bell peppers, which have zero heat on the Scoville Scale. However, about 1 in every 10 peppers will give you a surprising jolt of heat. It's a bit like playing Russian Roulette with your tongue. The peppers range from 500 to 2,500 Scoville Heat Units on the Scoville Scale, making most of them about as hot as a banana pepper. Compare that to a typical jalapeno pepper and you'll find most padron peppers are about 10 times milder.
However, if you get a hot one at 2,500 SHU, that is about half as hot as an average jalapeno.
They are quite similar to shishito peppers in this way, which are also mild, but about 1 in 30 will deliver a small blast of spiciness.
I've personally enjoyed padrons for a long time and have been pleasantly surprised by a spicy kick, but as a regular chilihead who enjoys spicy foods often, I don't feel they're very hot.
How to Cook with Padron Peppers
Pimiento de Padron peppers are traditionally prepared as tapas, with a quick blistering or frying of the peppers, then tossing them with salt. I had them this way in Spain and loved them. They're popular in tapas bars, and are easily cooked at home.
You can follow my recipe for Blistered Shishito Peppers with Flaky Sea Salt and Lime and sub in padrons. They will blister up beautifully the same way.
How to Cook Pimiento de Padron Peppers
- Heat a bit of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. A cast iron skillet works great here as well.
- Add the peppers in a single layer and let the peppers cook about 5 minutes per side, until the skin starts to blister up.
- When they're done and the skins are blistered, toss them with a bit of sea salt and freshly squeezed lime juice.
Wonderful as a snack or a side dish. You can also slice them open and stuff them with a bit of cheese and either bake them, grill them, or set them into a hot pan and cover them, then wait for the cheese to get nice and melty. The skins will char up nicely. Goat cheese is a great choice here.
They are also great for incorporating into other dishes in other ways. I grow them sometimes in my own garden and prefer to let them mature to red for a bit more sweetness.
A purist would say, however, that if the peppers are not grown in Padron, Spain, they are not true padrons.
They still taste great to me. Here are some peppers that I grew in my garden after they've ripened to red.
Where Can I Find Pimiento de Padron Seeds?
You can find pimiento de padron pepper seeds at various online stores, or check my chili pepper seeds resources page. You can also buy pimiento pepper seeds at Amazon (affiliate link, my friends).
What Peppers are similar to the Pimento de Padron?
The shishito pepper is most like this pepper in many ways, including size, shape and color, and in that shishitos will also surprise you every now and then with a little blast of heat. You can use shishito peppers as a good substitute for padron peppers.
NOTE: This post was updated on 317/20 to include new information. It was originally published on 10/8/15.
Ann says
I'm half-Japanese and my family called that hot shishito "shishito surprise"!
Steve Jenkins says
I have grown pardon peppers in my greenhouse for the last three years and up until now they have been as expected, mostly mild with the occasional hot one. However this year the whole crop is exceptionally hot and firery. Not pleasant to eat at all.
Can you suggest why this maybe?
Mike Hultquist says
Steve, often peppers can be hotter based on soil and other growing conditions. When they are stressed, this can result in more heat.
Ann says
Were you growing hot peppers at the same time? I've had jalapenos get cross-pollinated with habaneros. Those were interesting peppers! I hope you saved those seeds to see if the next crop is as hot.
Darran Roberts says
hi guys
I am a big fan of pardon peppers and decided to them myself
I bought three plug pardon plants
and grew them in my greenhouse.
for reference I marked them left middle and right plants
the middle plants started producing lots of pardon first and these were delicious and had a very mild taste
the fruits from the right plant were slightly hot , but the pardons from the the left plants had a extremely hot
Is there any way to reduce the heat of very hot pardon?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Darran, you can core them out to remove much of the heat. Or, use a dairy product with them to counteract it.
Saskia says
Hi Darran
The same thing happened to my padron peppers this year on my London allotment: Of the 6 or so plants, only 2 survived with a large crop of super-spicy peppers. Unedible when prepared in the usual way. I will dry them in the oven and add them (sparingly!) to my dishes. I think it's because of the exceptional hot and dry weather we had, which apparently stresses them and makes them hot. Last year, I had no peppers as it was too cold and wet in my area...
JoostTom says
Greetings from sunny Spain. There is another class of peppers similar to the Pimiento del Padrón: the "guindilla vasca" ("Basque pepper"). We normally call them simply "piparras". They look like cayenne peppers but taste like pimientos del padrón. They are a staple at tapas bars in the Basque Country, make for a great first course blistered and sprinkled with course sea salt (in Spain we do not use either lemon / lime juice or dips) or preserved in white wine vinegar and served as an accompaniment to typical winter dishes as roast meat or stews. The piparras are normally mild (though a bit less so than pimientos del padrón or Shishito), but the ocasional hot one can get quite hot, more so than the occasional hot pimiento del padrón. I grow them in my garden every year. Seeds are available online and small plants are sold all over Spain in spring, to be transplanted to the garden or a good sized pot.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for the info! I love it.
Dan says
Im going 5 padron and 5 shishito plants among my 'farm' this year, looking forward to cropping soon. Is it normal for the padron plants not to grow 'side shoots', the growth that comes from the join of the earlier leaves? Most of my Shishito have them, and are quite bushy, my jalapeños have them too. My Serranos most certainly do not, none of them. The patrons are all tall and flowering at the top, but no bushy growth. All my plants have been grown in the same environment.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
It's hard to say, Dan. Some pepper plants do grow different from others, though I've grown serrano peppers many times and they're always very productive. The plants themselves usually grow to about 18 inches in height.
Jeremie says
Pimientos de Padrón are the best tapas!! I grow three or four plants every year and I was so unhappy, last year, to harvest just.. three peppers!! This year's plants are already starting to grow well!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Yes! They are the perfect tapas peppers. LOVE them.
Panda says
Hi! Have any other recipe ideas for these delicious peppers? We smuggled seeds when we moved back from Portugal and have a *huge* harvest of them this year. Just trying to figure out how to preserve them as we had to pull everything this week. Winter is coming, or something like that. ????
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Awesome, Panda! Great peppers. Aside from pan frying them, they're great stuffed with goat cheese and baked. I love them quickly toasted and charred and tossed with a bit of sea salt, and maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. YUM!