RECIPE: Red Bell Pepper Powder

I LOVE the flavor of cooked red bell peppers, and use them in many recipes.  Normally, I roast them, peel them, and then freeze them. Last year, I decided to see whether making bell pepper powder would work just as well.  The flavor is a little different, but it's much easier to use than the frozen ones.  I now keep them both on hand!

 

Red Bell Pepper Powder

 

Red bell pepper powder

Makes as much as you have peppers. 

 

Remove the tops and bottoms of the peppers, then remove the seeds and the pith.  

 

Red bell pepper with top and bottom removed

Cut a slit in the pepper body and flatten it into a sheet.  Cut the body into 3 or 4 pieces, removing any bad parts. 

 

Red bell pepper

Load all the flesh (tops, bottoms, and body) onto your dehydrator trays.

 

Red bell peppers on dehydrator tray

Red bell peppers on two dehydrator trays

Dehydrate at 125F until COMPLETELY dry and crispy.  In my dehydrator it takes 3 days.  Look how much they shrank:

 

Red bell peppers dehydrated

Transfer the dried  peppers to a glass jar, and break them up with a muddler.  This will enable you to fit them into your grinder!  If you don't have a muddler, break the pieces as small as you can with your fingers (careful, they are sharp).  

Crush dried peppers with a muddler.

 

Transfer the muddled pieces to a grinder and grind them up.  I use a spice grinder.  I've never tried to use my blender - if you try it, let me know if it works. 

 

Red bell pepper powder, and the spice grinder I use by SECURA

The aroma when you grind them is amazing!  Transfer the powder quickly to a glass or stainless container - to preserve the aroma - and store in a dark place to preserve the color.

 

Red bell pepper powder in glass jar.

If you leave the jar on the counter, the color and the aroma will fade.

On the left: jar stored on counter.  On the right, jar stored in cabinet.  Same contents.

 

Store in a glass or stainless container with a glass or metal lid. 

 

You can stir this powder into cream or melted butter to make a sauce for vegetables, especially green beans; you can stir it into cauliflower puree, you can sprinkle it on salad or soup, you can stir it into ground meat.  

 

You can also make green bell pepper powder, and poblano powder this way.