What Is Banana peppers and How Can I Use It?

Wondering what to do with banana peppers? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 43 recipes to put it to work.

Key Points

Mild, sweet-tangy yellow pepper at roughly 0 to 500 Scoville units, far gentler than a jalapeno.
Pickled rings are the default, adding acid and crunch to subs, pizza, and salads.
Fresh ones are crisp and grassy, good raw in salads, stuffed, or sauteed.
Closest swap is pepperoncini, which are thinner-walled and a touch hotter and more bitter.
Fresh keep one to two weeks; opened jars last a month or more under the brine.

What are banana peppers?

Banana peppers are long, tapered yellow peppers named for the obvious: the shape and the color look like a small banana. They run mild and lightly sweet, with a tangy edge that gets sharper once they are pickled.

Most people meet them as pickled rings. Those bright yellow slices get piled onto subs and pizza and tossed through salads. Fresh, they are crisp and grassy, closer to a sweet pepper than a hot one.

On the heat scale they barely register, roughly 0 to 500 Scoville units. That is far milder than a jalapeno, so they add flavor and crunch without setting anyone's mouth on fire.

How to Use Banana Peppers

Pickled is the default, and the jar earns its keep. Scatter the rings over Mom's Big Sub Sandwich or a Chicken Caesar for a quick hit of acid that cuts through cheese and rich dressing.

Fresh banana peppers are worth knowing too. Slice them raw into a Three Bean Salad with Sweet Bell Peppers, or chop them into salsa where you want pepper flavor without heat.

They also stuff well. The walls are thinner than a bell pepper but sturdy enough to hold cream cheese or a sausage filling, and they soften fast under the broiler.

Sliced and sauteed, they sweeten and go limp in a few minutes, good in fajitas and omelets or piled on a sausage hoagie.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Banana peppers love salty, fatty company. Provolone, pepperoni, tuna, feta, and olive oil all play off their tang, and a few rings wake up a heavy sandwich the way a squeeze of lemon wakes up fish.

The usual mistake is confusing them with pepperoncini in the jar and expecting more bite. Pepperoncini are thinner-walled and a touch more bitter and spicy, while banana peppers are smoother, meatier, and sweeter. Swap them knowing the texture and tang will shift.

Another slip is cooking pickled rings into a hot dish and wondering where the crunch went. Pickled peppers are a finishing touch. Add them at the end or off the heat so they keep their snap.

Substitutes

For pickled banana pepper rings, pepperoncini are the closest swap and sit right next to them on the shelf. They bring a little more heat and a wrinklier bite, so use the same amount and expect a sharper result.

Pickled sweet cherry peppers work when you want the sweetness without the length, though they are rounder and softer.

For fresh banana peppers, a yellow or light green Hungarian wax pepper is the nearest match in look, but taste one first since hot strains exist. A mild fresh chile such as a cubanelle, or even strips of sweet bell pepper with a splash of vinegar, covers the fresh-and-mild role.

Buying and Storing

Pick fresh banana peppers that are firm and glossy with a bright yellow color and no soft spots. Skip any that bend easily or show brown patches at the stem.

Stored loose in the crisper drawer, fresh ones keep about one to two weeks. Do not wash them until you are ready to use them, since trapped moisture speeds up rot.

Jarred pickled rings are the pantry workhorse. Sealed, they last for months in the cupboard. Once opened, keep the jar in the fridge with the peppers under the brine and they stay crisp for a month or more.

If the brine turns cloudy or the peppers go slimy, toss the jar.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 cup (124g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 33Calories from Fat 5

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 0.6g 1%

Saturated Fat 0.1g 0%

Trans Fat ~

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 16mg 1%

Total Carbohydrate 6.6g 2%

Dietary Fiber 4g 17%

Sugars 2.4

Protein 2.1g

Vitamin A 8% Vitamin C 171%

Calcium 2% • Iron 3%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your caloric needs.

recipeland.com/nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find banana peppers: Banana peppers are usually found in the produce section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Banana peppers are a member of the Vegetables and Vegetable Products US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese: 香蕉辣椒
British (UK) term: Banana peppers
en français: piments bananes
en español: pimientos de banana

How much do banana peppers weigh?

Amount	Weight
1 cup	124 grams
1 small (4" long)	33 grams
1 medium (4-1/2" long)	46 grams
1 large (5" long)	75 grams

Vegetables and Vegetable Products

Alfalfa sprouts 47 Artichoke hearts 250 Artichokes 82 Asparagus 449 Bamboo shoots 144 Lima beans 129 Green beans 543 Beets 204 Broccoli, frozen 129 Cabbage 684

Recipes using banana peppers

There are 43 recipes that contain this ingredient.

Chicken Caesar

A delicious, filling and well balanced chicken caesar salad satisfies everyone at the dinner table.

Quick & Easy Bibimbap

Learn how to make Bibimbap, one of my favorite Korean dishes. This time instead of preparing each vegetable separately, I cooked the similar texture vegetables together, which saved time and still tasted delicious. I mixed the seasoned vegetables with soba noodles and of course always have some kimchee as a side, that's a must in Korean food.

List of all ingredients

Your kids favorite foods may be loaded with fat, salt and sugar

Your kids favorite foods may be loaded with fat, salt & sugar

Should You Follow a Paleo Diet?

Only Five Days of Fatty Foods Can Change Your Body?

More health news

Celebrate the Feast of the Seven Fishes

Food Allergies & Symptoms

Whole Grains Lower Risk of Death by 5%