Raise your hand if you've ever been caught on a weeknight with no fresh veggies in the fridge. Or if the veggies you thought were fresh turn out to be...not so fresh. Meet your new best friend: jarred roasted red peppers from Trader Joe's.
Each 12-ounce jar usually contains one very large or two smaller red peppers and costs about $1.99, which is really no more than how much fresh peppers often cost at our market! They're roasted, seeded, and packed in water along with a bit of sugar, salt, and citric acid (a natural preservative).
Far from the limp tasteless specimens we normally think of when it comes to canned vegetables, these peppers are really good! They're thick and meaty, holding their natural shape and texture. In fact, getting them out of the jar in one piece is sometimes a trick! The flavor is simply red pepper, with a little bit of sweetness from the roasting.
We chop them up and use them in a lot of our quick weeknight dishes. They're excellent in frittatas and fajitas, on pizzas, with stir fries, and even thrown into a quick soup. They're already cooked, so we usually add the red peppers as the very last ingredient and cook them just enough so they're warmed through. We also rinse the peppers in cool water before using them.
What other canned or jarred vegetables do you like from Trader Joe's?
Related: Eating Light: Frozen Vegetables Are Your Friends
(Images: Emma Christensen)
Soda Recipe: Homemade Ginger Ale
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
TW Salt Mill by Wil...
Which Wall Color Gives the Best Sleep?
Ana Creates a Community at Home
I love these. I use them for romesco.
Yes!! I don't live anywhere near a Trader Joe's and this is one of the staples I buy when I have a trip and can stock up. These go great with artisan breads, cheese, and good mustard when laying out a tasting space for guests.
Love roasted peppers! And these are a great option when you don't want to roast your own.
I use them a lot in sandwiches: brie, roasted pepper and steak or add them to hummus.
A friend of mine sliced these peppers up, sauted them in a pan with a little olive oil, and served them warm over feta cheese with pita chips. An easy and delicious appetizer!
I use the dried tomatoes in oil in salads and pastas in the winter when I can't get any fresh tomatoes. The jarred hearts of palm are also tasty.
Along the same lines as these red peppers are the jarred Piquillo Peppers. They have a little stronger pepper flavor than the red peppers, I use them all the time!
I puree a jar of roasted peppers with half a cup or so of crumbled feta cheese, a bit of thyme or oregano and a squirt of lemon juice. Appetizer dip! I also like them on sandwiches and salads, and they're great to have around for when I run out of fresh vegetables.
Yes, this is just one of the many time-savers that TJ's provides for our household.
I use 3 jars of these with about 4 cups of chicken broth, a large yellow onion, some paprika and cayenne and little flour and butter. Saute the onions in the butter, put it all in the food processor and heat with a bit of cream, and voila! Roasted Red pepper soup. Delicious and a New Year's Eve tradition for us. Great with some good crusty bread.
http://www.paintedpeach.blogspot.com
I love these and I'm also a big fan of their sun dried tomatoes in a jar with olive oil. They're so easy to add to pasta with some parm for a quick dinner!
Does anyone have a recipe for making these?? What proportion of peppers to water/salt/sugar/citric acid would I use? The store bought ones are delicious but I'd love to make my own using local produce and it's currently red pepper season!
Totally addicted to these. I have an electric stove (ugh), so I can't roast over an open flame and don't usually feel like roasting peps in the oven. These are great and soooo much cheaper than the ones at Whole Foods.