Spanish Padron Peppers

A lot of our customers at Native Spanish Tapas ask us about Spanish padron peppers, or “pimientos de padrón”. We offer them in one of our many Madrid tapa tours, and are absolutely delicious! It makes us proud to say that these miniature green peppers have made it big BACK across the Atlantic Ocean. We refer to “BACK” because they have had a historical round-trip from the Americas to Spain. Today at Native Spanish Tapas we are going to talk about the history of these wonderful peppers often referred to as one of the best Spanish tapas of Madrid and also how to prepare them at home.

Padron Peppers were originally cultivated in the San Franciso de Hebrón convent in the province of Galicia, in northern Spain, where Fransiscan monks took them back to Spain during their travels from the Americas in the 16^th century. Historians believe that they were probably from southwest United States or Mexico, hence their resemblance with jalapeno peppers.

These Spanish pardon peppers are small in dimension compared to a regular green pepper and are great fun when going out for some of the best Spanish tapas in Madrid, because only about 10% to 25% of them are actually spicy. You never know if it’s going to bite you or not. There is a fun rhyming in Spain that says “pimientos de Padrón, algunos pican, algunos no”, in English it would be “padron peppers, some are spicy and some are not”.

Preparing these delicious peppers is a reflection of Spanish cuisine: simple, and olive-oil based. In fact, some of the best Spanish tapas only have on average of three or four ingredients. There are two ways to prepare them, depending on the social event. In a BBQ gathering, Spanish people put them directly on the grill with rock salt, usually accompanied with meat. In Madrid Spanish tapas restaurants, they are fried in very hot olive-oil, placed in a rounded plate or big dish with rock salt as well.

Here is video link on of how to make padron peppers at home!

We definitely recommend them at home, or in one of our many Spanish Madrid tapas tours!