Elote Shishito Peppers

Sweet and slightly spicy mini blistered green peppers alongside a elote dipping sauce for an excellent summer appetizer. Serves 6-8.

I distinctly remember the first time I heard of shishito peppers. I was listening to a podcast, and one of the hosts was describing her perfect Friday night aperitivo, which included shishito peppers, and a spicy margarita.

The fun thing about eating shishito peppers is that only about one in every ten is spicy. The rest are delightfully crunchy, sweet and earthy like eating a two bite sized bell pepper. You can serve them simply with flakey salt and a squeeze of lemon and lime, or go all out with a dipping sauce.

This recipe was shared with my First Impression series in June 2026.

What you’ll love about this recipe

• It’s quick. You can make the elote sauce in advance, just let it come to room temperature before serving. The shishitos themselves are blistered and ready to serve in about 5 minutes including the time it takes to preheat the pan.

• It’s affordable. Shishitos plus some pantry and kitchen staples are all you need to bring this recipe together.

• It’s versatile. While this recipe is specifically for a version of shishito peppers with elote, you can also serve it simply with flakey sea salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice.

What is elote?

Elote is a Mexican street food made with charred corn on the cob, slathered in a mayo-sour cream sauce and topped with cilantro and cotija cheese. The charred corn is sweet with a lovely smoked flavor and the sauce is creamy, tangy, herby, and smokey. Traditionally they leave the husk of the corn on the cob so it can be used as a handle to eat. This version of elote sauce has the addition of chicken stock, which is not traditional, but makes this a little more dippable and adds a lovely umami rich flavor to the sauce.

What is a shishito pepper?

Shishito peppers are small green peppers originating from Japan. That are sweet and mild in spice, unless you get the one in ten that is more spicy (I’d say about medium on the spice scale). I find them bagged in my local Trader Joe’s year round, but you can also find them at a traditional grocery store. Like other peppers, they thrive growing in the warmer months.

What is cotija?

Cotija is a hard, crumbly, salty Mexican cheese made with cows milk. If you have ever ordered refried beans at a Mexican restaurant and saw a cheese sprinkled over the middle of it, it was probably cotija. You can also use it for tacos, salads, and over roasted vegetables. I’ve seen it compared to feta but it doesn’t have the same moisture or tang that feta has. I think the better common comparison is to parmesan, and I agree with that because it’s hard and salty. You can find cotija in the artisan cheese section, and the one I find at Trader Joe’s is sold in a wedge.

What else would you serve with this?

Elote shishito peppers are inspired by Mexican street food, so any other Mexican food would go along well with this. The great thing about these being relatively light is you don’t have to overthink what you serve after this. Pulled pork or birria tacos would go super well along side these. I developed this recipe to go alongside the Frozen Spicy Pineapple Margarita, and they are even better together.

Tips to getting this recipe right

Use a high heat oil. Avocado oil is my favorite oil for high heat cooking, but you could also use canola or Algae oil.

Give the peppers time to blister. Contact with the pan + time equals browning.Don’t move the peppers while they’re cooking a lot, or they won’t get that lovely blistered look. I like to give my pan a couple of tosses, but other than that I leave it alone.

Know how to balance flavors. No recipe comes out exactly the same twice, and if you know how to balance the salt, acid, and fat in a recipe you’ll become a better cook overnight. Test the sauce (ideally with a shishito) after you mix it, and if it tastes too fatty, add more lime juice. If it tastes too salty add more sour cream, and if it tastes too tart add a little more mayonnaise.

Serve while hot! Shishitos are best when they’re still warm. Fortunately, they take only a few minutes to cook so if I had a large casual party, I might plan to do a second batch during the party for a refill.

Elote Shishito peppers

Ingredients

8 oz shishito peppers

2 tsp Avocado oil

4 oz cotija

Pinch Flakey Sea salt

Elote Sauce

½ cup Sour cream

½ cup Mayonnaise

¼ cup Chicken stock

½ teaspoon Granulated sugar

1 teaspoon Sea salt

1 tablespoon Lime juice

1 teaspoon Ancho chili powder

Method

Make the elote sauce. Combine sour cream and mayonnaise in a medium bowl, and whisk together. Then add chicken stock, sugar, sea salt, lime juice, and ancho chili powder. Stir until uniform. Cover, and set aside. If making in advance, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and let come to room temperature before serving.

Cook the shishito peppers. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat (not high heat or they will explode and overcook), and coat with avocado oil. Once preheated, add shishito peppers in a single layer. Once they are in, do not touch them for one minute so they can begin to char, you’ll hear some popping sounds, and that’s what you want. Then jostle the pan to cook the other sides. Cook for 3-4 minutes until blistered on most sides.

Once finished cooking, use tongs to place shishitos on a serving plate, being careful you are not pouring out the leftover oil onto the platter. Sprinkle with flakey salt, and crumbled cotija cheese.

Set elote sauce in a bowl next to the shishitos, and serve immediately.

Notes: Elote sauce adapted from Giangis Kitchen.