Sweet Italian Peppers with Tomato is a really tasty and filling side dish. On my blog, there are already some recipes with this vegetable which I really like, sometimes I call them friggitelli or friggiarelli, a name more used in northern Italy, and other times I call them sweet green peppers, more used in the south. In Naples, they are called in dialect puparulill d’o ciumm, meaning river peppers, and they are much smaller, thinner, and also more tender. However, this recipe is different from the others because for the first cooking stage I used the air fryer.
In my previous recipe of this side dish, here: Sweet Green Peppers with Tomato, I cooked them in a pan using a bit more oil which, in my opinion, is necessary otherwise they burn too much. In the air fryer, though, you can totally do without it and reserve the oil just for sautéing them in the pan with the tomato.
This means that, with my beloved Air Fryer, the Weight Watchers Propoints of this side dish are reduced from 3 to only 1 point per serving, not bad, eh? And the process is much simpler and quicker. Let’s see how I did it…
Other recipes that might interest you:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Air Frying
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: Summer, Summer, Autumn
Ingredients
- 1.1 lbs sweet Italian peppers
- 0.6 lbs cherry tomatoes (ripe)
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste basil
- to taste salt
- Points per serving = 2 WW points
Tools
- Pan
- Air Fryer
Preparation
The air fryer cooking is done without using any seasoning, it’s really unnecessary. Simply wash the sweet Italian peppers, remove the stem carefully not to break them, add a bit of salt and cook them directly in the air fryer basket at 356°F for about 8 minutes. Shake the basket once or twice during cooking. It might happen that a pepper “pops” during cooking, don’t worry, it’s normal!
While the sweet Italian peppers are cooking, sauté the garlic in a non-stick pan with 2 teaspoons of oil. Then add the cherry tomatoes chopped into pieces and let them gently cook for a few minutes. When the sweet Italian peppers are ready, add them to the pan and mix. Cook for a couple of minutes to let the flavors meld, adjust the salt, add the torn basil, and turn off the heat.
Here our Air Fryer Sweet Italian Peppers with Tomato are ready to be served at the table. Or you can use them to dress a nice plate of pasta, eh…
I must say, compared to the pan version, I liked these better. The peppers do not dry out as much as in the pan even though they are cooked without oil. So they remain much more meaty… in short, they gave me more satisfaction this way! Try them and then let me know as always if you liked them!
Enjoy your meal everyone!
by Giovanna Buono
