Description
Bell Pepper Salad is crunchy, fresh and herbaceous with a bright, red wine vinaigrette dressing. It’s easy, gluten free and the perfect complement to your favorite main dishes!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the Salad
- 3 bell peppers, (any color), julienned
- 1/3 large red onion, julienned
- 1 mini cucumber (Persian cucumber), julienned
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon fresh chives, finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon dill weed
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
For the Dressing
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 1 Tablespoon raw unfiltered honey
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Start by julienning all the vegetables at once and then chopping the fresh herbs. To julienne, simply means to cut into thin strips. I keep everything in the salad somewhere between 1/8″ and less than 1/4″ wide.
- After julienning, if the pepper strips are too long to eat comfortably, I cut them in half.
- To julienne the cucumber, I slice it into thin planks and make two stacks of the planks. Cut through the stacks making thin strips. And again, if they are too long to eat comfortably, I cut them in half.
- To get thin slivers of red onion, simply cut a super thin slice off the onion, then quarter the slice and separate the pieces.
- Chop the herbs very fine. They’re to add flavor and color, but you don’t want large pieces.
- Add julienned bell peppers, cucumbers, onion, parsley, basil, dill and garlic to a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Whisk together red wine vinegar, avocado oil, honey, salt and pepper to make the dressing.
- Pour the dressing over the bell pepper salad and toss to coat everything.
- Cover the bell pepper salad and refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes, so the flavors begin to meld.
- Serve with your favorite main dishes.
Notes
Possible Recipe Variations
- Substitute your favorite vinegar or the one you have on hand in the dressing for this bell pepper salad recipe. White wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar would all work.
- You could substitute extra virgin olive oil for the avocado oil. Keep in mind that olive oil has a more distinctive flavor.
- You could use julienned jicama or zucchini in place of the cucumber.
- You could use mini bell peppers and slice them into rigs instead of sliced bell peppers (sweet peppers).
- Any color of onion works. I prefer red onions for their color and slight sweetness, but Vidalia or another sweet variety of onion would also be delicious in bell pepper salad.
- You could also try substituting lemon juice or lime juice for the vinegar.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Salad, Vegetable, Side Dish
- Method: Cold Prep
- Cuisine: American