Zesty Mini Bell Pepper Salad Recipe
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My family is Ukrainian and we love to make a gazillion side dishes for dinner parties; particularly for special occasions. Our holiday buffet spreads are ridiculous, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
You’ll be happy to know this is a simple mini bell pepper salad with a short list of fresh ingredients. It’s quick and easy to assemble and tastes great. It’ll look fantastic and colorful among the other delicious things you’re making.
This bell pepper salad also refrigerates well and tastes great the next day. Pair it with mash pow-taters. Priyatnogo Appetita (Bon Apetit)!
P.S. We’re going to a wedding this weekend. You can follow along on Instagram and Facebook & Twitter.
Ingredients for Mini Bell Pepper Salad:
1 lb sweet multi-colored mini bell pepper
1/2 of a medium sweet onion or purple onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp Fresh dill, chopped
2 1/2 Tbsp white vinegar or Fresh lemon juice (I preferred the vinegar)
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt, or to taste
Pinch of black pepper
How to Make Mini Bell Pepper Salad:
1. Remove the tops and seeds from bell peppers, then cut them in half lengthwise and cut into thin strips. It was quicker to stack two bell peppers and cut two halves at a time. Transfer sliced bell peppers to a large mixing bowl.
2. Thinly slice onion and add it to the bowl along with chopped fresh dill
3. Combine 2 1/2 Tbsp vinegar with 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tsp garlic salt and a pinch of pepper. Whisk the dressing together with a fork. Pour dressing over salad ingredients and stir well to combine. Add more garlic salt to taste if desired
You can serve the salad right away or refrigerate until ready to serve. It even tastes great after being refrigerated overnight.
Zesty Mini Bell Pepper Salad Recipe

Ingredients
- 1 lb sweet multi-colored mini bell pepper
- 1/2 of a medium sweet onion or purple onion, thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp Fresh dill, chopped
- 2 1/2 Tbsp white vinegar or Fresh lemon juice, I preferred the vinegar
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt, or to taste
- Pinch of black pepper
Instructions
- Remove the tops and seeds from bell peppers, then cut them in half lengthwise and cut into thin strips. It was quicker to stack two bell peppers and cut two halves at a time. Transfer sliced bell peppers to a large mixing bowl.
- Thinly slice onion and add it to the bowl along with chopped fresh dill.
- Combine 2 1/2 Tbsp vinegar with 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tsp garlic salt and a pinch of pepper. Whisk the dressing together with a fork. Pour dressing over salad ingredients and stir well to combine. Add more garlic salt to taste if desired. You can serve the salad right away or refrigerate until ready to serve. It even tastes great after being refrigerated overnight!
I didn’t have dill,so I used 1 tsp of Italian seasoning. I also added 1 top of organic sugar. And added 2 baby cucumbers. Children ate it and enjoyed it. Thank you.
I’m so glad it was a hit; thank you so much for sharing that with me, Andy!
Just made the pepper salad and it was absolutely delicious. I added thinly sliced (on a mandolin) 1/2 English cucumber. Will definitely make this one again and again. Perfect time to make this salad is in the fall, when peppers are at their peak of flavor and garden fresh.
Yum! I’m craving this right now! So good!
I love the marinated mini sweet peppers and want to can them in a jar so they will be shelf stable. Any help on how long to water bath them?
Hi Monica, I honestly have not tried to can them for shelf storage. We always refrigerate.
can I use rice vinegar instead of white vinegar?
Hi Loretta, I have not tested this with rice vinegar to advise.
So good! Used “everything but the bagel” seasoning instead. Absolutely will be a go-to salad!
I’m so glad you enjoyed that Kathleen!
Peppers and dill were pretty much the only vegetables I had remaining in the fridge and not surprisingly you had a recipe to marry them together. My family loved it! Dill makes everything better and colorful salad brought a little sunshine to the table. Thank you for another fantastic and so easy to put together idea!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
This was so good! Definitely needs to sit at least a few hours though so the flavour can really develop.
Thank you for sharing that with me, Karen!
This is delicious and the leftovers are great on top of a green salad the next day.
Thanks for the great review, Teresa!
Absolutely will be my go to salad for the summer. I made this for work last night and couldn’t get enough. I kept the onions out as I don’t like them and it was still full of flavour.
Have you ever tried using and grilling the large bell peppers first for this recipe?
Hi Sheila, I haven’t but one of my readers shared that it worked well with large grilled peppers.
Loved this salad, spiced it up a bit with Louisiana Hot Sauce, can’t get enough!
Awesome, I’m glad you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for sharing your fantastic review Lance!
This is a great, simple recipe that lets the few ingredients involved speak for themselves. That being said, be careful who you tell or introduce this salad to because cutting all the baby bell peppers is quite tedious and the more friends and family you share this with the more that’ll ask you to make it again and again! Maybe keep this recipe for small occasions or a secret all to yourself!
LOL! I’m glad to hear the recipe is such a HIT! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review with other readers Chris!
This onion bell pepper salad was phenomenal. I cannot stop telling people about it. I am a new vegan and trying to reintroduce myself to food without the distraction of animal products. I wanted a great bell pepper recipe after buying some at the store earlier that day. I came across this recipe and I can honestly say in the most dramatic way possible that this salad has changed my life. Now I did not add any dill because I find it tends to be overwhelming, and I also added much more garlic salt to suit my taste. If you do nothing else, please marinate this over night. The dressing makes this dish irresistible. I was drinking it out of my bowl earlier. Do yourself a favor and make this immediately. Even if you thought you hated bell peppers like me.
Awesome! That’s enough for me to want to go make this for myself today! I’m so glad you love the recipe Haley! Thanks for sharing your phenomenal review! 🙂
Hi, Natasha, I am writing to you because you seem to really answer your reader’s comments. I was looking for a pepper salad and found your blog. I am making it for my Shabbat meal with guests. My name is Miriam and I live in Israel. I also blog about food, though with a twist as the main theme is about my mom’s Alzheimer’s. I would like to feature your pepper salad in one of my upcoming blogs. Thank you in advance for your time and response!
Hi Miriam, it’s so nice to meet you! 🙂 Please check out my FAQ page where I talk about use of my recipes. I hope you love the salad! 🙂
Hey, I was wondering if you could use spicy peppers
I think that would work – I don’t see why not! 🙂 If you test it out, let me know how you like it 🙂
Love this salad but was wondering if anyone has done the nutritional values of this to figure out serving size and what not.
Please and thank you,
Michelle, Missouri
Hi Michelle, I don’t typically include calorie counts, but if you go to caloriecount.com you can plug in the ingredients and servings and figured out pretty easily that way. I hope that helps!
Mmmm!
So let me tell you what I don’t like. Cutting, cleaning and slicing these little guys. The other thing is raw round onions. I can taste them for hours after eating them. So what I did was use the green parts of green onions. I can tell already I’m going to love the salad. I used about half the amount of dill because I only had dried. I don’t know how much salt is in garlic salt so I used garlic powder in the amount called for and a pinch of salt. Gonna be good.
I love your ideas! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. 🙂
sounds great -cant wait to try. is there any way to freeze or can this creation for future use. i have tons of peppers right now and am looking for recipes
I haven’t tried either way to be honest so I’m not sure if this salad would be good any other way besides fresh. Have you tried canning them with this recipe? https://natashaskitchen.com/2013/09/16/marinated-bell-peppers-recipe/ They are quite good and it’s a great way to preserve alot of bell peppers! It makes for a great side dish with mashed potatoes. yum!
Hi! Do you thi I I can use fresh cilantro instead of dill?
Hi Carla, you could use parsley, basil, chervil, tarragon or any soft leafed herb as a substitute. You can also try cilantro but I haven’t tested that before.
Natasha, thank you!
My name is Natasha – it is not aa joke! I am from St. Petersburg, Russia.
I was looking for a recipe for bell peppers salad, and when I saw Natasha’s Kitchen, I decided that it was for my kithcen (this is a joke!).
The salad came out delicious!
When I need my next recipe, I know hwere to look!
So nice to meet you Natasha! I’m so happy you enjoyed the sald and hope you’ll many new favorite recipes on my blog :).
I’ve made a similar recipe in past and love it! Thanks for sharing your pepper recipe.
Thank you for the great review Natalia and you are welcome :).
I made this with bell peppers and even the green one tasted zingy. Best to leave stand for a few hours in the fridge for enhanced flavour. Wonderful dish. Thank you!
I agree – it is one of those salads that tastes better with time 🙂
Natasha, love watching your videos! Could I use the regular size bell peppers instead of the mini peppers in your salad?
Hi Judy, I bet that would work although we do prefer the mini ones.
Does Olive Oil have a taste to it ?
Can I just use plain oil instead?
It does add some flavor but you can use a plain oil instead. Sunflower oil might taste nice in this too 🙂
This is great! Colorful and refreshing. I served this as part of a wrap with rotisserie chicken. Love the flavor. Thanks for the recipe!
That does sound wonderful! Thanks for the dinner idea! 🙂
WE MAKE A SIMILAR SALAD BELL PEPPERS, MARINATED ONIONS AND MARINATED MUSHROOMS ( THE ONES THEY SELL IN RUSSIAN STORES IN BIG JARS) AND FOR DRESSING OLIVE OIL AND LITTLE VINEGAR. SOOO GOOOD 🙂
That sounds delicious! What kind of marinated onion?
cut onion in half rings add little bit of vinegar+little sugar and then add boiled water and cover for 10-15 minutes
Thank you! 🙂
We loved this salad. I added salt to the dressing instead of garlic salt, and a clove of garlic. it was delicious! Thank you Natasha, for sharing your recipes. Your blog has become my favorite!
Thank you so much for your sweet comment 🙂 I’m so happy you are enjoying the recipes!
Thank you for this great salad recipe! I made it yesterday. It’s so versatile. I brought it to a taco potluck (great with taco salad). Then we ate some with roasted chicken and coleslaw for supper last night. I made a salad with leftover chicken, cherry tomatoes, avocado and the peppers for lunch and it was so delicious! (I used the pepper salad dressing as the dressing for the salad-yum!)
Wow you are sure getting creative with that salad! Way to go! Thanks for sharing all of those great ideas with me 🙂
This salad looks amazing 🙂 never tried it before but our family loves sweet peppers so this is a must to make 🙂 thanks for sharing!
My husband and I both love them too. I wish my son felt the same way ;). He might come around 🙂
Looks yummy but I have a problem my husband or kids don’t eat anything that has parsley, dill, basil or nothing like that. Can I make it without herbs or it needs a kick?
I think it would still be ok without the dill, although I think it enhances the salad.
I made this about 3 weeks ago and I loved it! It’s so easy and colorful. My husband even liked it and he’s not a big fan of this kind of salad. I used it as a topping for my BBQ pork sliders instead of coleslaw and I about swooned! I’m making it again for dinner tonight. I didn’t have dill last time, so I used dried italian seasoning and it worked great. Got my dill now so I can’t wait to eat!
I’m so happy you and your husband enjoyed the salad. It sue does sound amazing in sliders! That’s brilliant!
I love the simplicity and colorfulness of this salad! I’m not a huge fan of dill, so I might sub another herb in its place. Pinned!
Thanks Kristine! 🙂 I’ve tried it with parsley, just make sure the parsley really finely chopped.