This bright and crunchy bell pepper salad with juicy tomatoes, briny olives, and bright fresh dill takes just 10 minutes or less!
I think of this bell pepper salad recipe as a bit of a love letter to those candy-sweet bags of mini peppers that live next to the lettuce at the supermarket. I often snag a bag on a whim with little plan for when I get home.
The crisp peppers become an easy vessel for all sorts of dips, from hummus to toum. I tend to slice any remaining stragglers for this fresh and easy salad.
This version, with its layers of briny and tart flavor to balance the bell pepper’s sweetness, is my favorite. It’s pretty enough for a dinner party, comes together in minutes, and is filled with great texture and freshness. In fact, I love it so much I included it in my my first cookbook!
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Substitutions
This simple bell pepper salad swaps a fancy dressing for a no-whisk lemon vinaigrette. Tart sumac brings a decidedly Mediterranean flair, but you can leave it off if you don’t have it on hand.
- Peppers: Use any bell peppers you’d like, but I love the extra crunch and sweetness from the miniature peppers that come in the big bags at the grocery store.
- Tomatoes: Use the juiciest tomatoes you can get your hands on. Campari tomatoes are easy to find and super sweet, but you could replace them with halved cherry or grape tomatoes.
- Scallions: Substitute with shallot, chives, or red onion.
- Dill: Substitute with parsley or mint.
- Garlic: Adds a spicy kick, but simply leave it out if you don’t like raw garlic.
- Olives: I love both bold Kalamata and briney green Negrinha olives to balance the pepper’s sweetness. If you don’t like olives, capers or pickled onions bring the same effect.
- Kosher salt and black pepper enhance the flavor.
- Sumac: Add a pop of bright, tart flavor that perfectly complements the sweet peppers and tomatoes.
- READ MORE: What is Sumac?
- TRY IT: Find all natural sumac at our shop.
- Lemon: Both the zest and juice add acidity to balance the sweet flavors.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Our Greek Early Harvest’s herbal notes pair well with this fresh salad.
How to Make Bell Pepper Salad
This bell pepper salad comes together in minutes, but benefits greatly when the flavors can get to know each other. Try to allow 20 minutes of resting time if you can. Here’s how you make it:
- Mix the salad. Grab a large mixing bowl to add the veggies to as you go. Stem and thinly slice 1 pound of mini sweet peppers. Quarter 6 Campari tomatoes. Trim and chop 2 scallions (both white and green parts). Chop enough dill fronds to yield 1/2 cup. Mince 1 small garlic clove. Pit and roughly chop 6-8 marinated olives. Toss everything to combine.
- Dress the salad. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sumac (if using) and a large pinch of salt and pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon each). Zest in 1 lemon, then slice it in half and squeeze in the juice. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and give it a good toss. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Rest and serve. If you have time, set the salad aside for 20 minutes or so before serving to allow the flavors to meld.
What to Serve with Bell Pepper Salad
Bell pepper salad goes with just about any savory main, either as a side dish or as part of a bigger mezze spread. It’s very fresh and crunchy, so it goes particularly well with:
- Dips and chips: Whipped feta or hummus with pita chips or a simple crudités platter.
- Spicy, savory mains: Grilled chicken legs with garlic-harissa marinade or spicy salmon.
- Dessert? Sicilian Strawberry Pudding (Gelo di Fragole) keeps the summer vibes going.
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Bell Pepper Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound mini sweet peppers (any color or a mix), stemmed and thinly sliced into rings
- 6 Campari tomatoes, stemmed and quartered
- 2 scallions, trimmed and chopped (both white and green parts)
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill fronds
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 6 to 8 olives, (green or Kalamata), pitted and roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon sumac (optional)
- Kosher salt
- Ground black pepper
- 1 large lemon, zested and juiced
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Mix the salad. In a large bowl, combine the bell peppers, tomatoes, scallions, dill, garlic, and olives. Sprinkle with the sumac and a large pinch of salt and pepper (about ½ teaspoon each).
- Dress the salad. Add the lemon zest and juice along with the olive oil and give it a good toss. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Rest and serve. If you have time, set aside for 20 minutes or so before serving to allow the flavors to meld.
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Bring the authentic flavors of Greece to your table with Greek Kalamata Olives and Green Chalkidiki Olives Stuffed with Lemon.
*This post has recently been updated with new information for the readers’ benefit.
made it in the morning of turkey dinner – was really good – even better the next day!
Fresh. Delicious. Healthy. A new favorite!
Love this refreshing, colorful salad in the summer time! Easy to make and a unique flavor profile makes it a great side salad.
Absolutely delicious! It’s a great summer salad.
Today I tried this Mini Sweet Pepper Salad and absolutely loved it. This recipe makes a beautiful and delicious salad and it is so healthy. I followed the recipe exactly except added fresh chopped Italian parsley on top. Since I have diabetes, I have to follow a strict diet so all the ingredients here were just what I needed. If you haven’t tried this yet, please do so. And don’t skip the fresh dill. That’s one of the ingredients I had to have.
The best salad. I didn’t have olives so subbed capers. It worked. Just wow!
Great recipe Suzy! It has wonderful flavor. I used the Sumac, which we love!!
I couldn’t stop eating it! I’ll have to make a double batch next time I make it, which will be very soon!! Thank you!!
Thank you Susie for all your fabulous recipes. You are adorable and this is yet another one that I absolutely love.
This was absolutely delicious! My husband ate the leftovers for breakfast with courage cheese.
My new favorite salad, already made it three times! Love the freshness of it with the dill.
Made this tonight for dinner! You were right, it is so light, fresh, and tasty!
This will be one of my “go-to” salads from now on. I didn’t have any fresh dill or Sumac on hand, and I’m sure it will be even tastier with those. So I tweaked it and used Za’atar instead, and that was wonderful!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing, Gerald!
OMG I made this for dinner last night and served it with porkchops marinated in garlic and lemon juice. We are only two people and this recipe says it serves 6. Well we ate five portions of the salad between us and the last portion I took over to my neighbour who is recuperating at home. She was swooning and telling me I could cook for her anytime!!!! This salad is so beautiful and totally healthy with it’s vibrant colours and crunch and the taste is divine. I followed the recipe exactly and even used sumac which I have in my pantry. This is a keeper and I will definitely be making this again and again. It’s in my “Tried and True” file. Thank you Suzy!
Yay! Thanks so much, Judith!
This was amazing! I’m not much of a dill girl but decided to give it a try. Like nothing I’ve ever tasted before but loved the dill taste in this particular dish.
So glad you loved it, Susan!