Creamy Pimento Cheese with Fire Roasted Red Peppers is a flavorful twist to this iconic pimento cheese appetizer and sandwich spread. You can also find these mild bell peppers in a jar, close to pimento peppers.
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I know. I know. It’s bordering on Southern heresy to use anything but the little bottle of diced pimento peppers in this
The good news is fire-roasted bell peppers also come in a bottle! You don’t have to roast your own-I didn't.
It doesn't get much more Southern than Pimiento Cheese aka "Paminna" Cheese! It's a simple concoction of cheese, mayonnaise, and pimento peppers and usually, cream cheese.
This is a pantry-friendly variation using what you might have on hand on your shelves.
Video
Click on the picture or link to watch the video from my appearance on WBRC Good Day Alabama showing you how to make it and also how to roast your own peppers on a gas burner.
For complete, detailed directions scroll down for the printable recipe.
Substitutions and Add-ins
The most common add-ins for Southern pimento cheese are:
- grated or minced onion
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- hot sauce
- cayenne pepper
- ground black or white pepper
- green olives
You can also make pimento cheese "without pimentos". Just leave out the diced pimento peppers. Cream cheese, shredded Cheddar cheese and mayonnaise is basically the basis for a lot of cheese balls.
I'm kinda partial to my Jalapeno Pimento Cheese recipe. It has a lot higher cream cheese to Cheddar cheese ratio than this recipe but it's super creamy.
The jalapeno gives it a kick of flavor and crunch, as well as a pop of green color to go with the red peppers.
I like my Cheddar cheese the sharper the better and freshly grated.
Not all "cheese" is real cheese
If you buy pimento cheese in a tub in the grocery store be careful to read the label. Many do not use cheese at all, rather, cheese "food". What does that even mean anyway?
I can handle American cheese if it is real cheese and not the plastic cheese that is made from some cheese but with added saturated vegetable oil, emulsifiers, and dyed orange with coloring agents.
Does that make me a cheese snob or just a lover of real food?
Luckily these pimento pepper cousins are sold in a jar, too! You might call them jarred fire roasted red peppers.
These are not fire roasted jalapeno peppers. These are roasted red bell peppers. So, if you are looking for a spicy pimento cheese recipe, check out my Creamy Jalapeno Pimento Cheese recipe.
How do I serve it?
Let me count the ways to serve this creamy, savory, spreadable treat!
- On a Ritz cracker (because everything's better on a Ritz, right?)
- Pimento Cheeseburger: Slather it on your burger right off the grill
- At a picnic on celery sticks
- In a lunchbox sammich at the school cafeteria
- Spread on water crackers and served on a silver platter at a wedding
- Piled high between two slices of white bread and sealed in green plastic bags at the Masters golf tournament (iconic sandwich at the Masters- Call Me PMC version)
- After work spread on a Crunchmaster multi-seed cracker (I'm addicted to these crackers too)
- And my most recent favorite way to serve pimiento cheese is in a grilled cheese sandwich with crumbled bacon!
I can eat Pimento Cheese in it's purist form but I do tend to experiment with flavors and textures.
Have you ever added chopped green olives with the pimento already in the olive!? Yes, I like to play with my food! ha ha
What's the shortcut?
This easy recipe for Pimento Cheese with Fire Roasted Red Peppers uses the jar of fire roasted peppers as the shortcut. You don't have to roast your own.
I was drawn to the jar of roasted red peppers in my fridge when I did not have the cute little jar of pimento peppers recently.
I love the extra flavor the little charred bits add. I'm a huge fan of roasting my own red bell pepper over my gas burner but you have to plan ahead to have red bell peppers on hand.
I always have a jar of roasted bell peppers, but not always fresh bell peppers.
How to roast your own peppers
It's super simple to roast your own red bell peppers. Just turn on your gas burner and place a red bell pepper on it with tongs. You can also place it over a hot grill grate.
When the pepper is charred in that spot, rotate it about one fourth of the way and let it char that side. Continue until the entire pepper is charred. Quickly drop it in a paper bag. A zip-top plastic bag will also work. Close it and wait 10 minutes.
The charred skins should slide right off. I don't work too hard to remove all the charred bits because I like the flavor. Now, all that's left is to remove the seeds inside and chop it up.
On Fox 6 Good Day Alabama, I made a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread with my Fire-Roasted Pimiento Cheese and it was a big hit! Mickey Ferguson was loving the ooey gooey, melty cheese!
Who's ready to make some creamy Pimento Cheese?
Other shortcut snacks & appetizers you will love:
Muffuletta Dip with an Alabama Twist
Bacon Tomato Dip (BLT Dip)
Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Tater Tots
Creamy Jalapeno Pimento Cheese
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Pimento Cheese with Fire-Roasted Peppers
SAVE THIS RECIPE
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Ingredients
- 1 8-oz block mild or sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (I like Cabot Vermont Sharp)
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese 1 ounce, softened
- 2 tablespoons chopped bottled fire-roasted red peppers or bottled diced pimiento peppers
- 1 teaspoon grated sweet onion or ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Crackers My favorite new cracker is Crunchmaster Multi-Seed crackers
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl until all ingredients are incorporated. You can also use an electric hand mixer. Spread on crackers for a snack or appetizer or between bread for a sandwich. For low-carb dipping try using fresh carrot “chips”.
Notes
- On a Ritz cracker (because everything's better on a Ritz, right?)
- At a picnic on celery sticks
- In a lunchbox sammich at the school cafeteria
- Spread on water crackers and served on a silver platter at a wedding
- Piled high between two slices of white bread and sealed in green plastic bags at the Masters golf tournament (iconic sandwich at the Masters- Call Me PMC version)
- After work spread on a Crunchmaster multi-seed cracker (I'm addicted to these crackers too)
- And my most recent favorite way to serve pimiento cheese is in a grilled cheese sandwich with crumbled bacon!
Nutrition
PIN IT FOR LATER
Scott Phillips
This is one of my favorites!
Kathleen
Me too! It's so good in a grilled cheese sammich, too!
Leann
Skip the salt. Too salty and I’m a person that loves salt.
Kathleen
You absolutely can skip the salt if you prefer. It's a common ingredient in pimento cheese spreads. I double checked just to make sure and almost all the recipes on the first page of Google has salt in the recipes. The fire roasted peppers are basically pimento peppers with just the added flavor of the roasting. I hope you will try it again and just opt out of the salt.
Frances
I put a little worcestershire sauce in my pimiento cheese, plus some garlic powder. The remainder of the ingredients are about the same. I also like your bowl; I bought a set of bowls at Sam's wholesale and it has a similar blue bowl in it, plus other bowls with blue and white.
gritsandgouda
I love to hear everyone's personal touches on pimento cheese and yours sound yummy! I bought the bowl at a thrift store. Thrifting is one of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning!
Donna Creamer
Great recipes!
Do you by chance remember where you got the beautiful blue bowl?
It’s just what I’ve been looking for.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Donna Creamer
gritsandgouda
I'm so glad you like my recipes! I love that bowl, too! Unfortunately, it was one of my thrift store finds over the last few years. I did look on the bottom of the bowl and it says MEYER. It is actually just a 7 oz bowl although it looks bigger in the picture. I hope this helps you on your quest for the bowl!
Kenneth Holland
I have a very similar style ceramic bowl...i got it from hobby lobby...well technically from "basket market" which is a hobby lobby owned wholesale store in okc
gritsandgouda
That's so cool! I've never seen a Basket Market but I LOVE Hobby Lobby!
Margo Stallard
I found one similar to that at Wal-Mart.
Kathleen
Great! I always say if you don't have time to make it yourself, then buying it already made is also a shortcut!