Tapas Salad (with Peppers, Olives, and Capers)

Tapas Salad (with Peppers, Olives, and Capers) is a great side dish that’s perfect in late summer when bell pepper are plentiful. And this tasty salad tastes like one of the Tapas you’d get at a little cafe in Spain!

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This Tapas Salad (with Peppers, Olives, and Capers) is such a tasty summer side dish! This is very similar to a salad I had years ago when I visited Boston and ate at a wonderful tapas bar called Estragon Tapas with my blogging friend Lydia and her husband Ted.

The next day we passed a bookstore where I spotted a book called The Tapas Cookbook on a bargain table and bought it as a souvenir of the trip. This salad with peppers, olives, and capers was adapted from a recipe in that book, and it’s a perfect little small-plate salad to accompany light summer meals.

Another plus for this as a late-summer salad is that bell peppers of all colors are usually plentiful and inexpensive at farmers markets this time of year, and I love the salad with red peppers that are roasted on a grill. I hope you’ll try this tasty salad if you end up with some colorful bell peppers and are wondering how to use them!

What are Tapas?

Even if you’re not that familiar with Spanish cuisine, chances are good that you’ve heard of tapas, a wide variety of small-plate appetizers that are served as snacks in bars in Spain. This salad with roasted red pepper, olives, and capers is the type of flavorful small plates dish that would be served in tapas bars all over Spain.

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

• red bell pepper
• yellow bell pepper
• orange bell pepper (Or use any color of peppers you have available.)
• canned black olives
• Capers (affiliate link)
• good quality olive oil
• Spanish Sherry Vinegar (affiliate link), see notes in recipe for substitutes
• caper brine (from the jar of capers)
• chopped fresh marjoram (Use oregano or basil if you don’t have marjoram.)
• Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Can make the Tapas Salad with roasted peppers from a jar?

I encourage you to make the roasted peppers as shown in this recipe so you can use multiple colors of peppers, and roasting red bell peppers on a barbecue grill couldn’t be easier! And definitely the flavor of the grilled peppers is amazing. But if that’s just never happening at your house, I love red peppers from a jar, and the salad will still be delicious with with them if that’s what works for you.

What Olives did I use for the Tapas Salad?

I just made this salad with regular canned black olives, which are probably what most people have in the pantry. But if you have some kind of Spanish Olives (affiliate link) they’ll be amazing in this salad.

What makes this Tapas Salad so flavorful?

Besides the colorful roasted peppers, this salad is loaded with amazing flavor from olives, capers, fresh herbs, minced garlic and Spanish Sherry vinegar. My salad bumps up the flavor of capers by adding a little caper brine to the dressing, and I also use a generous amount of fresh marjoram, but if you don’t have access to fresh marjoram, I think basil or oregano would both work in this.

How low in carbs is the Tapas Salad (with Peppers, Olives, and Capers)?

This salad only has about 8 net carbs per serving.

How to make Tapas Salad (with Peppers, Olives, and Capers):

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. I used red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, but you can use any color. Follow the instructions for roasting red bell peppers on a barbecue grill.
2. When the peppers are nicely charred, put them in a bowl, cover with cling-wrap, and let the skins steam off.
3. Here’s how my peppers looked when I peeled off the skins. The slightly charred parts that remain add a lot of good flavor.
4. Then cut the grilled peppers into short, thick strips, making pieces that are all about the same size.
5. Drain the olives well. I used regular black olives from a can, but if you want to splurge on imported Spanish olives, the salad could only get better. 
6. Capers and olives are both pretty salty, so I rinsed the capers and let them drain.
7. Wash, dry, and chop the fresh marjoram or other herb of your choice. (I forgot to take a photo of that, oops!)
8. Whisk together olive oil, sherry vinegar, caper brine, marjoram, minced garlic, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
9. Then combine the roasted pepper strips, olives, capers, and dressing.
10. You can serve the Tapas Salad right away, but this is also a perfect dish to make ahead and let marinate at room temperature until you’re ready to serve it.

Make it a Low-Carb Meal:

For a low-carb meal, this Tapas Salad would make a great small-plate side dish for one of these main dishes:

• Marinated Grilled Flank Steak
• Sauteed Scallops with Garlic
• Grilled Boneless Pork Chops
• Lemon Pesto Chicken Kabobs
• Grilled Sausage and Summer Squash

More Salads with Bell Peppers:

• Greek Salad with Peppers
• Peperoncini Salad with Romaine, Peppers, and Feta
• Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Continue to Content

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Yield: 4 servings

Tapas Salad (with Peppers, Olives, and Capers)

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

This Tapas Salad (with Peppers, Olives, and Capers) is a great side dish for a summer meal. And if you don't have time to roast the peppers yourself, this will still be delicious with roasted red peppers from a jar.

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 large yellow bell pepper
• 1 large orange bell pepper (or use any combination of colors you have available)
• one 6 oz. can black olives
• 2 T capers, rinsed and drained

Dressing Ingredients

• 2 T + 2 tsp. good quality olive oil
• 1 T + 1 tsp. Spanish Sherry vinegar (see notes)
• 1 tsp. caper brine
• 3 T chopped fresh marjoram (see notes)
• 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. (You may want to read How to Roast Bell Peppers on a Barbecue Grill before you make this salad.)
2. Preheat barbecue grill to high.
3. Cut the bell peppers into fourths, trim curled ends and cut out the seeds.
4. Place peppers on the grill skin side down, making sure not to put them too close together.
5. Grill peppers until skins are very charred, about 20-25 minutes, depending on your grill.
6. As individual peppers become nicely blackened, remove them from the grill and place in a plastic or glass bowl.
7. When all the peppers are charred and placed in the bowl, cover it with cling-wrap and let peppers steam for about 15 minutes.
8. Then peel off skins and discard, and cut peppers into short thick strips. (I cut each quarter pepper into crosswise strips.)
9. Put olives into a colander and let them drain.
10. Spoon out 2 T capers into a small strainer; then rinse the capers and let them drain.
11. Wash marjoram (or other herb of your choice), dry, and chop.
12. Whisk together the olive oil, Spanish Sherry vinegar (or other vinegar), caper brine, minced garlic, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
13. Combine grilled pepper strips, olives, capers, and dressing in a plastic or glass bowl.
14. The Tapas Salad can be served right away or allowed to marinate for several hours at room temperature until you’re ready to serve it.

Notes

You can substitute white wine vinegar or white balsamic vinegar if you don't have Sherry Vinegar. Use chopped oregano or basil if you don't have majoram.

If you wanted to make this into a more substantial side-dish salad I think chopped fresh tomatoes would make a nice addition.This kept well in the refrigerator for several days. Let come to room temperature again before serving.

Recipe adapted from The Tapas Cookbook.

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 104Total Fat 7gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 0mgSodium 579mgCarbohydrates 11gFiber 3gSugar 3gProtein 2g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Everything in this Tapas Salad is a perfect low-carb ingredient, suitable for low-carb and Keto eating plans and all phases of the original South Beach Diet. The recipe is also Paleo or Whole 30.

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Use Salad Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
Tapas Salad (with Peppers, Olives, and Capers) was first posted in 2011 after I had eaten a similar salad in Boston. It was last updated with more information in 2025.

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