Growing shishito peppers

Bought some online. Never planted them. From what I remember they grow like regular peppers.

I’ve grown them the past three years. I’m not growing them this year just because I don’t really cook with them. They taste very good, but lots of seeds and the skin is thin. There are great ways to prepare them...I just hate de-seeding the amount it takes for a meal.

I’m in SELA and they grow very well here. Incredibly productive peppers. I’d recommend topping the seedlings. They respond better to that than other peppers I’ve tried. Very low maintenance plant and 1-2 plants will give you more peppers than you know what to do with. I ordered my seeds from Pine Tree Seeds. I order lots of pepper seeds from them and have had consistently good success.

Here’s the link: LINK

I had 4 or 5 plants in pots last summer, and could pick a couple handfuls every few days. I love them. Good producers. And delicious. Plan on having at least that many plants this year, probably more

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we just saute whole usually and they are delicious.

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That’s a recipe I’ve done before. Tsunami in Lafayette had an app that fried them whole. It is delicious

Really hot skillet (no oil) and toss peppers in. Let them sit until they start popping, then toss around, and repeat. Basically just blistering the skin all over. Then toss with sea salt.

Love them as-is, or with a dipping sauce like white BBQ, chiptople ranch, etc.

I’m just not a big fan of eating the seeds. Love the flavor of the pepper but not the crunch of the seeds.

I'd consider them mild. They say that one out of every ten is supposed to be hot, but I've never eaten a shishito, seeds or otherwise, that I'd compare to an actual hot pepper like a jalapeno. I also grow anaheims and poblanos, which aren't really "hot" peppers to me, and I've never had a shishito that even came close to either of those.

Shishitos are supposedly 50-200 scovilles. Basically no heat. You may get a “warm” one occasionally, but even the hottest shishito is mild compared to normal hot peppers

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Grew them last year from seed. Very easy to grow. Cooked a few times...not a fan. Thin walled pepper with very little flavor.

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Very true. They aren’t hearty for sure. They are light. They are best as just a very light app imo. But then again they are good because you can just snack on them.

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So, as a pepper grower who tends to go for the hotter varieties like habanero, Butch T Trinidad Scorpions, Ghost Peppers, etc., not seeding them and eating them whole after a quick saute indicates to me they are a mild pepper.


Where on the Scoville scale would you place them? If I recall correctly, Jalapenos are around 8K and Habaneros that I grow are around 500K Scoville Units.

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Shishitos average out very low on scovilles. High variability between 1 pepper and another from the same plant though... Kind of like a "chocolate box" when you eat them. One might be as mild as a green bell, and another like a "60% jalapeño" heat.

ETA: We are moving to a house with a nice back yard and garden beds and I'm interested in growing some super hots. Any advice on 1) where to get seedlings or 2) methods for growing from seed and maximizing production? I've got seeds for reapers, ghosts, scorpions, and a few others, but keep getting told that growing them from seeds can be difficult?