You Should Never Refrigerate Bell Peppers. Here's Why
Bell peppers are the crunchy, sweet fruit we can't get enough of. Whether you're a fan of the green, orange, yellow, or red variety, bell peppers can add that extra bit of texture and sweetness to many a dish. In the fall we love the comfort and heartiness of a stuffed bell pepper, or we roast them and add them to a pasta or chicken dish. When spring and summer roll around, they're perfect for salads and your favorite fajitas recipe. Bell peppers are simply delicious, and if that weren't enough, they're also full of nutritional goodness. Per Healthline, a bell pepper can provide up to 129% of your daily vitamin C.
But how can you extend the shelf life of these babies? As NBC News shared, grocery prices are high and they're only going to get higher. This means we need to do everything possible to keep our fruits and vegetables from spoiling before we can eat them. So how do we store our colorful peppers? PepperScale revealed that bell peppers will only last five days if you store them on the counter. But, according to Delish, storing your bell peppers in the refrigerator isn't a good idea if you want to keep them fresh — and here's why.
Bell peppers lose their crunch
Delish shared that when you store your bell peppers in the refrigerator, they can lose their crunchiness, which doesn't make for a yummy snack to nosh on. However, according to food blogger Jerry James Stone, it's not that you shouldn't store your bell peppers in the fridge at all — rather, it's how you store them in the fridge. Stone explained that bell peppers like to be cold and should go in the refrigerator. But, he also shared that if they're wet in any way, you'll need to dry them off because wet is this fruit's great enemy and will cause it to lose that crunch we love.
Stone also revealed that humidity is a bell pepper's friend. To that end, you'll want to store them in a plastic bag, either the one they came in or a ziplock bag. And then on top of that, they need to go in the crisper drawer. Stone shared that while bell peppers like the cold, they don't want to be as cold as the coldest point in your refrigerator; for this reason you'll want to store them in the very front of the crisper drawer. Do all this properly, and Stone says your bell pepper will be in tip top, crunchy eating shape for two to three weeks.