What Are Capers, and How Do You Cook With Them?

If you’re not cooking with capers, prepare for a new obsession. These dainty, plant-based ingredients are a fantastic addition to nearly any dish, adding savory, salty flavor and little pops of texture. Sold at most grocery stores, capers are shelf-stable until opened, and can live in the refrigerator for months if you have remnants in the slim jar. Plus, every part of that jar is usable. The brine can be whisked into vinaigrettes, or used as a tenderizer in marinades. Here’s everything you need to know about capers—your new favorite ingredient. 

What Are Capers?

Capers are little flavor bombs, typically small, round, and dark green in color. They’re the buds of a caper bush, and while they taste vegetal, like olives, they’re technically considered a fruit. Capers grow predominantly in the Mediterranean, as well as in parts of Asia and Australia. While it’s rare to find domestic capers grown stateside, some caper plants are cultivated in northern California  

“Most people don’t realize that the capers we get in glass jars at the supermarket are the plant’s flower still in its bud,” explains Amber Guinness, author of Italian Coastal: Recipes and Stories From Where the Land Meets the Sea. “If left to mature, rather than being harvested, they bloom into elegant, almost tropical-looking pink and white flowers. When harvested and preserved either in salt or brine, they are a wonderful culinary trick to pep up any dish, elevating it to something more sophisticated.” 

Capers come in several shelf-stable varieties, most often sold in brine (similar to pickles and olives) or preserved in salt. As with any culinary product, there is a range in quality and price of various capers. “Those preserved in salt have a more powerful and fragrant flavor than those preserved in brine,” says Guinness. To cook with capers, soak them in a bowl of water for two to six hours before using them to rehydrate them until plump. 

What Do Capers Taste Like?

Capers, not much larger than peppercorns, are packed with flavor. “They’re floral, tangy, and salty, all the components that bring a lovely bit of zing to any dish,” notes Guinness. If you like pickley, acidic flavors that make your mouth pucker, capers are for you. 

Many jars of capers are called “non-pareil” capers, meaning unequivocal. These are the tiniest, best quality capers for cooking and enjoying.

How to Cook With Capers

You’d be hard-pressed to find a savory dish that doesn’t benefit from the addition of capers. Capers can be sautéed with butter or olive oil, used in the base of sauces, added to a sheet pan meal to roast or boil, or added as an accouterment just before serving. Capers pair well with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors, but can easily find their way in worldwide cuisines.

“I use capers in everything,” Guinness says. “Capers are such a versatile ingredient.” And just like flaky salt on a cookie, capers can indeed find themselves on sweets. “On the island of Salina, they even candy capers and serve them with ice cream, Guinness adds.

Capers Substitutes

While there’s nothing quite like a caper, try substituting green olives if you’re out of capers. Caperberries, which are olive-size but can taste more caper-like, will also work as a caper substitute. Mediterranean olives, like Kalamata, can also be swapped for capers.

Recipes With Capers

Now that you know all about capers, read on for several recipes with capers so you can cook with these flavorful wonders. 

Seared Tuna with Tomato-Olive-Caper Salad

Seafood and capers pair so well together. This tuna cooks in minutes, and the salad on the side makes the meal feel restaurant-quality, but easy enough to prepare on a weeknight. Nothing goes to waste here—even the caper brine adds flavor to the dressing.

Crab Cake Sliders With Capers

Forget the pickles, capers sub in here as the tangy ingredient in these seafood sliders. The mini crab cakes are made with fresh crab meat, but canned crab or even canned salmon or tuna could work too. You may want to make a double batch of the caper topping, it’s so good.

Cauliflower Piccata 

Piccata is a classic Italian dish typically searing chicken or veal in a lemon butter sauce, adorned with capers. This vegetarian riff brings on the flavor, and the cauliflower steaks can really soak up all of the pan sauce.

Linguine With Caper and Olive Sauce 

Just like mac and cheese, capers and pasta are the perfect pair. This recipe gussies up a jar of marinara sauce to transform it into a coastal Italian delight. Serve with seafood, or let the pasta be the star of the meal.

Egg Salad Toast With Fresh Herbs and Capers

These open-faced toasts are gorgeous, thanks to the bright yellow yolks of sliced eggs, purple radicchio, plus verdant green herbs, and capers. They’re super quick to assemble for a weekday meal, or to impress company.