Pickled Jalapeno Peppers

After making enough Jalapeno Pepper Jelly to feed a small army, I still had more jalapenos than I could handle. I then dehydrated a large freezer bag full and then blanched another freezer bag full.
But, I still had at least six more pounds of jalapeno’s to deal with. Since you can pickle cucumbers, okra and just about anything else, I decided I would try it on my jalapenos. So stinkin’ glad that I did.

(This tutorial may look like a lot of steps, but I am also showing the canning process that is applicable to any type of water bath canning-just in case you aren’t familiar.)

 

Pickled Jalapeno Peppers are tasty, a little hot and still crunchy. Throw a few in your chili, on top of nachos, hot dogs or even a pizza to add a little pizzaz. (If you don’t want them to be hot, simply remove the seeds and membranes).
The best part? They look fancy inside a mason jar and make inexpensive gifts!

 

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own Pickled Jalapeno Peppers (this recipe makes the 4 quarts shown):

3 C Water
9 C Distilled White Vinegar
2 TBS Kosher Salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
8 cloves of Garlic, peeled and left whole
6 Lbs Jalapeno Peppers-green & red (that’s about 180 small peppers or 60 large)

4 Quart Jars with lids and rings
Canner & canning utensils
Gloves

 

First things first, wash your jars, rings and lids in soapy water.

 

I am super particular about bacteria, so after I wash my jars, rings and lids-I put them in a large pot of boiling water, turn down the heat and let them simmer while I am making the jars’ contents.

 

Slap on your rubber gloves and de-stem the jalapenos. At this point, if you want less hot jalapeno’s, cut out the membrane and the seeds.

 

Slice the jalapeno’s to be about 1/4-1/2″ thick.

 

Peel the garlic gloves and apply slight pressure to each clove with your thumb. Don’t smash them to smithereenes-this is just to release a bit of flavor.

 

Now for the brine: Pour the 3 cups of water into a large stainless steel pot. Place the pot on a large burner on the stove.

 

Add the 9 cups of vinegar to the pot.

 

Add the 2 TBS of Kosher salt.

 

Finally, add the 1 1/2 tsp of ground Cumin.

Whisk all of these ingredients together and bring to a boil. Stir until the Kosher salt dissolves completely.

 

While you are waiting on the brine to boil, remove the hot jars, lids and rings with tongs.

 

Also, while you are waiting on the brine to boil, fill the canner up with water, about 3/4 of the way up. Turn the burner on high, set the canner lid loosely on top-don’t screw the lid on as pictured here!.

 

Put a clove of garlic (or two if the clove is small) in the bottom of the sterilized jars.

 

While wearing gloves, pack each jar completely full of jalapeno pepper slices.
 

Place the canning funnel over each jar. Fill the jar full of the hot brine, leaving a 1/4″ at the top of the jar.

 

Use a knife to remove any air bubbles.

 

Remove any excess liquid from the mouth of the jar with a clean cloth.

 

Place the lids on the jars and hand tighten the rings.

 

Using tongs, place the jars inside of your water bath canner.

 

Place the canner lid and process the jars for 10 to 15 minutes.

 

Remove the jars with the tongs, and set on clean dish towels on the counter. As the jars cool, you can hear a ‘ping’ which tells you the jars were processed correctly.

 

Store for 3+ weeks in a dark area. This allows all the flavors to get to know each other, mingle around, have some alone time and in turn-makes your jalapenos super yummy.

Keep opened jars for 6 months in the fridge-use only clean utensils to remove peppers. No fingers, please.
Keep unopened jars for a year.

This means you can make Pickled Jalapeno Peppers this summer after the jalapeno harvest and give to that special someone as Christmas gifts months later.

Easy, peasy, cheap and pleasy.

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29 Responses to "Pickled Jalapeno Peppers"

  1. Chris says:

    question – When I canned peppers a couple of years ago, I used a regular enamel water bath canner and processed for 15 minutes or so, and the peppers were way over cooked and squishy. I left them whole, maybe that had something to do with it? So – Your picture is showing a pressure canner. Did you just use the pressure cooker sans jiggler like a water bath so pressure didn’t build up ? these jars of yours are so pretty and the peppers held their color (mine washed out), I’m going to have to try again, maybe. Lots of work to have them be yucked! ????

    Reply
    • Rebekah says:

      Chris-
      I used a regular canner-processing them in a water bath (without the jiggler)-as you assumed. I also sliced them up-instead of leaving them whole, so that may have had something to do with it. The vibrancy/color of the peppers surprised me to! I think it most definitely has something to do with the freshness of the peppers and the amount of vinegar used in the brine. All that I know is that I followed my own recipe, opened a jar yesterday just to be 100% certain before I posted this, and the pepper was still crunchy, not slimy. And yuuuumy! It was a little hot on it’s own and a glass of milk was consumed thereafter.
      Hope this works out for you!

      Reply
      • Chris says:

        Thanks for the info! This summer, I’ll give it another try, using your recipe. We use jalapenos all the time, buying from a local guy if we are out. Slimy was a real yucko!! Dumping all those jars was, too! :o)

        Reply
  2. patti says:

    Do you think these would process themselves like pickles do? I never process them in a water bath as they jars seal themselves – I am pinning this to try next summer! They look delish!

    Reply
    • Rebekah says:

      I pretty much processed my pickles the same way-except with different spices of course. I did a lot of water baths this year, instead of pressure cooking. It was a lot less stress for some reason, for me, to do them this way. Let me know how yours turn out if/when you do them!

      Reply
  3. Just Winging It says:

    Thank for linking up to Show Your Stuff last week, I have this weeks edition up and running:

    http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/01/show-your-stuff-6.html

    Reply
  4. thecottagemarket says:

    hi there! LOVING this recipe — so nice and simple and we just can’t get enough of pickled jalapenos!!!! we are vegetarians so we use them a lot to spice things up a bit especially on a good veggie burger! i like you have made sooooo much pepper jelly and pepper chutney — so this is ON MY LIST this week!!! thanks so much for sharing!!!!! i found you over on funky junk linky and now i am proud to say i am your newest follower! : ) !!!!! have a great and fabulous weekend!

    Reply
    • Rebekah says:

      Thanks for becoming a follower. As small as I am, you don’t know how that makes my day! I am rebuilding from my site crashing awhile ago and it’s so nice to have one more person like what I do! Let me know how you like the recipe-and if you have any suggestions. Enjoy!

      Reply
  5. Beth says:

    my husband loves these! thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  6. Nikki@EverythingUndertheMoon says:

    Ive never had these before but they look like they would be great!! Pinning this for the future. Would love it if you would stop by and share this at my linky party going on right now 🙂 http://everything-underthemoon.blogspot.com/2012/01/bedazzle-me-monday-16.html

    Have a great week!!

    Reply
  7. Stephanie says:

    Love the look of your jalapenos! I cant wait to grow them this summer and try your recipe!

    Reply
    • Rebekah says:

      Thanks so much Stephanie! It’s been one of my favorite things to do-to come up with ways to use up all of my jalapeno’s. This recipe is one of my favorites because they’ll last forever and not get squishy/slimy. Enjoy!

      Reply
  8. Charissa says:

    These are so pretty I wouldn’t want to open them…but just leave them out on my counters for a splash of color. Love your pictures.

    Reply
  9. Emily says:

    I would LOVE to try this recipe but I don’t have a pressure cooker/canner. Will it work to just boil the jars in water or do you need the pressure? Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Rebekah says:

      I haven’t tried it myself outside of the pressure cooker. But since all that I’m doing is a typical water bath, I think you could boil the water and place the jars inside. The whole point is to boil the jars inside of a pot-without placing them directly on the bottom of the pot-this could make them explode from too much direct heat. Let me know if it works for you?!

      Reply
  10. Keepie DaNiece says:

    And just beautiful to boot!

    Reply
  11. coloradolady says:

    These look fantastic! I am going to try this recipe this summer when we have lots of peppers. Happy VTT

    Reply
  12. Mari says:

    Do you have a recipe for candied jalapeño , have you ever tried to make them? Your recipe sounds good and I will try it, but I once had candied jalapeños an would love to find a recipe for them. Thanks

    Reply
  13. Potholes & Pantyhose | It’s about Bloomin’ Time! says:

    […] spicy jalapenos…how could I not have a garden without you? Not only will I dehydrate you and can you, but I will be making sweet, sweet Jalapeno Jelly out of you. (Geez, what were you […]

    Reply
  14. Juanita says:

    I am making these today. I am so excited to try it. Do these need to stay in the fridge? This is only our 2nd year canning so want to do things right. 🙂

    Reply
    • Rebekah says:

      When you open them, they’ll need to be housed in the fridge! Otherwise, after you can and pickle, they are fine on the shelf. Enjoy!

      Reply
  15. Pickled Jalapeno Peppers & Cowboy Candy | Exhibit Health says:

    […] Original Recipe at Potholes & Pantyhose […]

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