How to Make Hot Pickled Peppers: A Quick & Easy Recipe Jenny Graham, November 18, 2024November 18, 2024 We love peppers around here. With the abundance of peppers this time of year, pickled peppers are a must. It’s a quick and easy way to get your peppers preserved. How to Make Hot Pickled Peppers: A Simple Recipe Grab that harvest basket, fill it with your favorite peppers, and head to the kitchen for a little prep work. You will only be cutting up the peppers and making a simple brine, giving you pickled peppers on the shelf in no time. Quick Pickled Peppers Recipe & Ingredients Hot Peppers or any Peppers You Love White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar (Try Both To See What You Like Best) Water Garlic Cloves Onions (red onions are my favorite but any will do) Black Peppercorns Kosher Salt Sugar (I use Organic Cane Sugar) Mason Jars A Good Paring Knife Small Saucepan or Large for a Big Batch What are the Best Peppers to Use? In my opinion, peppers are one of the easiest vegetables to pickle. This pickled pepper recipe will work for any peppers that you’d like to use. You can make them spicy or not. Some of my favorite varieties of peppers to use are: Banana Peppers Green Peppers Sweet Bell Pepper Shishito Peppers Pabalno Peppers And Don’t Forget the Spicy Peppers: Serrano Peppers Jalapeno Peppers Habanero Peppers Hungarian Wax Peppers Chili Peppers How to Make Easy Pickled Peppers Now that you have all your ingredients gathered, let’s get started. Your preparation time is minimal and is spent washing, cutting, and getting the brine up to temperature. Wash Your Peppers A simple rinse will do or even a little soak in a water and vinegar solution will get them clean. Either way will do, you just want to be sure you are starting with clean, freshly ripened peppers for the best results. Slice Your Peppers You may want to consider how you will be using your pickled peppers before you start slicing. I like to slice some into thin strips to use on sandwiches and sausage dogs. We also like to eat pickled peppers straight out of the jar. For those jars, I like to slice peppers a little chunkier. Oh, be sure to wear gloves while slicing those hot peppers. Make a Simple Brine I love this simple brine recipe. It’s so easy to remember with an equal ratio of vinegar to water. It can be scaled up or down, depending on how many jars of pickled peppers you are doing. This hot brine is easy to make and can be used to pickle any vegetable. I have even used it to make classic dill pickles by adding fresh dill, dill seed, and other pickling spices to the mix. To get started add just equal parts of cold water and your choice of vinegar to your pan. Your liquid ingredients are always equal parts. 1 cup water to 1 cup of vinegar or 10 cups of water to 10 cups vinegar Heat up Your Brine Once you have your vinegar water nice and hot, you’ll add your salt and sugar. Stir until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved. Again, depending on how many jars of pickled peppers you are making, the recipe can be scaled up or down. Just like the liquid ingredients, the dry ingredients are also equal parts. 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 tablespoon of sugar if using 1 cup of water and 1 cup of vinegar 10 tablespoons of salt to 10 tablespoons of sugar if using 10 cups of water and 10 cups of vinegar Any amount of pickling brine you need to make will work as long as you keep those numbers the same across the board. Easy, right? Add Pickling Spices & Peppers Once your brine is ready to go, pack your mason jars with your choice of peppers, onions, garlic, and even some peppercorns or mustard seeds if you like. I like to use a wide-mouth, pint jar to pack peppers into. Jar size doesn’t really matter though, just use what you have. If you let your brine cool down slightly, you don’t even have to worry about using hot jars. Pour the hot brine over your peppers, wipe the rims of the jars, and put your lids on. The jars usually seal up just sitting on the counter while they cool to room temperature. Wait on the Magic to Happen You’ll want to wait and give all these flavors time to come together. I like to wait at least 24 hours or a couple of days before breaking a jar open for a taste test. The flavor does develop better over some time though. How to Store Peppers that Have Been Pickled Once they are cooled to room temperature, you can store pickled products in the refrigerator. Homemade pickled vegetables keep for quite a while in the refrigerator. Tips for Making Pickled Peppers You Can Use Any Small Peppers or Large Peppers Use Hotter Peppers if Your Taste Buds Crave a Higher Spice Level Make Sure You Use Fresh Peppers Use High-Quality Salt, like Redmond’s How to Use Pickled Peppers Some of our favorite ways to use pickled peppers are on sandwiches, on sausage dogs, or eating them straight out of the jar. Pickled peppers make a great addition to charcuterie boards as well. They can even be the first step in making your own hot sauce or added to salsa recipes. Pickled Peppers You know the old saying, “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”? That’s me this time of year! If you find yourself in the same predicament, having an abundance to harvest from your pepper plants, pickling all those peppers is a great way to get them preserved. You may also enjoy reading: 20 Off-Grid Ways to Store Food Without Electricity Happy Homesteading & Preserving, Jenny @ The GrahamStead Family Farm Jenny and her family have been homesteading for more than two decades. They currently live on a 10-acre farm in Northeast Florida, which they built from the ground up, nine years ago. On their farm, they grow 100% of their meat and most of their vegetables. With a small herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle, pastured poultry, sheep, and seasonal pigs, they not only meet their family’s meat needs but also sell their surplus to the local community. They are dedicated to sustainable practices like making compost, seed saving, and processing much of their garden and animal harvests at home. You can find Jenny wandering through her garden, making herbal tinctures, preserving food, making bone broth, and one of Jenny’s favorite hobbies, tanning all types of hides. Homestead Kitchen Homesteading