“Sue, I wanted to let you know I absolutely love this recipe! Itโs my go-to! Iโve shared the jelly Iโve made with family and friends over the last two years and theyโve absolutely loved it. Thank you for posting this recipe!” ~Steph
everyone needs a great hot pepper jelly recipe ~ and this one is so easy!
I’m excited about this recipe because it was truly easy and it turned out so well. And come on, you can’t start out the upcoming appetizer season without a good hot pepper jelly recipe. Paired with soft goat or cream cheese and crackers it’s an epic experience. It draws people in like a flies, and causes normally discreet friends and family to shovel, gorge, and wolf. All conversation stops until the plate is licked clean. It’s not pretty, but it is delicious.
hot pepper jelly doesn’t have to be complicated
If you already know and love hot pepper jellies and jams I think you’ll be excited about this one too. I’ve kept the steps to an absolute minimum.. Maybe it’s just me, but the directions that come in those pectin boxes drive me crazy. They are so convoluted and there are so many charts! I bypassed all the charts, and I’m giving you a quick way to get hot pepper jelly into your belly asap. ๐ And then you can customize it to whatever hot and sweet peppers you have on hand. If you’re the canning type, can up a bunch of it, it will make fantastic holiday gifts. I made enough to last in the fridge for a few weeks of gorging.
I love peppers of all kinds!
I’ve blathered on about my love of peppers before, so I’ll keep it short. I just think they are not only beautiful, but so versatile. Mid to late summer is the best time to find them at farmer’s markets, but of course you can get them year round in the supermarket. I go crazy picking out a rainbow of colors. For this jelly I used a handful of jalapenos for the heat, and an assortment of bell peppers for sweetness and color. All it takes is a few pulses of the food processor to get them finely minced.
the peppers stay colorful and crunchy in my hot pepper jelly recipe
What I love most about this recipe is that there’s no long cooking of the peppers. I just bring the pot to a boil, stir in the pectin, and let it cook for 1 minute. That’s it. All the recipes I researched cooked the peppers for a full 10 minutes before adding the pectin. I took a chance and sidestepped all that. It was perfect. And this way the peppers stay fresh and bright.
what you’ll need
- 8 jalapeรฑo peppers
- 12 oz assorted colorful bell peppers, weighed after trimming
- 2 cups white vinegar (or cider vinegar)
- 3 cups sugar
- 1.75 ounce box no sugar needed pectin
working with jalapeรฑos
Jalapeรฑos are not all created equal. Some jalapeรฑos are hot, some are not so much. There’s no real way to tell until you taste. But since the whole point of hot pepper jelly is the heat, I suggest erring on the more is better side. For some serious heat you can substitute habanero or Serrano peppers.
- The heat in jalapeรฑos peppers is concentrated in the seeds and inner ‘ribs’. Keep them for a hotter result, and for a milder jelly, remove them and just use the green flesh.
- Jalapeรฑos get hotter as they get older, so the smoother and glossier the pepper is, the milder it will tend to be. If the pepper is striated (has fine white lines on it) and slightly wrinkled, expect more heat.
- To test the heat of your peppers, slice one open and touch the tip of your tongue to the exposed area.
- After working with hot peppers, be sure to wash your hands well; the spicy oils can burn if you touch your hands to sensitive areas like your eyes or nose.
tips for making my easy hot pepper jelly recipe
- IMPORTANT — Make sure you buy the right pectin for this, I used this one which is specifically for lower sugar jams and jellies. It really does make a difference is how reliably this recipe ‘jells’.
- Use any color sweet peppers you like, all red, all green, or all yellow make a pretty hot pepper jelly, too.
- If you really like it hot, use Serrano or Habanero peppers in place of the jalapeรฑos.
- This recipe is formulated as a small batch recipe, I haven’t measured the ph to insure that it’s safe to can.
- For longer storage you can freeze your jelly. For freezing, be sure you leave some empty space at the top when filling your jars to allow to expansion in the freezer.
Easy Hot Pepper Jelly Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 jalapeรฑo peppers
- 12 oz assorted colorful bell peppers, weighed after trimming
- 2 cups white vinegar (or cider vinegar)
- 3 cups sugar
- 1.75 ounce box no sugar needed pectin
Instructions
- Wash the jalapenos and trim the stem end off. Remove the seeds if you want a milder jelly. I recommend using the whole peppers, seeds and all. Give them a rough chop and then pulse them in the food processor until they are finely minced. Be careful, the fumes will be strong, and make sure to wash your hands well after working with hot peppers. Put the peppers into a heavy bottomed pot.
- Wash and trim the bell peppers, and remove the inner ribs and seeds. Give them a rough chop and pulse them in a food processor until finely minced. You may want to do this in batches, because I find you get a more even chop if you don’t crowd the bowl. Add the bell peppers to the pot with the jalapenos.
- Add the vinegar and sugar to the pot and stir to combine. Bring the pot up to a boil, and then add the pectin. Boil, stirring, for one minute.
- Ladle the hot liquid into clean jars and set aside to cool before capping and refrigerating.
- If your pepper bits float to the top, you can give the jelly an occasional stir as it cools to distribute them more evenly.
- When the jelly is cool, cap and refrigerate the jars. They will thicken as they cool, and even more as they chill.
- Serve with plenty of creamy goat or cream cheese, and crackers or grilled slices of baguette.
Super easy to make and Delicious! I also froze about 10 jars to pull out later and it still tasted amazing!
I do not see an answer in the questions/answers/reviews.
Q. How many 1/2 pint mason jars are needed to fill 64 servings?
Just made my third batch of this jelly this season (we had an abundant jalapeno harvest), so doesn’t that say everything? Great recipe, everyone loved it. Only changes I made were to use my old-fashioned manual meat grinder to grind the peppers to an even chop. Also canned them by the old time “open kettle” method which I’ve been using for 47 years without a problem as this is a high sugar/vinegar recipe. Thanks again Sue, you’re amazing…..
can I process it and not fridge?
This is my own recipe and it has not been professionally tested for ph, which is why I consider it a small batch refrigerator jam. If you like you can freeze it for longer storage.
How many ounces does this make? I need to know how many jars to have sterilized before I start making it. 64 servings? How big is the serving?
Just made some. Cant wait to try it.
This was my first attempt at making jelly of any sort, and I loved the whole experience! At the last minute I noticed some perfectly fresh peaches on the counter and I peeled two and chopped them up and threw them in at the end, and it was such a nice addition.
This was so easy to make and my husband loved it
Very easy to make. Everyone wants a jar after posting on social media.
Question what is 62 servings in 1/2pints? Wanting to give this as Christmas gifts but I don’t know how much 62 servings is if I’m going to need to make several batches or just one batch really looks yummy I can’t wait to try it and simple for me and the kids to make
This is the first time I made this after receiving a jar from a neighbor. My question is when I pulsed my red, yellow and orange peppers there was some liquid from the peppers which I poured with the chopped peppers into my pot. Would that add too much liquid to the mixture? It seems to be ok but it is early in the process since the jelly is cooling now.
Iโm making this to give as Christmas gifts to family and friends. Thank you for sharing