“Sue, I wanted to let you know I absolutely love this recipe! It’s my go-to! I’ve shared the jelly I’ve made with family and friends over the last two years and they’ve 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. 🙂 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 jalapeño 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 jalapeños
Jalapeños are not all created equal. Some jalapeños 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 jalapeños 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.
- Jalapeños 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 jalapeños.
- 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 jalapeño 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.
This recipe is beautiful to eat and look at. I used 2 red bell peppers and one yellow bell pepper and that perfectly amounted to the 12 ounces. My jalapeños were pretty big but I stuck to the recipe exactly. I kept the seeds in because I love the heat. I also used 1/2 cider 1/2 white vinegar. My batch wielded 8 1/2 cups jelly. Thank you for a gorgeous recipe.
So gladit worked out well for you Staci — how are you going to use yours?
I mistyped. It was 6 1/2 cups. I’m giving it as gifts maybe. I promised one to my mother in law. I want to serve it over baked Brie. Right now I’m eating the leftover 1/2 cup with tostitos haha. Delicious!
Ok so apparently this is a total hit. Now everybody wants to know how much for an 8 oz jar. Any ideas?
Oh gosh, I’m not sure…how about having a jelly making party and everybody takes home a jar?
Well they are all rangers and men. They just want to buy it. Lazy! Lol. I to them $5 a jar and I want the jar back. Making another batch today! My husband loves grilled cheese sandwiches and dips them in the jelly. We went thru 6 jars in a week haha. Thanks for a great recipe!
I made this and did all of these steps but i minced up my own red and orange peppers. I have a small chopper i used for the hot peppers. But the color of mine is nothing like this? Wonder if i did something wrong….
The color will be completely variable according to your peppers. I was surprised by this color, but attributed it to the red peppers I used. What color was your jelly?
It was between a yellow to a green but dark?
Hi Sue. I have a question. This is my first time making a jelly and have no idea about pectin. If I use regular pectin how does that affect the recipe? From what I understand you add it at a different point in the process and do I need more sugar? Thanks, Sharon
I’m not sure, Sharon. This was my first jelly, and I decided to try to streamline the process and it worked. I’m guessing, just guessing, that you could use regular pectin as well. I’ll have to give it a try.
with the pectin do you add it dry ~ add the recommended liquid to the dry and then to the pepper mix
planning on making this week…
This sounds great. How much jelly will this produce?
It makes about 4 cups, Samantha.
My MIL used to make this for Xmas presents. Surely, I should do the same! Thanks Sue!
How long can this be stored before it goes bad?
At least a month, Alpha. You can definitely can it if you want to preserve a larger batch for a longer time.
This looks great! Can I store it in the freezer to make it last longer?
Yes! I have a couple of jars in my freezer right now.
About how many peppers is 12 ounces?
I gave the weight because I used so many colors, I’d say you could use 2 peppers.
I have never had hot pepper jelly before, but I’m thinking that needs to change — especially since I have a log of goat cheese in the fridge right this second and a full jalapeno plant in the back garden. Yay!
Oh yes, circumstances are conspiring to get you to try this!
Oh this is amazing!!! I always look for pepper jelly to pour over heated camembert/brie cheese but it’s so hard to find! Never thought of making it myself. Brilliant!