“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 is not a jelly, it is a JAM – it has pieces in it. Jellies are made frontage juice and therefore are clear without pieces.
Your caption says Jelly
Instead of Jams maybe that’s why they are confused
Love pepper jelly, and my grandkids eat it with chicken nuggets. I send it to my grandson in the army, but his has to be hotter then what the rest of us like, so I use whatever really hot peppers I can find at the market, along with the jalapeno and bells. I’m about to make some right now and will try your recipe. I’m pretty excited about trying this. Thank you.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe, it has made me quite popular amongst my pepper jelly loving friends, they all say it is the best pepper jelly they’ve ever had. It’s so pretty, so easy and so tasty, I cannot make it fast enough.
This made my day Laura! We’re heading into hot pepper jam making season, so perfect timing.
Sue. I just made your wonderful jelly. You so deserve such wonderful comments!,
What a lovely way to end the day, thanks Wendy!
Thanks, Sue. I made this jelly and have so say I love it. I followed recipe to the “T” with the exception of the amount of jalapeno’s and it turned out perfect. I reduced it to four peppers and it was still pretty spicy. It could have just been the peppers. I believe next time, I will remove the seeds. This will be a future favorite.
You’re so welcome, John, I’m glad it was a hit!
I made 2 batches of this last night and can’t tell you how proud I am of the results!!! So very easy and I got 12 half pint jars. My husband is gone to the store now for more jalapenos and Sure Jell so that I can use up the rest of our late bell pepper harvest. I used a mixture of our bells and banana peppers along with the jalapenos. I put 1 jar in the refrigerator for us but I canned the rest and plan to use for Christmas gifts. Thanks again for such an easy, great tasting recipe!!!!
I’m so excited for you Laura, I think it makes it so much more special that you used your own peppers!
Can you use diced frozen peppers?
Hmmmm, I’m not sure. I mean, I guess there’s no reason why not.
I’ve always loved pepper jellies and cream cheese. This recipe was my first attempt at making it. Very easy and turned out fantastic! Very pretty also. Thank you!
I’m so glad Dee, I am a fanatic about hot pepper jellies, I make them all the time, and can’t resist a new one when I see it at the store, either.
I have about 10+ lbs of jalepenos, and a few misc sweet/hot peppers I picked before last frost. If I make this it’s going to be so much it will need to be canned. Do you have any additional info on hot water bath canning this recipe in jelly jars?
I’d really like to try your recipe but I’m confused about the measurements. Can you give the amount of peppers required in cups?
Thank you!
…Joanne
I just finished making a batch of this wonderful jelly! First time in all my years I have ever made pepper jelly. The recipe is perfect! I followed it exactly (other than I did add a pinch of kosher salt) and the jelly turned out perfect! I used 2 bell peppers, one red, one yellow. They were very big! And I did only use 4 large jalapenos since children would be eating this also. It thickened beautifully, and all the lovely pepper pieces are suspended in the jelly. I wish you could see it! The color is a beautiful deep orangish amber. I followed the advice of another commenter and after I processed my bell peppers I put them in a colander lined with paper towels and let them drain for a couple minutes and then squeezed a lot of the liquid out of them. I think this gave my jelly the beautiful color and the perfect jelly consistency. But who knows, could just be beginners luck! Either way, this is some delicious jelly that will grace a wheel of brie. BTW, I got exactly 5 cups from the recipe. One is in my fridge, and the other 4 went into the freezer. Love that I can freeze them. Thanks Sue for this wonderful, easy, delicious recipe!
Thank YOU Karen for your detailed feedback, it’s so helpful to everybody! I hope you’ve tried my newest hot pepper jelly, just out this week ~ my Rosé Wine Hot Pepper Jelly!
I made mine with equal parts jalapeño, hot cherry, and Hungarian hot peppers, and three ghost peppers thrown in for good measure 🙂 Ended up having to add more pectin to get it to gel, but soooo happy with the result!
Oh gosh, I’d love to try that Mike!