“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.
Do you think it would work with half of the hot peppers. Fora milder jelly..
Yes, that will work.
So this jam is amazing. I made a very similar one that was in my Pomona’s Pectin insert. It was very close to the same proportions. It tastes like sweet and sour sauce in jelly form with some serious heat. I used jalapeno and cayenne (green and red cayenne). I may be in love. Thank you for being my intro to hot pepper jellies. I did your cranberry one as well and OH MY! Might need to back another batch or three of that for the winter months! Dried my own cayenne’s (had a bumper crop this year) so I’m hoping I can use those.
I can see that you’re a fellow hot pepper fanatic 🙂 I’ve got to do a new one for holiday ’18!
I made this even easier, instead of measuring by weight I use 2.5 cups of each hot and sweet peppers. I used peppers from my garden that do not grow as big as what is available at the market so I needed another way of measuring.
I saw where someone asked if this could be made with sugar substitute, yes, I use 1.5 cups Stevia and 1.5 cups Truvia (the Truvia does have some sugar in it) I make this for my diabetic husband and he eats it almost every day.
And yes, because of the high acid from the vinegar, this can be preserved via water bath. I process for 25 minutes because we live at 4500 ft above sea level, lower altitudes can do less time.
This is my go to recipe for hot pepper jam, thanks!!!
Thanks for all the valuable info Debra!
I agree, give oz. cups, tablespoons. Love it when a recipe calls for one of this or one of that. My peppers are huge, fruits and veges. come in so many sizes.
Are the peppers supposed to be crunchy? I made this today and already opened a jar it tastes excellent however the peppers are slightly crunchy
It’s possible your peppers were cut a little chunkier than mine Jodi. They should be firm but not super crunchy. If you make it again you can boil the batch for a little bit longer.
I saw this recipe on another site but it did not specify the low sugar pectin. My batch did not set up. Is it possible that it’s because I used the regular pectin?
I’ve found that the low sugar pectin is essential in this particular recipe Julie.
Thank you. I”ll give it another try with the low sugar pectin.
Update: Your recipe was flawless and “slap yo mama” delicious! Thank you!
lol thanks!!
Hi Sue.. I’m getting ready to make your hot pepper jam. I don’t have a scale to measure out 12 ounces, would a cup and a half or two cups do (chopped) with balance of ingredients?
I think approximately 2 cups sounds right Nana.
Hi, can you bottle the hot pepper jelly recipe in a water bath/
You have to insure that your final product has a ph of 4.6 or lower to safely can a recipe. There are so many variables involved that I find it easiest to invest in a set of ph strips and test your own batch to see if it’s safe to can. You can add more vinegar to get the ph right, if necessary.
can this jelly be frozen in mason jelly jars?
Yes, just be sure to leave a little space at the top, about 1/2 inch, to allow for the jelly to expand when it freezes.
I just made your recipe for pepper jelly I didn’t see how long to leave before eating please let me know Barbara
You’ll need to refrigerate until cold for it to fully thicken, Barbara, then you can enjoy!
what if it doesnt set up? what did I do wrong and can I save the batch?
Be sure to use the correct pectin, and you can actually reheat a failed batch and add more pectin to thicken it. Here are some detailed instructions.. http://pickyourown.org/how_to_fix_runny_jam.htm