Pickled Jalapeño Peppers

A pantry staple, homemade Pickled Jalapeño Peppers are simple to make with just a few ingredients: jalapeños, garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar. Whether you’re canning jalapeño peppers or quick pickling them, this simple recipe will have you preserving jalapeños in no time!

Extending the Season

Preserving jalapeños couldn’t be simpler. Whether you grow your own or spy those bright green beauties at the farmers market or grocery, late summer is the perfect time of year to enjoy pickling in season jalapeños.

Enjoy this quick pickled jalapeño recipe within an hour or canned jalapeños the following day. Their flavor improves with a little time.

Ingredients for Pickled Jalapeños

A short list of ingredients for these pickled peppers, here’s what you’ll need to make em’:

• 5% Distilled White Vinegar 
• Water – filtered water is preferable.
• Pickling and Canning Salt – find this with the canning supplies at your local grocery or hardware store. 
• Cane Sugar
• Fresh Garlic 
• Fresh Jalapeños – use the freshest jalapenos you can get your hands on. Look for in-season, firm, bright green peppers for the best firm texture.

Quick Guide: How To Preserve Jalapeños

Preserving jalapeños is super easy. With just a few ingredients and fresh jalapeños, homemade pickled peppers can be enjoyed throughout the year. 

• First, wash the jars, lids and bands in hot soapy water. Then, sterilize your jars. Center for Home Food Preservation shows us how. If using previously canned jars, carefully inspect them for nicks, cracks, or other defects. Do not use these jars if defects are detected, as they can potentially break in a water bath. 
• Second, thoroughly wash the peppers.
• Third, slice the peppers into rings. To protect your hands from those burning pepper oils, wear disposable gloves and wash your hands thoroughly after handling the peppers. 
• Fourth, bring the vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil. Add the peppers and garlic to the vinegar water, stir and remove from heat. Keep the peppers submerged in the brine and allow to set for 15 minutes off the heat. You’ll notice the color of the pickles turn from bright green to a duller shade. 

Can or Quick Pickle

• For Canning: while the peppers are sitting in the pickling brine, keep your jars hot in the canner until you’re ready to use them (you can turn off the heat if you’ve already sterilized the jars). This keeps the jars preheated. Remove the jars with a jar lifter, leaving the water behind in the canner, one jar at a time, and fill with peppers and brine, leaving 1/2 inch head space at the top of each jar. Release air bubbles by sliding a rubber spatula between the peppers and jar. Lid and tighten the ring to fingertip tight. Return each jar to the water bath with your jar lifter. Once all the jars are in the bath, fill the canner with water one inch over the height of the jars. Lid, bring the canning water to a rolling boil, then process the jars for 10 minutes. Remove, and cool. Listen for the lid to pop – this means your jars are sealed and ready for long term storage at room temperature.*See Recipe Notes Update Below.

• For Quick Pickling: pack the jars with cut peppers, while also pouring the brine into jars. Use a spoon to gently pack the rings down, to make room for more. Top with brine and more peppers as needed. Lid the peppers. Once cool, place the jars in the refrigerator. They’ll last for several months and be ready for snacking in about 24 hours, or in an hour for the quickest pickle!

How Hot Are Jalapeño Peppers?

Jalapeño’s Scoville rating, a measurement of a pepper’s heat, ranges between 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville heat units, with the upper end resulting in major mouth burn! By comparison, banana peppers are mild with a Scoville range of 0 to 500 and Anaheim, medium from 500 to 2500 Scoville units.

Jalapeño’s heat can vary from pepper to pepper. But removing the white parts (ribs) and seeds from a jalapeño reduces their fiery notes while retaining their flavorful, less spicy parts.

Quick pickled banana peppers are simple to whip up too. Check out my Pickled Banana Peppers recipe and give these flavorful peppers a try!

Does Pickling Jalapeños Make Them Less Spicy?

Pickling jalapeños tend to calm the spice a bit, but not entirely. It all depends on how spicy the jalapeños are to start with. Pickling only tames the heat so far!

If a less spicy pickling is desired, first, remove the ribs and seeds of the peppers by cutting the peppers in half. Scrape out the ribs and seeds with a spoon or slice with a knife. Then, slice the peppers into 1/2 rings. If the pepper is large and straight enough, you can simply cut off the stem end and scrape out the ribs and seeds. The pepper ring shape will be retained! 

What to Do with Pickled Jalapeños

Treat these spicy, briny, flavor popping peppers as a condiment. Enjoy them on all things Mexican food and more like:

• Tacos Rancheros
• Nachos
• Overnight Sourdough Pizza Crust
• Skillet Enchiladas Verde
• Tofu Enchiladas
• Spicy Sofritas

• Black Bean Tostadas with Fajita Veggies
• Black Bean Walnut Burgers
• Stir them into mac and cheese (!!).
• Dice em’ up and add to Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread or Gluten Free Cornbread 
• Slow Cooked Pinto Beans
• Vegetarian Corn Chowder

Traci’s Tips

• Make sure your jars are sterilized before preserving jalapeños. The National Center for Home Food Preservation shares how.
• This pickled jalapeño recipe yields three 16 oz jars as written, but the recipe doubles easily.
• Use latex gloves to protect hands from hot pepper oils. The burn tends to linger otherwise, even after washing hands with hot soapy water! 

Recipe Updates

August 2021: I’ve received a few notes regarding the pickled peppers being soft or mushy after canning. Here are some tips I’ve gleaned about this: 

• Use the freshest jalapeños you can get your hands on. Look for jalapeños at farmers’ markets, fresh from the garden, or through a CSA. 
• Make sure you’re canning in the water bath for no longer than 10 minutes (rolling boil). Set a timer and watch it closely. 
• A tip I learned from Chili Pepper Madness in the comments and on another forum is there’s a product called Pickle Crisp that may help (I’ve not tried this). 
• If you’re worried about soft peppers, make quick pickled peppers. They’ll last for months in the fridge, and they have a toothsome texture.
• Check for spoilage (see recipe notes).

August 2024 Update: 

I received a few notes from readers regarding canning jars breaking while processing in the water bath. I’ve sometimes experienced previously used jars breaking in the water bath, but not new. My reason for previously recommending new jars for canning.

One maker wrote that the breakage could be due to thermal shock. So, I retested my canning recipe using both non-preheated, old and new jars and preheated old and new jars. No jars broke during either test, but the old jars were inspected first for nicks and cracks, something I hadn’t thoroughly done when I first started canning and experienced breakage.

After retesting the canning portion of this recipe and reading current canning resources like WSU Pickling Vegetables and Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, I’ve learned several new things about canning and have updated the recipe to reflect these:

1. Thoroughly inspect your jars for nicks and/or cracks. Even hairline cracks can result in breakage in the water bath.
2. For this recipe, and for consistency for what the pros recommend, after sterilization, keep your jars in the canner just before filling with peppers and brine. Keeping the jars preheated helps prevent thermal shock, which could result in breakage.
3. In the past I’ve used pure fine sea salt for pickling and canning because it doesn’t contain anticaking ingredients and I always have it on hand. But experts recommend pickling and canning salt since it doesn’t contain impurities, like sea salt can.

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Pickled Jalapeño Peppers Recipe

4.91 stars (from 41 ratings)

By Traci York

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Cook: 15 minutes mins

Canning: 10 minutes mins

Total: 40 minutes mins

Servings: 3 16 oz Jars

A pantry staple, homemade Pickled Jalapeño Peppers are so easy to make! Whether you're canning jalapeños peppers or quick pickling them, this simple recipe will have you preserving jalapeños in no time! *You will need three 16oz Mason jars if canning the peppers. See blog post for more tips and links to pickling/canning supplies.

Recipe Updates: noted above recipe card regarding 1. August 2021: soft canned jalapeños. 2. August 2024: canning, salt update.

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 1/2 lbs (675g) Jalapeño Peppers
• ▢ 2 C (515g) Water
• ▢ 2 C (515g) 5% Distilled White Vinegar
• ▢ 2 Tbs Pickling and Canning Salt
• ▢ 2 Tbs Organic Cane Sugar
• ▢ 2 Fat Cloves of Garlic, minced

Instructions 

• Sterilize three, 16oz jars. The National Center for Home Food Preservation shares how. Wash lids (new if canning) in hot, soapy water and set aside with bands.
• Thoroughly wash the peppers and chop into rings. To protect hands from burning pepper oils, wear disposable gloves and wash your hands thoroughly after handling the peppers.
• In a medium stainless steel sauce pot, bring the vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil. Add the peppers and garlic to the vinegar water, stir then remove from heat. Allow the peppers to set, submerged, in the brine solution for 15 minutes. You'll notice the color of the peppers turn from bright green to a duller shade. Meanwhile, decide if canning or quick/refrigerator pickling the peppers and prepare for A or B below.
• A. For Canning:

  While the peppers are sitting in the pickling brine, keep your jars hot in the canner until you're ready to use them (you can turn off the heat if you've already sterilized the jars). This keeps the jars preheated.

  Remove the jars with a jar lifter, leaving the water behind in the canner, one jar at a time. Using your jar funnel and ladle, fill jars with peppers and brine, leaving 1/2 inch head space at the top of each jar. Release air bubbles by sliding a rubber spatula between the peppers and jar. Wipe jar rim with a tea towel. Center the lid on jar and adjust the band to fingertip tight.

  Return each jar to the water bath with your jar lifter. Once all the jars are in the bath, fill the canner with water one inch over the height of the jars. Lid, bring the canning water to a rolling boil, then process the jars for 10 minutes.

  Turn off heat, remove lid and let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool for 12-24 hours. Check lids for proper seal. They should not flex when the center is pressed. Also, you can listen for the lid to pop - this means your jars are sealed. Once the seal is confirmed, remove the band so the jar rim and band can dry. If preferred, once clean and dry, the band can be reapplied.

  B. For Quick/Refrigerator Pickled Jalapeños:

  Transfer the hot peppers and brine to your sterilized jars using a jar funnel and ladle (the jars do not need to be preheated for quick pickling - just sterilized). Pack the peppers in the jar using a spoon or muddler and adjust the liquid as needed leaving 1/2 inch head space.

  Wipe the rim with a kitchen towel. Center the lid on the jar and tighten the band. Once cool, transfer the jars to the refrigerator, where they'll last for several months and be ready for snacking in about 24 hours, or in an hour for the quickest pickle! They taste better with a little time on them.
• Quick pickled jalapeños can last several months in the refrigerator. Canned pickled jalapeños, if properly canned, up to one year at room temperature. Once a canned jar is opened, store it in the refrigerator. An open jar of canned or quick pickled jalapeños will last months in the refrigerator. (update 3/22: this year my unopened quick pickled jalapeños lasted eight months in the fridge)

Notes

Inspect your Jars: inspect any previously used canning jars for nicks or cracks as this could result in breakage in the canner. 

Check for Signs of Spoilage: Before enjoying your pickled peppers, check for any signs of spoilage. "With the jar at eye level, examine for streaks of dried food on the outside of the jar. Inside of the jar, look for cloudy canning liquid, rising air bubbles, or any unnatural color. While opening the jar, watch for spurting liquid or cotton-like mold growth on food surfaces or the underside of the lid. Smell for unnatural or off odors." For more information, see WSU Pickling Vegetables. If in doubt, throw it out. 

Updated Pickling Guidance is From WSU Pickling Vegetables and Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1jar | Calories: 130kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 4670mg | Potassium: 562mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 2445IU | Vitamin C: 270mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.

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