While you can purchase pickled jalapeños at the grocery store, they’re easy to prepare at home, and you get much more control over the flavor. If you grow jalapeños, this is a perfect method for using them up and keeping them preserved for the off season. Learn how to pickle jalapeños with this easy tutorial!
Pickled jalapeños are a versatile ingredient with so many culinary uses. They’re a perfect sandwich topper, and you can use them to add heat to snack foods like nachos. So how do you make them at home?
How to Pickle Jalapeños (General Tips)
- You can use either green or red jalapeños for this recipe. If you happen to have both, as I did, the red jalapeños create a very appealing presentation, in my opinion.
- This recipe will work with any hot pepper. I love pickled serrano peppers and banana peppers as well. I haven’t been bold enough to try pickled habanero peppers yet! Use what you like and/or what you have.
- If you want to cut back on the sweetness a bit, you can cut back the sugar to 3 tablespoons (4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup). Using 1/4 cup of sugar will give you a slightly more pronounced sweetness (but not overpowering), while 3 tablespoons is a bit more subtle.
How to Use Pickled Jalapenos (Serving Suggestions)
- Serve them over nachos (my favorite!)
- Add them as an accompaniment with roast chicken (these would be a great way to add some heat and zestiness my buttermilk chicken)
- Use them as a topping on any Mexican or Tex-Mex dish
- Add them over dips (they’d be perfect with my chorizo queso blanco dip!)
- Use them as a pizza topping!
More Jalapeno Recipes
Looking for more jalapeño recipes? Check out my Salsa Verde, Guacamole, and Rotisserie Chicken Tacos! I also love these Jalapeño Popper “Nachos” from Skinnytaste.
Pickled Jalapeños
Ingredients
- 20 medium jalapeño peppers (see notes)
- 1 cup white vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt or 1 tablespoon pickling salt
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 1 large garlic clove, peeled and smashed
Instructions
- Slice the jalapeños into approximately 1/4 inch slices, discarding the stems.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns, garlic and 1 cup of water to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to help the sugar dissolve. Once the liquid reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer.
- Add the jalapeños to the saucepan and turn the the heat back up to high until it reaches a boil. Once boiling, remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the pickled jalapeños and pickling liquid to a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
These came out absolutely perfect! I used 1/4 cup sugar and didn’t find the level of sweetness overpowering.