Hot Pepper Jelly, Y’all
This Southern hot pepper jelly has the perfect balance of sweet and spicy, and is great enjoyed on freshly baked biscuits!
I can’t believe I just said y’all.
But being Midwest-born, California-raised, New York-schooled…I guess it’s time I let a little bit of the South in me too.
Everyone has their preconceptions about the South, but whether you love the place or hate it, there is certainly some awesome Southern food to be had.
Some of these awesome foods? Grits, crawfish, cajun food, fried chicken, and my focus today…hot pepper jelly.
If you’ve never had hot pepper jelly before, it’s hard to imagine what it would taste like, right?
We all know what strawberry jelly is like….or blueberry, or even grape jelly.
Hot pepper jelly is spicy, it’s sweet, and it’s got intense flavor, and plays off well as a condiment to things like goat cheese or fried chicken.
Start out with a mix of peppers. I did all three colors of bell peppers, as well as jalapenos and habaneros:
Chop up all the bell peppers and jalapenos, but be sure to mince the habanero finely, since a big chunk of that will set your mouth on fire:
Simmer the peppers with fruit pectin, white wine vinegar, and sugar until the pepper soften and the mixture gels:
Pectin is just a thickening agent that is found in most of the fruits that you already eat…plums, pears, apples, etc.
10 minutes later, the jelly is ready to be stored. You can can it, pour into containers to put in the fridge, or even put it in the freezer.
Hot Pepper Jelly, Y’all
Ingredients
- 3 bell peppers one yellow, one red, one orange, all chopped up
- 1/2 cup chopped jalapenos
- 2 habaneros minced
- 1.75 oz package fruit pectin
- 3/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 4 cups sugar
Instructions
- Put the peppers, fruit pectin, and white vinegar in a saucepan, and heat on medium high to bring the mixture to a full boil. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the sugar and bring the mixture back to a boil, and let it boil for 2 minutes until foamy and bubbly.
- Remove the pan from the heat and pour into containers. Keep in mind the jelly will not set (gel up) until it’s completely cooled. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
30 Comments on “Hot Pepper Jelly, Y’all”
I forgot to rate this recipe!! It is awesome!
I personally Can this recipe. It’s amazing! I also make it with 1(ONE) Ghost Pepper’s instead of the hot Pepper’s this calls for. In my canner I already have it at a strong boil and drop my cans in for 10 minutes. Hope that helps you guys.
OMG! I used to have an officemate way back in the late 80’s (I’m old) who made this red pepper jelly and she would bring cream cheese and ritz crackers. I can eat it all day. Finally, I found a recipe! Thanks!
NOTE TO SELF: don’t touch face after chopping serrano peppers….
Hi Heidi, oh no…I’m sorry to hear this. I’ve made that mistake before. The good news is you’ll never make that mistake again! Just make sure not to touch your eyes…I did that and OH MY GOODNESS. I was so mad at myself.
Sounds like a great recipe for this time of year! With all the peppers that remain in it, I guess this would be more of a pepper jam than a jelly, unless you were to strain all the peppers out of it! LOL Thanks for another great idea!
Are you canning these or just storing in the fridge? If canning, how long would you process in a water bath? If storing in the fridge, how long would it remain edible? My brother has an excess of peppers growing in the garden and this sounds like a good solution to using some of them. I’ve never tried pepper jelly before but it might be interesting to throw some in some of my spicy Chinese recipes and eliminate having to use something else to provide the punch! Great post!
Dianna, you could certainly can these, but I’ve never canned anything. It’s just never come up. I split this batch up, I freeze about 2/3rds of it, then keep 1/3 in the fridge. In the fridge it will keep for at least a good couple of weeks. I also found that freezing mine didn’t affect the texture at all when I thawed it out. Just make sure to put it in the coldest spot of your fridge (right by the blower) so it freezes quickly, which will prevent the formation of big ice crystals and bad texture. So in short, it keeps for a while both in the fridge and in the freezer.
I am just seeing this as I was looking for a pepper jelly recipe using the freezer pectin as my husband bought the wrong kind. Canning this in a water bath is easy ! Most recipes will tell you how. Just mAke sure that you compare ingredients as you need the correct amounts of sugar and acid to prevent growth of bacteria if sitting on the shelf. You can also go ahead and prep your peppers and freeze so you will be ready to go the next time you want to make this. I put mine in the food processor and then freeze in the anounts called for in the recipe. A great appetizer for a party is to pour pepper jelly over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers! Having some in the freezer or canned takes the worry out of a last minute part invite!
Yum! Been looking for a good pepper jelly recipe. Yours is just gorgeous, love the specks of pepper in the jelly. Definitely bookmarking this one for next month, thanks!
Thanks Laura! I noticed most pepper jellies don’t seem to have much pepper in them…enjoy it!
I love hot pepper jelly! I’ve never made it with sweet peppers mixed with hot peppers. It sure makes a beautiful jar of jam! Lovely recipe!
I still haven’t caved and tried hot pepper jelly yet! I’m kind of a spice weenie!
I think I would love this, I love hot food
We have made jalapeno jelly before, but never with all the bell peppers in there too. My husband would love this. All the colors look great!
Yum! My southern girlfriends serve it poured over softened cream cheese with crackers. LOVE pepper jelly….and I’m glad you said “Y’all”. Now I don’t feel so alone!
Ooo I’ll have to try that! LOL you won’t hear me say y’all in person I don’t think, I’m not there yet hahaha.
Yee haw! This’ll really git yer taste buds fired up! Great stuff. I’d totally slather this on some fried chicken. Or bread. Or anything.
HAHA this comment made me laugh! I can hear that twang in your typing LOL.
I loooove Hot Pepper Jelly!! This looks so amazing!
Do you want some of mine? I have so much!
Today is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day so it’s all South, all day 🙂
National buttermilk biscuit day??! I think I have to go make some biscuits!
Yum! I can’t usually handle too much spice, but I bet this would be delicious with jalapeno poppers and cream cheese.
Oh YES! That’s such a good idea. I make jalapeno poppers all the time, definitely going to try that! Thanks for the idea Meg =)