Welcome back to Sunday Scratchups, your home for weekly recipes from scratch around grocery sales — or garden bounty! In October we’re really winding down the growing season here in Chicagoland, but I’m still picking pecks of pickled peppers… more accurately, my garden is still producing both jalapeños and cayenne. Just two jalapeño plants do our family nicely: I have several bags in the freezer for use in recipes over the winter, and my garden jalapeño peppers have come in handy all summer for chili, salsa, and so much
(Cayenne is also fantastic, if more sparingly, in chili, and this year I used some homegrown cayenne peppers to make my own crushed red pepper (filled another empty McCormick bottle this week) and copycat chili garlic sauce.)
So let’s take the next logical step with Easy Refrigerator Pickled Jalapeños, another easy and flavor packed way to preserve these for later use. Note that I am not canning these and they are not shelf-stable; if you make up a batch yourself, be sure to keep them refrigerated. These I actually made a little over a month ago, but I’m planning to do up another batch this week.
Easy Refrigerator Pickled Jalapeños
Ingredients
About 16 medium jalapeño peppers
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Kosher salt
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
3 whole garlic cloves
Directions
Wash peppers, cut off stems, and slice into coins. Peel garlic cloves and add garlic and jalepeño slices to a one quart mason jar. Meanwhile, in small pot heat water, vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, stir, then pour over peppers.
Seal jar and refrigerate at least a week before opening and tasting, shaking gently once in a while. Your pickled peppers will get darker and a bit softer, but still stay nice and spicy for garnishing tacos and more.
Here’s how they look now
And here’s what’s left several weeks later, after we’ve eaten some and they’ve pickled about as much as they’re going to. See? Easy, peasy, pepper squeezy.
Easy print version
Easy Refrigerator Pickled Jalapenos
Ingredients
- About 16 medium jalapeño peppers
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup vinegar
- 3 whole garlic cloves
Instructions
- Wash peppers, cut off stems, and slice into coins.
- Peel garlic cloves and add garlic and jalepeño slices to a one quart mason jar.
- Meanwhile, in small pot heat water, vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer, stir, then pour over peppers.
- Seal jar and refrigerate at least a week before opening and tasting, shaking gently once in a while.
- Your pickled peppers will get darker and a bit softer, but still stay nice and spicy for garnishing tacos and more.
Juanita
Monday 6th of October 2014
You can also try adding sliced carrots and a small sliced onion and I like to throw in a bay leaf and black peppercorn.
Christine
Sunday 5th of October 2014
Rachel, I have to commend you for the creative ways you have used produce from your garden. way to go!
rachel
Sunday 5th of October 2014
Thanks! I'm trying to branch out this year. :)
Eun
Sunday 5th of October 2014
Have you ever thought of making cowboy candy with your jalapenos? There are refrigerator method recipes for this too.
rachel
Sunday 5th of October 2014
No, I'd never heard of it! Huh, it looks really similar, but with a lot more sugar?
Debbie
Sunday 5th of October 2014
I don't know if this idea would work for your jalapenos but I read in a magazine (I think Women's Day) to use the leftover juice from say Claussen pickles to put cut up green peppers in. It is delicious!
rachel
Sunday 5th of October 2014
I've seen recipes that use leftover pickle juice from something like Claussen to just make a new batch of cucumber pickles, too.