How to Pickle Peppers: 5 Ways to Use Pickled Peppers

Pickled peppers are fresh, sliced peppers preserved in a mixture of vinegar, salt, and other spices to add flavor. Pickling peppers are common in many cuisines as a way of preserving crops. There are three main ways to pickle peppers: the canning method, the quick pickle method, and the refrigerator pickle method.

A canner processes the pickles in a hot water bath, which means the pickles have a long shelf life at room temperature. For a quick pickle, the peppers only spend a short amount of time in the pickling liquid, just long enough to impart a slightly briny flavor. Refrigerator pickles skip the hot water bath and instead process in the refrigerator; they will have a shorter shelf life than canned pickled peppers.

Pickling peppers at home can be a fairly simple process as long as you have the right ingredients and supplies on hand. Here are several items to gather before you get started:

• Funnel: The pickling liquid, a vinegar mixture, will be hot when you add it to the glass jar of veggies. You can use a funnel to ease it into the jar without spilling it and potentially burning yourself.
• Glass jars: For refrigerator pickled peppers, quick pickled peppers, and water bath canning, you’ll need glass jars with tightly fitted lids. Use pint jars, quart jars, mason jars, or other glass jars.
• Jar tongs: To make water bath canning easier and safer, you can use jar tongs, which fit around the lip of popular glass jars.
• Ladle: Use a ladle to get the hot brine into the jar. A ladle with a little spout on one side is good, but a regular, round one works.
• Large pot: For water bath canning, boil water in a large pot for both sanitizing the glass jars and processing the pickled peppers once they’re in the jars.
• Spices and seasonings: A pickled pepper recipe calls for some combination of black peppercorns, mustard seeds, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and pickling salt or Kosher salt. Pink and white peppercorns also work but will impart a slightly different flavor.
• Variety of peppers: Put the same type of pepper in each glass jar, or switch it up with a variety of peppers. Use hot peppers like jalapeños, serrano peppers, or Thai chilies. Sweet peppers, like banana peppers and bell peppers, can work, too.
• Vinegar: White vinegar is the most common vinegar to use in pickling, but apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, or rice vinegar also works as long as the total amount of vinegar in the pickled peppers recipe stays the same.

While you can follow a recipe, pickling is more about getting the process right. Listed below are the key steps to pickling peppers using the canning method:

1. 1. Slice the peppers. It’s okay to pickle smaller peppers whole, but you should slice larger peppers so they will fit into the jars. Add other veggies, like cucumbers, garlic cloves, and green beans.
2. 2. Sanitize the glass jars. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and place the empty jars in the boiling water for one minute to sanitize them. Place the jars on a clean towel or a recently sanitized countertop. Don’t dry the jars.
3. 3. Make the pickling liquid. Follow the recipe of your choice, mixing together the vinegar, water, salt, and any other spices or seasonings, like mustard seed and peppercorns, in a small saucepan.
4. 4. Carefully fill the jars. Use a ladle and a funnel to help get the pickling liquid into the glass jars. Leave enough headspace at the top of the jar to allow for liquid expansion during the processing. Tightly secure the lid on each jar.
5. 5. Process the cans in boiling water. Use the same large pot of water. Bring the water back to a boil and submerge the glass jars in the boiling water. Process them for 10 minutes.
6. 6. Store the pickled peppers at room temperature. Remove the pickled peppers from the boiling water after 10 minutes, dry off the jars, and store them in a cool, dark place until you need them.

Pickled peppers can add a sweet and sour flavor to many dishes from all over the world. Below are a few popular ways to use pickled peppers:

1. 1. As condiments: Chop up pickled peppers with other pickled veggies—like pickled onions, pickled cauliflower, and pickled carrots—to make condiments for sandwiches. In Italian cuisine, a variety of this condiment is giardiniera—a common accompaniment for cold-cut sandwiches.
2. 2. As side dishes: Use pickled peppers as a gluten-free side dish alongside other pickled veggies. Quick pickling is a good method for pickling peppers that you plan to use as a side dish, as the peppers won’t be as sour as pickled peppers with longer processing times.
3. 3. On pizzas: After a pizza comes out of the oven or off of the grill, you can top it with sweet or hot pickled peppers.
4. 4. On salads: Use pickled peppers in a salad dressing on a leafy lettuce salad, or add quick pickled peppers to a cucumber and red onion salad. The peppers can add spice to neutral tastes like lettuce and cucumbers, and the pickling liquid can be a good base for vinaigrettes.
5. 5. On tacos: Alongside pickled onions, you can top Mexican dishes like tacos or a plate of nachos with pickled peppers. Pickled jalapeños are the most popular for taco dishes, as Mexican cuisine heavily uses jalapeño peppers already.

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