How To Pickle Peppers (Hot Water Bath Canning Method)
Updated Feb 28, 2025
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A quick and easy guide on How To Pickle Peppers using the traditional hot water bath canning method. This comprehensive guide will help you create delicious, shelf-stable pickled peppers perfect for enjoying throughout the year.
I thought I’d share how to pickle peppers, which is a super simple recipe for you fellow garden growing, home canning, yogurt making friends. Peppers grow like weeds and when they are on, they are on.
There’s something deeply satisfying about preserving your own food, and pickling peppers is one of those kitchen projects that brings both joy and delicious results.
Whether you’re dealing with an abundance of peppers from your garden or you’ve found a great deal at the farmers’ market, this time-tested water bath canning method will help you capture that peak-season pepper flavor to enjoy all year long.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Easy for Beginners: You won’t believe how easy these recipes are. Once you get the canning bug, you’ll never go back. This is a great place to start!
- Year-Round Food: Pickling peppers using the hot water bath canning method allows you to preserve them for long periods, ensuring you have a supply of flavorful peppers year-round.
- Tangy Flavor: Pickling imparts a tangy, vinegary flavor to peppers, creating a delicious and versatile condiment or snack.
- Just Right: You can customize the pickling brine to your taste preferences by adjusting the amount of vinegar, sugar, and spices.
🌶️ One of my favorite parts of summer and early fall is the pepper harvest and making of all the pickled peppers!
Recipe Ingredients
For Canning Banana Pepper s
- Banana peppers
- Cider vinegar – 5% acidity
- Canning salt
- Celery seed
- Mustard seed
For Canning Jalapeños
- Jalapeños
- Vinegar – 5% acidity
- Salt – Canning or pickling
- Sugar
- Garlic Cloves – lightly crushed
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make Pickled Peppers
Step 1: Wash the peppers, remove stems, slice into rings, and wash jars; prepare lids as per directions.
Step 2: Place seasonings in each jar. Pack sliced peppers into the prepared jars.
Step 3: In a large pot, combine brine ingredients; bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes.
Step 4: Ladle hot brine into jars, remove air bubbles, clean rims, seal with lids, and process in a hot water bath.
Recipe FAQs
Wear rubber gloves when handling hot peppers or wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face.
If properly stored, an unopened jar of pickled peppers will generally be good for about 2 years.
Actually, the opposite is true. The pickling process will reduce the heat of the peppers a bit.
Expert Tips
- Wear Gloves: Wear rubber gloves when handling hot peppers or wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face.
- Original Recipe: Recipe from, tested, and approved by the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
- High Altitude Timing: Process for 10 minutes unless you are above 1,000 feet elevation, process for 15 minutes and above 6,000 feet elevation, process for 20 minutes.
- Canning Tips: New to canning? Here’s great info on preserving food with canning.
Serving Suggestions
Your homemade pickled peppers will add zesty flavor to:
- Sandwiches and wraps
- Pizza and pasta
- Tacos and nachos
- Salads and antipasto plates
- Charcuterie boards
- Egg dishes
We eat pickled banana peppers with our favorite pizza, on veggie + hummus sandwiches, and when we make sandwiches using our favorite homemade sub bun recipe.
We eat the pickled jalapeños on everything Tex-Mex like our favorites slow cooker carnitas, black bean and sweet potato enchilada bake, and the best chicken tacos.
Other Pepper Preserving Recipes
Here are a few posts for other pickles my family has tested and approve of wholeheartedly. Our pantry and refrigerator are always stocked with homemade pickles!
- Quick and Easy Refrigerator Pickled Banana Peppers — Can’t get more simple than this.
- Refrigerator pickled cucumbers — A quick and easy way to turn cukes into pickles!
- Quick Dill Refrigerator Pickles — Great to have stocked in the fridge for dill fans.
- Fermented Pickles — No canning required!
More Canning Recipes to Consider
Preserving Guide
How To Preserve Beets
Preserving Guide
How To Preserve Green Snap Beans
Preserving Guide
How To Preserve Apricots
Canning Recipes
How to Can Food: Learn the Basics
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
How to Pickle Jalapeño Peppers
Ingredients
- 6-8 pound jalapeños
- 5 cups vinegar, 5% acidity
- 1 cup water
- 4 teaspoons canning or pickling salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
Instructions
- Prepare the peppers by washing them.
- Remove the stem end. Slice the peppers into rings that are 1/4 to a 1/2 inch thick.
- Wash your pint canning jars and prepare the lids according the manufacturer’s directions.
- Pack the sliced peppers into the prepared jars.
- In a large pot, combine the vinegar, water, salt, sugar, and garlic. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the garlic.
- Ladle the hot liquid into the jars, leaving a 1/2 inch of head space at the top. Remove any air bubbles and adjust the liquid as needed.
- Wipe the rim of the jars clean and add the lid and ring.
- Process in a hot water bath. Process for 10 minutes. If you are above 1,000 feet elevation, process for 15 minutes and above 6,000 feet elevation, process for 20 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Pickled Banana Pepper Recipe
How To Pickle Banana Peppers
Ingredients
- 2½-3 pound yellow, banana peppers
- 5 cups cider vinegar, 5% acidity
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 5 teaspoons canning salt
- 2 tablespoons celery seed
- 4 tablespoons mustard seed
Instructions
- Wash and rinse 4 pint canning jars. Prepare lids and bands according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Wash peppers well and remove the stem end. Slice into rings that are between 1/4 inch to a 1/2 inch thick.
- In a large pan, add the vinegar, water, and salt and heat to boiling.
- Place 1/2 tablespoon celery seed and 1 tablespoon mustard seed in the bottom of each clean jar. Fill with pepper rings.
- Cover the pepper ring with the boiling vinegar mixture, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust the liquid as needed.
- While the rims of the jars clean and adjust the canning lids.
- Process in a boiling water canner, as recommended (see notes).
- Let cool 12-24 hours and check the seals.
- Shake the jars to disperse the spices before using.
What are the key factors to consider when planning a container garden?
We do not eat many hot peppers anymore..but my husband planted mostly hot peppers. If I water bath them with more sugar will they turn out milder?
Canning them will bring down their heat too!
6-8 pounds of jalapenos- check
6 cups of liquid- Not even close.
Had to make another batch of brine.
did i get something wrong, cause this was way off…
I might just pack mine a lot tighter than yours!
How long should I wait to try the peppers for the flavor? New by at hot and sweet peppers!
I’d wait at least 48 hours but at 2 weeks the flavor will be fully developed.
Can you use the same recipe for jalapeños and banana peppers so I only have one brine to make? I prefer your jalapeño pepper brine.
Yes, they were both canning safe recipes, so you could use either pepper with either brine!
It was nice to have a clear recipe that included yield on it. Thank you for being so clear and also including the note to wear gloves. I never thought I would feel the burn last week when handling my banana peppers, but I did.
I was wondering if there is any way to keep them crunchy?
Ball makes a product call Pickle Crispy and it helps!
Canned both the pickled jalapeños recipe and the pickled banana peppers. I had an abundance of Sugar Rush Peach Peppers, and I tried both recipes with those peppers. I do prefer the Jalapeños recipe for pickling. Thanks for sharing.
Pickle crisp is usually available in your store canning section.