Pickled Sweet & Hot Peppers

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Pickle and can a mixture of hot and sweet, bell peppers to enjoy later in the year—it's a great way to save fresh, in-season peppers.

Pickled Sweet & Hot Peppers
Prep Time:
1 hr
Bake Time:
20 mins
Process Time:
15 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 35 mins
Servings:
84
Yield:
6 pints or 12 half-pints

Use these pickled sweet and hot peppers any place you would add pickles. They'll add zip to burgers and sandwiches, or big flavor to casseroles, salads, and charcuterie boards or relish trays. Our Test Kitchen toyed with the idea of using all hot peppers for this pickled recipe, but everyone at the taste panel liked the sweet and spicy pepper balance, so we left it as is. No need to mess with perfection. Don't worry if you have a little extra brine (aka vinegar mixture), we had an extra 1¾ cups when we tested the recipe, and figured it was safer to have extra in case you need to use a seventh jar for your peppers.

For the prettiest appearance, use a mix of different color bell peppers. But if your home garden is overflowing with one kind of pepper, this sweet-hot pickled peppers recipe works great with just one color variety, too.

If you're new to canning you may not having pickling salt on hand. It is different than other salts in that it has none of the additives (like iodine or anti-caking products) usually found in salt. You can find pickling salt in the salt section of most large grocers, with the canning jars and equipment in retail stores, or online. It could be called either canning salt or pickling salt.

Ingredients

  • 4 ½ pound green, red, yellow, and/or orange sweet peppers

  • 1 ½ pound hot chile peppers, such as Anaheim, jalapeño, yellow banana, or Hungarian

  • 6 ½ cup white or cider vinegar

  • 1 ⅓ cup water

  • cup sugar

  • 4 teaspoon pickling salt

  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Cut sweet peppers into quarters, removing stems, seeds, and membranes. Line two extra-large baking sheets with foil.

  2. Place sweet pepper quarters, cut-sides down, on prepared baking sheets. Bake about 20 minutes or until skins are bubbly and dark.

  3. Place peppers in a clean, brown paper bag; seal bag. Let stand 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle. 

  4. Using a paring knife, gently peel off skins; set sweet peppers aside.

  5. Remove stems and seeds from hot chile peppers. Slice into rings.

  6. In a large nonreactive saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar, pickling salt, and garlic. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove garlic cloves.

    Test Kitchen Tip: When we call for a nonreactive pot, we are referring to the material the pot is made from—such as stainless steel or enamel. Other types of metal, such as aluminum, could react with the acidity producing off-flavors.

  7. Pack sweet and hot peppers into hot clean pint or half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace.

    What Is Headspace?

    In canning, headspace is the unfilled area of the jar between the top of the food or liquid to the lid (or top of the jar). It is necessary when canning because food expands when the jars are heated.

  8. Pour hot vinegar mixture over peppers, maintaining the 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids and screw bands.

  9. Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes (start timing when water returns to boiling). Remove jars from canner; cool on wire racks.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

28 Calories
9g Carbs
1g Protein
Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe 84
Calories 28
% Daily Value *
Sodium 180mg 8%
Total Carbohydrate 9g 3%
Protein 1g 2%
Calcium 30.3mg 2%
Iron 0.5mg 3%

*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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