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Sweet and spicy pepper jelly, when properly prepared, is a unique and interesting condiment with so many applications. The tricky part is hitting the right balance of heat and sweet, and many recipes miss the target.
As a classically-trained chef, I was excited to take on this challenge. After testing different kinds of peppers, including jalapeños which surprisingly missed the mark, I settled on a combination of red bell peppers and fiery habañeros.
I rounded out the recipe with plenty of granulated sugar and distilled white vinegar. Liquid pectin made for the best texture, firm and jelly-like. Just make sure you boil it or it won’t set up properly. Be sure to try pepper jelly over a block of cream cheese with crackers, or see below for many other creative uses.
Table of Contents
What is Pepper Jelly?
Pepper jelly is a sweet and spicy gelatin-based condiment made with bell peppers, habañeros, sugar, vinegar, and pectin. It’s a perfect accompaniment with savory, cream snacks like cheese boards, charcuterie, or on a sandwich. My favorite use is to spoon it over a block of cream cheese and enjoy with crackers.
Hot Pepper Jelly Recipe Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Bell peppers: Red bell peppers make red pepper jelly, but you can substitute any color bell pepper.
- Habañero chilies: These fiery peppers bring the heat. If you’re a chile novice, use rubber gloves while cutting and seeding them, and don’t touch your eyes or face. Or, for a milder jelly, substitute 2 jalapeño peppers.
- Pectin: Liquid pectin is sold in boxes with 3-ounce pouches; Ball and Certo are good brands. Don’t rush the boiling step: liquid pectin needs to boil and reach a certain temperature before it does its work. Usually pectin is stocked in the baking aisle of the grocery store, but sometimes you can find it in hardware stores and online (Culinary Hill may earn money if you buy through this link).
How to Make Pepper Jelly
- Cut off the stems of the peppers, and remove their seeds, but hold on to the habañero seeds in case you like a spicier jelly. Chop the peppers into rough pieces, then add them to the bowl of a food processor. Quickly pulse the peppers (and habañero seeds, if desired) in the food processor, about 12 to 15 times, until finely minced.
- Then pour out the mixture into a piece of cheesecloth set over a bowl and squeeze out any extra moisture in the peppers. A clean kitchen towel works for this, too. Transfer the peppers to a Dutch oven or (non-reactive) stainless steel pot, then add the vinegar and sugar. Cook over medium heat until fully boiling. Add the pectin, then bring the peppers back to a full boil, stirring frequently.
- Keep boiling and stirring until the temperature reaches 221 degrees, which could take 10 to 15 minutes. Skim off any foam on the surface with a wide spoon.
- Once the pepper jelly reaches 221 degrees, spoon the jelly into clean jars with screw-on lids. Allow to cool at room temperature before refrigerating, then let the jelly set up in the fridge for another 12 to 24 hours before using.
Hot Pepper Jelly Recipe Tips and Variations
- Yield: Depending on the size of the peppers, the recipe makes about 5 cups, enough for five 8-ounce jars.
- Skimming the foam: If you don’t skim off the foam in Step 3, your pepper jelly will migrate to the top of your jar and you’ll have an inch or more of clear, unflavored gelatin at the bottom of the jar.
- Make ahead: Plan on making the jelly at least a day or two before you need it so the pectin has time to thicken.
- Fun ways to use: Stir a spoonful into mayo for a sandwich. Add a dollop to a cheeseboard. Most importantly, spoon it over a block of cream cheese and eat it with crackers (like on my Midwest charcuterie board).
How to Use this Pepper Jelly Recipe
- Try as a glaze on meats like grilled pork chops or roasted pork tenderloin
- Mix with barbecue or chili sauce and serve over crockpot meatballs
- Make a sandwich with peanut butter
- Use as a dipping sauce with chicken tenders or nuggets
- Makes the perfect dipping sauce for crab rangoon or cream cheese wontons
- Spread on a bagel with cream cheese or as part of a bagel bar
- Use as a topping for baked brie or on baked brie wrapped in puff pastry
- Serve with jalapeño poppers
How to Store Sweet Pepper Jelly
Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. To can, quickly pour hot jelly into hot, sanitized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rim and center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.
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Hot Pepper Jelly Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 large red bell peppers stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped (see note 1)
- 2 habañero chilies stems removed, seeded and reserved, and coarsely chopped (see note 2)
- 5 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups white vinegar (distilled)
- 1 (3-ounce) envelope liquid pectin (see note 3)
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse bell peppers, habañeros and habañero seeds (if desired) until finely minced, about 12 to 15 pulses. On a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth over a bowl, transfer pepper mixture and squeeze to remove excess liquid.
- In a dutch oven over medium heat, combine pepper mixture, sugar, and vinegar. Bring to a vigorous boil. Add pectin and return to vigorous boil and stir frequently until temperature reads 221 degrees, about 10 to 15 minutes. Skim foam from jelly using a large spoon (see note 5).
- Transfer mixture to clean jars with tight-fitting lids. Allow to cool, uncovered, to room temperature then cover and refrigerate. Allow jelly to set, about 12 to 24 hours. Jelly can be refrigerated for up to 2 months (or see note 6 for canning instructions).
Recipe Video
Notes
- Bell peppers: Red bell peppers make red pepper jelly, but you can substitute any color bell pepper.
- Habañero chilies: These fiery peppers bring the heat. If you’re a chile novice, use rubber gloves while cutting and seeding them, and don’t touch your eyes or face. Or, for a milder jelly, substitute 2 jalapeño peppers.
- Pectin: Liquid pectin is sold in boxes with 3-ounce pouches; Ball and Certo are good brands. Don’t rush the boiling step: liquid pectin needs to boil and reach a certain temperature before it does its work. Usually pectin is stocked in the baking aisle of the grocery store, but sometimes you can find it in hardware stores and online.
- Yield: Depending on the size of the peppers, the recipe makes about 5 cups, enough for five 8-ounce jars.
- Skimming the foam: If you don’t skim off the foam in Step 3, your pepper jelly will migrate to the top of your jar and you’ll have an inch or more of clear, unflavored gelatin at the bottom of the jar.
- Storage: Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. To can, quickly pour hot jelly into hot, sanitized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rim and center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.
- Make ahead: Plan on making the jelly at least a day or two before you need it so the pectin has time to thicken.
- Fun ways to use: Stir a spoonful into mayo for a sandwich. Add a dollop to a cheeseboard. Most importantly, spoon it over a block of cream cheese and eat it with crackers.
This was super easy but if you are in Canada your liquid certo is in a 170ml package which is 5.7oz. so I doubled the peppers and squeezed out every bit of excess fluid from them, doubled vinegar and sugar then follow the recipe exactly as written and it worked out perfectly and I got exactly eight 250ml jars. I have yet to figure out why people complain about a recipe because it doesn’t say something they think it should. The author has clearly stated to use liquid certo. If you want to try something else by all means go ahead but if you have a hard time converting powdered certo or it does not work don’t complain about it! If you follow the recipe as written it is wonderful. 🙂 Thank you! My first attempt was a successs. My only complaint is it doesn’t use more peppers because I still have another 40 more from my garden to go LOL
Thank you, Lorrie! I appreciate your comment and help with the conversion! 🙂 Hope you are able to find another use for the bounty of peppers you have left. Take care! – Meggan
Hi. Am I missing the amounts of peppers & other ingredients. It just shows the picture of ingredients needed
Hi Mel, the ingredient amounts are listed in the recipe card, towards the bottom of the page. There is a “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the page, or continue scrolling to see the amounts. Hope this helps! – Meggan
How much does your one packet of Pectin measure?
Hi Marielou, it’s a 3-ounce packet of liquid pectin. Hope this helps! – Meggan
If you are in Canada your package is 170ml or 5.7oz. i doubled the recipe amounts for peppers, vinegar and sugar and made sure to remove ALL the excess liquid and it worked perfectly.
Can this red pepper jelly recipe be doubled or is it best to be made in two separate batches?
Hi Geri, I haven’t tried to double it myself. Some say that doubling jelly will destroy the pectin. It may double, but I wouldn’t want your jelly ruined. Take care! – Meggan
I made this with red peppers and 3 large jalapeno peppers according to your recipe. It turned out beautifully and was so easy to make.
It made 7 half-pint jars.
Thanks, Meggan for all your great recipes.
Could I use the powered pectin in red pepper jelly ??
Hi Audrey! We tested this recipe twice with a 1.75 ounce package of powdered pectin, adding once in the beginning and once just straight substituting, and it came out runny both times. It could work, but I don’t recommend it. Sorry about that! – Meggan
I had a bonafide culinary chef friend of mine tell me that if you add sugar before powdered pectin it’ll be runny. He said mix the pectin into the mixture very well before you add the sugar, and it won’t be runny. Then he gave me some scientific explanation, which I can’t impart to you because I’ve forgotten, but that’s how I do it and it always comes out well. He recommended I do this with all my jams and jellies.
Edit to my last comment:
I actually added an extra 2 packets on top of the 3 packets since the author said hers always came out runny, so i attempted to slightly overestimate the amount of knox gelatine to be used by rounding up the amount of packets for the volume of the mixture i had in my pot. Total packets i used was 5 with a total of 500ml extra of water (100ml per packet.)
Not 5* because there was no guidance on using powdered pectin (not even in the comments) and so i figured it out on my own since that was all I had on hand. Flavour still tastes really good though. I used knox powder gelatine with the packet instructions that says to mix 1 packet in 50ml water, add 50ml boiling water and stir, and then follow whatever recipe it’s being used in. It says 1 packet is premeasured to set 500ml of liquid. I prepped 3 packets, expecting it to set the 5-6 250ml jars i was expecting to end up with. After adding that to my boiling mixture, i realized i would need more jars to accomodate for the extra 300ml of liquid from the knox gelatine mixture. After fetching another 2 jars to sanitize, i then assumed i’d need to add another packet because now my total finished volume was increased and if the amount the packet says it will set includes the volume of the packet mixture, then i’d need more gelatine for a higher total volume. Off to fetch one more jar just in case.. I’ll admit it’s my first time using gelatine so that might have been wrong 😂 Anyways, i ended up canning all of it and crossed my fingers. At hour 24, it looked quite runny. At 48hrs, it looked slightly more set but still runny so I put one jar in the fridge. Today is hour 72. The jar in the fridge is jello-y so i stirred it up. Jello-y small chunks but it does still taste good and the texture melts quite smoothly (i’m not even a fan of jello.) The jars on the counter set a bit more and look jiggly and it pulls away from the side of the jar when i tip it but it still holds it’s shape loosely and doesn’t fall apart in a soupy mess. At room temp it looks like it’d be just runny enough to stir it up and use it in a spreadable fashion like in the video and in the images of the original recipe. I think if i pulled my fridged jar out and let it warm up to room temp, it’d be more spreadable like in the vid too.
Next time i’ll dial it back by one packet and see how that one turns out, but YES, it certainly is possible to do it with powder gelatine. If the author says hers always came out runny, then obviously use more.
In the end, the flavour is still good and pepper-y and sweet, but i would have liked more pepper material since the extra water thinned out the amount of physical pepper in it. I guess my recipe is going to be different then since next time i’ll be using more peppers to accomodate for the extra water (and my way of making it used powder gelatine makes it different too.) Let’s just say this original recipe was a good starting point. My total yield with the extra water/gelatine mixture: 9x 250ml jars! Haha if you find a way to stretch something with water (and gelatine in this case) and still have it taste delicious then that’s ultimately still a win 😂😎
I would like to make red pepper jelly and only have the red pepper flakes ,will that work rather the actual jalepeno peppers
I have my red bell peppers from my garden
Hi Connie, I haven’t tried red pepper flakes instead of the habanero chilies, sorry about that! You can omit the habanero peppers if you wish, or substitute with another pepper. Sorry again! – Meggan
I love this. Just made it for the first time and had zero issues with the recipe.
I used Jalapeño from the garden and 4 cups of red pepper. Instead of using a towel I used a strainer to drain the liquid from the peppers which I used for a red pepper soup later ☺️
I used the Bernardin liquid Pectin which worked great.
I’ll be doing another batch tonight!
So glad it worked out great and you got to repurpose the liquid! Thanks for sharing Mandi. – Meggan