Jalapeno Jelly Recipe with Sure-Jell

What to know before you start

Jalapeno jelly is a sweet, tangy, mildly hot spread made from chopped peppers, vinegar, sugar, and pectin. Most home cooks know it as the thing that goes on a block of cream cheese with crackers, but it also works as a glaze for chicken, pork, and shrimp.

The recipe below follows the structure of the published Sure-Jell jalapeno jelly recipe, which uses powdered pectin. Two practical points before you begin:

• Treat the amounts as fixed. Peppers are a low-acid food, and the balance of peppers, vinegar, sugar, and pectin is what makes the jelly both set and safe to keep on a shelf. Do not add extra peppers, cut the vinegar, or reduce the sugar in a canned batch. Swapping one kind of hot pepper for another is generally fine as long as the total amount of chopped pepper stays the same.
• Check your box. Pectin makers revise their instructions from time to time. If your box insert differs from what is written here, follow the insert, and check the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) for processing guidance at your altitude.

Powdered and liquid pectin are not interchangeable. Powdered pectin is stirred in with the fruit or peppers and brought to a boil before the sugar goes in. Liquid pectin is added after the sugar has been boiled. If a recipe is written for one, use that one.

Ingredients

Makes roughly 5 to 6 half-pint (8 oz) jars, depending on how finely you chop and how long you boil.

• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped red bell pepper, seeded
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped green bell pepper, seeded
• 1 cup finely chopped jalapeno peppers, seeded (see the pepper count section below)
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar (5% acidity)
• 1 box (1.75 oz) Sure-Jell Original powdered fruit pectin
• 1/2 teaspoon butter or margarine, optional, to reduce foaming
• 5 cups granulated sugar, measured into a separate bowl

You will also need a boiling-water canner, a rack, half-pint canning jars with new two-piece lids, a jar lifter, a funnel, a ladle, and a large (6 to 8 quart) pot. A tall pot matters because the jelly foams up when it boils.

Step-by-step method

1. Prepare the canner and jars. Fill the canner about half full and bring it to a simmer. Wash jars and bands in hot soapy water and rinse. Keep jars hot until filling. Keep the flat lids in hot, not boiling, water, following the lid manufacturer’s directions.
2. Wear gloves and chop. Hot pepper oils burn skin and eyes. Wear disposable gloves, wash the cutting board and knife afterward, and avoid touching your face. A food processor makes quick work of the chopping; pulse briefly so the peppers are finely chopped rather than pureed.
3. Combine peppers, vinegar, and pectin. Put the chopped peppers in the pot, add the vinegar, stir in the pectin, and add the butter if using.
4. First boil. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. A full rolling boil is one that keeps bubbling hard even while you stir.
5. Add the sugar. Stir in all the sugar at once. Return to a full rolling boil and boil hard for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Use a timer.
6. Skim and fill. Remove from the heat, skim off foam with a metal spoon, and ladle the hot jelly into the hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims clean, set the lids on, and screw the bands on to fingertip tight.
7. Process. Lower the jars into the simmering water, making sure they are covered by 1 to 2 inches. Bring to a gentle but steady boil and process for 10 minutes for half-pints at low elevation. At higher altitudes the time goes up; use the chart on your pectin insert or the NCHFP.
8. Cool undisturbed. Move the jars to a towel and leave them upright and untouched for about 12 hours. Moving them early can break the gel.

Why vinegar goes into pepper jelly

Vinegar does three jobs here. It adds the tang that balances the sugar. It supplies the acid that helps the pectin gel. And, because peppers on their own are low in acid, it is a key part of what makes the finished jelly acidic enough for water bath canning. This is why you should not “improve” a tested recipe by swapping in water or cutting back the vinegar. Cider vinegar and white vinegar both work when they are labeled 5% acidity; use the one your tested recipe calls for.

How many jalapenos do you need?

Go by the measured amount, not by pepper count. As a rough guide, the recipe’s cup of finely chopped, seeded jalapenos is somewhere around 8 to 10 medium to large peppers, but sizes vary a lot. Chop, then measure.

If you want the jelly hotter, leave in some of the seeds and white ribs from the peppers you chop, but keep the total volume of chopped pepper the same. If you want it milder, remove all seeds and ribs, or swap part of the jalapenos for more bell pepper while keeping the total volume constant.

Can I use frozen jalapenos? Many cooks do. Thaw them, drain off excess liquid, then chop and measure so the amount matches the recipe. Frozen peppers tend to be softer, so the finished jelly may have a slightly different texture. If you are working from a tested recipe, measure the thawed, drained, chopped peppers rather than using them by weight or count.

Checking seals and storing the jelly

After the 12-hour rest, press the center of each lid. A sealed lid is concave and does not flex. Any jar that did not seal can go in the refrigerator and be used first.

Remove the bands, wipe the jars, label them with the date, and store in a cool, dark place. Best quality is typically within about a year. After opening, keep the jar in the refrigerator.

Jelly can take longer than a day to finish setting, sometimes up to a couple of weeks, so give the jars time before deciding a batch has failed.

What to do if the jelly did not set

First, wait. Pepper jelly often looks thin at first and firms up over several days.

If it is still runny after about two weeks, you have options:

• Use it as a sauce. Runny pepper jelly is a good glaze for grilled chicken, pork, or fish, or a base for a sweet-hot vinaigrette. Keep it in the refrigerator.
• Remake it. The NCHFP publishes directions for re-cooking soft jelly with additional pectin. Follow those exact steps, because guessing at amounts can make things worse.

Common reasons for a soft set: not reaching or holding a full rolling boil, boiling longer or shorter than 1 minute after the sugar went in, changing the sugar or vinegar amounts, doubling the recipe in one pot, or using a pectin type the recipe was not written for. If you want to scale up, make two separate batches rather than doubling.

Why do the peppers float?

Pepper pieces are lighter than the syrup, so they sometimes rise to the top as the jelly cools. Letting the jelly stand in the pot for a few minutes before jarring, then stirring gently before filling, can help the pieces stay evenly distributed. It affects looks only, not safety.

Ways to use jalapeno jelly

• Spoon it over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers, or follow the same idea with our cheese ring made with strawberry preserves.
• Brush it on chicken, pork chops, or salmon near the end of cooking as a glaze.
• Stir a spoonful into a vinaigrette or marinade.
• Use it in place of mustard or mayo on a ham or turkey sandwich.
• Add it to a cheese board alongside sharp cheddar or goat cheese.

Variations to try

Once the basic method is comfortable, similar jellies follow the same pattern. For a milder, golden jar, try our hot banana pepper jelly. For a jar with a fruity, red look, see the Fresno chili jam. If you do not want to use packaged pectin, read our notes on jalapeno pepper jelly without pectin and jalapeno jam without pectin, and if you prefer a fiery option, the habanero jelly without pectin is worth a look. For a fruity, refrigerator-only spread, try the jalapeno fig jelly.