Hot Pepper Relish is a great way to preserve all of the peppers you have at the end of the season! Pepper relish is super easy to can and shelf stable!
My big sons’ review of this recipe is that it the best thing I have ever made!! 🙂 Well, I don’t know about that, but it sure is very tasty.
If you are not a huge fan of spicy heat, the Hot Pepper Relish is NOT for you. It is hot. Go for the sweet pepper relish, instead. It is very mild, containing only a few jalapeños.
At the end of the season, we always have bushels of peppers left. We have to come up with creative ways to use up a lot of peppers!
We have been making different relishes for ages, including, cucumber and zucchini, so why not try a relish with peppers? This relish does not disappoint. Honestly, you can’t have too many condiments, in my book. It takes a same old, same old boring meal to all new realms. Perfect.
What you need
- hot peppers – use any hot pepper you have access to. Jalapenos, Hungarian wax, habanero, serrano peppers, ghost pepper,
- vinegar
- sugar
- turmeric
- dry mustard
- pepper
- celery seed
How to make it
- Wash peppers. Wear gloves!! Very important! If you don’t, you will have to wash your hands 100 times to get all of the pepper oils off your hands. Don’t touch eyes or any mucus membrane. Halve them and remove most of the seeds and ribs. You can technically leave them in if you want the heat level nuclear.
- Chop up all of the peppers into fine pieces.
- Chop up the onions fine. We used the food processor and just pulse until they were the size I wanted.
- Add the vinegar, spices, salt and sugar.
- Mix and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Then reduce heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes, stir occasionally. Pack pepper mixture in jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. See recipe below for process time altitude adjustment.
You can adjust the level of heat in this relish by the number of hot peppers included in the mix. If you like medium or hot salsas, add 2 more jalapeños for every degree of heat you would like to increase. I would call this Hot Pepper Relish hot.
As always, when making salsas or hot sauces, err on the side of caution. You can always add more but you can’t take it away. Always taste for heat before canning any sauces, bearing in mind that as it sits, it will gain heat, not lose it.
Hope you enjoyed the recipe today for pepper relish! Give it a try next month when you have peppers coming out of your ears. If you like this easy condiment, you have to give our Oscar Relish a try. It is one of my favorites. The recipe for Sweet Pepper Relish is here.
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Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
📖 Recipe
Hot Pepper Relish
Ingredients
- 5.5 cups peppers, stems removed, chopped fine in food processor use jalapeno, serrano, habanero, Hungarian wax, or any other hot pepper you have access to.
- 2 cups onion, chopped fine in food processor
- 1.5 cups cider vinegar
- 1.5 cups Sugar
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1.5 tsp celery seed
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until thickened, the consistency of pickle relish.5.5 cups peppers, stems removed, chopped fine in food processor, 2 cups onion, chopped fine in food processor, 1.5 cups Sugar, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp Black Pepper, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1.5 tsp celery seed, 1.5 cups cider vinegar
- Process in hot jars for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. For the method for canning, see this recipe
- Sweet Pepper Relish If you are making hot Pepper Relish, use all hot peppers!!
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Notes
Nutrition
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Merie
Made it and the jars are already empty. My family loves it. I am assuming the measurement for the peppers is after chopping? I found I had a little more moisture than I expected, so am thinking of chopping first then measuring for the second batch.
Beth Neels
I did chop the peppers first. I will add that to the recipe notes. Thanks for letting me know. I use the leftover brine to make spicy ketchup and spicy mayonnaise. Great on just about everything!
Bren
Amazing recipe, I have so many peppers every year and I am so happy I found this recipe! Just doubled the recipe and made 8 jars. Looks and smells so amazing.. cannot wait to try this!! The taste I did take was so goooood!!!
Beth Neels
My family loves this one too. And it uses so many peppers, it’s great! Thanks Bren. Glad you like it!