Sweet Pickled Jalapenos
My sweet pickled jalapeno peppers recipe has become quite popular online and with my friends. It is actually one of the most popular recipes on my blog and thank you to everyone who has shared it on Pinterest.
If you’re not wanting to make it yourself you can find several favorite varieties of Jalapeno Candy and Jalapeno relishes online.
Ragin Cajun, Jalapeno Relish, 12 OZ (Pack of 12)Carrie Anne’s Jalapeno Vidalia® Onion Relish
Up until last year, I was not a big fan of jalapenos. It was the first time I planted jalapenos, mainly for salsa, but I saw this recipe on Pinterest for Sweet Pepper Candy Rings and was very intrigued.
Now, I am addicted to the sweet and tangy taste of the sweet Mexican flavor. I am actually just slightly addicted to the Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno poppers I learned how to make last summer.
I still don’t eat raw jalapenos, they are too hot and spicy for me, but when you add vinegar and sugar to the pickled jalapenos you are left with the flavor without the heat, that I can do!
Last year I became quite obsessed and my four small pepper plants were NOT enough and I started begging jalapenos from friends and neighbors. This year I have eleven plants so let’s see if this keeps me in stock for the season.
The recipe for Cowboy Candy is very easy, but you will want to remember a few things.
- While slicing the jalapenos peppers, DON'T touch your eyes with your fingers, if your hair gets in your face, ask someone else to move it out. Better yet, wear a ponytail.
- Better yet, wear rubber gloves when slicing as the juice will stay on your hands for hours (while you still avoid touching your face)If you like a milder flavor fill your finished bowl with water and let the seeds float to the top, then pour off (my husband like it hot, so one batch I left the seeds)
- Slicing takes a lot of time. If you want the same flavor in less the time make relish and use a food processor or salsa maker (got mine at the state fair)
- You will have extra syrup left. Do NOT discard. Can it and use for marinade on chicken, pork chops, or ham.
Cowboy Candy Recipe
(small batch)
- 1 lb fresh jalapenos
- 2/3 cup cider vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons mustard seed
- 1/4 teaspoon tumeric
- 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
(if you don't want to make jalapeno jelly you can order from this best selling Etsy small business in Minnesota)
Instructions:
- Slice jalapenos (see above, don't touch your eyes)
- Mix cider vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery and mustard seed, garlic, and cayenne to boil.
- Reduce the liquid for 5 minutes to a simmer.
- Add jalapenos to the syrup and simmer for 5 minutes
- Remove jalapenos from liquid with a slotted spoon into a bowl
- Pack into sterilized canning jars with jalapenos first using a spoon, or a small spatula to press into the jar.
- Add liquid filling the jars leaving a 1/4 headspace.
- Process in a water bath for 15 minutes.
Makes 2 pints
Did you note this only makes 2 pints, that is TWO small jars. The first time I made this recipe I had a large bowl of sliced jalapenos and was so excited about all the jars they would fill. (I was anticipating Christmas gifts)Â
Jalapeno pepper rings are ridge when fresh and will fill the bowl, you will think you have plenty, NOT! When boiled in syrup they become soft and the volume is reduced.
Packing them into the jars reduces the volume further. So make sure to have a bushel of peppers, trust me this will become your favorite and you might hoard the small shiny jars like a treasure. I took to hiding them in the back of the cabinet.
The sweet Jalapeno relish is excellent on hot dogs or brats, and my husband puts the sliced sweet jalapenos on hamburgers. However, you serve them they are delicious.
There you go, Cowboy Candy, serve on crackers with cream cheese as an appetizer or snack. My favorite way to eat my jalapeno candy or jelly is to pair it with savory deli meats, fruit, and cheeses on a wooden charcuterie board.
Wooden Charcuterie Board
You can really use anything as a charcuterie board, but most of the time they are wooden so you can slice your cheese and meat. I have regular Wine Wednesday and break out my homemade charcuterie board.
Do you have a favorite Cowboy Candy recipe, or another jalapeno dish?
If you don't want to go through the work of preparing the Jalapeno relish yourself you can buy it and say you did. No one will know will they, just pour it out onto a fancy plate with cream cheese.
John Freeland says
My Mom, rest her soul used to make jalapeno jam which I think is very close to this. We had is on biscuits or corn bread Saturday mornings. Thanks for bringing back a great memory. I will mkae some for this Saturday!
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I’m glad my recipe triggered a good memory. Enjoy your Cowboy Candy and let me know if you like it.
Chad says
In the process of making these right now. I multiplied your recipe x 6. So…
6 pounds fresh jalapenos
4 cups cider vinegar
3 quarts sugar= 12 cups
3/4 cup mustard seed
1 1/2 tsp tumeric
1 1/2 tsp celery seed
3/8 cup garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
—
I only got 4 pints of peppers/juice and 6 1/4 of just juice. So what did I do wrong. Did you use half pints? Or how did you get 1 lb to fill 2 pints. Thnx in advance. Chad-
info@3QuartersToday.com says
Wow, those were the directions I followed. Maybe I didn’t pack them as tight as you did, I did slice mine and I used pint jars, I had about 2-3 pints of juice left over, which was fine because we used it as marinade. 6 lbs of peppers should of definitely made more than 4 pints. It is time consuming, but the results are amazing, I made three batches of jelly, relish, and sauce this year so far, have a couple more to make since it’s so popular. I made the mistake of not rinsing out the seeds on one batch and it was too hot for me.
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I skip the cayenne most of the time because I don’t have it, I like the tumeric for the color. What determines the heat is if you leave the seeds in the jalapeños. Last batch I made I removed all the seeds and it was nice and mild. Good luck with it, and don’t throw away the liquid it’s great sauce for marinating!
christine says
This looks good. My friend was just telling me about this sort of a recipe because I was pickling jalapenos. Just as an fyi, “infamous” isn’t really what you mean. You might mean famous. Infamous means to be known for a bad quality or deed. For example, you could say Charles Mason is an infamous murderer, but you would say that Peggy Sue is famous for her devil’s food cake.
info@3QuartersToday.com says
Very true, I probably should change the title, I’m getting loads of hits to this recipe, Google likes it. Thanks for the grammar lesson, I am good at cooking, but not so much in the rules of writing sometimes. Good thing people are nice about it.
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I like adding the turmeric, for color, and it doesn’t add any heat. The cayenne I’ve left out occasionally because I haven’t had it. All recipes have optional ingredients and the cayenne would fall into this category.
Sandi says
This taste like my zucchini relish recipe. You could chop up some zucchini and put it in your extra sauce. Great on pink eye peas. Love my Vidalia onion chopper so everything is nice and uniform size. Thanks for the recipe. Took me hours to do the peppers. Read some where to relish size them in food processor and then add water and the seeds would float and you could dip them off. Has anyone tried that? Don’t want it to turn out like washing the Kale in the washing machine tip.
FRANCIS says
Seeds do not make the peppers hot. The ribs ( white part inside ) are the culprits!
Kelly Fogarty says
What does it mean to ‘process in a water bath’. I would like to make this without officially ‘canning’ the jars and this seems like it might be the alternative? Thank you!
info@3QuartersToday.com says
A “water bath” is submerging the jars in boiling water to further heat the contents and cause the jars to seal. It kills any harmful bacteria and prevents oxygen from getting into the jars. I’m not a canning expert but I don’t use a pressure cooker either. Any food with a high acidic or sugar content is fine to process in a hot water bath.
Donna king says
You can get a water bath canners at feeds stores grocery and hardware store using blackish in color basically you are just putting your jars that are sterilized first in boiling water for submerged for the required time for evlatio N you can do in just a big pot but the water bath canning pot has a rack so can put them easily down in boiling water and lift out when finished however I did for years in just a pot with thogs I always place my jars upside down on a towel to cool to assure I good seal the canner are pretty cheap I never paid more than 20
Marilyn Cooke says
The picture looks like it might be 1/2 pints, or jelly jars. I know I’ve made this before to sell and felt I needed to get $8 a jelly jar to make it worth my while and cost of materials. Do you think that’s too much?
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I’ve seen Jalapeno jelly sold at markets for $6.99/jar, it probably depends on how efficient you are a processing them. I do it the long way, I’m sure there are faster methods. I give mine as gifts so the cost isn’t a factor for me.
Marisa says
That Sweet Jalapeno Relish looks pretty good to – didn’t find a recipe on your blog, though.
info@3QuartersToday.com says
Totally forgot to add it. It’s basically the same as the sliced candy, just put the peppers through a food processor. I’m actually doing that now as the slicing takes FOREVER.
Gymgirl says
What’s the red in the relish?
info@3QuartersToday.com says
The red is the jalapeños that got a little mature and turned red on the plany
Linda L says
When making the relish, do you use the same amount of syrup?
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I use a slotted spoon to scoop out the solids and then can the remaining syrup.
Linda L says
I ended up with a lot of peppers to can so I doubled the syrup and tripled the peppers. Consistency was great!
michelle says
I made these last summer HUGE HIT!!! This year I followed the same receipe with a different result…..juice was not very “syrup-ee” very thin. Any suggestions on what the problem could be or how to make the juice thicker on my next batch? Thank you
info@3QuartersToday.com says
Glad you liked the recipe, sorry it took me so long to reply, just saw your comment.
The syrup has more to do with how much sugar you use and how long you boil it down. I can the extra syrup and use it for marinating pork chops and chicken, it’s AMAZING!!
brooke siemers says
Can I use Honey instead of sugar?
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I really don’t know, haven’t tried it, I do know that Certo is very specific in stating use the exact amount of sugar or your jelly won’t set. But if you are making just refrigerator relish you could try. Let me know how it works for you.
Susan says
I made a small batch of these early in the summer. Just tried them on a cracker with cream cheese. They are wonderful! So glad I’ve got an end of summer crop of jalapenos to make more. 🙂
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I am sooo addicted to this, experiment with different seasonings too. I made some jalapeno relish last night and substituted a cup of peppers with a cup of chopped onion. I picked 10 lbs of jalapenos from the garden last weekend. Enjoy!
Joy Shepperd says
Glad you came out to the Farm. Enjoyed talking with you.
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I was a pleasure talking with you too. May we do it again soon.
Khadijahac215@gmail.com says
Do you have a recipe for the sweet jalapeño relish?
info@3QuartersToday.com says
It’s the same recipe, only you chop the jalapenos in a food processor, slicing takes so much time!! You will have more “juice” left, but I can that for marinade. Nothing goes to waste.
Jon Hutchinson says
My wife and I have tried making Cowboy Candy 3 times now. We found that 3-1/2 pounds of peppers yields about 5 half pints. Our recipe is 3 times yours for all ingredients. But our biggest problem is that none of the batches were syrupy. It was just plain old liquid in the jars. We threw out every batch because of the non-jelly problem. Can we use sur-jell or more sugar or just what to make the liquid jell? We’ve bought some Cowboy Candy before and it was like jelly. We’ve been very disappointed with our results.
info@3QuartersToday.com says
I’ve used the instructions included in SureJell for jalapeno jelly and it works just fine. The trick is following it to the letter in regards to the amount of sugar and boiling time. The Candy and relish however isn’t supposed to be like jelly though.
Crystal says
How long do they stay good for
info@3QuartersToday.com says
If you properly can the jalapeno relish it will stay good for years in a cool dry location.