Jalape O Jelly Recipe Aka Hot Pepper Jelly

This sweet and spicy jelly is great for so many reasons – especially a topping! We love to use it to serve with cream cheese and crackers. If you love jalapeños, you’ll love our Jalapeno Poppers and Dip.

Aka hot Pepper Jelly

If you love jams and jellies, you are sure to love this Jalapeño Jelly aka Hot Pepper Jelly! Yes, the flavor is a little different than your typical Strawberry Jam but it is so good! The sweet with the heat is addicting! It’s great for pouring over cream cheese and serving with crackers or for basting on your meats. What is Jalapeño Jelly? This jelly is really more of a jam. It is made up of jalapeño peppers, bell peppers, lots of sugar, vinegar, and pectin. While you may be tempted to reduce the sugar, don’t. This is meant to have lots of sugar. It’s a jelly! It also helps to perfectly balance out the heat from the jalapeños.

How to Make Jalapeño Jelly?

PREP THE JALAPEŃOS: (I recommend using rubber gloves when handling) Cut off the top of the jalapenos and remove the veins and seeds from half of the jalapeños. The veins and seeds are where more of the heat comes from and I have found that the perfect balance of heat and sweet in the jam comes from leaving the seeds and veins in half of them. PREP THE BELL PEPPERS: You can really use whatever color of bell peppers you have on hand but I like the color and taste that one green and one red gives to the jam. Remove the stems and center. You can leave the veins but I like to cut mine out. Then roughly chop into large chunks since you’ll be pulsing them in the food processor. FINELY CHOP PEPPERS: You can do this by hand but it will take a while. I recommend pulsing the jalapeños and peppers together in a food processor or blender. Chop until fine. DRAIN: Pour the peppers into a mesh strainer to take off excess liquid so that your jam isn’t runny. COOK: Add the drained peppers to a large 4 quart pot along with the sugar, vinegar, and salt. Bring it to a boil and boil for 10 minutes over medium-high heat. ADD PECTIN: Stir in the liquid pectin and boil for 1 more minute. Remove pan from heat.

How to can Jelly:

Start out with sterile equipment. You’ll need to wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water (or run them through the dish washer). The jars need to be warm when adding the hot jelly or they could crack. To keep the jars and lids hot and sterile, place them on a rack in a pot of boiling water. When the jam is done cooking, remove the jars, draining off water, and place on a towel. Ladle jam into the jars using a wide mouth funnel. Be sure to leave 1/4 inch space from the top of the jar so there is room for expansion. After filling the jars, wipe the rims with a paper towel and then top with the lids. Screw on the lids using just your thumb and index finger. This will ensure that they are on but not too tight. Place the jars back into the pot of water on the rack and bring it to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 more minute for each 1000 ft elevation above 1000 ft.) Remove and place on the towel about 1 inch apart. After a few minutes you should start to hear the cans seal with a pop. Leave the jars untouched on the counter for 12 hours.

Check the seal:

To see if your can is sealed, touch the middle of the lid. If the lid springs back up when you remove your finger you do not have a seal. To check for a proper seal, remove the the ring of the lid and lift the can up off the counter 1-2 inches while holding the edges of the lid. If the lid stays attached then you have a good seal and it can be store for 12 months in the pantry.

pepper Jelly Uses:

There are a lot of surprising ways to use this sweet and spicy jelly, believe it or not!

Glaze your steak, pork, or salmon with it. Pretty much any meat recipe that calls for a glaze will do really well with this hot pepper jelly. Put it on top of vanilla ice cream. Use it like regular jelly and make a spicy PB&J! Put it on top of cream cheese (or mix them together) to make a cracker spread (similar to our green chili cream cheese dip).