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The Best Jalapeno Pickle Recipe (Easy and Delicious!)
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Pickling, a culinary tradition with roots deep in our global food culture, is a delightful way to savor the freshness of fruits and vegetables, like jalapenos, throughout the year. Whether you’re a seasoned canner or a novice preserver, the key to a successful pickle is the pickling liquid. Our Jalapeno Pickle recipe has a brine that is seasoned with herbs like bay leaf, thyme, garlic, coriander, peppercorns, and lavender. For a truly unique take on pickled peppers.
Today, we are sharing a transformative tip that we picked up from the virtual kitchen of renowned chef and author Michael Ruhlman. It’s so ingeniously straightforward, you’ll wonder why you’ve been clinging to old complicated recipes. Once you master this method, you won’t need another pickling recipe ever again!
The Basics: Prepping the Jalapeno Pickle Jars
First, pack your chosen peppers (or any other vegetable or fruit) tightly into clean jars. Once packed, fill the jar with filtered water, ensuring the peppers are completely submerged. Pour this water into a large measuring glass and carefully note down the volume. You now have the foundation for your perfect pickling liquid!
Crafting Your Pickling Liquid
Take your measured water and pour out exactly half, replacing it with distilled white vinegar. Why distilled white vinegar, you ask? Its consistent quality and mild flavor make it an excellent choice for pickling.
Now comes the seasoning: add 2 tablespoons each of sugar and coarse kosher salt for every 3 cups of the water-vinegar mix. You’ve now created a simple yet magical pickling concoction!
Perfecting the Infusion for this Jalapeno Pickle Recipe.
Transfer this pickling liquid into a saucepan and add your desired spices. Thyme, bay leaves, cumin seed, peppercorns, mustard seeds, even lavender buds – you choose what excites your taste buds.
We recently visited Temecula, California where we stocked up on a few jars of Lavender Pepper at Temecula Lavender Company. This unique blend of white and black peppercorns has fragrant lavender buds in the mix which creates a uniquely delicious jalapeno pickle-tasting experience that we can’t stop raving about! However, if you aren’t intrigued by adding lavender to your jalapeno pickle recipe you can simply leave it out of your spice mix.
Once the spices have been added bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat, letting it simmer gently for 10 minutes. This process allows the flavors of your chosen spices to infuse into the liquid, creating an intensely aromatic brine.
Assembling Your Pickle Jars
Once you’ve simmered the pickling liquid, let it cool down for a while, then carefully remove any large pieces of herbs like thyme springs and bay leaves. Pour this beautiful amber pickling liquid over the peppers, stopping ½ inch from the top of the jar.
Using a clean rubber spatula, slide around the inside of each jar to remove any air bubbles – these can compromise the quality of your pickles. Wipe the jar rim with a clean towel and seal it with a lid. Let your pickle jars rest until they’ve cooled. A quick shake will distribute the spices evenly within the jar.
Maturing Your Pickles
A bit of patience goes a long way in the pickling world. While you can enjoy these tangy delights as soon as they’re cool, I assure you, the flavor only intensifies with time. If you can resist the temptation, let them sit in your fridge for at least 4-5 days. A regular shake every few days helps the spices to redistribute and further enhances the flavor.
The shelf life of these homemade jalapeno pickles is around 2 months in the fridge. However, they may last longer, but in our kitchen, we go through them far too quickly to verify that!
Put your Jalapeno Pickle Juice to use!
Once you’ve eaten all of those delicious pickled jalapenos don’t throw out the brine! Pickle juice is an ingredient that has lots of delicious uses in the kitchen.
Our Jalapeno Pickle Brined Fried Chicken Salad showcases a few ways to use pickle juice. Starting with using the pickle brine as a meat tenderizer and marinade for the fried chicken. Then also, as the base of a delicious vinaigrette that you’ll want to drizzle on just about everything.
Click here for the recipes and to see all of our favorite uses for pickle juice!
Are you looking for more recipes for kitchen staples like this one?
Here at California Grown we have a team of food lovers that all agree on one thing, homemade condiments like pickled peppers, infused olive oils, and garlic confit are great to have on hand to elevate all of the creations that make their way out of your kitchen.
BE SURE TO SHARE YOUR JALAPENO PICKLES WITH US BY SNAPPING A PIC AND TAGGING US ON SOCIAL USING #CAGROWN.
Craving more CA Grown goodness? Follow us on Pinterest for fresh and fabulous recipe inspiration!
Quick & Easy Jalapeno Pickles
Ingredients
- filtered water
- distilled white vinegar
- Sugar
- Salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 3 cloves of garlic smashed
- 2 tablespoons peppercorns I use a mix of different colors black, white, pink or green
- 1/4 teaspoon dried lavender buds optional
- 1 – 2 pounds jalapeno peppers
Instructions
- Thinly slice the peppers and pack them into glass jars until there is no more space. If you would like to leave the peppers whole and slice later you can do that as well just make sure that the jar is packed really tight.
- Once the peppers are packed in the jar cover them with filtered water. Pour the water into a large measuring glass and make note of how much you have.
- Pour out exactly half of the water and replace it with Heinz distilled white vinegar. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons salt for every 3 cups of the water and vinegar mixture. This is your pickling liquid.
- Place the pickling liquid and the remaining ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Let the liquid cool for a few minutes and then remove the thyme springs and bay leaves.
- Pour the pickling liquid over the peppers stopping ½ inch from the top. Slide a clean rubber spatula around the inside of each jar to remove air bubbles. Wipe the rim with a clean towel and screw on the lid.
- Let the pickles rest for a few hours to cool and then shake the jar to distribute the spices evenly. The spices will settle as the pickles sit in the fridge so turn the jar every few days to let the spices redistribute.