Pickled Jalapeños
This year I decided to grow jalapeño and serrano chiles—those wonderfully hot and flavorful Mexican chiles that are used salsa, guacamole, and so many Mexican dishes. But I certainly wasn’t expecting each plant to yield over a pound of chiles. What to do with so many?
Make jalapeños escabeche, or pickled jalapeños!
Pickled jalapeños, or escabeche, are served as a condiment with many meals in Mexico. Chiles, onions, carrots, cauliflower are pickled with the jalapeños. My mother used to buy jars of escabeche when I was a child. The chiles can be cut up and used for many dishes.
Pickled Jalapenos (Escabeche) Recipe
PrintIngredients
- 1 lb jalapeño (and/or serrano if you wish) chile peppers
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2-3 medium white or yellow onions, thickly sliced
- 2-3 medium carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
- Florets from half a small cauliflower (optional)
- 1 head garlic, cloves separated but not peeled
- 4 cups apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Kosher salt or sea salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 sprigs of fresh marjoram (can sub fresh oregano) or 1/4 teaspoon dried
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Special equipment:
- 4 - 5 pint-size canning jars
Method
1 Prep the chiles: Wash the chiles, leaving the stems intact. Cut a cross in the tip end of each chile so that the vinegar will be able to penetrate the chiles.
2 Fry chiles, onions, carrots, cauliflower in olive oil: Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet. Add the chiles, onions, carrots, cauliflower if using, and garlic. Fry over medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning them over occasionally.
3 Add vinegar, salt, bay, oregano, marjoram, thyme, sugar, bring to boil: Add the vinegar, salt, bay leaves, dried oregano, marjoram, thyme, and sugar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Make sure the chiles are entirely cooked through before canning. You will know they are cooked when they are no longer vibrant green, but a dull, olive green.
4 Pack jars with vegetables, top with cooking liquid: Pack 4 to 5 pint-sized sterilized jars with the chiles and vegetables. Top with the vinegar cooking liquid and seal.
5 Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Once opened, can keep for one to two months in the refrigerator.
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Recipe adapted from Diana Kennedy's The Essential Cuisines of Mexico.
Links:
Jalapeño Bread and Butter Pickles here on Simply Recipes
Michael Simon's Pickled Chillis from Ruhlman's blog
Water bath canning instructions from Food in Jars
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Pickled Jalapenos (Escabeche)
I’ve been making your recipe for years! Thought I should finally review it, too. :) This is a must for me every summer. We use them all year on tacos and tostadas and pretty much anything with beans and cheese. YUM! Thanks for the great recipe!
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I’m so glad you like the recipe Courtney! I love pickled jalapenos with Mexican food.
If I were cut the jalapenos in half to remove the membrane and seeds to cut down the heat should
I cut down on the cook time too?
Hi, Brian! Emma here, managing editor. No, I don’t believe cutting the jalapenos in half or removing the membranes and seeds would change the cooking time. Enjoy!
Please need a recipe for quarts of this amazing stuff ! I do can and adjusting my time for water baths.
The vinegar was overpowering and my whole house smelled for days. I will try it again but tone down on the vinegar. Does anyone know if white vinegar is less acidic than apple-cider vinegar? I still plan to dilute it with water but I’m wondering if there’s a way to soften flavor a bit. The vinegar was so strong I couldn’t even taste the jalapenos or vegetables.
I am no expert, but I know the amount of acidity in the canned product has a direct impact on its safety. I do not reduce vinegar in canning. Generally white and apple cider vinegar have 5% acetic acid. If you dilute the vinegar with more water, you will affect the over all acidity & that is not recommended. I have heard of adding sugar if one finds the acidity too strong.
I don’t get not peeling garlic? I pickle jalopeno and raw garic all the time. I’ll try it though.
More flavor when you pickle them with the skins on. And when you eat them, the garlic just slides right out of the skin.