Homemade Sweet And Spicy Red Pepper Jelly Recipe

This sweet red pepper jelly recipe is a traditional preserve recipe from the South of Italy. It is made with red peppers, sugar, white vinegar, and chili if you like spicy food. It is a savory, velvety jam usually served with matured cheese like Pecorino, Provolone or goat cheese, but it is also excellent to serve with red meat, especially beef, pork, or wild, like duck or wild boar. This hot and sweet jelly can be canned and stored to use during the winter months. A great way to preserve the summer sweet red peppers, especially if you have an abundance.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Pasteurizing the jars
• How to serve it
• Substitution and variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• More savory jelly recipes
• 📋Homemade Sweet And Spicy Red Pepper Jelly Recipe

The difference between this red pepper jelly and a red pepper jam is its smooth consistency and glossy bright color.

While most pepper preserves use a blender to puree the peppers, I use a vegetable strainer that automatically separates the peels.

With no extra effort, you get a bright velvety sweet pepper jelly to serve with your cheese or meat.

While you can easily find red pepper jelly at your local grocery stores,  if you make it at home, you are sure it is made with all-natural ingredients and no red food coloring.

This original recipe is from Sicily, where sweet sauces are often served with savory dishes.

For more sweet-savory jams, you can also check out the Balsamic fig glaze recipe, which in France is served with foie gras. You can also make the caramelized red onion relish, which I serve with roast beef. 

Ingredients

These are the ingredients you need:

• Red peppers: fresh red peppers. This is the perfect way to preserve red peppers if you have an abundance. You can also use yellow or green peppers.
• Sugar: you can reduce the sugar quantity if you use it within a few days. Although, if you want to preserve it for the winter, you must keep the amount of sugar stated in the recipe.
• White wine vinegar: here, I use white wine vinegar, but you can also use apple cider vinegar
• Hot peppers: hot chili or jalapeno peppers are optional if you don't like a spicy jelly. 
• Salt for seasoning

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Here is how to make a bright velvety red pepper jelly

Simmering the peppers

How to found out if the jam is ready

Hint: Do not overcook it; otherwise, it will become too hard

Using a blender

Using a vegetable strainer

Instead, we use a vegetable strainer, the one used to make tomato sauce. The result is a smooth glossy red pepper jelly.

Hint: You can sterilize the empty jars in the dishwasher

Hint: in Europe, we use the reverse canning technique, which is not recommended by the National Center of Home Food Preservation in USA.

Pasteurizing the jars

To pasteurize the jars, boil them in a hot water bath.

Place the jars in a large pot and cover the jars with water. Ensure there are 1 to 2 inches of water above the tops of the filled jars. Turn the burner under the canner to its highest setting, cover the canner with its lid, and bring the water to full rolling boil. Process the jars for the recommended number of minutes after the water boils.

How to serve it

You can serve this hot jelly immediately or store the jars for the winter. So jolly to serve on charcuterie boards or with a cheese platter at Christmas.

It is also perfect with barbecue meat, roast beef or roasted lamb.

If you don't like spicy condiment, you can make a milder jelly using only red bell peppers.

Substitution and variations

Here are variations of this hot pepper jelly recipe:

• Spicy - you can adjust the level of spiciness by adding more or fewer chili peppers
• Yellow or green peppers - you can change the color of the jelly by changing the type of peppers you use
• Sugar-free - if you want to replace the sugar with a low-calorie or sugar-free option, ensure that the sweetness you are using is suitable for canning and has the same preservative properties as sugar. If not, I would suggest freezing it instead of canning it.

Equipment

To recreate the silky texture of this recipe, you need to use a vegetable strainer and not a blender.

I use the KitchenAid vegetable strainer attachment, which makes the recipe extremely easy as it automatically separates the flesh from the skin.

You can also use an electrical or manual vegetable strainer used to make the tomato sauce, as they also separate the skin from the flesh.

If you don't have one, but you would like to make more fruit and vegetable preserved, I would suggest investing in one.

Additional equipment you will need are:

• Glass jars for canning (quarter pint 150 ml)
• Boiling-water canner
• Fire Rubber Gloves BBQ to hold the hot jar or a jar lifter
• Ladle with spout
• Saucepan
• Fine mesh strainer for extra smooth jelly

Storage

You can store this red pepper jelly in the fridge for up to 3 days.

If you want to keep it for longer, you can either freeze it or can it.

If you want to preserve it in a jar, do not change the amount of sugar and vinegar; they make the perfect PH to store them for the long term.

I recommend storing it in small jars of 1-quarter pint - 150 ml as it is generally used in small quantities.

More savory jelly recipes

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