Quick pickled jalapeños with garlic

At my favorite Thai restaurant, I often decide my order based on what would go well with their pickled jalapeños, made fresh daily. The peppers still hold their crunch, and bright briny bite.

I almost look forward to those peppers more than whatever dish I order.

The last time I went, the server offered several containers to take home with my leftovers.

(She had obviously noticed as I blazed through a couple of servings at dinner that I was a big fan.)

I realized that if the restaurant could make peppers on rotation, there was no reason I couldn’t do it at home.

So I started working on my own quick pickled jalapeños recipe.

In this post:

Quick pickles are made by simply adding a water, vinegar, and salt brine to produce.

Quick pickled jalapeños aren’t suitable for canning or keeping in the cupboard. They need to go into the refrigerator for storing.

Still, with the vinegar and salt in them, they will last up to a couple of months in the fridge. Not too shabby!

(Of course, this is largely hypothetical. I’ve been finishing each jar I’ve made in about a week.)

There are a couple of things I really like about quick pickles (also known as refrigerator pickles).

One is that you don’t need hot vats of liquid or special equipment, like you do when canning. Canning is more labor intensive than I’m really interested in undertaking.

The other thing I like is that the jalapeños still keep their bright green color and fresh crunch. They aren’t mushy like peppers that have basically been cooked in hot liquid.

They have the wonderful bite of a raw pepper along with the brininess of a pickled one. I like them a million times better than any jarred pepper on the market.

(Want to do more quick pickling? Make a tasty batch of pickled red onions!)

Jalapeños: If you’re looking for hotter peppers, pick ones with fine white lines. That means they’ve been on the vine longer.

Garlic: Sliced garlic adds wonderful bite. You can add 6 to 8 sliced cloves. Or go all the way up to a full head. (Not a fan of garlic? Simply omit it.)

Tip: Eat the sliced garlic while you’re enjoying the pickled peppers. Those delicious garlic slivers taste amazing all on their own. They pick up some of the heat from the peppers. And the brine cuts some of the edge off of their garlicky flavor.

White vinegar: This mild vinegar can be replaced with apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar.

Salt: For this recipe, I use sea salt. If you look at the ingredient list on the back, it’s just that one ingredient. You can replace sea salt with kosher salt or pickling salt.

For best results, don’t use salt that is iodized or includes any anti-caking agents.

Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a medium heat with salt. Stir often until the salt completely dissolves.

Then turn off the heat, and set it aside. Stir in vinegar.

Cut jalapeños into slices.

If you want a lot of heat & crunch, cut them thickly. If you want crisp slices that absorb brine faster, cut them thinner.

(Lately I’m into super thin slices. They still keep a lot of snap.)

You can throw the jalapeño tops into the jars as well. Once they are ready, you can just bite around the stem. Or cut around the stem with a knife and just pickle the pepper surrounding it.

Then thinly slice cloves of garlic.

Put the garlic and sliced peppers into a clean 32 ounce glass jar.

Carefully pour the cooled brine over the peppers.

(If the brine is too hot, the green color won’t stay as bright.)

Cover with a lid & refrigerate.

The peppers can be eaten in as little as 24 hours, but they start tasting their best after a few days.

The heat lessens with time. And they pick up more of the salt & brine flavor.

When you cut hot peppers and remove the seeds, you run the risk of burning your hands with chili oils and capsaicin. The best method of prevention is wearing kitchen gloves.

I used to not worry about wearing gloves as protection… until I burned my hands while cutting jalapeños.

I was left with lingering pain for days. Now I always keep a box of latex gloves on hand (and on hands!)

If you do happen to get “jalapeño hand,” my favorite remedy is rubbing cooking oil on my hands and then rinsing them with soap and water. Oil + soap seems to remove some of the capsaicin.

I follow it up by taking a couple of ibuprofen to numb the pain.

Make these peppers your own by varying the ingredients and amounts.

• Use kosher or pickling salt instead of sea salt
• Replace a portion of the vinegar with apple cider vinegar for a sweeter flavor
• Add a couple Tablespoons of sugar to the brine to cut some of the heat
• Slice the peppers thickly for the most heat & crunch
• Slice the peppers very thin for crisp rings that absorb brine faster
• Replace some or all of the peppers with milder peppers like banana or sliced carrots
• Leave the seeds in for hotter peppers
• Remove some or all of the seeds for milder peppers
• Add more or less sliced garlic
• Add other seasonings like bay leaves, cumin seeds, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and/or fresh herbs

Since I started making quick pickled jalapeños, I’ve been carrying jar after jar to the table for every meal – from tofu scramble at breakfast to taco pizza at dinner.

There are endless ways to use them.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Serve them on top of a burrito bowl, noodle stir-fry, or ramen
• Add them to pickle salsa, pineapple salsa, cranberry salsa, peach salsa, or guacamole
• Finish vegan nachos, vegan chicken tacos, or tempeh tacos with a smattering of them
• Use them as a topping on a vegan bánh mì, Rachel sandwich, or vegetable sandwich
• Put them on a refried bean quesadilla, walking tacos, breakfast tacos, or black bean tacos
• Use them as a garnish on 3 bean chili or tortilla soup
• Blend them into jalapeño cashew cheese

📖 Recipe

Quick pickled jalapenos

Author: Cadry Nelson

5 from 3 votes

If you love adding heat to your meals, you're going to adore these quick pickled jalapenos. They're so crunchy & great on everything from burrito bowls to pizza.

Since they are quick pickled, be sure to store them in the refrigerator. This is not a canning recipe.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 7 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes minutes

Servings: 20 people

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: quick pickles, refrigerator pickles, spicy food

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ¼ cups water
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons sea salt
• ▢ 1 cup white vinegar
• ▢ 8 ounces jalapeno peppers sliced (about 10 peppers)
• ▢ 6 to 8 garlic cloves sliced

Instructions

• ▢
  Bring a pot to a medium heat with water. Add salt and stir until it has dissolved. Take the pot off of the heat, and add white vinegar & stir to combine.
• ▢
  Put sliced garlic cloves in a clean 32 ounce glass canning jar (like a Mason or Ball jar). Then add sliced jalapenos.

  (Be sure to use kitchen-safe latex gloves when handling peppers. See notes below for making milder peppers.)
• ▢
  Carefully pour the cooled water/vinegar/salt brine into the jar. Seal with a lid. Put the jarred peppers into the refrigerator.
• ▢
  You can eat the peppers the next day, but they are at their best about three days later. That's when they've had a chance to soak up the flavors of the brine & get milder.

  The peppers will keep in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to two months.

Video

Notes

Trader Joe’s sells jalapeños in 8 ounce packages. That’s typically what I buy for this recipe. Use the whole container.

If you can squeeze more peppers into your jar, feel free to add as many as will fit. You may be able to get closer to 16 ounces of peppers in a jar, depending on how much you smash them.

Cut the peppers very thin for crisp slices that absorb brine faster. (That’s my preference.) Or cut the peppers thickly for the most heat & crunch. 

If you want to reduce the heat of the peppers, remove the seeds & white parts of the interior on some or all of the pepper slices before putting them in the jar. Remove them by pushing through each slice with a gloved thumb, or use a paring knife. 

Another option for milder peppers is adding 2 Tablespoons of sugar to the brine at the same time as the salt. 

If you’re not a fan of garlic, feel free to omit it. If you’re a big fan, add up to a whole heads’ worth of sliced garlic. Enjoy the garlic slivers anywhere that you’d enjoy the peppers.

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Nutrition

Calories: 7kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 699mg | Potassium: 32mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 122IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 1mg