Candied Jalapeños

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

7 Comments

5 from 1 vote
24 Servings
Prep Time 3 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 18 minutes
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Candied Jalapeños are a great combination of spicy and sweet. Flavored with sugar, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, celery seeds, and turmeric.

These jalapeño peppers are the perfect topping or Side to serve along with some of your favorite meals. The simple ingredients bring the perfect amount of heat to recipes like Hamburgers, Egg Salad Sandwiches, or Tacos.

Candied Jalapenos in the jar

This is a favorite recipe to bring optimal flavor to fresh jalapeños. The spicy peppers are cooked in a sweet, flavorful syrup for an amazing spicy snack. Sometimes called Cowboy Candy, these jalapeños pack a good amount of heat that tastes delicious with so many recipes.

How to Serve Candied Jalapeños 

One of the great things about this recipe how many dishes you can serve it with. Candied Jalapeños make a great sandwich filling to add to burgers or Grilled Chicken sandwiches. You can use the cowboy candy similar to how you’d use pickles in those recipes to add the perfect combination of spicy and sweet flavor to the classic recipe.

You can also bring that perfect balance of flavors to your favorite side dishes. Spoon some spicy peppers over the top of Potato Salad, or Chicken Salad right before serving.

Pickled Jalapeño rounds also make a great appetizer recipe. Serve them over crackers with cheese for a simple party snack. They’d taste great with cheddar cheese, white cheddar cheese, Swiss, or Jack cheese. You could also spread some cool cream cheese over the crackers and top the whole snack off with bacon bits.

More Toppings 

Candied Jalapenos collage

Cooking Tips 

  • Prep: To protect yourself from the heat in the peppers, put on plastic gloves and be careful to never touch your eyes. Slice the tops off of the fresh jalapeños, and discard them. Then cut them into ¼ inch slices. Set the pepper slices to the side while you make the simple syrup.
  • Syrup: Add the 6 cups white sugar, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, celery seed, and ½ teaspoon turmeric powder to a large pot. Stir the ingredients well until the granulated sugar is well combined. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Keep the heat low enough that the mixture doesn’t foam. You want it at a low simmer, not a boil.
  • Jalapeños: Raise the stove to medium heat, and add the jalapeño slices. Stir well to coat the peppers, and cook the recipe for 4-5 minutes.
  • Canning Process: Strain peppers into sterile canning jars. Continue boiling syrup for an additional 5 minutes. Then pour the leftover syrup into the canning pint jars. You want to make sure there’s an inch head space at the top of the glass canning jars before you tightly close the jars with lids.
  • Refrigerator Time: Put the jars in the fridge to set for about a week before opening and serving. The earlier you open them in that time, the spicier they’ll be.

Candied Jalapenos in the pot

Variations 

  • Seasonings: You can mix other flavors into the sweet syrup with your favorite seasonings. Try stirring in a teaspoon chili powder, a teaspoon ground ginger, a dash of red pepper flakes, or granulated garlic.
  • Peppers: You can also pickle other kinds of peppers in this recipe along with the fresh jalapeños. Use banana peppers, poblano, or bell peppers to have some less hot peppers in the mix. Slice them into ¼ inch rounds and add them to the syrup the same as the jalapeños.

Candied Jalapenos in the jar

Recipes to Serve Alongside Candied Jalapeños

How to store 

  • Serve: Can and refrigerate the jalapeños before serving. When you’re serving the recipe, you don’t want to leave them out for more than a few hours.
  • Store: Kept sealed in the jar, the recipe can stay good in the fridge for up to 3 months. It’ll get slightly less spicy over the first few days in storage.

Candied Jalapenos in the jar

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Dinner, then Dessert

Candied Jalapeños

Candied Jalapeños are a great combination of spicy and sweet. Flavored with sugar, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, celery seeds, and turmeric.
Yield 24 Servings
Prep Time 3 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 18 minutes
Course Topping
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Candied Jalapenos in the jar
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 3 pounds jalapeño peppers , ¼ inch slices with tops removed
  • 6 cups sugar
  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Instructions

  • To a large pot add the sugar, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, celery seed, and turmeric, stirring well.
  • Cook the mixture on medium-low heat (you don't want foam, it should be a slow simmer) for 5 minutes.
  • Add in the jalapeños and raise temperature to medium.
  • Stir well and cook the jalapeños for 4-5 minutes.
  • Strain the jalapeños out and into jars.
  • Cook the syrup for an additional 5 minutes.
  • Pour liquid *VERY CAREFULLY* into the jars and tightly close.
  • Let sit in the refrigerator for 1 week or so before eating. The sooner you eat them, the spicier they will be.

Notes

Warning: Wear gloves and be careful not to touch your eyes.

Nutrition

Calories: 216kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 163mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 52g | Vitamin A: 646IU | Vitamin C: 67mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Candied Jalapenos

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Candied Jalapenos collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I’m curious if I can “can” these rather than keeping in refrigerator. I don’t have room for all of these jars in my refrigerator. Would love a response.
    Thank you

    Reply

    1. I think it’s a great idea; however, I have never done so. If you try it, please let us know your results!

      Reply

  3. OMGOODNESS I think I’ve found a new recipe! I put these over pulled pork nachos! WOW! The sweet heat with the salty smoked pork with a drizzle of BBQ sauce was AMAZING! My family went CRAZY for them. Time to make some more candied jalapeños. Thanks.

    Reply

    1. So glad you and your family enjoyed them! What a great idea to use over pork nachos!

      Reply