How to Make Candied Jalapenos AKA Cowboy Candy

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Whether you’re a seasoned cowboy candy fan or trying for the first time, you’ll quickly fall in love with this little hidden gem and become a fan of my cowboy candy recipe. It’s also a great way to preserve fresh jalapeños if your jalapeño plants had a great season.

Follow along to learn how to make candied jalapenos, also known as cowboy candy.

What is Cowboy Candy?

Cowboy candy is this magical concoction that is sweet, savory, tangy and spicy, hitting all of the best flavor notes! Cowboy candy is a fun name for sweet, pickled jalapeños. Freshly cut jalapeños are cut into rings and then pickled in a flavorful syrup made of apple cider vinegar, sugar and spices. Candied jalapeño peppers are surprisingly versatile, enjoy on burgers, hot dogs, eggs and more.

Are candied jalapenos hot? Cowboy candy has a slight spicy kick to it, but it’s not overpowering. Even though it is being pickled in a sweet sauce, the heat does come through. The best thing about homemade cowboy candy is that you can easily adjust the spice level by removing the seeds and inner membrane of the jalapeños to help reduce the heat, since that’s where most of the heat comes from in peppers.

Can I use Other Peppers to Make Cowboy Candy?

Jalapenos are really the best pepper for this recipe because they have this perfect combination of having slightly thicker flesh along with medium heat. But you could customize your cowboy candy by using green bell peppers mixed in with some jalapenos for a milder cowboy candy. If heat is your thing, add some hot peppers to really spice things up!

With all of that said, if you would like to use other peppers, look for varieties that have a similar thick flesh such as Anaheim peppers, banana peppers, Hungarian wax peppers or serrano peppers. Since these varieties are milder, to achieve a similar level of spice you may want to add a few spicy peppers for that classic cowboy candy flavor.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs of fresh jalapenos
• 3 cups of white sugar
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 2 1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp celery seed
• 1/2 tsp of tumeric
• 1/2 tsp of mustard seed
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper powder

Instructions to Make Cowboy Candy

Important: Use caution when preparing the jalapenos. I recommend wearing gloves during prep and don’t touch your eyes or face. The capsaicin oil is the reason why peppers have their heat, and will cause an uncomfortable burning, tingling sensation when it comes into contact with your skin or eyes.

1. Start by washing jalapenos to remove any dirt and then trim the stem ends off.
2. Optional step to remove the seeds and inner membrane of the peppers, can do on all or part of your jalapenos. I never do this step and find the heat level perfect.
3. Slice the jalapeno peppers into 1/4-inch rounds. I find the easiest way to do this is with a sharp knife and a cutting board, but you could easily use a mandoline cutter. Instead of having slices, sometimes I’ll use a food processor and roughly chop the jalapenos to create more of a relish style condiment.
4. On stovetop, in a large saucepan combine the apple cider vinegar, sugars and spices. Bring the syrup to a boil to dissolve the sugars, about 5 minutes. As the syrup boils, it tends to rise so be sure to keep an eye on it while stirring regularly.
5. Add the jalapeno pepper slices to the sweet syrup and bring back to a boil. Once the vinegar mixture is boiling, reduce heat to medium and boil for 5 minutes. The pepper slices will soften and go from bright green to a darker green.

1. After the spicy jalapenos have softened, remove the pan from the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer the jalapeños to hot jars. (Heating the jars will help lessen the chance of the jars cracking due to extreme heat changes in the glass jars) Use pint jars or half pint jars. Once all of the jalapenos have been removed from the syrup, return the pan to the stove and simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the syrup until it has the consistency of maple syrup. Ladle the thickened syrup, with the help of a funnel, into the jars over the jalapenos within 1/4 inch to 1/2-inch of the upper rim of the jar. I’ll share some ideas below with what to do with that extra syrup.
2. If canning, see instructions below, otherwise continue without canning.

Cowboy Candy Canning Instructions

1. Prep the water bath canner by filling the large pot with water and bring to a boil.
2. After filling jars with jalapenos and syrup, leaving 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of headspace, remove trapped pockets of air bubbles by running a butter knife, cooking chopstick, or similar tool through the cowboy candy, making sure to reach all the way to the bottom of the jar.
3. Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel or clean cloth. Clean rims are important for a good seal.
4. Place the two-piece lids on each jar and tighten the band to finger-tip tightness.
5. Using a jar lifter or canning tongs, place the jars into the water bath canner and add enough water so that the water level is 2 inches above the top of the jars. Bring water to a full rolling boil and then start the timer. Process pints for 15 minutes and half pints for 10 minutes. Adjust processing time for your altitude.
6. When the processing time is done, lift the jars out of the canner and place on a cooling rack. As the temperature in the jars cool, you will hear the ping of the lids as they’re pulled inwards to seal. Wait to check the seals for 12-24 hours, leaving the jars undisturbed.
7. After 24 hours remove the bands from the jars and using a damp washcloth wipe any sticky syrup residue from the jars before placing into storage.

How to Store Cowboy Candy

Allow the cowboy candy to cool to room temperature and place jars in the refrigerator. For the best flavor, allow the candied jalapenos to rest for 1 week. This may be the hardest part, but it allows the flavors to develop and the jalapenos to marinate in that flavorful syrup.

Store canned cowboy candy in a cool, dark place like a pantry cupboard. Canned cowboy candy can be stored at room temperature for a few years, but the quality will start to decline with time. For optimum quality, it’s best to use with in the first year. Once opened keep in refrigerator and use within 3 months.

Ways to Enjoy Cowboy Candy

Our favorite way to enjoy this tasty treat is with cream cheese and crackers. It’s the ultimate pairing of creamy, spicy, cool and sweet along with the crunch of the crackers. Think pepper jelly with cream cheese, or jalapeno poppers profile. But there are many other ways to enjoy candied jalapenos.

• Mixed in with scrambled eggs, quiche, frittatas or deviled eggs.
• In place of where you’d enjoy relish, like hotdogs, burgers or veggie burgers.
• This spicy treat is perfect with any type of Mexican dish, like enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas, burritos or nachos.
• On top of sourdough toast, especially with cream cheese.
• Mixed into corn bread.
• Spooned over soft cheeses, like brie, camembert, goat cheese or cream cheese.
• Chopped and mixed into potato salad, macaroni salad, egg salad or tuna salad.

Ways to use the Leftover Syrup

Don’t let that syrup go to waste, it’s like liquid gold in terms of flavor. Here are some other ways to enjoy all of that goodness.

• Mixed in drinks such as sparkling water, mock tails or other cocktails.
• Use as a brine for quick pickles, pickled onions or other veggies.
• Mixed in with some olive oil and made into a salad dressing.
• Instead of a sweet dipping sauce, would be delicious with eggrolls, potstickers or cream cheese puffs.
• As a marinade for beef, pork or chicken.
• Water bath any remaining syrup at the same time when canning the candied jalapenos to store on shelf to use at a later date.

I hope you love this recipe as much as my family does. I’d love to hear from you! Please rate the recipe, leave me a comment below, and share with a friend so they can enjoy these delicious, Candied Jalapeños too! Don’t forget to tag your photos #Lockremhomestead over on Instagram!