Candied Jalapeños | Cowboy Candy
Candied jalapenos, also known as cowboy candy, are spicy sliced peppers pickled in a sweet, vinegary brine. Easy water bath processing makes jars shelf stable to enjoy throughout the year. Add candied jalapenos with cheese and crackers, on burgers, hot dogs, pizza, and breakfast burritos.
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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.
New to Canning?
Canning is a great skill to learn to preserve summer’s bounty for long term storage. Become proficient and learn everything in this Water Bath Canning – A Step-by-Step Canning Guide. Soon, jams, pickles, and sauces will be lining your shelves.
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.
Why You’ll Love Candied Jalapeños
- Delicious – This is one of my favorite things to can. Every year, I fill up my shelves when the jalapenos are in season because we love adding it to so many dishes.
- Versatile – Enjoy the cowboy candy in so many ways, from pairing with a soft cheese for a simple snack to tacos, breakfast burritos, marinade, and so much more.
- Gift – Canning food makes excellent gifts. Give to teachers, housewarming gifts, my favorite things parties, and hostess gifts.
Candied Jalapeños Ingredients
- Peppers – Use jalapenos that are firm and blemish free. For less heat, use a combination of sweeter peppers like banana or mini sweet peppers.
- Sugar – A combination of white and brown give the syrup a well rounded flavor.
- Vinegar – Use apple cider vinegar for the best flavor. You can also substitute white vinegar.
- Spices – A combination of celery seed, turmeric, mustard seed, and cayenne pepper flavors the brine.
Tools You’ll Need For Candied Peppers
- Half pint or quarter pint-size canning jars and two-piece lids
- Funnel
- Ladle
- Water bath canner
- Jar lifter
- Slotted spoon
- Sharp paring knife
- Cutting board
How to Make Cowboy Candy and Canning Instructions
Step 1: Prep the Peppers and Canner
If canning the peppers, fill a water bath canner half full with water and heat over high heat to boiling. Inspect the jars and rims to make sure that they’re completely intact, with no visible cracks or chips in the rim or body of the jar. Gather the canning lids and rims.
Wash the peppers is warm water to remove any dirt. Trim the stems and discard. 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.
Step 2: Cook the Peppers
In a large saucepan, combine the apple cider vinegar, sugars, and spices. Bring the syrup to a boil to dissolve the sugars over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes, and continue stirring. Keep an eye on the syrup as it bubbles up as it boils.
Add the jalapeno pepper slices to the sweet syrup and bring back to a boil. Once the vinegar mixture is boiling, reduce the heat to medium and boil for an additional 5 minutes. The pepper slices will soften and go from bright green to a darker green.
Step 3: Fill the Jars
After the spicy jalapenos have softened, remove the pan from the heat. Place a funnel on the jar, and use a slotted spoon to transfer the jalapeños to hot 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 into the jars over the jalapenos, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Repeat until all of the jars are filled. (Don’t throw the leftover brine! Below are ways to use it)
After filling jars with jalapenos and syrup, 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.
If not canning, allow to cool to room temperature before adding lids and refrigerate.
Step 4: Place the 2 Piece Lids and Process in a Water Bath Canner
Wipe the rims of the jars with a paper towel dampened with a bit of vinegar to wipe away any residual brine and ensure a good seal.
Place the two-piece lids on each jar and tighten the band to finger-tip tightness.
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. When the water comes to a boil, start the timer. Process pints for 15 minutes and half pints for 10 minutes. Adjust processing time for your altitude.
When the processing time is done, lift the jars out of the canner and place them on a cooling rack. As the temperature in the jars cools, you will hear the ping of the lids as they’re pulled inwards to seal. Leave the jars undisturbed for 12-24 hours before checking the seals.
Step 5: Storage
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.
Helpful Tips for Candied Peppers
- Use caution when preparing the jalapenos. I recommend wearing gloves during prep and not touching 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.
- Instead of having slices, sometimes I’ll use a food processor and roughly chop the jalapenos to create more of a relish style condiment.
- 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.
- Heating the jars first reduces the chance of the jars cracking due to extreme temperature changes when filling them with the hot brine and peppers solution.
- Use pint jars or half pint jars.
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.
FAQs About Candied Jalapenos
Do You Need to Use New Lids When Canning?
Yes! New lids ensure a safe, tight seal for long-term storage. Investing in new lids is a small cost after spending your precious time and resources canning.
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.
What Are 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, this sauce would be delicious with eggrolls, potstickers, or cream cheese puffs.
- Use as a marinade for beef, pork, or chicken.
- Water bath any remaining syrup when canning the candied jalapenos to store on the shelf to use at a later date.
I’d love to hear from you! If you tried this Candied Jalapenos Canning Recipe, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments section below. Happy Canning!
How to Make Candied Jalapeños AKA Cowboy Candy
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Equipment
- 1 water bath canner
- 1 jar lifter
- 1 large saucepan
- 1 funnel
- 1 ladle
Ingredients
- 4 lbs jalapeños
- 3 c white sugar
- 2 c brown sugar
- 2 ½ c apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp celery seed
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp mustard seed
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper powder
Instructions
- CAUTION: Use caution when preparing the jalapenos. I recommend using gloves during prep and don't touch your face or eyes.
Step 1: Prep the Peppers and Canner
- If canning the peppers, fill a water bath canner half full with water and heat over high heat to boiling. Inspect the jars and rims to make sure that they're completely intact, with no visible cracks or chips in the rim or body of the jar and add to the canner. Gather the canning lids and rims.
- Wash the peppers is warm water to remove any dirt. Trim the stems and discard. 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.
Step 2: Cook the Peppers
- In a large saucepan, combine the apple cider vinegar, sugars, and spices. Bring the syrup to a boil to dissolve the sugars over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes, and continue stirring. Keep an eye on the syrup as it bubbles up as it boils.
- Add the jalapeno pepper slices to the sweet syrup and bring back to a boil. Once the vinegar mixture is boiling, reduce the heat to medium and boil for an additional 5 minutes. The pepper slices will soften and go from bright green to a darker green.
Step 3:Fill the Jars
- After the spicy jalapenos have softened, remove the pan from the heat. Remove the jars from the canner and place them on a heat-proof surface. Place a funnel on the jar, and use a slotted spoon to transfer the jalapeños to hot 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 into the jars over the jalapenos, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Repeat until all of the jars are filled.(Don't throw the leftover brine! Instead, use it in a variety of ways, listed in the post)
- After filling jars with jalapenos and syrup, 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.If not canning, allow to cool to room temperature before adding lids and refrigerate.
Step 4: Place the 2 Piece Lids and Process in a Water Bath Canner
- Wipe the rims of the jars with a paper towel dampened with a bit of vinegar to wipe away residual brine and ensure a good seal.
- Place the two-piece lids on each jar and tighten the band to finger-tip tightness.
- 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. When the water comes to a boil, start the timer. Process pints for 15 minutes and half pints for 10 minutes. Adjust processing time for your altitude.
- When the processing time is done, lift the jars out of the canner and place them on a cooling rack. As the temperature in the jars cools, you will hear the ping of the lids as they’re pulled inwards to seal. Leave the jars undisturbed for 12-24 hours before checking the seals.
Step 5: Storage
- 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.
I’ll never forget you pouring a jar of this over a block of cream cheese. It was an instant dip we couldn’t stay away from.
This is THEE best stuff, and a perfect way to preserve all those extra jalapeños in my garden.
Thank you! I’m in agreement with you that it’s the best way to preserve jalapenos!