Homemade Pepper Relish

I picked all these beautifuls babes from my garden
and these too!
I was trying to decide what I could do with all my peppers besides sticking them in the freezer, and I decided to try making relish.  Since my pickled banana peppers were delicious, I thought the odds were good that I could maybe pull it off.  I searched the internet, got a general idea of what to do and went for it!  I adapted my recipe from this one for .
Pepper Relish
  • 12 cups of diced assorted peppers (red & green bell peppers, banana peppers, and jalapenos)
  • 2 medium onions – diced
  • 2 T. salt
  • 3 cups white vinegar
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 t. mustard seeds
  • 1 t. celery seed
  • 2 whole jalapeno peppers {additional to 12 cups above}
*I used a food processor to dice peppers and onions.
1. Combine peppers and salt in a large bowl.  Let stand for 2 hours.  Drain.
2. Combine sugar, vinegar, and mustard/celery seed in large saucepot.
3. Cut slits in the two additional whole jalapeno peppers and add to vinegar mixture.
4. Bring to boil.
5. Reduce heat and add peppers and onions, simmering 10 minutes.
6. Remove whole jalapeno peppers.  
7. Pack hot relish into clean jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space.  Adjust caps.
8. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner  I don’t have a canner, so let them sit in a boiling water “bath” for 10 minutes.
Notes – next time I’ll reduce the sugar even more (original recipe called for 3 cups) and increase the number of jalapenos used.
This is a yummy sweet and spicy relish.  I would prefer it to be a little less sweet and a little more spicy.  Like me.  haha.  However, for my first time making it – I think it’s pretty good!  Let me tell ya – it takes a looong time to seed 12 cups of peppers!!!

But look how pretty they turned out 🙂
Will my kids eat it?  Absolutely not.

I’m linking this recipe up with , and – Ingredient Spotlight – Bell Peppers, and

21 thoughts on “Homemade Pepper Relish

  1. What a gorgeous looking pepper relish. This was worth the work :-). I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary

  2. 2871 Olga Place
    Jacksonville, FL 32205

    That's where you can send me some of this! LMAO! This looks fabulous!

  3. I just tried this (using a little less because I have a little less) and it turned out great! I found the recipe from pinterest & so glad I did. 🙂

  4. @KBToyz So glad you liked it! I'm just finishing up the last of mine and so sad that I don't have a garden this year 🙁

  5. I might suggest that you not bother to seed your peppers. I make hot pepper relish with a melange of peppers, hot and sweet—kind of gardener's pick!. I just remove the stem and grind it. I have a food processor, and that works fantastically, but I like the texture of the grind better. Thanks for taking time to post your recipe and process.

  6. I just made this with the plethora of peppers I had after the final garden harvest! I used green, sweet, italian and purple along with jalapeno of course! Reducing the sugar was a great suggestion! Thank you for the recipe! @mo’beta

    1. That’s awesome! So glad you liked the recipe & I’m jealous of your pepper harvest 😊

  7. That is some pretty relish! My grandma used to make a very similar dish called ‘chow chow’, and that was the best thing to EVER happen to a pinto bean. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

  8. I’ve made similar before and hadn’t added garlic or onion…thanks for that!!

    a couple other ideas…

    I don’t drain it. The water/sauce that the salt leeches out in those 2 hours is very spicy and I like to leave it in. I literally chop the peppers, add salt, and leave in the pot I end up boiling it all in.

    I also don’t seed…I cut the peppers into 1-inch pieces then use a hand chopper.

    The important ratio is 4 to 1…just like you listed! If you have 4 cups of chopped peppers, use 1 cup vinegar.

    Most recipes call for the same amount of sugar as vinegar, but I use 1/2 that to start and add as needed. I taste it while it is boiling and just keep adding sugar until it’s where I like it. I find it depends on the peppers too. more habaneros = more sugar … lol.

    Thanks for posting this!

    1. So sorry for the delayed response. I somehow missed this comment. This can be eaten immediately, however, I’m not sure how long it lasts. Once opened, it needs to be kept in the fridge.

  9. Holy moly! I have renamed this “Hell Sauce”. I went to the produce stand and bought a selection of red and green bell peppers, something called Hungarian peppers, serranos, jalapenos and habaneros. Maybe a few others, although they didn’t have banana peppers. Anyway, I used the amounts given, and much thanks to the person who said that she tasted and added more sugar. I started off with 1 1/2 c., but because it is so ferociously hot, it needed more sugar. Wisely, I decided against adding the 2 whole jalapenos (I had 2 extra habaneros, because…well, because). Thank goodness, I tasted because I ended up adding sugar twice. Meanwhile, the jars are cooling and sealing. It made 4 pints and 4 half pints. I think this will be delicious along side meats, added to macaroni or rice salad, added to mayo as a salad spread. Just a word to the wise (which didn’t include me this time): I know better than to handle those hot peppers with bare hands, but I did it anyway. Don’t. I’ve had this recipe finished for a couple of hours and my hands are still burning.
    Hope you love it!

  10. Just an addendum to my previous post: It goes without saying that next time I’ll pay a bit more attention to the ratio of hot to sweet peppers, although this is really good. I also plan to use my grinder, instead of the food processor. It does give a different texture, which I think will be great for this. And, for those who are new to canning, do prepare your canning jars before you get started with this. The amounts given will yield about 6 pints, and I think you can use whole or half pints, whatever works best for you. I always prepare a few more than the recipe calls for, just to be sure, because once you start ladling a hot mixture into jars, you don’t want to stop to prepare additional jars. Mary

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