Quick and Easy Pepper Jelly Recipe You Can Make in an Hour

This pepper jelly recipe is a quick, easy recipe that anyone can make. From the beginner canner to someone who has been canning for years, this pepper jelly recipe belongs in your inventory.

Have an abundance of peppers from your garden? Today I’m going to show you how to use up those extra peppers and make pepper jelly to give as gifts, bring to gatherings, or just enjoy over cream cheese with a glass of wine. 

Why We Love Spicy and Sweet Pepper Jelly

Pepper Jelly is so simple to make. Whenever I get wind of someone trying to share extra peppers from their garden, I jump on the opportunity to whip out this recipe. I can make a batch of 12, four ounce jars or six, eight ounce jars in about 45-minutes from start to finish. 

I like to keep jars of this pepper jelly on hand at all times, because it makes a great appetizer, or gift for a hostess, or gift basket filler or just because you need a snack with your glass of wine. This year, I’m making extra pepper jelly to give to coworkers for a small Christmas gift. 

Ingredients in Pepper Jelly

One reason I love this spicy recipe is you do not need many ingredients to make pepper jelly. With just five ingredients, you can create a delicious appetizer, party favor or hostess gift. Here's what you need:

• Bell Peppers I use two types of peppers when I make this recipe, and bell are the first. It doesn't matter what color they are, any will work.
• Jalapeno Peppers Heat from jalepenos partnered with the sugar in this recipe makes for a great flavor combination. If you want to go spicier, you sure can! Just be aware of who is consuming your recipe.
• Apple Cider Vinegar ACV is used in this recipe to help with the preservation process. You do not taste it.
• Pectin You can buy pectin wherever you get your canning supplies. I like to use Sure Jell No Sugar Pectin. One box is needed for this recipe.

What Peppers Should I Use?

When I make this quick and easy pepper jelly recipe, I like to have a little spicy kick because I will pour it over cream cheese and eat it with crackers. The spicy flavor is tempered with the cream cheese.

I will always use red and orange bell peppers and jalapeños, but you can control the spiciness with whatever peppers you choose. Want a spicier batch? Increase the number of jalapeños you use, or kick it up a notch and use a hotter pepper like a habanero.

In the same way, if you don’t want as much spice, use more bell peppers than spicy peppers. You can experiment with the heat in this recipe, just make sure you have four cups of peppers. 

Supplies Needed to Make Pepper Jelly

I use a lot of my same canning supplies over and over again (which is one of the reasons I love canning; a one time investment to use for years). If you haven’t checked out my posts on canning a simple tomato sauce or making pickles, you may not know what supplies are needed to can.

Here’s what I use when I am canning pepper jelly. 

Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven 

This is my kitchen MVP. It lives on my stovetop because I use it so much. This enameled cast iron dutch oven (well any enameled cast iron really) is so versatile. I love it because it can be used on the stove top, in the oven, or on the grill.

It conducts and holds heat really well, and is so sturdy so it will last a long time. It's perfect for canning pepper jelly because I can fit one entire jelly batch in the dutch oven, so I can can all my jars in one batch.

Food Processor

I could just chop and dice my peppers by hand, but I have found that its most time efficient to rough chop the peppers, then run them through a food processor to make sure they're all a consistent size.

I have a small Cuisinart food processor (similar to this one), and I just process my peppers in batches. A food processor is not necessary, but definitely makes the chopping job go quicker!

Large Waterbath Pot

Almost every canning recipe calls for water bathing, and this pepper jelly recipe is no exception. I love using big pot because I can fit a fair amount of jars in the pot at one time. This is the speckled stock pot and canning rack that I use.

Canning Kit

I like this kit because it has all the tools I need for any given canning recipe. I always use the magnetic grabber to pull lids and seals out of boiling water. And the jar tongs make it easy to pull jars out of the water bath. 

Mason Jars, Lids & Seals

Of course when you are canning you need jars to store your preserved food. This year, it’s hard to get your hands in jars, but I love using Ball. For this recipe, I used these half pint or four ounce jars.

Looking for more canning recipes? Try your hand at my crunchy dill pickle recipe, my four ingredient strawberry jelly, or my lazy girl’s guide to canning tomatoes. 

How to Store Canned Pepper Jelly

There are many benefits to canning foods. One of those benefits is the ability to preserve fresh garden harvests to be enjoyed all year long. If you're wondering how long this pepper jelly recipe lasts, you'll be happy to know that these jars can last up to 18 months when stored in a cool, dry place.

I recommend labeling all your canned and preserved goods with a description of the jars contents, as well as the date they were canned.

Looking for More Canning REcipes?

Check out these other great canning recipes!

How to Make Small Batch Dill Pickles

Four Ingredient Strawberry Jelly

📖 Recipe