Here’s What To Do With A Lot Of JalapeƱos

Have a bumper crop of jalapeƱos?

Or do you just happen to have more than the norm in your kitchen? There’s a lot of ways to use these delicious medium-heat chilies. What to do with a lot of jalapeƱos has a lot hinging on the level of cooking you do in your home. Below we break out both immediate options as well as some choices that prolong the shelf life of these popular hot peppers when you’ve got a lot on hand.

Table of Contents

Option 1: Use fast – explore jalapeƱo recipes

If you’re a foodie and love to cook, there are so many ways to use jalapeƱo peppers, whether it’s for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack time. In fact, here at PepperScale we have over 40 jalapeƱo recipes that you can explore:Ā jalapeƱo poppers, spicy soups, fiery sandwiches, and much more. You could easily go through dozens of jalapeƱo peppers in the course of a week by exploring these recipes.

Simply click the magnifying glass in our navigation, search “jalapeno”, and look at the results under “Ingredient”. That’ll show all recipes where this chili is in the recipe.

That said, we know not everyone wants jalapeƱos for every meal (what?!). The good news is there are many recipes that prolong the shelf life of your bounty.

Option 2: Extend the shelf life

There are many jalapeƱo recipes that can last for a very long time when stored properly. Even better news, they use a lot of jalapeƱos quickly and some are seriously simple to make.

Dry your jalapeƱos

Drying your extra chilies is the sure-fire way to extend their shelf life for months and months. Once they are dried (see instructions on the drying process here), they can either be stored as is or crushed into jalapeƱo powder (taking up even less space). Dried jalapeƱos can be rehydrated in the future and used for soups, stews, and salsas. They are best used as a complementary ingredient, not on their own, once rehydrated.

Follow the instructions hereĀ on the best way to rehydrate peppers.

Dehydrating Keeps Your Chilies Longer
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If you often have a lot of extra jalapeƱos, then investing in a dehydrator is an excellent option. You can dehydrate the chilies for saving or for immediately crushing into chili flakes or a powder.
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06/04/2023 11:32 pm GMT

Homemade salsas

Salsas are always a fun option for jalapeƱos – they can be very family friendly and fun for parties. There are so many options, from sweet choices like jalapeƱo mango salsa or something tangier like a jalapeƱo salsa verde.

There are downsides to this option. First, most salsa recipes use only one or two jalapeƱos at a time, so unless you are making salsa in bulk, you won’t make a big dent against a bumper crop. Plus homemade salsas have a relatively short shelf life, four to six days when refrigerated. You can opt to freeze the salsas once made which will extend the usability time (two to three months), but frozen salsas tend to become soupy when thawed, so a frozen salsa is best for use as a flavor enhancer to other dishes rather than a standalone dip.

Homemade hot sauces

There are two major benefits to making homemade hot sauces with your jalapeƱos rather than salsas. First, hot sauces typically use many more chili peppers than salsas, so you get rid of more jalapeƱos at one time. Second, the vinegar used in most hot sauces helps extend the shelf life far past what you’d get from salsa. In fact, very simple vinegar-based hot sauces can last for many months when stored properly.

See our basic jalapeƱo hot sauce recipe – it uses 20 jalapeƱos and simple ingredients. It’s perfect for when you don’t know what to do with a lot of jalapeƱos.

Cowboy candy

Ahh, our favorite way to use a ton of hot peppers all at once. Cowboy candy is also known as candied jalapeƱos. Sweet, sweet candied jalapeƱos. It’s a perfect pairing of sugary yum and bright spice. Our cowboy candy recipe uses 20 jalapeƱos, so it’s an easy way to use a bunch at once. They keep reasonably well (think up to two weeks) when refrigerated. See our recipe video below, then go to the recipe to get the full process.

Pickled jalapeƱos

If you prefer tangy to sweet, pickled jalapeƱos are a great option to use up a whole lot of chilies at once. Our recipe again uses 20 jalapeƱos and they’ll keep for weeks when stored properly in the refrigerator. These are delicious on sandwiches or as a side to burgers or hot dogs.

JalapeƱo jams

Preserves, well…preserve, so they are a terrific way to use those extra jalapeƱos sitting around. They keep well. Though, if you have a lot of extra peppers, you may need to make a  whole heck of a lot of jam to use them up quickly. Most recipes only call for three to four at a time. Take a look at our jalapeƱo jam recipes to get inspired.

JalapeƱo simple syrup

If you love spicy cocktails, making jalapeƱo simple syrup is a terrific option for extra jalapeƱos. It’s simple to make and keeps very well, though, like the jams it doesn’t take many chilies to make a good amount of simple syrup. See our recipe here.

  • JalapeƱo Pepper Guide: Do you know all you should know about this popular chili? Our comprehensive guide will make sure you’re covered.
  • Cooking With JalapeƱos: There are many ways to use this chili, but do you know the dos and don’ts about cooking with it? We have you covered.
  • Our Hot Pepper List: There are hundreds of chilies out there, so much to explore, both in heat and flavor. Learn all about them from our list.

UPDATE NOTICE: This post was updated on March 28, 2022 to include new content.
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