10-Minute Pickled Jalapeños

Name: Pickled Jalapeños Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 10-12 jalapeños (thinly sliced); 2-4 cloves garlic (smashed); 2-4 tbsp maple syrup (or honey to your sweetness preference ); 1 tsp kosher salt; 1-1½ cups water (room temp); 1-1½ cups distilled white vinegar (room temp)

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Pickled Jalapeños are tangy, spicy, salty, and slightly sweet - the ultimate combo! These come together in under 10 minutes and no cooking is required at all! You'll be sprinkling them around like confetti in no time!

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Pull Up A Chair and Let's Chat!
What You'll Need
How To Make Them
Variations and Substitutions
Serving Ideas
Tips and Tricks
Frequently Asked Questions
Storage Instructions
Pickled Jalapeños Recipe
Other Recipes You Love

If you like other wonderful pickley recipes like this, you've got to try my Quick-Pickled Red Onions! They're just as delicious as these pickled jalapeños, but they don't pack the heat! My kids looove these!

pickled jalapeños with garlic in a glass jar

Pull Up A Chair and Let's Chat!

Any kind of pickle situation is my jam. These pickled jalapeños are no exception. They're spicy. They're a bit salty. They're slightly sweet. They're amazing.

I love them on sandwiches and salads. We throw them on top of nachos or chicken quesadillas or shrimp taco bowls! They add the spicy, but that vinegary hit comes together and enhances the flavor of foods.

These little emerald beauties take no more than 10 minutes to throw together, they'll stay good in the fridge, and no cooking required. What's not to like about that?!

What You'll Need

Jalapeños - Naturally. Serranos would also work, but they are spicier. Or, if you really like to be a glutton for punishment, use habaneros. They are reallllll spicy!
Distilled White Vinegar - Just the plain stuff in the big jug. Nothing fancy needed here!
Water - To tame the vinegar just a bit.
Honey or Maple Syrup - To balance out the pickled jalapeños just a tad.
Kosher Salt - You don't need much. It's just there to, again, help balance all the flavor. Don't use iodized here. It'll be too bitter.

whole jalapeños, garlic, salt, and maple syrup

How To Make Them

Quick-pickled anything is so simple and straightforward, for these pickled jalapeños, I'll give you the brief rundown now, but the details will live in the recipe card below.

All you have to do is:

Slice the jalapeños and add them to a jar.
Add the remaining ingredients to the jar. Don't be afraid to stuff them in there.
Secure the lid and shake everything together.
Store in the fridge until you're ready!

These pickled jalapeños can be ready to eat as soon as 1 hour, but will be better the next day. Just be warned, once you try them, you'll be making them all the time!

Variations and Substitutions

Try other peppers. If you want mild peppers, sweet bell peppers would be great. If you like it hotter, go Serrano or habanero.
Experiment with the vinegars. I'm using a plain white vinegar. Anything you love would work. White wine or champagne vinegars are great. Apple cider vinegar is also fantastic. There are so many fun vinegars out there, play with them and let me know if you come up with anything!
Add-ins. These recipe is super simple and I love it. However, feel free to experiment with add-ins like peppercorns, mustard seeds, dill, cumin seeds, and even bay leaves.

Serving Ideas

The sky is the limit on what I put pickled jalapeños on. They're great just by themselves, but think:

On tacos, nachos, burritos, and any Mexican inspired dish you can think of.
On your meal prep salads for the week. I love them in my Grilled Steak Salad!
To spice up potato salads and pasta salads.
On your morning eggs and bagels with cream cheese!
Piled into sandwiches, wraps, and pinwheels.
Added to salsas, guacamole, and pico de gallo!
On. Anything.
And. Everything.

Tips and Tricks

Cut the peppers into the same sized rings. They'll pickle more evenly.
Add the peppers to the jar before you add the water and vinegar.
This is a no recipe kind of recipe. Fill the jars with sliced peppers, fill half with water and half with vinegar. Everyone will use a different glass jar and everyone's peppers will be different sizes. As long as you do half water, half vinegar, you're good! There isn't much necessary measuring needed.
Make sure the lid for your jar is secured before shaking. I would know.
Make sure the jalapeños and garlic are completely submerged by the liquid.

Frequently Asked Questions

How hot are pickled jalapeños?

The short answer? It depends. Sometimes jalapeños can blow your head off and sometimes they have hardly any heat at all. It varies from pepper to pepper. You'll just have to try them as you go.

The vinegar will dull some of the heat, but it will be different from pepper to pepper. Keeps life interesting, amiright?!

Do I have to cook the brine?

Nope! Because we are using honey or maple syrup, there is no need to dissolve the sugar in the hot water. The small amount of salt used will easily dissolve.

Are these pickled jalapeños gluten-free? Dairy-free?

Yes! Both! No need to worry about that here!

Storage Instructions

These pickled jalapeños will stay good in the fridge for up to two weeks flavor-wise. They'll still be good after that time period, but they will start to lose their flavor and become more vinegary.

I don't recommend storing these anywhere but the fridge for food safety purposes.

Pickled Jalapeños Recipe

Print Recipe

Pickled Jalapeños are tangy, spicy, salty, and slightly sweet. These comes together in under 10 minutes and no cooking is required at all!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword jalapeno, pickle

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings servings

Calories 11

Author Rufus

Equipment

Ingredients

10-12 jalapeños thinly sliced
2-4 cloves garlic smashed
2-4 tablespoon maple syrup or honey to your sweetness preference
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-1½ cups water room temp
1-1½ cups distilled white vinegar room temp

Instructions

Add the sliced jalapeños and garlic cloves to a glass jar.
Add the maple syrup or honey to your sweetness preference along with the salt.
Fill half the jar with water. Fill the remaining half with vinegar.
Secure the lid on the jar and shake.
Store in the fridge for at least an hour. They'll be better the next day.

Nutrition

If you guys make this Pickled Jalapeños, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a star rating in the recipe card! I absolutely love to hear from you all and always do my best to respond to each and every one of your comments! And, as always, be kind. I’m only human.

Thank you!

I am so incredibly happy that you are here! I hope you try my Pickled Jalapeño recipe and fall in love with it. If you make this recipe, please share and tag me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest! And, please leave a comment or star rating in the recipe card above. I absolutely love seeing each and every one of your kitchen masterpieces. It makes my heart so happy! And, as always, if you ever have any questions about any of my recipes, please don't hesitate to contact me!

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