This sweet pepper relish recipe is tangy and flavorful, perfect as a sweet condiment and great for keeping your hard earned harvest. Use it as you would any condiment.
By this time of year, your chili pepper garden is producing vast amounts of chili peppers. All those plants are yielding bags and baskets, filling them to the rim.
It is probably time to think about preserving some of them. While there are many ways to keep your peppers through the winter, such as pickling, freezing, dehydrating and more, one of my favorites is to incorporate them into a relish.
We're talking Sweet Pepper Relish, and it's delicious! I greatly enjoy having a nice pepper relish on hand in the refrigerator for all sorts of recipe additions. I can toss them into a pot of beans for a tangy touch, or pop some onto a quick sandwich. Great stuff.
Let's talk about how to make it, shall we?
Sweet Pepper Relish Ingredients
- Chili Peppers. Use 3 cups finely chopped sweet peppers. You can use any peppers for this, even hot peppers if you'd like. Ghost pepper relish, anyone? Oh boy. Red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, any color is perfect. Red bell peppers are great here for their simple sweetness and zero heat.
- Vinegar. 3/4 cup white wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is a good option as well.
- Sweetness. 1/2 cup sugar, or you can use honey.
- Extra Veggies. I use 2 cloves garlic and 1/2 small onion, all chopped.
- Seasonings. Use 1 teaspoon ground yellow mustard powder and salt to taste. Mustard seeds are also great here.
How to Make Sweet Pepper Relish - the Recipe Method
Boil. Add all ingredients to a large pan and heat to medium heat - Peppers and onions, vinegar, sugar or honey, garlic, mustard seeds or powder, salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil.
Simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered about 25-30 minutes, or until liquid is reduced and absorbed into the mixture. Stir occasionally.
Jar. Remove from heat. Add the pepper mixture to a jar and allow to cool.
Serve! Serve at room temperature, or chilled.
Boom! Done! Easy enough, isn't it? Sweet pepper relish is super delicious, and a great way to use up your bountiful chili pepper harvest. It's the perfect condiment.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Other Ingredients. I often include onion and garlic in my pepper relish recipes, as I enjoy the flavor combination. However, you are free to omit them and also include other ingredients. Try it with sweet shallots, radish, cucumber, or other vegetables. Experiment to make your own delightful combination.
- Food Processor. You can also use a food processor or blender to process the sweet relish as more of a spread. I love it this way.
- Preserving. This pepper relish will keep for quite some time if sealed and kept in the refrigerator, as there is a lot of vinegar. However, you can process it in a boiling water bath in canning jars for longer term storage in a pantry.
- Pepper Relishes. Banana pepper relish and cherry pepper relish are super popular, so rather than grabbing some from the grocery store, make your own homemade sweet pepper relish instead. They can be difficult to find in some stores anyway. And, homemade is so much better overall. You can customize it however you'd like and control what goes into the recipe. Big plus. Check out my hot pepper relish recipe.
Serving Up Sweet Pepper Relish
Sweet pepper relish is a tasty condiment to have on hand, perfect for topping grilled foods. Use it to spoon over grilled chicken or pork cuts, or in place of ketchup and mustard over your grilled burgers, brats or a good hot dog. Serve on crackers with cream cheese as an appetizer.
Patty and I love to bring a small jar along to the beach our out for a picnic with cold cut slices, crackers or toasty bread and a mix of of cheeses. It's a wonderful addition to a charcuterie board with loads of tangy, sweet flavor.
A good homemade sweet pepper relish is a healthy and tastier alternative to those store bought condiments.
Storage & Leftovers
Storing your Homemade Sweet Pepper Relish in an airtight container in the fridge may allow you to store the leftovers for up to 2-3 weeks. To maximize the storage life, make sure to refrigerate it promptly.
Check Out These Other Popular Pepper Relish Recipes
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #ChiliPepperMadness on Instagram so we can take a look. I always love to see all of your spicy inspirations. Thanks! -- Mike H.
Homemade Sweet Pepper Relish Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups chopped sweet chili peppers
- 3/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 small onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (or use ground yellow mustard powder)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a large pan and heat to medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a light boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer about 25-30 minutes, or until liquid is reduced and absorbed into the mixture.
- Add to a jar and allow to cool.
- Serve!
Video
Nutrition Information
NOTE: This recipe was updated on 5/21/21 to include new information, photos and video. It was originally published on 8/11/2014.
Elize Louw says
I sell this relish and haven't had one negative feedback. It is delicious as is. Thank you
Mike Hultquist says
Great to hear! Thanks so much, Elize! I appreciate it.
David Phillips says
Mike, I have to say I love your web site and recipes very much fine myself here quite often and always recommending your site to friend and co worker and just about anyone. Thank You.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks so much, David! I really appreciate it! See you around the site!
Kat Monteiro says
I would like to can this relish. Can you tell me what if any additional steps or ingredients I will need?
Will I water bath it for 10 minutes or will it need longer.
And of course I will be using the apple cider vinegar.
Thank You,
Kat
Mike Hultquist says
Kat, I recommend checking the pH. Shoot for 4.0 or lower for home canning. You MIGHT need more vinegar, that's about it. 10 minutes in the water bath is typically sufficient, or up to 20 minutes for higher elevations. Use very clean jars and lids. Enjoy!
Kat says
thank you for the reply.
I am making this tomorrow just to try. but I am thinking it is going to be so good that I'll want to can some to put up for the winter!
Kat says
I just want to say that we love this recipe!! I need to make a bigger batch and can it so we have it all year!
And I love your YouTube channel! the sweet thai chili sauce is next on my list.
Can you do a recipe using ornamental chillies? I have a plant with a lot of them - it was a plant that had the wrong tag in it when I bought it at the nursery.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks so much, Kat! I'll have to think about the ornamentals. They are edible, but most people don't cook with them, even though you can. Some people find them bitter and not super flavorful.
Sugar8 says
Can you use red wine vinegar instead of the white?
Mike Hultquist says
Absolutely. Enjoy!
Jerret says
This is my go to recipe for the end of season pepper harvest. This ensures I have a good mix of peppers from sweet to sinister. Add this to some cream cheese on a bagel. yum!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Jerret! I appreciate it.
Sharon S says
I would use 1/2 Cup vinegar next time.
Mike Hultquist says
It's better with 3/4 cup, haha! Glad you enjoyed it, Sharon.
maggie says
just asking how long this keeps. store in fridge/
Mike Hultquist says
Maggie, this should last for months in the fridge in a sealed container because of the vinegar content. Just keep an eye on it for any signs of spoilage.
Terry George says
great
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Terry!
Gabz says
I make a sweet pepper relish very similar to yours, but in addition to the mustard seed, I also add celery seed. It is one of my most popular products and I wind up making it at least every other week starting with 18 pounds of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers and 4 pounds of onions, which yields about 30 cups after being cored, seeded and run through the food processor. after cooking it will amount to close to a dozen pints. We put it in and on everything!
Mike Hultquist says
Boom! Sounds awesome! I love it.