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.
Check Out These Other Popular Pepper Relish Recipes
- Quick Tomato-Pepper Relish
- Green Tomato Relish
- Chile-Cucumber Chow Chow
- Hot Pepper Relish
- Preserving Chili Peppers
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.
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.
Ed says
I dropped the sugar to a quarter cup. I was out of ground mustard, so I used a teaspoon of Sriracha. And added a third cup of chopped parsley. As for the vinegar I used Apple Cider vinegar. The relish turned out delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Mike Hultquist says
Excellent! Glad you enjoyed it, Ed. I love how customizable my recipes can be for people.
Jane says
Hi, I made the relish using mainly green sweet peppers but it is very bitter. Is it possible to correct it? I did use apple cider vinegar as that was what I had. Thankyou.
Mike Hultquist says
Jane, it might be the mustard seeds used. Try a bit more sugar or honey, and a touch more salt to help balance out any bitterness.
Eleanor harkness says
Did you leave seeds in sweet peppers?
Mike Hultquist says
The seeds are edible, but you can remove them if you'd like. I usually leave in the seeds of smaller peppers, but remove them from larger ones.
Roger says
Can this be waterbacth canned or pressure canned?
Mike Hultquist says
Yes, you can, Roger. If water bathing, check the acidity. Shoot for 3.5 pH or lower for home canning.
Mike H. says
Hey, Roger! You can process it in a boiling water bath in canning jars for longer term storage in a pantry. Enjoy!
John U says
Made your pickle relish this morning. it's cooling right now and it tastes fantastic. Had to let it cook total of 45 minutes before liquid was properly absorbed and we'll worth the wait. tastes better that the best jar products in the stores. I know because I've been eating pepper relish for years. Thanks
Mike H. says
I am glad that you like the taste of it, John. Enjoy!
Sandie says
Nice recipe to use up all the peppers in my garden. I used red and yellow bell peppers, shishito peppers, jalapeños and wax peppers. I had garlic scapes so I chopped those in lieu of the garlic.
Very easy to make and very tasty
Mike Hultquist says
Perfect addition with the garlic scapes! I love it, nice touch. Glad you enjoyed the recipe, Sandie.
CINDY says
Husband loves hot but not me. I told him I was making this and he said it wouldn't be hot enough Hahahaha. I made it but didn't have enough hot peppers so I had to improvise the hot and added crushed red peppers and cayenne pepper. Ooops lids of cayenne and crushed pepper fell off(only a little ). I also added some spicy mustard. He loved it!!! Thank you Mike for sharing this!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Nice! Thanks, Cindy!!
Janet says
Your recipe said ground yellow mustard powder but you used mustard seeds in the video. I believe there is a big difference. Which is preferred?
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Janet, I use either, but prefer mustard seeds.
Cherri says
First time visitor to your site. Tried this recipe and it was easy, tasty and a good use of peppers. I used apple cider vinegar and honey as subs like you suggested and it was great. Happy that the alternatives were suggested. I sealed the jars in a hot water bath and it made 2 half pint jars. I will be making this again and maybe doubling the batch to use up some more peppers. Thanks.
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Excellent! Super happy you enjoyed it, Cherri. Much appreciated.
Deb G says
Hi! I’m a new reader here. Since I can’t grow chili peppers, can you tell me what type/variety to buy? Not quite sure what sweet chili peppers are exactly, and I’m pretty sure you don’t mean bell peppers...? I would love to make this recipe, looks great! Thanks!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Deb, sweet bells are fine to use for this recipe. Sometimes you can find packaged bags of peppers just labeled "sweet peppers". Those are often small bells. You can also try milder peppers, like Anaheims. See what's available at your local grocer. I hope you enjoy it!! Let me know what you wind up using.
Kathy says
Hi guys! I’ve been following your site for a couple of years, really appreciate all the recipes and creativity.
This relish is one of the first recipes here that I tried — used sweet red, orange, and yellow Lunchbox peppers from the garden, and it turned out fantastic!
One tweak — I have dietary sugar/salt restrictions, so I halved the sugar and subbed Sweet Leaf Liquid Stevia’s Vanilla Creme flavor (bakers swear by this, no bitter aftertaste), about 30 drops, and it turned out great!
You’ve inspired me to expand my gardening repertoire — we already grow mild-to-moderately hot peps (Jalapeños, Serranos, Cayenne, Brazilian Starfish). Now I’m looking at seeds for Caribbean seasoning varieties (like Trinidad Perfume), Ajis, and who knows what else! ????????????
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
That is GREAT, Kathy. Glad to inspire! Thank you for the sugar-reducing tip. Very valuable. Take care!!
Wendy says
Great way to use up them sweet chili peppers we love