If you grow your own chilli plants at home you will possibly end up with more chillies than you can use. That is where this Homemade Pickled Chilli Recipe comes in handy. You can preserve the chillies well into the winter months.
There is also the possibility of making various chilli sauces but they do not last as long as the pickled chilli which lies in a vinegar brine.
Below is my simple method of preparing the jars and making the homemade pickles chilli.
Step 1 Sterilize the jars you will be using for the Pickled Chilli
The first thing I like to do is sterilize the jars that will be used for the Pickled Chilli Recipe. First wash the jars in hot soapy water with a dash of bleach in the water. Rinse them thoroughly and place them into a large pot of almost boiling water together with the lids.
After approximately 5 minutes take them out and place in a drying rack to dry.
Step 2 Preparing the chillis for pickling
You can use the whole chilli with a few holes poked in it or cut the chillies into slices. Both ways work just as well.
Wash the chillies under running water and then let them soak in some clean water with a table spoon of salt to clean and sterilize.
Now place the chillis tightly into the sterilized jars together with a few bay leaves and a few whole black peppercorns.
Step 3 The pickling liquid or brine
There are quite a few methods of making the brine or solution but I always use the easiest method with the least ingredients.
Pour 1 cup of white vinegar and 1 cup of water into a small pot and slowly let it warm up until the bubbles start forming at the bottom of the pot.
Add 2 table spoons of salt and 2 table spoons of sugar to the almost boiling solution. Stir until the salt and sugar s completely disolved.
Step 4 Filling the jars with the brine
Slowly add the hot mixture of vinegar, water, salt and sugar to the jars. Fill it completely to the top and let is stand for a few moments. The level will drop slightly as the air gets released from the chilli’s. Top it up and put on the lids.
Let the pickled chilli jars stand at room temperature until they have cooled and then place them in the fridge.
Step 5 Eating the homemade pickled chilli 🙂
Leave in the fridge for about a week and then start eating. The chilli looses some of its original heat but still gives the burn with a lovely pickled taste.