Ways to Preserve Peppers: Freezing, Drying, Pickling, and Canning

Have a bumper crop of peppers? Learn the best ways to preserve sweet and hot peppers, including freezing, drying, pickling, salsa, relish, and safe canning recipes.

Peppers are one of my favorite crops to grow because there are so many varieties to choose from. Sweet bell peppers, spicy jalapeños, smoky poblanos, and colorful chile peppers all bring something different to the kitchen. The challenge is that peppers can be a little unpredictable in my New England garden.

In cooler climates, pepper plants often grow slowly through early summer and don’t really begin producing until August. Then, just when the plants are finally loaded with ripening fruit, frost is suddenly in the forecast. To make up for the short season, I usually grow extra pepper plants in hopes of harvesting enough to enjoy fresh and preserve for later.

Some years the harvest is modest. Other years, a stretch of hot, dry weather gives me baskets of peppers all at once. When that happens, preserving is the best way to keep them from going to waste.

The good news is that both sweet and hot peppers can be preserved in several easy ways. You can freeze them for quick meals, dry them for flakes and powders, pickle them for tangy toppings, or can them using safe, tested recipes for shelf-stable storage.

This guide will walk you through the best ways to preserve peppers from the garden, including freezing, drying, pickling, and canning, along with tips for choosing the right method for bell peppers, jalapeños, green chiles, and other hot peppers.

Best Ways to Preserve Peppers at a Glance

Not sure which method to choose? The best way to preserve peppers depends on the type of pepper you have and how you plan to use them later. Here is a quick overview to help you decide:

• Freezing: Best for sweet bell peppers, jalapeños, poblanos, and other thick-walled peppers. Frozen peppers are great for cooked recipes such as fajitas, stir-fries, soups, stews, chili, casseroles, sauces, and egg dishes. They do soften after thawing, so they are not the best choice for fresh salads or crunchy toppings.

• Drying: Best for thin-walled hot peppers such as cayenne, de arbol, Thai chiles, and japones peppers. Dried peppers can be stored whole, crushed into pepper flakes, or ground into chili powder. Use them to add flavor and heat to soups, stews, chili, spice blends, rubs, and sauces.

• Pickling: Best for jalapeños, banana peppers, bell peppers, and mixed sweet or hot peppers. Pickled peppers add tangy flavor to tacos, nachos, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and charcuterie boards. You can make refrigerator pickles for short-term storage or use a tested canning recipe for shelf-stable jars for long term storage.

• Pressure Canning: Best for plain roasted peppers, bell peppers, and green chile peppers that you want to store in the pantry without vinegar. Since peppers are a low-acid vegetable, they must be pressure canned for shelf-stable storage. Use pressure-canned peppers in soups, stews, casseroles, enchiladas, sauces, and skillet meals.

• Salsa, Relish, and Condiments: Best when you want to combine peppers with tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, zucchini, green tomatoes, or onions. Tested canning recipes for salsa, relish, and pepper condiments are a flavorful way to preserve a mixed harvest and stock your pantry with ready-to-use jars.

• Refrigerator Pickles: Best for small batches, mixed vegetables, or peppers you want to enjoy within a few weeks or months. Refrigerator pickles are quick and flexible, but they are not shelf-stable and must be stored in the refrigerator.

How to Preserve Peppers Without Canning

You don’t need a canner to preserve peppers. Some of the easiest ways to save a pepper harvest are freezing, drying, and refrigerator pickling. These methods are especially helpful when you have a small batch to deal with, don’t want to heat up the kitchen, or simply need a quick way to keep peppers from going to waste.

Freezing is the best choice if you want peppers ready for cooked meals. Drying is ideal for thin-walled hot peppers and homemade pepper flakes or powders.

Refrigerator pickles are a simple option for crisp, tangy peppers you can enjoy from the fridge.

Here are the best ways to preserve peppers without canning:

• Freeze Peppers: Freezing is the quickest and easiest way to preserve all kinds of peppers, both sweet and hot. Peppers do not need to be blanched before freezing, so you can simply wash, dry, cut, and freeze them. Frozen peppers lose some of their crisp texture, but they keep their flavor and work well in cooked recipes such as fajitas, stir-fries, soups, stews, chili, casseroles, sauces, and omelets.

• Dry Peppers: Drying removes the moisture from peppers so they can be stored for long-term use. Thin-walled hot peppers, such as cayenne, de arbol, Thai chiles, and japones peppers, dry especially well. Once dried, peppers can be stored whole, crushed into flakes, or ground into powder for seasoning soups, stews, chili, spice blends, rubs, and sauces.

• Make Refrigerator Pickled Peppers: Refrigerator pickles are a quick way to preserve a small batch of peppers without processing jars in a canner. The peppers are packed into jars with vinegar brine and stored in the refrigerator. You can use sweet peppers, hot peppers, or a mix of vegetables. Refrigerator pickles are not shelf-stable, but they are easy to make and perfect for adding tangy flavor to sandwiches, tacos, burgers, salads, and snack boards.

These no-canning methods are perfect when you want a simple way to save peppers quickly. For shelf-stable jars that can be stored in the pantry, you’ll need to use a tested canning recipe, which we’ll cover in the sections below.

Freezing Peppers

Freezing is one of the easiest ways to preserve peppers because they don’t need to be blanched first. This makes it a quick option when you have a basket of peppers to deal with and not a lot of time.

Frozen peppers do lose some of their crisp texture after thawing, but they keep their flavor beautifully. That makes them best for cooked recipes where the peppers will soften anyway, such as fajitas, stir-fries, soups, stews, chili, casseroles, omelets, pasta sauces, and skillet meals.

You can freeze green peppers, sweet bell peppers, jalapeños, poblanos, banana peppers, and other thick-walled peppers raw or roasted. For raw peppers, simply wash and dry them well, remove the stems, seeds, and membranes, and cut them into strips, rings, or diced pieces. Spread the pieces on cookie sheets to freeze until firm, then transfer them to freezer bags or containers. This helps keep the peppers from freezing into one large clump.

Hot peppers can also be frozen whole. This is especially handy when you only need one or two peppers at a time for salsa, chili, soups, or sauces. Wear gloves when handling hot peppers, and label the freezer bags with the variety so you know what you are grabbing later.

Roasted peppers freeze well too. Roast the peppers under a broiler until the skins blister, let them steam briefly, peel off the skins, remove the seeds, and freeze the roasted pieces or strips. Frozen roasted peppers are wonderful for soups, sauces, sandwiches, pizza, casseroles, and dips.

• Learn more: How to Freeze Peppers

Drying Peppers

Drying is another easy way to preserve peppers, especially thin-walled hot peppers that dry quickly and store well. Dehydrating removes moisture and concentrates the flavor, giving you peppers that can be stored whole, crushed into flakes, or ground into powder.

Thin-walled chile peppers, such as cayenne, de arbol, japones, Thai chiles, and other small hot peppers, are especially well suited for drying. You can also dry sweet peppers and thicker-walled peppers, but they should be sliced into smaller pieces so they dry evenly.

Dried peppers are useful to have in the pantry. Add whole dried peppers or pepper pieces to soups, stews, chili, sauces, and braised dishes where they will soften as they cook. You can also crush dried hot peppers into flakes for sprinkling over pizza, pasta, eggs, and roasted vegetables, or grind them into homemade chili powder and seasoning blends.

There are several ways to dry peppers, including air drying, using a food dehydrator, or drying them in the oven. A dehydrator gives the most consistent results, but air drying can work well for small, thin-walled peppers in a warm, dry, well-ventilated spot.

Be sure the peppers are completely dry before storing. They should feel brittle or leathery, depending on the type of pepper and how they are cut. If any moisture remains, the peppers can mold in storage. Store dried peppers in airtight jars or containers in a cool, dark place, and check the jars during the first week to make sure no condensation appears inside.

When working with hot peppers, wear gloves and avoid touching your face. If you grind dried hot peppers into flakes or powder, work in a well-ventilated area and avoid breathing in the chile dust.

• Learn more: How to Dry Peppers

Pickling Peppers

Pickling is a flavorful way to preserve both sweet and hot peppers. The vinegar brine adds tangy flavor, while the peppers bring color, crunch, and heat to meals. Pickled peppers are delicious on tacos, nachos, burgers, sandwiches, salads, pizza, snack boards, and anywhere you want a little bright, zippy flavor.

You can pickle many types of peppers, including jalapeños, banana peppers, bell peppers, cherry peppers, and mixed sweet or hot peppers. Small peppers can be sliced into rings, larger peppers can be cut into strips or pieces, and roasted peppers can be packed in a seasoned vinegar marinade.

There are two main ways to make pickled peppers: refrigerator pickles and shelf-stable canned pickles. Refrigerator pickled peppers are quick and flexible, but they must be stored in the refrigerator. Canned pickled peppers must be made with a tested recipe and processed in a water bath canner so the jars are safe for pantry storage.

For shelf-stable pickled peppers, always follow a tested canning recipe and avoid reducing the vinegar, changing the vegetable amounts, or adding extra low-acid ingredients. The vinegar balance is what makes the recipe safe for water bath canning.

Refrigerator Pickled Peppers

Refrigerator pickles are the easiest way to make a small batch of pickled peppers without canning. The peppers are packed into jars with vinegar brine, then stored in the refrigerator instead of being processed for shelf-stable storage.

You can use sweet peppers, hot peppers, or a mix of peppers and other vegetables. Slice the peppers into rings, strips, or bite-sized pieces, pack them into clean jars, pour the hot brine over the top, cool, and refrigerate.

Refrigerator pickled peppers are great for using up a handful of garden peppers when you don’t have enough for a full canning batch. They are delicious on sandwiches, burgers, tacos, nachos, salads, grain bowls, and appetizer trays.

• Learn more: How to Make Refrigerator Pickles with Any Vegetable

Canned Pickled Pepper Recipes

If you want jars of pickled peppers that can be stored in the pantry, use a tested canning recipe and process the jars as directed.

These recipes are designed with the correct balance of vinegar, vegetables, and processing time for safe shelf-stable storage.

• Pickled Jalapeños: These sliced jalapeño peppers are packed in a tangy vinegar brine and processed in a water bath canner for shelf-stable storage. They are perfect for tacos, nachos, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, and chili.

• Pickled Bell Peppers: Colorful bell peppers are preserved in a sweet and tangy pickling brine. Use them on sandwiches, salads, burgers, antipasto platters, or as a bright side dish.

• Marinated Roasted Red Peppers: Roasted red peppers are peeled, packed in jars, and preserved in a flavorful vinegar-based marinade. They are wonderful on sandwiches, pizza, pasta, salads, and appetizer trays.

• Candied Jalapeños: Also known as cowboy candy, candied jalapeños are simmered in a sweet and tangy vinegar syrup, then canned for shelf-stable storage. Spoon them over cream cheese, tuck them into sandwiches, or use them as a sweet-hot topping for burgers, tacos, and grilled meats.

Pickling is one of the most versatile ways to preserve peppers because you can choose the flavor and heat level you enjoy most. Use refrigerator pickles for quick small batches, or follow tested canning recipes when you want jars that can be stored safely in the pantry.

Canning Peppers Safely

Peppers can be preserved in shelf-stable jars, but the canning method depends on the recipe. Plain peppers are a low-acid vegetable, so they must be pressure canned for safe pantry storage. Pickled peppers, salsa, relish, and other acidified recipes can be processed in a water bath canner, but only when you follow a tested recipe with the correct balance of vinegar, acid, vegetables, and processing time.

This is why it is important to choose a tested canning recipe instead of trying to create your own shelf-stable pepper recipe. The amount of vinegar or acid, ratio of vegetables, jar size, headspace, and processing time all work together to make the finished jars safe to store at room temperature.

If you want to can plain peppers without vinegar, use a pressure canning recipe. If you want tangy pickled peppers, salsa, relish, or condiments, use a tested water bath canning recipe and avoid reducing the vinegar, changing the vegetable amounts, or adding extra low-acid ingredients unless the recipe gives you that option.

Swapping Pepper Varieties in Canning Recipes

In many tested canning recipes, you can swap one type of pepper for another as long as you keep the total amount of peppers the same. This is especially common in salsa recipes, where you can often use a mild pepper in place of another mild pepper, or one hot pepper in place of another. The National Center for Home Food Preservation says not to increase the total amount of peppers in salsa recipes.

For example, you can use bell peppers in place of Anaheim peppers, or jalapeños in place of another hot pepper, as long as you measure the same amount called for in the recipe. When possible, substitute by measured cups or weight rather than by the number of peppers, since pepper sizes vary.

Do not increase the total amount of peppers, and do not replace a small number of hot chile peppers with the same number of large peppers. Always follow the specific guidance given with the tested recipe.

It is also important to avoid preserving peppers in olive oil for room-temperature storage unless you are following a tested recipe specifically developed for that method, such as this Marinated Roasted Red Peppers Canning Recipe, which uses vinegar and bottled lemon juice to adapt the acidity. Peppers in oil can create unsafe conditions if they are not properly acidified and processed.

For more detailed guidance, see these beginner canning guides:

• Water Bath Canning for Beginners
• Pressure Canning for Beginners
• Safe Substitutions for Home Canning Recipes

Pepper Canning Recipes

Once you understand which canning method is needed, you can choose a tested recipe based on the peppers you have and how you want to use them later. Peppers can be preserved in shelf-stable jars as salsa, sauces, pickles, relishes, condiments, and plain pressure-canned peppers.

Here are safe canning recipes that use sweet or hot peppers:

Salsa and Sauce Recipes with Peppers

Salsa is one of my favorite ways to preserve a pepper harvest. Peppers add flavor, color, and heat to tomato salsa, tomatillo salsa, green tomato salsa, and enchilada sauce. These recipes are especially helpful when the garden is producing a mix of ripe tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, and peppers at the same time.

• Zesty Salsa: A classic tomato salsa made with tomatoes, peppers, onions, vinegar, and seasonings. This is a great recipe for preserving a mixed harvest of tomatoes and peppers.

• Fire Roasted Salsa: Roasting or grilling the tomatoes and peppers first adds a smoky flavor to this home canned salsa. It is a delicious way to use ripe tomatoes, jalapeños, and other garden peppers.

• Restaurant Style Salsa: This smooth tomato salsa is blended before canning for a thinner, scoopable texture. It is a good option if you prefer a less chunky salsa for chips, tacos, burritos, and cooked dishes.

• Tomato Jalapeño Salsa: A simple tomato salsa with jalapeños for heat. This recipe is a good choice when you have ripe tomatoes and jalapeño peppers to preserve together.

• Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde: Tomatillos and peppers are roasted before canning to create a tangy green salsa with deeper flavor. Use it with tacos, enchiladas, grilled meats, eggs, and rice bowls.

• Spicy Green Tomato Salsa Verde: This salsa uses unripe green tomatoes, peppers, onions, and seasonings to make a tangy salsa verde. It is especially useful at the end of the season when frost is coming and you still have green tomatoes on the vines.

• Green Chile Enchilada Sauce: Roasted green chiles are blended into a flavorful sauce for enchiladas, casseroles, burritos, and skillet meals. This is a great way to preserve roasted green chile flavor in shelf-stable jars.

Relish and Condiment Recipes with Peppers

Relishes and condiments are another great way to preserve peppers, especially when you have a mixed harvest of cucumbers, zucchini, onions, green tomatoes, or hot peppers. These jars add flavor to everyday meals and are useful for sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, grilled meats, appetizer trays, and snack boards.

• Sweet Zucchini and Pepper Relish: This relish combines zucchini, peppers, onions, vinegar, sugar, and spices into a sweet and tangy condiment. It is a great way to preserve extra zucchini and peppers together.

• Spicy Zucchini Relish with Horseradish: This zesty relish combines zucchini, peppers, onions, vinegar, sugar, spices, and horseradish for a sweet, tangy, and spicy condiment. It is a great way to preserve extra zucchini and peppers together, and adds bold flavor to burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, sausages, grilled meats, and snack boards.

• Sweet Cucumber Relish: A classic sweet relish made with cucumbers, peppers, onions, vinegar, sugar, and pickling spices. Use it on burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, tuna salad, potato salad, and deviled eggs.

• New England Piccalilli Relish: Also known as green tomato relish, this old-fashioned New England condiment is made with green tomatoes, peppers, onions, vinegar, sugar, and pickling spices. It is especially useful at the end of the season when frost is coming and you still have green tomatoes and peppers to preserve.

Pressure Canning Recipes for Peppers and Green Chiles

Plain peppers are low-acid and must be pressure canned for shelf-stable storage. These recipes are for preserving peppers without pickling brine, so they are useful when you want jars of roasted peppers, green chiles, or tomatoes with peppers ready for cooking.

• Roasted Bell Peppers: Roasted bell peppers are peeled, packed into jars, and pressure canned for pantry storage. Use them in soups, stews, casseroles, sauces, omelets, sandwiches, and skillet meals.

• Green Chile Peppers: Roasted green chile peppers can be pressure canned and stored in the pantry for later meals. They are perfect for enchiladas, soups, stews, casseroles, dips, and Tex-Mex recipes.

• Rotel-Style Tomatoes and Green Chilies: This pressure canning recipe combines tomatoes and green chile peppers into a convenient pantry staple for chili, soups, casseroles, queso, tacos, rice dishes, and skillet meals.

Best Preservation Method by Pepper Type

Not all peppers preserve the same way. The best method depends on the type of pepper, how thick the walls are, how much heat they have, and how you want to use them later. Some peppers are best frozen for cooked meals, while others are perfect for drying, pickling, salsa, or pressure canning.

Bell Peppers

Bell peppers are thick-walled, sweet peppers that freeze very well. They can be chopped, sliced into strips, diced, or roasted before freezing. Frozen bell peppers are best used in cooked recipes such as fajitas, stir-fries, soups, stews, casseroles, omelets, pasta sauce, chili, and skillet meals.

Bell peppers can also be pickled, added to relish recipes, used in salsa, or pressure canned as plain roasted peppers. Since bell peppers are low-acid, they must be pressure canned if you want to preserve them without vinegar.

Best ways to preserve bell peppers:

• Freeze raw slices, strips, or diced pieces.
• Roast, peel, and freeze.
• Pickle with a tested canning recipe.
• Add to salsa, relish, or condiment recipes.
• Pressure can plain roasted bell peppers.

Jalapeño Peppers

Jalapeños are one of the most versatile peppers to preserve. They can be sliced and pickled, frozen whole or chopped, added to salsa, or simmered into candied jalapeños. Green jalapeños have a bright, grassy heat, while ripe red jalapeños are sweeter and can also be dried or smoked.

Pickled jalapeños are one of the easiest ways to preserve a large harvest, and they are useful for tacos, nachos, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, chili, and snack boards. If you are short on time, you can also freeze jalapeños whole and pull out what you need later for cooked recipes.

Best ways to preserve jalapeños:

• Pickle sliced jalapeños.
• Make candied jalapeños.
• Freeze whole, sliced, or chopped.
• Add to salsa and relish recipes.
• Dry ripe red jalapeños for flakes or powder.

Poblano Peppers

Poblano peppers are usually preserved by roasting first. Roasting brings out their flavor, loosens the skins, and makes them easier to use later in soups, sauces, casseroles, enchiladas, and stuffed pepper recipes.

Once roasted and peeled, poblanos can be frozen in strips, chopped, or left in larger pieces. They can also be used in green chile sauce-style recipes or pressure canned if you are following a tested recipe for roasted peppers or green chiles.

Best ways to preserve poblano peppers:

• Roast, peel, and freeze.
• Chop and freeze for cooked recipes.
• Use in green chile sauce recipes.
• Pressure can using a tested roasted pepper or green chile recipe.

Green Chile Peppers

Green chile peppers are often roasted before preserving. Once roasted, peeled, and seeded, they can be frozen or pressure canned for pantry storage. Frozen green chiles are easy to add to enchiladas, soups, stews, dips, casseroles, breakfast dishes, and skillet meals.

If you want shelf-stable jars of green chiles, use a tested pressure canning recipe. Plain green chile peppers are low-acid and are not safe for water bath canning unless they are part of a tested acidified recipe.

Best ways to preserve green chile peppers:

• Roast, peel, and freeze.
• Pressure can roasted green chiles.
• Use in enchilada sauce.
• Use in tomatoes and green chilies.
• Add to salsa recipes.

Thin-Walled Hot Peppers

Thin-walled hot peppers, such as cayenne, de arbol, Thai chiles, japones, and similar varieties, are excellent for drying. They dry more quickly than thick-walled peppers and can be stored whole, crushed into flakes, or ground into powder.

You can also freeze small hot peppers whole if you prefer to keep them fresh-tasting for cooked recipes. Frozen hot peppers are easy to mince while still partially frozen and can be added to salsa, chili, soups, sauces, and stir-fries.

Best ways to preserve thin-walled hot peppers:

• Dry whole peppers.
• Crush dried peppers into flakes.
• Grind dried peppers into powder.
• Freeze whole peppers.
• Add fresh or frozen peppers to salsa and sauces.

Banana Peppers and Other Mild Peppers

Banana peppers and other mild peppers are especially good for pickling. Their mild flavor and tender texture work well in vinegar brine, and they make a great topping for sandwiches, pizza, salads, burgers, tacos, and appetizer trays.

You can also freeze mild peppers for cooked recipes or add them to relishes and salsas. If you are canning them, use a tested pickled pepper recipe or another tested recipe that includes the proper amount of vinegar or acid.

Best ways to preserve banana peppers and mild peppers:

• Pickle as refrigerator pickles.
• Pickle with a tested canning recipe.
• Freeze sliced or chopped peppers.
• Add to salsa, relish, or condiment recipes.

Mixed Sweet and Hot Peppers

If you have a mix of peppers from the garden, choose a preservation method based on how you want to use them later. Mixed peppers are great for salsa, relish, refrigerator pickles, pickled pepper blends, and freezer bags for cooked meals.

For freezing, keep sweet and hot peppers in separate bags unless you know you want the heat mixed in. For canning, always follow the pepper amounts and ingredient guidelines in a tested recipe.

Best ways to preserve mixed peppers:

• Freeze chopped peppers for cooked meals.
• Make refrigerator pickles.
• Use in tested salsa recipes.
• Use in tested relish recipes.
• Pickle with a tested canning recipe.

This is where preserving peppers becomes flexible. Once you know how each type of pepper behaves, it is easier to match your harvest to the method that will be most useful in your kitchen later.

How to Store Fresh Peppers Until You’re Ready to Preserve Them

Fresh peppers are best preserved soon after harvest, but you don’t always have time to freeze, dry, pickle, or can them right away. If you need to hold them for a few days, store them properly so they stay firm and flavorful until you are ready to use them.

Keep unwashed peppers in the refrigerator, preferably in the crisper drawer. Moisture can encourage spoilage, so wait to wash peppers until you are ready to use or preserve them. If the peppers are damp from the garden, let them dry before storing.

Check your peppers every few days and use any with soft spots, wrinkling, or damage first. Small blemishes can be trimmed away before cooking or preserving, but discard any peppers that are moldy, slimy, or have an off smell.

If you have more peppers than you can process right away, freezing is the quickest backup plan. Wash and dry the peppers, remove the stems and seeds, and freeze them in strips, diced pieces, or whole if they are hot peppers. Even if you don’t have time for a full preserving project, a quick freezer bag of chopped peppers can save the harvest from going to waste.

For the best quality, preserve peppers while they are still fresh, firm, and crisp.

Frequently Asked Questions About Preserving Peppers

Before you start filling freezer bags, dehydrator trays, or canning jars, you may still have a few questions about the best way to preserve your peppers. Here are answers to some common questions about freezing, drying, pickling, canning, and storing peppers from the garden.

Keep the Pepper Harvest Going

A basket of garden peppers can feel like a lot to deal with all at once, especially when frost is getting close. The good news is that peppers are one of the most flexible crops to preserve. You can freeze them for easy weeknight meals, dry them for homemade flakes and powders, pickle them for tangy toppings, or can them using tested recipes for shelf-stable storage.

The best method depends on the type of pepper you have and how you like to use them in the kitchen. Bell peppers and jalapeños are great for freezing, thin-walled hot peppers are perfect for drying, and mixed sweet and hot peppers can be turned into pickles, salsa, relish, sauces, and condiments.

Preserving peppers in several different ways gives you more options through the winter. A few bags in the freezer, jars in the pantry, and dried peppers on the spice shelf can bring the flavor of the summer garden into soups, stews, casseroles, tacos, sandwiches, and everyday meals long after the growing season ends.