This is the BEST easy pickled banana peppers recipe! Sweet, salty and vinegary and so easy!
Easy and sweet pickled banana peppers are one of life’s fine delicacies. This recipe is so fast and easy it’s silly. It’s tangy and salty and sweet and vinegary all at the perfect levels. When your pepper plants are loaded down with fruit this brine is a quick and easy way to get them to put up fast.
We had a great harvest of banana peppers this year. They are pretty consistent plants for us no matter where we have lived. Although in Oregon we did have to start covering them pretty early as the season is so short there.
We also got to experience our first real harvest of jalapenos and serrano peppers which was super exciting….we have done up many of the jalapenos in this same brine and have even done a few mixed jars to kick up the spice factor of the banana peppers.
The other thing that was totally unique here in Georgia was that because the season is so long we actually had banana peppers turn a beautiful array of colors for us.
Everything from light light yellow to deep orange and reds. The look absolutely stunning mixed together in the jars.
We eat these pickled banana peppers on everything, salads, sandwiches, if I’m feeling bold I even enjoy a few on a slice of pizza. One of my favorite things to do with them is to mix them up with some tuna and mayo and eat them with saltines. They also make great bribes and gifts for friends. We have to keep it hush hush how good they are or we wouldn’t have any left for ourselves.
This brine also works lovely for a quick sweet and tangy refrigerator pickle! Just slice up the cucumbers, cover with brine, and place them in the fridge.
Wondering what to do with all your pickled banana peppers? Check out all these ideas:
WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THOSE PICKLED BANANA PEPPERS
Easy Pickled Banana Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 cups white vinegar
- 1 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 lb banana peppers seeded and sliced in rings, or just pack 4 pint jars worth
- salt to taste optional, we do not use but please see notes
Instructions
- Bring the vinegar, sugar, mustard seed and celery seed to a rolling boil.
- Pour brine over peppers to within 1/2" of the top.
- Wipe off the rim and put lid and ring on.
- Store in the fridge.
- You can also follow proper canning procedures and then process them in a water bath canner if you prefer (will lend a slightly less crunchy pepper). Follow the USDA guidelines for timing.
- Be sure to verify that the lids have completely sealed down if storing on the shelf.
- Leave for 1 week or longer (if you can stand it!)
- Enjoy!
How long will these last in fridge or how you store them not being canned
They can last several months in the fridge. Though they never end up lasting that long around here haha.
-Dani
How long will they keep in the fridge?
A few months if you can keep people out of them haha.
Fantastic…this recipe is delish. Enjoying our own grown peppers.
My mum had planted 4 banana pepper plants this summer and they have just exploded with peppers. I was looking for a quick and simple recipe and this delivered! I use a little less sugar (in a futile attempt to make it diabetic friendly) and tried apple cider vinegar (made the peppers too soft). And you have found the perfect balance! Can wait to try more recipes <3
Hey the recipe says seeded bit I notice the picture has lots of seeds in the jar… do you have to seed the peppers? Eager to try this! Thanks.
I believe what you see in the bottom of the jar is the mustard sewn and the celery seed added for seasoning, no the seeds from the peppers
Can I leave them whole to can them with this recipe?
Hey Becky,
I’ve never tested that but since this is a refrigerator recipe I would assume it would be fine, it just may not penetrate as deeply.
Hope that helps!
Dani
In the past few years homemade ferments are making a come back, what do you think??? Almost sauerkraut season.
Hello
I am also planning on canning whole peppers – have a bumper crop of pepperoncinis! I have been reading that people put two small slits into the sides of the peppers so the brine can get it. Maybe this would help?
joelle
I have left them whole. Just put slits in peppers so brine can enter them. Worked great!
I adore banana peppers. These look so delicious! I can’t wait to make and pickle my own. I want to start growing them too! This recipe looks great – can’t wait to try making them myself and report back with how they turn out!
Hi, I just finished putting up 4 pints of these with the recipe as written. Mine also took on some orange and red, BUT, something cool happened. My plant was next to a purple bell pepper plant and I also have yellow and purple confetti rings in my jars!! So awesome. I am dubbing these my bread and butter confetti pepper rings. Like most posts on here, hope I can wait a few weeks!!
How gorgeous!
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t wait longer than a week to see how they turned out. OMG! The most mazing peppers ever! Ever Ever. I did 3/4 banana peppers and the rest whatever peppers I had hand. A couple lipstick a couple Tequila sunrise, I even threw in a paprika pepper and a spicy purple pepper expecting them to be spicy but no! just right. I also added the 1/2 tsp canning salt. First time canning peppers. Thanks so much!
Yay! I’m so glad you loved them as much as we do!
xoxo,
Dani
Such a nice recipe! This type of pepper can be preserved by sun drying method, can’t it? My child is allergic to celery so what should i use to replace it in this recipe?
Thanks for the recipe, I love all things spicy and hot! Definetly will be giving these a try!
I dont think you have to use celery seed. I like it sweet anyway.
has someone used mother vinegar for pickling? How did it go.
Thank you for an easy recipe for my first time “canning” anything! My jars are all popping merrily; can’t wait to taste them!
I’ve been canning for 40 years not using the hot water bath and just storing sealed jars on the shelf. My recipe has canning salt along with a 50-50 water to vinegar ratio. I know this does not follow USDA guidelines, but do the research on botulism, it is basically non existent in canning except with meat. I also use garlic powder and dill seed in some quarts just to mix it up.
I just got 8 – 1/2 bushels of sweet banana peppers and want to pickle them using a hot water bath canning method. I’ve been looking at recipes and several say I have to blister and peel them first, is this a must? All the recipes are for pints or half pints, how do I convert it to quarts? Thanks
4 half pints to a quart. Do the math. 1 cleaned pound of peppers for 1 quart of vinegar. You can peel the peppers after roasting if you wish. Makes a totally different pepper. Much sweeter and softer than just pouring hot vinegar solution into a jar. I put the sliced peppers into the pot of boiling spiced vinegar and then jar the whole mess. Hope you have luck.
Thanks for chiming in Bill. I agree with all he said Stacey, I do prefer the crunchiness that the fridge version of these provides vs a water bath. But if I have a big batch I will do some both ways. Cooking them or water bathing them softens the pepper some as would roasting/peeling. Hope that helps!
xoxo Dani
Just opened a jar we canned 2 weeks ago to see if we liked the taste before canning more. Very vinegary bite. Is this normal? Will it lessen the longer we let them sit?
Hi Jill,
Yes they are canned in basically straight vinegar and are quite vinegary. I think they get better with age but I wouldn’t say they get less vinegary, just taste more seasoned with time. Thanks!
Dani
I have been canning for years…….after boiling the brine and putting them in sterile jars, they will seal and you can leave them out on the shelf for years and it is safe. If you are growing mold or they ferment the jars did not seal properly!! I also make jelly and it is good for years also. I have never canned by boiling the jars after they seal. I will go so far to say that the only thing I have canned is jelly and peppers. My Mother taught me how to do this and we have never gotten sick.
Hey Charlotte,
I agree with you personally and we do that as well. But it’s not approved via the government canning agencies though so we tend to err on the side of safety and follow their guidelines in our recommendations. Thanks for chiming in!
~Dani
I want to make this. But.. I see a reference to a brine, the description says salty, but, there is not salt in the ingredients. Am I missing something?
Thank-you
Hey Denice,
That is such a good point! The recipe is accurate it does not contain salt but they do taste salty to me. I just cracked a can open (I just made some last week haha!) and tried them with extra salt and they were great that way too. So I would say taste the brine as it is and if you want it a bit saltier feel free to add a bit to your taste preference. Apparently vinegar does have a bit of a salty flavor from my quick googling so that must be what I pick up. Thanks for the comment!
Dani
You think I could add some sugar to cut down on the vinegar taste
Celery seed contains sodium mono glutamate in a natural form, so it will add umami and a bit of salt taste.
Adding a teaspoon of salt will enhance the work of the sugar and give you a less acrid taste.
Thanks for the feedback Bill! Definitely will give that a try in the next batches we make 🙂
–Dani
Tried this recipe last year and it was a big hit! Using it again for this years crop. Thought you might enjoy knowing that we raise chickens and had one bantam hen that laid small eggs. I decided to hard boil them and used your recipe to pickle them. Out of this world good!! Thanks for another year of good pickled pepper (and eggs) eating!!!!!
Nicole I’m so excited to hear this and my husband went ga-ga over your idea to pickle eggs in this. He is gonna give that a try this week!
My mother has made these for years and also would do some with Hotdogs in them. They go really go great with beer.
Everyone loved this recipe! I used it for cucumbers also! I tasted it after a week and the vinager was still a little strong so I would suggest waiting as long as possible before opening them. I can’t wait to make more! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for the comment Krystal!
These are amazing!!!! I didn’t have mustard seed so I omitted it and they were still awesome! I can only imagine how much better they might be with them. Putting on the grocery list and I’m going to harvest the rest of the peppers and pickle them. Actually eating them on pizza as I’m typing this. Thank you for the recipe. Oh, and I didn’t process them i just let them seal on their own. Still alive so far.
Yay! So glad they turned out well!
We have changed our recommendation to following USDA guidelines or storing these in the fridge continually. We don’t want anyone dying on our advice haha.
I don’t have celery seed, is it necessary?
Hey Stephanie,
I am a huge fan of the flavor. You can make it without but it really adds a lot to the final dish so I would definitely recommend locating some if you can.
How do you think this would turn out with jalapenos and a variety of peppers? Not sure I have enough bananas to make this, but combined with others peppers I do.
Hey Jennifer. Yes! These work perfect with other peppers. We have found adding the jalapeño slices will drastically increase the spiciness so make sure you can handle a good hot spicy pepper ring if you are going to add a significant amount. You can also pickle lots of other things in this brine….radishes, celery, onions, etc. It is quite strong so some things like celery break down pretty quickly (2-3 days) and start getting floppy so we usually do a 24-48 hour pickle with those things. Hope that helps!
I notice there is no salt in this recipe. I have pounds of peppers to do something with so will have to give some away, so will definitely inform folks to refrigerate. Do you ever add garlic?
You are correct Carole we do not add salt as we like them sweet and tangy. I have added garlic before and it also works lovely! We particularly like putting a few jalapeño slices in each jar to add a bit of spice to them. It doesn’t take many though so if you aren’t a huge spice eater start with just a few 🙂
We have friends beg for jars of these so I plant lots of peppers just to make these for gifts.
I’m anxious to try these pickled peppers. I just have one question. Could you please verify the yield? It sates “4 pints” at the top of the recipe, but throughout the recipe it refers to 4 – half pints. Thanks!
Hi Teresa,
Thanks so much for the comment! I’m not sure why I’ve never noticed that error, I must have been delirious tired or something when I posted this. It is indeed 4 pints and the recipe card has been updated to reflect this.
Sorry for the confusion!
They may start to ferment if not refridgerated. I know some pickles are made by fermenting however….but I would keep them in fridge myself, since the instructions aren't specifically for fermented pickles.
We have never had the jars ferment if the jars and lids are started hot and seal properly. We refrigerate after opening any jars. If you allow them to sit on the shelf after opening I suppose they could start to ferment but I don’t recommend doing that.
Hi Amy,
The boiled vinegar is exactly why we feel comfortable using them in that way and the method of heating our jars in a very hot oven and sterilizing the lids, etc. Many condiments with a much lower amount of vinegar can really be stored safely on the shelf though in this day and age we are always overly cautious. I have updated the printable recipe card to include the disclaimer below it as well so that it will print with the instructions. We certainly do not want people getting sick and I’m sure that this has provided adequate information for them to make a decision they are comfortable with for their family.
Thanks so much for your comment and for reporting back on the brine’s flavor!
Made them last week,and my husband opened a jar today …couldn’t wait, it was the first thing I ever canned solo without my mom, they turned out so good, thank you
I’m so glad to hear that Rebecca! Thanks so much for coming by and sharing it made my day 🙂
Just to be sure, even unopened they need to be refrigerated?
Hey Lisa,
Once they seal down they are shelf stable but technically if you are following the strict guidelines they should be boiled in the water bath. With such a high vinegar content and the sealing happening we feel comfortable storing on the shelf. If you are concerned you can definitely store them in the refrigerator just to be safe. Boiling in the water bath will make them less crunchy. Hope that helps!
Dani
gonna try this recipe. my boyfriend loves banana peppers. we planted some and got great results.
Let us know how you like them! We just made some banana pepper poppers last night since ours are churning out peppers right now. Soo tasty!
~Dani
No water? I’ve been looking at recipes for the pepperoncinis, and I love trying a variety of them. I will say that pickle crisp (from Ball) makes a great difference in the texture when you do long-term canning.
Yup no water in this one Jen! I’ll have to give that pickle crisp a try…thanks for the tip!
~Dani
Think I'll try this.
we've pickled banana peppers before….love them!! mr. b
They are some of our favorites!
mom, u need to save this one.
Awesome my fianc'e loves banana peppers and I didn't know how to can them he buys al lot of them and NOW I CAN TRY TO GROW AND CAN MYSELF. THANKS FOR POSTING.
This is a great recipe for putting them up Alma and they are so plentiful if you grow them yourself! Thanks for stopping by and for the comment….let me know how they turn out for you! 🙂
~Dani
I did not plant banana peppers this year 🙁 they are a favorite round here. Headed to the vegetable stand today to see if they have them!
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How long in the hot water bath if using 1/2 pint jars?
Hi Lynn,
I have updated this recipe to include the link to the USDA guidelines for canning procedures. Timing is the same for pints and half pints.
Thanks!!
OOOOO Dad loves these!!! Thanks for the recipe <3