Southern Pepper Sauce Recipe
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This pepper sauce recipe is a Southern family favorite. Perfect for serving with cornbread, greens, or black eyed peas, this Southern Pepper Sauce is one you’ll turn to again and again.
Pepper Sauce is a favorite condiment for serving with any number of dishes in the south. It’s delicious with foods like black-eyed peas, pinto beans, collard greens, or turnip greens. Many even like a bit of it with their BBQ. A jar of this spicy sauce can just about always be found on the supper table, making it a staple item to make each year.
At the end of each summer, Daddy would gather peppers from his garden to make a good number of jars to use, keep in the pantry, and share with friends.
Here’s our family pepper sauce recipe. This recipe is for a one-pint jar.
Southern Pepper Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or pickling salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil, optional for extra hot pepper sauce
- about 30 small peppers
Instructions
- Clean jar, lid, and band and rinse well. Keep warm.
- Mix together sugar, salt, vinegar, and optional olive oil in a stainless steel saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat until it begins to boil.
- Fill jar with peppers and pour hot vinegar mixture over the peppers. Leave about 1 inch of headspace from the top of the jar
- Remove air bubbles in the jar by tilting jar slightly to allow bubbles to escape as press peppers against opposite side of the jar.
- Wipe jar rim to clean. Place lid on top of jar and tighten ring.
- Allow jars to seal by setting on countertop to cool with about 1 inch in between each.
- Test seal after about 12 hours by pressing finger to the center of the lid. If sealed, it will not pop back. If not sealed, refrigerate and use.
- Store in dark, cool cabinet or pantry for up to a year.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
What kind of peppers do you use?
The peppers used were jalapeño and Serrano in this photo, Susan.
Can olive oil be added at a later date
Best way to store pepper sauce and best way to store after jar has been open
Do you cut into slices ..chop or purée? Ive done everything you suggested now ready to indulge! Thank you!
Greg, you can cut the peppers however you want to eat them or just pour the sauce over your vegetables. Hope you enjoy!
Would sea salt work for this? I only have sea salt and iodized table salt.
I have not used sea salt in this recipe but other people have said they do. Just make sure it is pure sea salt with no additives. You can’t use table salt; it can cause the liquid to be cloudy. Hope this helps.
My dad planted all kinds of peppers and mixed them all. It was the best pepper sauce and I do it too. this year I have some habaneros and I’m really anxious to try it with them
Nice very easy recipe, I’ve never really canned peppers before, but I like pepper sauce, albeit the store bought variety. This year I had a big crop of “Dragon Peppers”, the name is deceiving, they are really no hotter than a jalapeno, but a different sorta flavor. I found some small square Italian flip top canning bottles (condiment bottles) on Amazon, they worked great and kind of decorative. This is a super easy recipe, I’m an engineer, not much of a cook, but 30 or so peppers in the bottle and filled with the mix you describe above, seal it up and after about 2 weeks of marinating, that’s some awesome pepper sauce, better than the store variety, thanks Robyn.
Thanks so much, Anthony. I agree, it does taste so much better than the bottled ones you get at the store.
Is a “stainless steel” pot required for heating the ingredients? Thanks!
Hi Deborah,
You must use a non-reactive pan like stainless steel or enamelware because of the acidity of the vinegar. If you use an aluminum, iron, or other metal pan, the metal can react with the acid and leach into your pepper sauce. You shouldn’t use a reactive pan when cooking any acidic food for this reason. Hope you like the pepper sauce!
I made it with cayenne peppers and a couple of jalapeños! It looks perfect and will be making more!!!
Hi Cindy,
That sounds great!
I made this for the first time and my pepper sauce is cloudy. What did I do wrong? Is it still safe to eat? Thanks
Hi Linda,
There are several reasons the liquid could turn cloudy. Regular table salt has an anti-caking agent that can cause cloudiness. Use either kosher salt or pickling salt. A pan that has aluminum in it can cause a reaction with the vinegar and cause cloudiness and hard water can turn the liquid cloudy. The pepper sauce is safe to eat if these are the causes. However, bacteria can also cause the liquid to turn cloudy. The peppers might be mushy or slimy or have an off-odor if that is the case. These would not be safe to eat. Hope this helps!
I have also made this for years. Teaching my daughter now how to.
I sometimes add a clove of garlic. Yummy!
Thanks, Mona!
I love this. I only make one jar at a time cause usually I can get the peppers. This recipe has terrific flavor and I use the olive oil for ‘hotness’.
So glad to hear that you enjoy it, Sandra! Thanks! xo
Can you re-use peppers & just add more of the liquid? My brother lives in Maui & sent me a couple bottles of their chili pepper water. Then made my own. Drinking shot glass of it every morning for the health benefits, plus have cast iron stomach. Now jars are empty…