Pickled Peppers

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After my success with the quick refrigerator pickles, I was eager to pickle anything I could get my hands on. I pickled some red onions, which Bryan and I enjoy on everything from salads to quesadillas. Then, I came across this recipe of Molly Wizenberg’s for pickled peppers and immediately went to my farmers market to get some mini bell peppers.

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Not only are these beautiful with their layers of color, they are delicious. And useful in a variety of situations to top everything from pizza to sandwiches. They are even good on their own as a first course with some bread and cheese. I tried to pick out a nice color assortment so the jars would look beautiful but these would be just as good if you could only find one color. If your peppers are larger, you can cut the rings in half and pickle them as strips.

As summer is coming to a close and autumn quickly approaches, preservation is on my mind. While these quick pickles only keep for a week or two, with proper canning you can extend the harvest. Even without proper canning, things can be frozen or dried. I’ll be trying my hand at drying my own herbs. I hope you’re thinking about how to hold on to some of the late-summer bounty for cold days to come.

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Pickled Peppers (adapted from Molly Wizenberg)

  • 1 pound sweet or mild mini bell peppers, sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, seeded
  • 2 large shallots, thinly sliced, separated into rings
  • 2 cups white wine vinegar
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 5 fresh thyme sprigs
  • 2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
  • Pinch of coarse kosher salt

Place peppers and shallots in a medium bowl.
Mix vinegar and remaining 6 ingredients in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Remove brine from heat; carefully pour over peppers and shallots. Cover bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Uncover; cool to room temperature. Transfer to quart-size jar, pressing peppers into brine. Cover; chill at least 4 hours and up to 10 days.

20 comments to “Pickled Peppers”

  1. Beautiful peppers!

    I have really been enjoying pickling this season.

  2. I adore pickled peppers. There’s this restaurant in LaVale MD that serves pickled peppers on their sandwiches. The sandwiches are good, but the peppers really make them great. I know they get the peppers from US Food Service, but I haven’t been able to find them in a store. I’m going to try to making yours.

  3. Try pickling thinly sliced eggplant. Macerate the strips in red wine vinegar. Layer with basil, pepper flakes and garlic then cover with oil. Delicious with fresh ricotta and crusty bread as a snack or first course!

  4. pretty pictures of pickled peppers Peter Piper!

  5. yes, I love these super close-up shots.

  6. Aw, man! You beat me to the Peter Piper crack!

  7. Last year I jumped into the canning arena, after watching from the sidelines forever. I put up 1/2 a dozen jars of lemon curd, made with lemons from the tree in my back yard. It was such a satisfying experience! Haven’t gotten around to canning anything this year, but am thinking something pickled like this would be easy and yummy. Or maybe some plum jam. Or both! I can’t tell you how cool it is to open your cupboard and find something delicious that you made with your own little hands months earlier.

  8. Oh how perfect! I just got a ton of mini bells in my CSA box this week and have been at a bit of a loss…

  9. Ah, I’ve been like a crack fiend with the refrigerator pickling lately, too! Made these sichuan pepper pickles that are like woah.

  10. Beautiful peppers! We learned how to make jam in class this past week and now I feel a desperate need to can/pickle the produce that won’t be around come a couple of weeks. I’d love to try my hand at canning something savory and this might be a good start!

  11. Yum… pickled peppers sound tasty. Your pictures of the pickled peppers in the mason jars are absolutely amazing – beautiful colors!

  12. Another devoted fan…I came across your (superlative! aesthetically pleasing! sweet!) blog on Design*Sponge and was hooked by the simple yet beautiful pics and your lovely writing style. I seem to have worked my way from your very first to the very last post in the course of one day. Well done you (and your helpful and techy bf by the sounds of it), thank you.

  13. Thanks so much, sasa! Very kind words, and such dedication! I am so glad you are enjoying the site.

  14. I looove pickles of all kinds. My friends recently had a pickling party and they gave me a jar of pickled trash as a booby prize- squash stems, lemon peels with the stickers still on them, scraps of all kinds. It looks beautiful at first… but then you realize you have been bamboozled.

  15. Beautiful website! I too love preserving and bottling. You have inspired me. It is spring here in New Zealand and the neighbours have a tree heavy with tangelos. I think this weekend I will make some marmalade with them.

  16. Pickles are still unconquered territory, for me. But that is about to change. Thanks for the inspiration!

  17. Marion Cain says:

    October 8th, 2009 at 10:25 am

    What a great idea! I’ll make them today the last of the garden produce has just been picked. I have a recipe for Green Tomato Pickles that we love.

  18. I love your pickled peppers. I just made some myself, using your recipe. Thanks a lot for sharing!!

  19. What if you wanted to preserve these for longer than 10 days? Would you process/can them or would that change the flavor you think?

  20. Hi Maria, I would not process these. Their beauty is that they are not cooked and stay very fresh and crisp. There are a ton of other pickle recipes out there if you want to find a more traditional recipe for putting up. Happy pickling!

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