Easy Pickled Thai Chili Peppers are super economical and easy to make and so much better than store bought! These pickled Thai Chili Peppers are a delicious addition to sandwiches, burgers, and even your favorite rice dishes.
These addictive peppers are Whole30, paleo, gluten free, grain free, dairy free, sugar free, clean eating, real food (and of course, vegan!).
Guarantee you will need a jar or two of these always in your fridge! It’s the middle of a scorching hot summer and I like to spend as much time making quick recipes and grilling. The only heat I like coming out of my kitchen is from preserving gorgeous peppers!
You can see I’ve been having fun with these gorgeous hot peppers! I used some in my Caramelized Coconut Green Beans (not pickled, just fresh peppers).
What you need to make these homemade Pickled Thai Chili Peppers:
- Thai chili peppers
- garlic
- water
- vinegar
- sugar (if you’re not making these Whole30 compliant-Paleo-Keto, add in 4 Tablespoons sugar)
- salt
- glass jars with a tight fitting lid
How to pickle Thai chili peppers:
- Rinse off Thai chili peppers. You could slice into evenly sized rings if you’d like to pickle them in small pieces.
- Pack peppers into glass jar (or one very large jar) with a tight-fitting lid. Add a clove of garlic to each jar. If using one large jar, add them all into that jar.
- In a medium saucepan, combine water, vinegar, salt, and sugar.
- Bring water to a low simmer and stir until sugar and salt are just melted (not boiling).
- Remove vinegar mixture and using a ladle very carefully pour the mixture into the jars with Thai chili peppers. You may end up with extra pickling liquid. Store it in a jar in the fridge and pickle something else with it.
- Allow to cool for approximately 1-hour, cover and refrigerate.
- The pickled peppers are ready to eat in 24 to 48 hours!
Sadly, there will be no Calabrian peppers from my mother-in-law Teresa this summer in Italy. When they were visiting us this past January, she was canning jalapeños for us and even wanted to bring some back to Italy!
My in-laws love to add them onto almost every dish they eat! Teresa enjoys them on her Calabrian eggs, and even spices up pasta dishes with them!
So even though these aren’t Calabrian hot peppers, you could use them to get spice on just about any recipe! If you can’t resist a little heat like we do, you will be in love with these spicy beauties!
What can I do with Pickled Thai Chili Pepper?
Besides adding to your favorite Italian dishes, they are incredible on sandwiches, burgers, bowls. So if you are just as obsessed with pickled peppers as I am, you have to try out this recipe!
If you want to avoid the very powerful vapors, pickle the peppers whole (like I did).
These are very tiny and mighty peppers! It is the same pickling recipe I used for easy pickled jalapeños, but it is completely different in flavor.
Do pickled Thai chili peppers need to be refrigerated? How long will they stay fresh?
This particular recipe is for storing the peppers in the fridge. They will stay good in the fridge for up to 6 months.
Not only is it more economical to pickle your own chili peppers, they truly taste so much better than the store-bought version (and no preservatives). I can’t recommend enough using disposable gloves to cut up the peppers!!
The residue from the oil of the peppers will stay on your fingers for hours and burn (speaking from experience!). So put on your gloves before you chop the peppers, use your gloved hands to fill the jars, and then throw the gloves away.
How to make the quick pickled Thai chili peppers less hot?
Adding sugar will soften some of the heat and sweeten the peppers a little bit. If you want to make these Whole30, paleo, keto …do not add any sugar. Since I’m trying to do more clean eating recipes for myself, this recipe was made without sugar.
Most of the heat is found in the seeds, so you could try to leave as many out as you can for a milder pickle. If you slice the peppers into rings, place them in a big bowl of cold water and swirl them around to get out as many seeds as you can. Drain the peppers and then place them in your jars.
If you truly can’t stand the heat, it’s better to reach for a glass of milk than water. The hot capsaicin oils in chiles are soluble in full fat dairy (and even alcohol) but not water.
Substitutions/Variations
If you can’t find pickled Thai chili peppers, you can substitute with another type of pickled pepper, such as jalapeños, serranos, or habaneros. If you want a less spicy dish, you can use sweet cherry peppers instead.
Expert Tips:
- One last and important thing to remember is that this pickled Thai chili peppers recipe is the quick cheater’s version made in the refrigerator. These pickled peppers are not shelf-stable as if you were canning them. They should be stored in the fridge.
- This is my official warning to you that they are extremely HOT! SUPER HOT! VERY important warning: WEAR GLOVES when you are cleaning them and if you happen to be slicing them to pickle slices…be sure to keep the gloves on when you add them to the jars. Remember if you cut them into slices, vapors will be released and they are SPICY!
We give instructions to store these peppers in the refrigerator. We don’t have a truly cool room where we could store things for a many months. We do can things. We store them in the coolest part of our pantry and we end up eating what we can relatively quickly. We store most of what we can in the refrigerator. For more detailed info on canning instructions or directions, follow the USDA guidelines.
Other easy pickled recipes:
Pickled Watermelon Rind
Easy Pickled Cucumbers
Easy Pickled Scotch Bonnet Peppers
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Easy Pickled Thai Chili Peppers
Ingredients
- 2 cups Thai chili peppers or other small no longer than 2 inches fresh hot chilis.
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 4 garlic cloves peeled and gently crush
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
Instructions
- Rinse off peppers.
- Be sure to put on gloves to handle the peppers. Pack peppers into glass jars (or one very large with a tight-fitting lid). If pickling slices, add the slices to the jars and pack them in.
- Add 2 cloves of garlic to each jar ( I used two small jars). Depends how tightly you pack the peppers, I really packed mine in. If using one large jar, add them all into that jar.
- In a medium saucepan, combine water, vinegar, salt (and sugar, if using…see NOTES).
- Bring water to a low simmer and stir until salt (and sugar, if using, see NOTES)are just melted (not boiling).
- Remove vinegar mixture and using a ladle very carefully pour the mixture into the jars with the peppers.
- Allow to cool for approximately 1-hour, cover and refrigerate.
- The pickled Thai chili peppers are ready to eat in 24 to 48 hours.
Vincent Cascino says
I have so many chilies this year(I usually dry them, thai, and cayenne for flakes)My garden went into overdrive, and I have pounds to spare. I’m going to can your recipe though, and was wonder what youd recommend for a processing time in boiling the jars? I’ll be using pint jars.
Lora says
HI Vincent-lucky you with all the peppers…I’m still waiting for mine! Here is some info from the National Center for Home Food Preservation: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/peppers.html. You could explore around their site it’s filled with great info!
TJ says
Hi there!!
I plan on using your method with a bunch of leftover Thai green chilies I have, I just have a few questions! Can I slice the chilis and take the seeds out before putting them in the jars? When washing the chilies, should they be completely dry before putting into jars? Do I have to special treat the jars in any way? Could I also use leftover sauce jars I’ve saved that have good fitting lids? Does this method prevent botulism? And lastly, may I use fine kosher pink sea salt? I’m sorry for so many question, I’ve never done anything like this before! Thanks in advance.
Lora says
Hi TJ-
Yes, slice the chilis and take out the seeds, if you like!
Place the sliced pepper on a clean kitchen towel to drive off.
You could use leftover jars (I do that sometimes)just be sure to sanitize them in boiling water or in your dishwasher.
You could use pink sea salt.
Hope that helps and you enjoy!