Hot Pepper Butter
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Hot Pepper Butter is a sweet, tangy, and spicy mustard spread made with Hungarian peppers, yellow mustard, apple cider cinegar, and plenty of sugar. Despite the name, there’s no butter in it though. Think of it more like a thick sweet-and-spicy pepper mustard that’s ridiculously good with pretzels, sandwiches, burgers, and just about anything that could use a little kick.
I’ve been making this recipe for years after cirst yearing about it at a flea market near my parents. Every time I make a batch, people seem to come out of the woodwork asking for a jar.
I’ve learned one thing from handing it over over the years, if I give you hot pepper butter, I want my jar back. I’m happy to support the addicition. I’m just not funding a new mason jar collection every fall.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Sweet, tangy, and spicy
- Great way to use Hungariant peppers
- Thick, spreadable mustard consistency
- Delicious with pretzels
- Great on sandwiches and burgers
- Makes a large batch for sharing
Ingredient Notes
Hungarian Peppers – these are my go-to for this recipe. Their heat can vary quite a bit so taste a small piece before making the entire batch if you want an idea of how spice the finished pepper butter will be. I remove the stems and seeds, but keep the membranes (for the spice) in the pepper.
Tip: Wear gloves while handling hot peppers. These peppers will leave your hands burning for hours.
Yellow Mustard – Plain prepared yellow mustard provides the classic tangy mustard flavor. I always just use the store brand.
Apple Cider Vinegar – The vinegar adds acidity and balances all of that sugar.
Granulated Sugar – There is quite a bit of sugar in this recipe, but that’s what creates the signature sweet-hot flavor.
Flour or Cooked ClearJel- The flour or clearjel thickens the mixture into spreadable consistency that gives hot pepper butter its name.
Important: I can’t recommend canning this recipe anymore especially if you’re using flour. Flour can interfere with safe heat penetration during canning. Though the cook type clearjel is approved for canning, I don’t want to mislead you and say this is safe for canning since it’s not a scientically tested recipe. I will say have canned the hot pepper butter recipe with cook-style ClearJel without issue in the past and also have froze it without an issue.
How to Make Hot Pepper Butter
Step 1: Remove the stems and seeds from the Hungarian peppers. Add them to a food processor and process until they reach your preferred size. I prefer mine very fine.
Step 2: Whisk together the flour and sugar in a large stockpot. Add half of the yellow mustard and whisk until combined.
Step 3: Add the remaining mustard, chopped peppers, apple cider vinegar, water, and salt. Place over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil.
Step 5: Once it begins boiling, stir constantly. The mixture can scorch easily as it thickens. Let cook until it reaches your preferred consistency. Mine cooked about 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to clean containers and refrigerator or freeze.
Tips for the Best Hot Pepper Butter
- Wear gloves because hot pepper oils can stay on your skin much longer than you’d expect!
- Taste your peppers first! Pepper heat varies from batch to batch.
- Mix the flour/cooked ClearJel with sugar first. This helps make lumps much less likely.
- Add the mustard gradually. Whisk half the mustard into the flour mixture until smooth before adding the rest of the liquid ingredients.
- Stir the mixture constantly once the pepper butter comes up to a boil. The bottom can scorch quickly.
- Use a large pot. This recipe makes 9 to 10 pints of hot pepper butter so there’s a lot of mixture and space is needed in your pan.
How to Store and Freeze
I had to laugh when I went to a farmer’s market and bought a ton of the peppers. I grow a few, but they never seem to produce the enough at the same time to make an entire batch. The man selling me these incredibly spicy peppers asks what I did with them. Of course I said I make hot pepper butter. He gave me a confused look and said, “Ohhh” like he understood.
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Ingredients
- 30 Hot Hungarian peppers
- 1 1/4 cups cook-style Clear Jel, not instant
- 6 cups granulated sugar
- 4 cups yellow mustard
- 4 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Remove the seeds and stems from the Hungarian peppers. Place in a food processor and process until they are chopped to the size you like. I like mine eensy weensy, so I just pulverized mine. Set aside.
- In a large stockpot, add in the flour and sugar. Whisk until combined.
- Add in about half of the mustard and whisk until everything is completely incorporated and there are no lumps from the flour.
- Add in the remaining mustard, peppers, vinegar, water, and salt. Mix with a spatula and everything is combined. Place over medium heat and stir occasionally.
- Once the hot pepper butter comes up to a boil, stir constantly as it will burn easily. Let it cook to your desired thickness. I cook mine about 20 -25 minutes until it becomes quite thick.
- Place your pint jars and lids into the canner to sterilize them.
- Remove one jar at a time and ladle in your hot pepper butter. Wipe the rim clean and pull a lid out of the canner. Tighten the lid on with a band.
- Once all the jars are filled, water bath for 10 minutes.
- Remove from canner and place hot towel over top of the jars.
Notes
Nutrition Info
(Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.)
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When I am ready to use it add 16 oz cream cheese and make it as a dip
How do you think this would be if made with jalapenos instead? It sounds delicious, and I have more jalapenos than I know what to do with this year!
Hi Bethany! This recipe will work great with jalapenos. The butter will be a little spicier and greener but still delicious!