Sweet and spicy, with a hint of garlic, our Bell Pepper Chutney is a great way to use up lots of homegrown chillies! A versatile jam, that can be used as an accompaniment to meat and fish dishes as well as a lovely spread for toast and grilled sandwiches! Make it more or less spicy by including or omitting chilli seeds!
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Best Way To Use Up Homegrown Chillies
Last year, we were overly enthusiastic about growing vegetables! So much so, that we built an extra raised bed and turned our conservatory into a greenhouse. We sowed a bunch of chillies, expecting some of them not to germinate, others not to produce fruit. We couldn't be more wrong. After all 12 plants survived and were flourishing, we gave five of them away, and the remaining seven produced so many chillies that we simply didn't know what to do with them. Soon we started looking for ways to preserve them: making pickled jalapenos, chutneys and jams.
This Chilli and Pepper Jam turned out to be one of our favourite creations. Spicy and sweet, with a hint of garlic, this chilli jam is very versatile. Spread it on toast, add to cheese toasties, and serve with pan-fried chicken breast or tuna steak - it works great!
Savoury chutneys and jams are made using the same method as when making sweet fruit jams. The only difference is that we don't use jam sugar with added pectin. In fact, in this recipe, brown sugar works better. And if you can get raw cane sugar, it will be even tastier.
This Chilli & Pepper Jam works equally well with red and green chillies and peppers, or simply use a mixture. The colour of the jam may be a bit muddled if you choose to mix it, but it will taste just as great!
How to Sterilise Jars?
Clean sterilized jars are crucial to the success and longevity of any jams and other preserves you make. Sterilizing is an important part of preserving to remove bacteria, yeasts or fungi, therefore your jams and preserved are protected and safe to eat for longer.
To sterilise your jars, preheat the oven to 120°C Fan. Pour boiling water right up to the top into your clean jars and metal lids. Pour the water out and place the jars and lids apart in the preheated oven. Heat for 15 minutes. Switch off the oven and leave the jars to cool down before removing them from the oven.
How to Make Our Capsicum Chutney?
Into a food processor, place roughly chopped up peppers, minced garlic and finely chopped onion and chilli peppers and pulse into a coarse paste.
Heat the cider vinegar and brown sugar in a medium pan, stirring until it dissolves. Then squeeze in the lemon juice.
Add the pepper and chilli paste. Stir to combine and increase the heat slightly. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and keep on cooking for 30-40 minutes, until the mixture has thickened.
Pour hot jam into sterilised jars and screw the lids on.
Recipe FAQs
Both red and green chillies will work fine in this recipe. We used a mixture of jalapeno chilli peppers. You may choose a different type of chilli to use, but make sure you can handle the heat that they will bring to the chutney. The level of heat can also be adjusted by including or omitting the seeds of the chilli. We personally like to keep about ⅓ of the seeds for a good amount of chilli spice. 
Absolutely. Brown sugar adds the lovely molasses flavour to the red capsicum chutney but caster or white granulated sugar will work just fine - your chutney will be more vibrant in colour too.
Other Savoury Jams and Chutneys
If you enjoyed our Spicy Capsicum Chutney recipe, have a look at some of our other savoury jam and chutney ideas below:
Recipe Card
Spicy Bell Pepper Chutney with Chilli
Equipment
Ingredients
- 300 g red and/or green peppers roughly chopped
- 300 g red and/or green chillis finely chopped
- 2 garlic clove
- 1 large brown onion approx 150g
- 2 lemons juice only
- 400 g brown sugar
- 200 ml cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Into a food processor, place roughly chopped up peppers, minced garlic and finely chopped onion and chilli peppers and pulse into coarse paste.
- Heat the cider vinegar and brown sugar in a medium pan, stirring until it dissolves. Then squeeze in the lemon juice.
- Add the pepper and chilli paste. Stir to combine and increase the heat slightly. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and keep on cooking for 30-40 minutes, until the mixture has thickened.
- Pour hot jam into sterilised jars and screw the lids on.
Nutrition
Ruth says
Could you tell me how long to store this chutney before opening, and how long it will keep once opened. Thank you.
Ieva Greber says
Hi, Ruth! We typically leave it to mature for 1 month. Once opened, store it in the fridge and ideally eat it within a couple of weeks. Hope this helps 🙂