Pepper Jelly substitute

Best substitute

Apple jelly with minced jalapeno and vinegar (best homemade fix)

½ cup apple jelly, 1 to 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno, 2 teaspoons cider vinegar, pinch of salt

Best for cream cheese and crackers

Close match

This is close to how pepper jelly is actually made, so it is the swap that comes nearest. Warm the jelly until just loose, stir everything in off the heat, and chill for twenty minutes to firm up. It sets as firmly as the real thing and mounds on cream cheese exactly the same way. The differences are honest ones: the pepper flavour is raw and grassy rather than cooked and rounded, and the flecks are green rather than the red bell pepper you often see in a jar. Seed the chilies for milder heat, keep the seeds for more.

Other pepper jelly substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Sweet chili sauce (Thai style)
Different texture
⅔ the amount of pepper jelly called for
The closest thing on a supermarket shelf on flavour: sweet, vinegary, mildly hot, with visible chili flecks, which is the same idea in a different form.
What changes
The problem is body. Sweet chili sauce is a pourable sauce, not a set jelly, so on a block of cream cheese it slides off and puddles, and in a glaze it thins the sauce. It is also more garlicky and often thinner-tasting. Use less of it, and if you need it to hold, simmer it with a quarter teaspoon of cornstarch slaked in cold water and let it cool.
Best for
glazing chicken, salmon or meatballs, dipping sauce, stirring into cream cheese rather than sitting on top, sandwich spread
Beating it into softened cream cheese instead of pouring it over solves the running problem entirely.
3Red currant jelly or apple jelly with red pepper flakes
Different taste
Use the same amount plus ¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon vinegar per ½ cup
The pantry version of the same trick, useful when there is no fresh chili in the house.
What changes
Warm the jelly, stir in the flakes and vinegar, and let it sit twenty minutes so the heat blooms out of the flakes; it will keep getting hotter for the first hour, so start low. The set stays perfect. What you miss is the vegetal sweetness of real bell and chili pepper, so it tastes more like sweet-hot jelly and less like pepper jelly, but on a cheese board almost nobody notices.
Best for
cream cheese appetizers, baked brie, ham and pork glazes, biscuits and cheese straws
A pinch of smoked paprika adds depth and a redder colour.
4Hot honey, or honey with chili flakes
Taste and texture differ
Use ¾ the volume of the jelly, plus 1 teaspoon vinegar for every ½ cup
Sweet plus heat, no set and no acidity unless you add it, which is why the vinegar matters.
What changes
Honey is sweeter than pepper jelly spoon for spoon, so use less. On hot food, drizzled over fried chicken, pizza, cornbread or roasted carrots, it is excellent and arguably better. On a cold cheese plate it spreads out into a thin pool within a minute or two. Make your own by warming half a cup of honey with half a teaspoon of chili flakes for five minutes off the boil.
Best for
drizzling over fried chicken or pizza, cornbread and biscuits, roast vegetables, glazing pork
Do not use it as a glaze early in roasting; honey burns faster than jelly.
5Apricot or peach preserves with chili
Different taste
Use the same amount plus 1 to 2 teaspoons minced chili or ¼ teaspoon flakes and 2 teaspoons vinegar per ½ cup
A very good savoury option and a real Southern habit in its own right.
What changes
Apricot preserves have the firm set and tang that pepper jelly needs, so the texture is right, and the stone fruit flavour reads as deliberate rather than like a compromise, particularly with pork, ham and brie. It is fruitier and sweeter than pepper jelly and the colour is amber rather than red. Sieve out large fruit pieces if you want a smooth glossy top on cheese.
Best for
baked brie, ham and pork glazes, grilled chicken and wings, cheese boards
Add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard for a savoury glaze that tastes less like dessert.
6Pepper relish or hot chow chow, drained
Different texture
Use the same amount drained well
Right flavour family, wrong texture.
What changes
Pepper relish is chopped peppers in a sweet vinegar brine, so it delivers the sweet-hot-sour combination and plenty of actual pepper, but it is wet and chunky rather than glossy and set. Drain it hard in a sieve for ten minutes, and if you want it to hold on cheese, simmer the drained relish with 2 tablespoons of apple jelly per half cup and cool it. As a glaze or a topping for grilled meat it needs no adjustment.
Best for
topping grilled meat and sausages, cream cheese dips, stirred in, cornbread, burger topping
Chow chow and giardiniera are saltier than pepper jelly, so hold back on any added salt.

What is Pepper Jelly?

Pepper Jelly is Pepper jelly, sold as hot pepper jelly, red pepper jelly or jalapeno jelly, is a firm sweet-hot jelly made from chopped chilies and sweet peppers cooked with sugar, vinegar and pectin, and it is a Southern American staple usually spooned over cream cheese or baked brie.

Cooking tips

For the cream cheese appetizer, temperature is what makes it work. Serve the cream cheese cold and straight from the fridge and the jelly on top at room temperature, so it stays as a glossy mound instead of melting into a puddle. If your substitute is loose, beat it into softened cream cheese and shape it into a log instead.
Heat in a pepper jelly comes almost entirely from the seeds and the pale ribs inside the chili. When you are making your own, seed the jalapenos for a jelly that tastes of pepper with a warm background, and leave a third of the seeds in for something that actually bites.
Chili heat keeps developing for the first hour after you mix it in, especially with dried flakes. Season low, wait twenty minutes, then taste again before adding more.
On baked brie, spoon the jelly on after the cheese comes out of the oven, not before. Baked for twenty minutes it caramelises, turns sticky-dark and tastes burnt-sweet rather than fresh and hot.
Homemade pepper jelly for sealed jars is a canned product whose safety depends on its vinegar content. Peppers are low-acid, so never reduce the vinegar, increase the peppers, or improvise the proportions in a tested recipe. Use a tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation and keep the acid exactly as written.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the pepper jelly out?

It depends on the recipe. In the cream cheese or baked brie appetizer, the jelly is the entire dish apart from the cheese, so leaving it out gives you a plate of plain cheese; use any sweet-hot alternative instead. In a glaze for meatballs, wings or ham it is one of two or three flavours and you can replace it with jam plus a pinch of chili flakes and a splash of vinegar. In a marinade or a dressing where it was a minor sweetener, you can skip it and add a teaspoon of honey.

How hot is pepper jelly, really?

Most jarred pepper jelly is mild. There is usually far more sweet bell pepper than chili in it, and the sugar blunts what heat there is, so it reads as sweet with a warm tickle at the end rather than genuinely spicy. If you are making a substitute, start with about a tablespoon of minced jalapeno per half cup of jelly and taste, because homemade versions get hot much faster than the jarred kind.

Is red pepper jelly the same as hot pepper jelly?

Broadly yes, and they swap directly. Red pepper jelly usually leans on sweet red bell peppers for colour with a little chili for warmth, while hot pepper jelly or jalapeno jelly puts more chili in. Green versions are simply made with green jalapenos. Any of them substitutes for any other; just taste for heat before you serve it.

What can I use instead of pepper jelly on baked brie?

Apricot preserves with a pinch of chili flakes and a teaspoon of vinegar is the best swap and a classic pairing in its own right. Red currant jelly with chili flakes is next. Sweet chili sauce tastes right but is thin, so it will run down the sides of the cheese; simmer it briefly with a little cornstarch slurry if you use it. Add whichever you choose after baking, not before.

Can I make pepper jelly without pectin?

Not really as a true jelly, because peppers contain essentially no pectin of their own, so without added pectin you will end up with a thin pepper syrup no matter how long you boil it. The shortcut is to borrow someone else's set: stir minced chili and a little vinegar into apple jelly or red currant jelly, which are already pectin-set, and chill. It behaves exactly like pepper jelly on a cheese plate.

Related substitutes

More preserves substitutes

Pepper Jelly substitute

Other pepper jelly substitutes

2Sweet chili sauce (Thai style)

3Red currant jelly or apple jelly with red pepper flakes

4Hot honey, or honey with chili flakes

5Apricot or peach preserves with chili

6Pepper relish or hot chow chow, drained