Jalapeno Salt
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Jalapeno salt is so easy to make at home, all you need is dried jalapenos or other peppers and coarse kosher salt! This delicious salt is perfect on everything from margarita rims, to popcorn, to steak and eggs.
Flavoured finishing salts are so fun. They are a great way to add some complexity to your dish without a whole lot of work.
That fact coupled with my constant need to experiment in the kitchen has brought out some pretty cool flavoured salts. I’ve tackled smoked salt, and sriracha salt. Today, I’m going to share my jalapeno spicy salt.
This jalapeno salt recipe is dedicated to experiments gone right.
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Tips + Tricks
No. 1 –> This recipe requires dehydrated peppers, don’t worry, I’ve got a great dehydrated jalapenos tutorial for you. I’ll include brief directions for dehydrating the peppers in this recipe, but there’s tons of information in my tutorial if you need more!
No. 2 –> If you’ve got a mask think about wearing it while blending the salt and jalapenos. The jalapeรฑos can give off some strong fumes. Another great way to beat the fumes is to drape a damp kitchen towel over the blender or food processor – the towel helps to trap the spicy air and keep it away from your nose and lungs. This tip is courtesy an awesome Crave reader – Thanks Judy!
No. 3 –> This recipe will work for any kind of hot pepper, I’m thinkin’ habaneros, chili peppers, or serranos would be delicious!
No. 4 –> Pick over the dried peppers carefully, any that aren’t completely brittle need to be dried longer or discarded as they will add moisture to your salt and that’s a pain in the behind.
No. 5 –> This salt makes a fantastic gift for the foodies in your life. Packaged in a nice spice jar and wrapped with a bow is a great way to give a little spice to someone’s life!
Jalapeno Fan? Try These Jalapeno Forward Recipes!
Key Ingredients
Jalapeรฑos: You’ll need dried jalapenos for this recipe. As with any dried food, proper storage of the dried peppers goes a long way in ensuring the quality of flavor, so ensure your dried jalapenos are up to snuff!
Salt: I like to use coarse kosher salt for this recipe. Coarse sea salt would work too, but it’s a harder salt so it may need more blending than kosher.
How To Make Jalapeno Salt
Starting With Fresh Jalapeno Peppers:
- Wash and dry jalapenos. Wearing gloves, remove the stems, de-seed, and dice the peppers into a fine dice.
- Spread prepared peppers on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate for 6-10 hours at 125f, or until completely brittle. See How To: Dehydrate Jalapeno Peppers for more information.
- Continue with directions below.
Starting With Dried Peppers:
- Add the dried peppers to the bowl of your food processor and pulse 2-3 times. The goal here is to break up the jalapenos into smaller pieces, similar to that of the salt grains. If you don’t prefer a finer salt, process until the pepper pieces are quite small.
- Once the jalapenos are chopped down a bit, add the salt to the food processor.
- Pulse the until the salt and jalapenos are completely combined and the texture is as desired, less blending will equal larger pieces while more blending will result in a finer grind.
- Transfer the salt to an airtight container for storage and add to a shaker or salt bowl when required.
How To Use Jalapeno Salt
This section might be better served by asking how not to use jalapeno salt. Aside from mixing in your coffee, I cannot think of a single bad use for this salt!
- add it to your guacamole
- rim your margaritas with it
- use it in the rub for your smoked recipes
- sprinkle it on popcorn or popcorn balls
- add to pepper jack mac, or cheese bread, or to finish your sous vide green beans
- sprinkle it on smoked almonds, or on smoked pumpkin seeds
- use it on french fries
- season your chicken with it!
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Batch + Storage Information
Batch:
This recipe whips up about 1 1/2 cups of jalapeno salt. It can be scaled easily up or down, though, at the rate that you’ll use this salt, I don’t recommend all the work for a half batch – it will be gone too fast!
Scale:
- 5 jalapenos (about 1/4 cup dried) – 1/2 cup coarse salt
- 10 jalapenos (about 1/2 cup dried) – 1 cup coarse salt
- 30 jalapenos (about 1 1/2 cup dried) – 3 cups coarse salt
Storage:
As with any dried herb or spice, this homemade jalapeno salt should be kept in an airtight container in a dark, cool place. I keep my extras in a mason jar in my spice cupboard and the portion we’re using in a shaker. It will keep well over a year as the salt will help preserve the dried peppers too!
Recommended Equipment
Food processor: I have a CUISINART FOOD PROCESSOR that is probably 10 years old, and it’s a total workhorse! This unit is perfect for blending up these dehydrated jalapenos and salt for a kick ass jalapeno salt.
Dehydrator: I have and love(!) a 9 RACK EXCALIBUR DEHYDRATOR. We use it to DEHYDRATE CITRUS WHEELS, GARLIC, STRAWBERRIEs, PEARS and even, DEHYDRATE MARSHMALLOWS, and much more. It’s got a 24-hour timer and very precise temperature controls so it’s great for dehydrating various foods.
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๐ Printable Recipe
Jalapeno Salt
Ingredients
- ยฝ cup dehydrated jalapenos about 10
- 1 cup coarse kosher salt
Instructions
- Wash and dice fresh jalapenos. Spread them on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate for 6-10 hours at 125f, or until completely brittle.
- Add the ยฝ cup dehydrated jalapenos to the bowl of your food processor and pulse 2-3 times. The goal here is to break up the jalapenos into smaller pieces before we add the salt. lt. If you don't mind a finer salt, skip this step.
- Once the jalapenos are chopped down a bit, add 1 cup coarse kosher salt.
- Pulse the food processor until the salt and jalapenos are completely combined and the texture is as desired, less blending will equal larger pieces while more blending will result in a finer grind.
- Transfer the salt to an airtight container for storage and add to a shaker or salt bowl when required.
Notes
how to use jalapeno salt
- add it to yourย GUACAMOLE
- rim your margaritas with it
- use it in the rub for yourย SMOKED RECIPES
- sprinkle it on popcorn orย POPCORN BALLS
- add toย PEPPER JACK MAC, orย CHEESE BREAD, or to finish yourย SOUS VIDE GREEN BEANS
- sprinkle it onย SMOKED ALMONDS, or onย SMOKED PUMPKIN SEEDS
Batch:
This recipe whips up about 1 1/2 cup of jalapeno salt. It can be scaled easily up or down, though, at the rate that you'll use this salt, I don't recommend all the work for a half batch – it will be gone too fast! Scale:- 5 jalapenos (1/4 cup dried) – 1/2 cup coarse salt
- 10 jalapenos (1/2 cup dried) – 1 cup coarse salt
- 30 jalapenos (1 1/2 cups dried) – 3 cups coarse salt
Storage:
As with any dried herb or spice, this homemade jalapeno salt should be kept in an airtight container in a cool, dark cupboard. It will keep well over a year as the salt will help preserve the dried peppers too!Recommended Equipment + Ingredients
Nutrition
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Can you dehydrate in the oven? And how?
You may be able to dehydrate them in the oven, but it really depends on how low in temperature your oven goes! I recommend trying only if your oven can be set to 150 or lower.
How much jalapeรฑo salt do you typically use at one time in a dish?
I really only use it to taste!
Made my first batch. Wonderful. Iโm making more fire Christmas gifts
รถzellikle yemeklere farklฤฑ tat vermesi harika
Delicious
I assume I can use freeze dried jalapenos which definitely has no moisture.
I would just send a few through your salt mill first to see how they break down – I’m not familiar with how freeze-dried foods behave under crushing pressure – they may powderize? Otherwise, if you’re happy with how they behave through the mill, then absolutely! (I wish I had a freeze dryer LOL)
I just got done making this. It is a terrible idea that needs a warning. It produced a dust that has enveloped my entire house and if someone has any breathing problems you may not want to do this.
I’m sorry you found this created a massive dust cloud! I did mention that masks are helpful because this recipe can create some strong fumes, but I have made it several times and haven’t had major dust issues!
I have been dehydrating peppers for 30 years or so. I never added mine to another ingredient, I would coursely grind mine in a freezer bag and rolling pin then fill a pepper grinder and call Mark’s Green Sugar even though the only ingredient is dehydrated peppers. I have a grinder on the table and one on the kitchen counter. The first time we dehydrated we tried the food processor and the cloud was unbearable so I came up with this idea.
@Thomas Marklin Kent Jr, This is a great idea. Why didn’t I think of it?
You do know, a simple solution to the dust is, besides wearing a mask, just drape a damp kitchen towel over the food processor. I did my second batch in my Vitamix, and used a towel over it. This salt is wonderful! And my garden is producing tons of jalapeรฑos. Will be Christmas gifts!
Judy, that’s a great idea!! I didn’t even think of it. I’m going to add this to the body of the post with credit to you! Thanks for sharing <3
My garden overfloweth with hot peppers too. I planted so many because I got really into fermenting hot sauces last year, so I have like 10 different spicyies. Then I was victim of #peppergate and ALL 20 of my purple beauty bell peppers turned out to be hot Hungarian wax. So basically, it’s gonna be a spicy fall. I’ll be making a ton of this salt – I’m thinking it would look pretty cool if I used my purple jigsaw peppers – depending on what color they turn when dehydrated.
This is going to be a perfect Christmas gift
So good! Just finished my batch and love it! Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed it Debra!
Should I remove the seeds? Or leave them? Will the food processor grind them up easily
Hey Debra, I usually remove them, but I’m sure you could leave them in no problem ๐
I made this. My jalapeรฑos were too hot. The salt is beyond ridiculous hot. Canโt use even a tiny pinch. Great idea though. Will try again with early spring peppers that arenโt as hot.
Ahh! Dang. You may be able to cut down the heat by adding a bit more salt to dilute the pepper?
I am going to make this as Christmas gifts this year!
Everyone on your list will be so happy!