DIY Jalapeño Salt
While salt is lovely – it’s kind of boring. Spice up your spice cabinet with this DIY Jalapeno Salt to give your food a punch of flavor and spice!
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Most recipes start with a set amount of jalapeños to dry to make jalapeño salt.
But if you’re in the thick of the gardening harvest, or you have a lot already preserved and want to know what to do with it – here’s where I am to help!
The secret to great jalapeño salt is that it is so customizable that you really don’t need a recipe (though I’ll drop one for you below!).
Your jalapeño salt may look green with lots of jalapeño bits sprinkled in, or it may be just sprinkled with a little green. It’s all based on what your flavor preference is!
Drying Jalapeños
This recipe calls for already dehydrated jalapeños (get my Dehydrated Jalapenos printable recipe).
You can dehydrate them by
- Dice already cleaned/deseeded (I remove the membrane and just let the seeds go where they will – they will usually fall out during dehydration).
- Place onto dehydrator trays and dry for 12 hours, or so, at 125°F/52°C until small, hard, dry pieces. Your actually drying time may vary. I do recommend doing this outdoors if possible.
- Store in an airtight container, such as a mason jar with a 2-piece lid.
DIY Jalapeño Salt Recipe
Equipment:
- Grinder – a coffee grinder dedicated only to spices/herbs, a bullet blender or a good blender. Food processors tend not to work as well. I use a Cosori coffee grinder and a NutriNinja Bullet Blender.
- Spice container or other airtight container.
Ingredients
- Dried jalapeños – smaller pieces will make the blending easier to do, but you can use larger pieces, as well. You can use any kind of pepper you choose, too!
- Salt – you need a course type of salt – Kosher salt, Pink Himalayan, Redmond Real Salt, sea salt, etc.
Instructions:
- Mix 1/2 cup of dried jalapeños bits with 1 cup of course salt (I used Kosher; you can use pink Himalayan or other course salt. Anything more fine will powder.
- Pulse your grinder/blender until you get the desired consistency of jalapeño salt. You can leave it a little chunky – you can finely powder it.
- Store in an airtight container for up to two years.
Notes:
- If the taste is too hot, add some more salt.
- If the taste isn’t hot enough, add more jalapeño and reprocess.
- And by all means, when you’re working with dried peppers, please wear protective gloves. The oils can get on your hands and into your mouth or eyes.
- If you are particularly sensitive, wear a mask as you grind. The fine powder and strong fumes of the jalapeños can make you cough, or your eyes burn.
Oven Method to Make Jalapeño Salt
I make jalapeño salt as I need it from my dehydrated food stores. But if you don’t have a food dehydrator, try this method:
- In a food processor, blend washed and seeded (if you wish to remove the membranes/seeds) into a small dice.
- Mix 1 part jalapeño bits to 2 parts coarse salt. This can be adjusted to your preference.
- Place onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.
- Place in a 170°F oven to dry until the jalapeño bits are fully dry.
- Store in an airtight container.
However, the fumes of jalapeños can be quite intense to some people, and those with respiratory issues can be very uncomfortable. So, I do recommend a food dehydrator if at all possible (you can get my recommendations for the best food dehydrator for you here).
Suggested Uses for Jalapeño Salt
- Shake that stuff on all the popcorn! Seriously – it gives you the salt you desire and a surprise bit of heat!
- Make your fries spicy! My youngest son loves this!
- Add to sliced vegetables before dehydrating.
- Rim a margarita glass with it. Yep – you can give a nice spicy bit to your margaritas!
- Use it to replace salt as you use it now, especially for dishes you want to add a little bite to.
- Use to add to nuts for preparing for gifting. Hot and spicy nuts or even just some spicy ones!
- Rubs – replace typical salt with jalapeño salt for a spicy bite! Works with any meat!
- Gift to family and friends in fancy spice shakers to let them enjoy it, too!
- Give your soup a kick!
More DIY Seasoning Blends
DIY Jalapeno Salt
Equipment
- Grinder Use a coffee grinder, bullet blender, or good blender.
- Airtight storage container Mason jar or spice jar.
Ingredients
- .5 cup Dried jalapeño bits
- 1 cup Coarse salt
Instructions
- Mix 1/2 cup of dried jalapenos bits with 1 cup of course salt (I used Kosher; you can use pink Himalayan or other course salt. Anything more fine will powder.
- Pulse your grinder/blender until you get the desired consistency of jalapeno salt. You can leave it a little chunky – you can finely powder it.
- Store in an airtight container for up to two years.
Video
Darcy’s Tips
-
- If the taste is too hot, add some more salt.
-
- If the taste isn’t hot enough, add more jalapeno and reprocess.
Oven Method to Make Jalapeno Salt
I make jalapeno salt as I need it from my dehydrated food stores. But if you don’t have a food dehydrator, try this method:-
- In a food processor, blend washed and seeded (if you wish to remove the membranes/seeds) into a small dice.
-
- Mix 1 part jalapeno bits to 2 parts coarse salt.This can be adjusted to your preference.
-
- Place onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.
-
- Place in a 170°F oven to dry until the jalapeno bits are fully dry.
-
- Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimation only. Nutrient information for dehydrated foods is based on fresh. Use 1/4 of the servicing size for the same nutrient information. Thus 1 Cup of fresh fruit has the same sugars as 1/4 dried.
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