I know pepper jelly isn’t a dessert, but it’s still sweet! I’ve made super easy green and red pepper jellies that are keto-friendly and require minimum canning supplies—the only supply being mason jars. I love having pepper jelly over cream cheese, and sometimes I will sweeten it a bit more to have over a salad. Each batch should yield about 4 cups of pepper jelly, which I like to separate into small ½-cup mason jars so that I don’t have to use a lot at one time. You can substitute the monk fruit sweetener for one of your choice, but be sure to reference a conversion chart. If you decide to experiment and change up the recipe, let me know what you tried, and how it turned out!
Entire green batch = 17.8g net carbs
Separated into 8 ½-cup jars, each green jar = 2.23g net carbs
Entire red batch = 21g net carbs
Separated into 8 ½-cup jars, each red jar = 2.63g net carbs
Ingredients:
Green:
- 3 large green bell peppers
- 3 large jalapeño peppers
- Seeds of 1 large jalapeño pepper (optional)
- 1¼ cup monk fruit sweetener
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1.75 oz no sugar, powder pectin
Red:
- 2 large red bell peppers
- 1 large green bell pepper
- 3 large jalapeño peppers
- Seeds of 1 large jalapeño pepper (optional)
- 1¼ cup monk fruit sweetener
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1.75 oz no sugar, powder pectin
Directions:
- Wash and de-seed peppers.
- Dice peppers and add to food processor. Pulse until minced. (How hot you like the pepper jelly should determine how many jalapeño pepper seeds to include, if any. I added the seeds from one pepper).
- In a large, deep-wall sauté pan, combine peppers, apple cider vinegar, and monk fruit sweetener. (The mixture will foam so deep walls are important).
- While constantly stirring, bring to a rolling boil on medium-high heat. This should take about 15-20 minutes.
- Remove from heat and slowly whisk in powder pectin. Whisk for 10 minutes.
- Transfer to jars, and let cool for several hours.
- Store at room temperature until use.
Keto Sweetness 
I was wondering…Do you whisk in the pectin for 10 min with no heat and did you seal your jars?
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Hi, Susan! Yes—you mix the pectin into the mixture for 10 minutes as soon as you remove the pan from heat. The mixture should still be hot as you’re doing this. I did not seal the jars in any special way beyond the lids that come with mason jars. I wanted this recipe to be easy and not require canning equipment that most folks don’t have lying around the house. I did store mine in the refrigerator until use. Hope this helps! Thanks for trying one of my recipes. 🙂
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I need a measurement for the peppers. “Large” doesn’t work, I need cups or ounces.
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Hi, Big. Thanks for trying out one of my recipes! The pepper size depends on how chunky you’d like your jelly to be—I left this measurement vague because I knew it would come down to preference for most people. If you’d like to make a chunkier jelly like the ones in my photos, I would suggest 5″ diameter and height for the bell peppers (or about 2.5 cups), and I would suggest a 5″ jalapeño pepper (or about 2 Tbsp.).
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1 cup of cider vinegar is too tart can I use 1/ 2 water or apple juice?
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Hi, Carol! Thank you so much for trying one of my recipes. I wanted to clarify that it is 1 cup of apple cider vinegar, and not just apple cider. I would not recommend substituting it for anything other than 1 cup of white vinegar. Vinegar helps jelly to firm up and stay fresh for longer.
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how long does this stay good for in the refrigerator?
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Hi, Lori. Thanks for the question and your interest in one of my recipes.
If you want to make a large batch, I’d recommend using canning supplies, because pepper jelly can last up to 2 years.
If you’re using the quick method that I shared, I would recommend only small batches and consider the jars “open”—to be used within a few weeks.
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