Marinated Canned Bell Peppers have always been a favorite of mine, especially with mashed potatoes; classic. This is another canning recipe so you can make these now and enjoy them all winter long or at least for a couple of months if you are really obsessed with them.
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This is my brother in law’s Mom’s recipe. I tried it a year ago at a party, jotted down the recipe, and then misplaced it. I’m still working on getting organized (if my husband reads this, he’ll probably roll his eyes. You see, he’s very organized and I’m, well, I’m working on it).
P.S. Wait at least 1 week before opening a can and eating it to give the flavors a chance to meld and infuse into the bell peppers. When properly canned, these peppers will keep up to a year at room temp.
Ingredients for Marinated Canned Bell Peppers:
5-6 lbs Red Bell Peppers, seeded and sliced
6 1/2 cups (1 1/2 liters) tomato juice (I used my mom’s homemade juice)
1/2 cup extra light olive oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp sea salt (use iodine free salt)
1/2 cup white vinegar
Home Canning Tools:
- 6 pint-sized jars with lids. I purchased them at Walmart.
- Large Stock Pot (20Qt+) with Rack (or purchase a canner)
- Jar lifter to safely transfer the jars
Cleaning/Sterilizing Your Jars:
Preheat oven to 215˚F.
1. Wash all of your jars and lids with soap and warm water.
2. Place jars in the oven on the bottom rack for 20 minutes or until completely dry. Boil lids in a small pot to sterilize them.
Making the Syrup:
1. In a large pot or dutch oven, combine 6 1/2 cups tomato juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp salt, and 1/2 cup vinegar. Bring syrup to a boil and simmer 10 min
Making the Canned Bell Peppers:
1. In the meantime, slice your bell peppers into 1/2″ wide strips and add them to your pot. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until easy to poke through the skin side (20 -25 min). As your peppers soften, they will be covered with the liquid, just be patient and give it a stir every once in a while.
2. Transfer your piping hot bell peppers to your jars using a canning funnel (it makes the job so much cleaner and easier). I filled the jar with mostly peppers and then filled in the spaces with syrup. Fill the jars to the top with 1/4-inch of space left at the top.
3. Screw the lids on enough to keep a tight seal in place but don’t over-tighten them since air bubbles need to be able to escape.
4. Place packed cans into the canning pot and cover with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process 15 minutes. Remove from the pot with jar lifter and leave at room temperature undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You may hear a pop when the jars fully seal. After 24 hours, check that the seal has formed by pushing down on the center of the lid – it should not move at all. If the seal does not form, refrigerate marinated peppers and enjoy within 3 months.
Current Canning Guidelines:
We updated the recipe in 2019 to reflect current canning guidelines which recommend boiling rather than the oven canning method. Get up to date on the most recent canning guidelines here. It’s a great resource to answer frequently asked canning questions.
Recipe Tips: Wait at least 1 week before opening the canned bell peppers and enjoying to give the flavors a chance to meld and marinate. These properly canned peppers will keep up to a year at room temp. Yeah yeah!!
Are you canning anything this year?
Popular Canning Recipes:
- Peach Preserves – my Mother’s recipe
- Plum Jam – no peeling required and no added pectin
- Canned Tomatoes – a classic that never goes out of style
- Refrigerator Pickles – delicious all summer long
Marinated Canned Bell Peppers Recipe
Ingredients
- 5-6 lbs Red Bell Peppers, seeded and sliced
- 6 1/2 cups 1 1/2 liters tomato juice (I used my mom's homemade juice)
- 1/2 cup extra light olive oil
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp sea salt, use iodine free salt
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
Instructions
Cleaning/Sterilizing Your Jars:
- Preheat oven to 215˚F. Wash all of your jars and lids with soap and warm water. Place jars in the oven on the bottom rack for 20 minutes or until completely dry. Boil your lids.
Making the Syrup:
- In a large pot or dutch oven, combine 6 1/2 cups tomato juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp salt, and 1/2 cup vinegar. Bring syrup to a boil and simmer 10 min.
Making the Canned Bell Peppers:
- In the mean time, slice your bell peppers into 1/2" wide strips and add them to your pot. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until easy to poke through the skin side (20 -25 min). As your peppers soften, they will be covered with the liquid, just be patient and give it a stir every once in awhile.
- Transfer your piping hot bell peppers to your jars using a canning funnel (we bought this at Walmart and it makes the job so much cleaner and easier). We add mostly peppers and then fill in the spaces with syrup. Fill the jars to the top with 1/4-inch of space left at the top.
- Screw the lids on enough to keep the seal in place but don't overtighten them since air bubbles need to be able to escape.
- Place packed cans into the canning pot and cover with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process 15 minutes. Remove from the pot with jar lifter and leave at room temperature undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You may hear a pop when the jars fully seal. After 24 hours, check that the seal has formed by pushing down on the center of the lid - it should not move at all. If the seal does not form, refrigerate marinated peppers and enjoy within 3 months.
Notes
Signs of Spoiled Canned Food:
With any type of canning, we follow this advice: “When in doubt, throw it out”
Discard and do not eat or taste any canned food if you notice any of the following:
- the jar is leaking, bulging, or swollen
- the jar looks damaged, cracked, or abnormal
- the jar spurts foam or liquid upon opening
- the canned food is discolored, moldy, mushy, slimy, or smells bad
can I use apple cider instead of white vinegar? I’m using a different lid (the one that Ukrainians have), is it necessary to turn the jars up-side-down? My mother-in-law does that but do you think it’s necessary? Thanks a lot!
I’m not sure about the difference in the lid but we have always turned them upside down to help with the sealing process.
Privet Natasha! I love this recipe! I used apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar. Thanks a lot! Will preserve more this year!
Hi! Love this recipe. Would like to know how big your jars are, and how many you use on this amount?
Alex, this recipe made eight 1 pint jars and thank you for a great feedback :).
So i made these last week. and i used half v8 half tomato juice and it turned out DELICIOUS!!! The juice is so good! Hubby didnt even wait for a whole week to open a jar, so we ate all the peppers and the juice is just good on anything, mashed potatoes, rice, noodles..ANYTHING!!!!
Thank you Katie for such a great review and its good to know that v8 juice can be used. Enjoy! :).
Hi Natasha, by the way my daughters name is Natasha too. I was wondering if I could use V8 juice instead of tomato juice?
I think that would work well. Let me know how you like it!
Looks simple to make and I’m going to try it but can you recommend what I would use the marinade for? May give as gifts too but want suggestions on how to use it.
Do you mean what to eat the marinated peppers with? Mashed potatoes, rice, or anything really! 🙂 Or just eat them as is 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I made your peppers & I’m hoping they’re going to be as tasty as the marinate tasted. I had two tomato bushes that came rather late and were not as sweet so I made sauce from them. At the same time I came across your recipe and figured perfect time to try. I did not have as many peppers as your recipe called for so I had some marinate juice left over. I did not want to waist it so I shred some carrots that I had on hand and cooked them in that same juice, they seemed very tasty when I tried them so I hope they will taste even better after canning. I Love your recipes, thank you for the inspirations!
I hope you love these!! They are a nice little treat 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I made this peppers today, but I didn’t go through the whole process of putting the cans in the oven. My family is big enough that we will eat it in no time 🙂 By the way, as soon as I put the peppers in the can, and they get to room temperature, should I transfer the to the fridge and wait a week before eating them.
It will taste best if you give them a week to marinate to let the flavors penetrate the peppers. Enjoy!
I love your site. We started with a link to the recipes all Russians grew up with. Your comment about the water bath– I have canned for years. I started with a water bath, and often use the steamer option. But I firmly believe that oven canning works fine. Especially when you start with hot food in clean jars. Russia-Vladivostok 2003-2005
Thank you so much for writing in. It also makes sense to me that if your food is boiling hot when you put it in the oven, that it will reach the correct temperature in the oven. Thanks again!
I want to try this one! How many jars do u get from 5-6lb bell peppers?
It yields 6 pint sized jars 🙂
I got really into canning this summer too. I’ve done pickles, tomatoes and salmon tushonka. Also, 4 different salads. I did zucchini salad, beets salad, cabbage salad, and rice with vegetables salad. We’re all ready for the winter 🙂
Wow! That’s amazing! You definitely beat me in canning this year 🙂 Great job!
It’s all in season right now so why not do it while its cheap. Also, when you make any dish and don’t have time or ingredients for a salad, you just open a can and have it ready. I got the idea and motivation from my trip to Ukraine.
I totally agree with you you Yulia 🙂
Hi Yuliya! If its not a secret, Id love to hear your salmon tushonka, ive tried a meat one, but im in love with salmon and would love to try that. -Thank you!
This looks yummy. Do you think I could use the small mini peppers for this recipe? But I would leave the seeds in them, would that work?
That should work just fine as well :).
The look great. I’ve got an over-abundance of red bell peppers from the garden this year, so this would be perfect for something different to do with them.
I wish we had an over-abundance. My mom’s are struggling this year 🙁
How is your Mom preparing the tomato juice at home?
She is in Ukraine right now so I won’t be able to ask her for a couple more weeks. I’m not sure I’ll make it in time for this season, but I’ll see what I can do 🙂
I love marinated veggies. As soon as I open a jar, it will be gone in a day or so. I eat it as a side dish and can’t help indulging in them as a snack all day:). This recipe looks delicious.
Same here! I can’t help but much on these peppers once the can is opened 🙂
Bell peppers marinated in tomato juice are my fave! My mom also makes vinegar/sugar/salt marinade, I love that one too. But in tomato juice is the bomb dot com. LOL. I just love that saying of yours.
I think husband and wife have to be opposites, otherwise they would kill each other or not?!:) Tricky question I’ll never find out the answer to, hopefully.
ha ha your comment made me laugh. I’m so happy my husbands personality is not the same as mine. I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t get along. lol.
I don’t know if I could wait an entire week before cracking open a jar. These sound wonderful. Pinned!
I couldn’t wait either, had one open in just a few days :).
Brilliant. Natasha, thank you for posting such scrumptious recipes. Could you tell me how does your mom make her tomato juice? Or will that be another post?
You are welcome Oksana :). My mom is in Ukraine until next month, so I don’t know if I can get the recipe in time.
This is almost identical to the recipe I use. Love it, definitely a staple in our family. It’s hard to find a deal on bell peppers to do a lot of canning.
I bought my bell peppers at Cash & Carry, cheaper than anywhere else I looked. I was hoping to use peppers from mom’s garden, but they seem to go bad before turning red.
Oh thanks. I have cash & carry close by. I’ll check it out
Yes I believe it was $3.66 for 6 bell peppers and I couldn’t find a better deal anywhere else. I did take a look at your recipe and I bet they taste very similar. 🙂
Can u please write yours mom tomato juice recipe ? Thanks a lot for great job… I tryed sooooooo many recipes from your site and it was delicious. Thanks
You are welcome Natalya :). Mom is in Ukraine till next month, so I might not get the recipe in time.
YUMMM, these would be perfect alongside basically any leftovers. GORGEOUS.
Thank you Sarah, I can’t agree with you more :).