Looking for a homemade version of those canned diced green chiles that you buy in the store? Here’s how you make them!

You can also use these same directions to can any type of pepper – whether they are hot or sweet.

diced green peppers that have been pressure canned

Near the end of late summer, we always have more peppers than we know what to do with. (Peppers are so easy and fun to grow, we always plant too many!)

We freeze sweet peppers in strips or halves to use later in the year, dry some diced pepper pieces, make our own cayenne, red pepper flakes, paprika and other such powdered spices, make hot sauce, pickled peppers, AND these handy little cans of diced green chiles.

pepperocini peppers sorted into reds and greens

Pepper Varieties

You can use any variety of pepper from your garden, but if you want to hit pretty close to the heat level of store-bought mild chopped green chiles, some good choices include:

Anaheim – 500 to 2,500 Scoville Heat Units
Poblano – 1,000 to 2,000 Scoville Heat Units

For this batch shown, I used pepperoncini peppers (which are even milder at around 100 to 500 Scoville Heat Units). Most of the ones I canned were green, but some were red too. (Both colors taste the same to me when canned, at least going by my personal taste tests!)

Pepperoncini are milder than commercial diced canned chiles, but they still work great in stir fries and my favorite veggie beef soup recipe.

womans hand holding a green pepperocini pepper

How Many Peppers Do You Need?

The National Center for Home Food Preservation says that an average of 9 pounds of peppers is needed for a canner load of 9 pints. I like to can diced green chiles in 4 ounce jars, to mimic the store-bought size, so going by their numbers, 9 pounds of peppers would yield me about 36 four-ounce jars.

That’s a little bit more peppers than I want to work with at one time! Instead, I’ve found that about 4 1/2 to 5 pounds of peppers is a good amount to handle in one go and will usually fill around 28 four-ounce jars, which is two pressure canner fulls.

Canning Tip: Have a couple extra 8 ounce jars handy, just in case you end up with too many chopped peppers and need to fill a couple of bigger jars to use them up. (Alternatively, you could freeze any extras that didn’t fit into jars.)

Time Needed

With my hubby and I working together, it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to core and de-seed about 5 pounds of peppers. (Be sure to wear gloves if they are hot peppers!)

Add in another 1 1/2 to 2 hours to roast the peppers on the grill, peel them (if they are thick-walled; you can’t really peel the thin-walled peppers), chop or dice them, and fill the jars.

Then there’s the 10 minutes of letting stem escape, plus 35 minutes processing time. It’s smart to cleanup as you go, but you’ll still need time for a final kitchen cleanup too.

So plan for around a 4 hour project, maybe a little longer if this is the first time you’re canning peppers.

Preparing the Peppers

Some types of peppers have thick skins that need to be removed before canning. If you’re working with very thin walled peppers, you can go ahead and blister them using these same directions, but removing the skin might also remove three-fourths of your pepper meat!

No worries – you don’t have to peel these types of very thin-skinned peppers. Instead, we just chop them up and proceed. But we do still char them, because that really boosts the flavor!

Thick-skinned peppers such as Anaheim or Poblano really should have the skins removed for an overall better quality product.

To Remove Pepper Skins:

You have a few choices when it comes to roasting the peppers, which makes peeling off the skin a lot easier.

The one we use is the grill method: Heat the grill to medium to medium-high. Lay the cored/seeded peppers directly on the grates, or on a piece of foil. Turn the peppers frequently for several minutes as they roast.

Alternatively, you can broil the peppers in a 400 degree F oven for 6 to 8 minutes, turning several times, until the skins start blistering.

covering the roasted peppers with a towel to loosen skin

Cooling:

Once the peppers are roasted, remove them to a large heat-proof bowl while they’re still piping hot and immediately cover them with a towel until they’re cool enough to handle. The resulting steam will make it easier to peel the skins off.

Chopping:

Wearing gloves, use a pair of clean, sharp scissors or a knife to chop the peppers into small diced pieces.

Once all of the peppers are chopped, you’re ready for canning!

pouring hot water over the diced green peppers

Pressure Canning the Peppers

Before you begin, make sure you have jars, lids, rings, a skewer or chopstick, a large pot of boiling water, salt, a jar lifter, and a couple of towels on your counter.

Either run the jars through a dishwasher to keep them hot, or set them down into the pressure canner while it’s heating up on the stove. (Just make sure you don’t start with cold jars, they need to be hot so they won’t break when you’re filling them.)

Fill your pressure canner with the required amount of water (for our canners, that’s 3 quarts), plus add a tablespoon or two of white vinegar if you have hard water like we do and want to avoid mineral deposits. Set it over a medium burner to start heating while you fill the jars.

small four ounce jars filled with chopped roasted green peppers

Fill the Jars

Spoon enough diced peppers into the hot jar to the one inch fill line. (This is usually the lowest raised ring on the top of a jar.)

Add the salt, if you haven’t already, then pour in enough boiling water to reach that one inch fill line. Adjust pepper and/or water amount as needed, to maintain that 1 inch headspace. Gently run a skewer or chopstick along each side of the jar to help remove air bubbles.

adding salt to the four ounce jars of green chilies

Salt ratios to know for canned peppers:

You can either add salt to each jar before filling (helpful if you’re forgetful like me!) or you can add salt once you’ve filled each jar. Your choice!

1/2 teaspoon salt per each pint jar (16 oz jar)
1/4 teaspoon salt per each half-pint jar (8 oz jar)
1/8 teaspoon salt per each four-ounce jar

Wipe the rims with a clean, damp cloth, then place the lids and rings on, tightening them “fingertip tight” – which is similar to how tightly you’d close a jar of peanut butter. (Not too tight, but not too loose!)

Time to Can!

Place the filled jars down into the canner, then secure the canner’s top. Process according to the following recommended times:

35 minutes for pints, half-pints, and four-ounce jars at 10 pounds of pressure, unless you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, then you want to use 15 pounds of pressure.

removing diced green peppers from canner

And that’s it!

Now you have made your very own home-canned diced green chiles and peppers!

After 24 hours, remove the rings (to prevent rusting and stuck lids), label, and store your beautiful creations. Shelf life is the standard 1+ year for home-canned goods.

Since these are a low acid food, you can not water bath can peppers! If you don’t own a pressure canner, or feel too intimidated by the process, you can always freeze your diced peppers in small portions instead.

colorful bowl of sliced bell peppers — *Cutting peppers into strips before freezing. These work wonderfully throughout the year for quick stir fry, fajitas, and more!*

More Food Preservation Ideas

We have more articles about canning, freezing, and food preservation written here, plus many more to come!

Here are a few of those; check our “Preserve” tab for more!