Jalapeno Powder

This jalapeno powder recipe is less of an actual “recipe”, and more a matter of a technique - it’s just ground jalapeno peppers!

Before upgrading our food dehydrator, I’d been buying it - it’s a great product for bringing great flavor and a touch of heat to home-cooked meals.

Now I just make my own - it’s super easy to do, and there are all kinds of things you can use this spicy seasoning for!

So - before we get into what you need to know to make jalapeno powder, let’s look at WHY you should make some.

How to Use Jalapeno Powder

Off the top of my head, some of the ways we’ve used jalapeño powder over the years include:

1. You can use it almost any way you’d use chili powder or cayenne powder. It brings a nice heat to a variety of dishes - it’s especially great for flavouring chili or taco meat.

2. I like to use it to make homemade spice blends - it’s especially good in dry rubs.

3. On that note, it’s FANTASTIC on popcorn. Shake it on as a seasoning, or mix it into your melted butter. My husband’s “Porter's Epic Popcorn” uses it, too.

4. Also on that note, you can use it to bring spice up existing seasoning mixes. That ranch seasoning you have can quickly become a jalapeno ranch seasoning!

5. On THAT note, use it in salad dressings - whether a premade ranch, or as part of a homemade vinaigrette.

6. On the subject of vinaigrettes, it’s also a great way to spice up marinades. A bit of lime juice, olive oil, garlic powder, and jalapeno powder makes a quick and easy chicken marinade that’s fantastic for grilled chicken!

7. Add some to your breading mix for chicken fingers, breaded chicken, etc.

8. On THAT note, you can have some fun when making Jalapeño poppers. You can add jalapeno powder to the filling, the breading, or BOTH - like a jalapeno-ception!

9. Add some to your cornbread, whether it’s a store bought mix, or homemade. (My usual Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread recipe uses fresh, but just adding powder to my homemade cornbread mix is a quicker option!)

10. Mix it with salt to make a fun rim for homemade margaritas.

11. If you’re a fan of spicy foods, add some to your flour (before the eggs) when making homemade pasta.

Anyway, hopefully that gets your ideas going, so let’s look at actually making jalapeno powder!

Ingredients

This recipe only uses one ingredient - Jalapenos.

Probably the most popular chiles on the market, the jalapeno chile pepper - a member of the capsicum annuum species - is known for its bright flavor and low-medium heat level.

For reference, the Scoville scale goes from 0 to 16,000,000, with 0 being bell peppers, and 16 million being pure capsaicin.

Jalapenos tend to fall in the range of 2500-8000 Scoville heat units, while the habanero pepper tends to be in the range of 100 000 to 350 000.

When purchasing - and preparing - the fresh peppers you’ll be using in this recipe, there are some ways that you can control the heat level.

How to Tell if a Jalapeno is Spicy

Generally speaking, green peppers have less heat than red jalapeno peppers. Jalapeño peppers get hotter as they mature, as more age gives the capsaicin more time to develop.

While you can easily grow the red peppers, they can be hard to find in grocery stores. The extra time needed for them to mature to that level apparently isn’t worth the investment.

Anyway, when it comes to green jalapeno peppers: shiny, smooth, lighter green ones tend to be more mild, while darker, blemished ones - especially the ones with white lines - tend to be hot peppers.

This is all a matter of generalities - there will be exceptions to every one of these “rules”.

Anyway, when it comes to preparation, if you want some extra kick in your homemade jalapeno powder, remove the seeds only.

The spicy flavor of pretty much any hot pepper is mostly concentrated in the pithy white membrane that the seeds tend to attach to. This is sometimes referred to as the “placenta”, but I’m less into that designation, personally.

So, to sum it up:

For a hot jalapeno powder, pick dark green peppers with a lot of white lines on them, or red jalapenos. Leave the pith in when you’re seeding them.

For a mild jalapeno powder, use shiny, smooth, light green jalapenos and get rid of as much of the pith as you can, when seeding them.

Equipment

There are two specialized pieces of equipment that I use for making jerky, beyond basics like spoons, bowls, and measuring cups:

A Food Dehydrator

While you can apparently make Jalapeño chile powder in a regular home oven, I’m not a fan of running one for hours on end.

I’ve had food dehydrators before - the basic kinds with no time or temperature controls... but didn’t use them much. Not having control over the temperature hampered the possibilities a bit, IMHO.

I’ve since upgraded to a Cosori 6 Tray Food Dehydrator, and LOVE it.

It was only like $200 Canadian, and it’s paid for itself MANY times over, between all the Maple Cinnamon Apple Chips and jerkies I’ve been making!

Think of it this way - The same size of jerky that I tend to make goes for about $4 in a gas station.

I get about 10-15 strips out of a batch (varying by recipe) - let’s average that out to 12. That’s $48 worth of jerky, for $8 or less. Make 5 batches, that’s your $200 in savings!

Anyway, we’re using a dehydrator a LOT more, now that we have a nice one.

Mini Food Processor or Spice Grinder

Once your jalapeno peppers are completely dried, you’ll need to grind them into a powder. There are a few ways you can do this.

My preferred method is to break the pieces up a bit to start, then run them through a coffee mill/spice grinder.

You could also use a mini food processor, I just find that it’s harder to get a really fine, even grind with a food processor.

Finally, you could use a mortar and pestle if you prefer. Again, I’d break them up a bit - by hand or with a rolling pin - before grinding the pieces down.

How to Make Homemade Jalapeño Powder

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the visual walk through.

Wash your jalapeno peppers, blot dry with paper towels.

Using a sharp knife - and ideally wearing gloves - cut the top off each pepper, making sure to get the entire stem and stem base off.

Cut each pepper in half, lengthwise. Use a small spoon to carefully remove the seeds from each pepper half - they don’t grind down to as fine of a powder.

Dehydrate at 135 F for 10-12 hours, until the peppers are completely dried through. (The actual time for the drying process will vary.)

To test for doneness, remove a jalapeno piece from the dehydrator and let it cool to room temperature.

It should be brittle and snap if you try to bend it, with no hint of residual moisture or softness at all. (If there is any moisture, it will not grind to a powder).

Once jalapeno halves are all fully dehydrated, allow to cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, break up the dehydrated jalapenos into small pieces, and transfer to a mini food processor or coffee grinder. Blitz until all of the peppers are ground to a fine powder.

Note: I REALLY recommend wearing a mask while doing this step, and - ideally - eye protection. The ground peppers tend to aerosolize, and inhaling it is not pleasant!

Allow the jalapeno dust to settle before taking the lid off your food processor or grinder.

Once the peppers are fully ground, transfer jalapeno powder to an airtight container.

Storage

Jalapeno Powder should be stored in a cool, dark place.

As long as moisture doesn’t get to it, it should be good for at least a year - though it may lose some potency as it ages.

More Homemade Seasoning Recipes

Are you someone who likes to bring some extra flavour to whatever you’re cooking? Here are a few more recipes for homemade seasonings!

Canadian Popcorn Seasoning Recipes
Furikake Seasoning
Mediterranean Seasoning for Wings
Montreal Steak Spice
Pistachio Dukkah
Seasoned Salt
Tangerine Thyme Dry Rub