Jalapeno Sauerkraut
Jalapeno sauerkraut is particularly easy for a first fermentation project because cabbage ferments exceptionally well. So if this is your first time trying fermentation, welcome! You’re going to love this!
The water content and the microbial species richness of cabbage make it optimal for wild fermentation! You can easily get creative with sauerkraut by adding different flavors, as we did for this spicy jalapeno dill sauerkraut.
This is a sauekrraut recipe I’ve wanted to develop for a long time. When we ran our big fermented foods company, I wanted to try this recipe as one of our limited-edition sauerkraut offerings, so I wrote the recipe down in my notebook years ago. Alas, things change, and I’m happy to post the recipe here instead.
Roasted Jalapeno Sauerkraut with Dill and Garlic
I love to roast ingredients to incorporate into sauerkraut. Since the cabbage provides all the wild microbes for fermentation, we don’t have to worry about heat killing the microbes on the garlic and peppers.
When roasting ingredients for fermentation, we cannot use oil. I repeat, never use oil when roasting ingredients for fermentation.
I included instructions for dry roasting the jalapeno and garlic in the recipe card below. They will get a bit crispy and dehydrated, but that’s okay. The roasted ingredients add great flavor to the mix.
Also, feel free to increase the amount of jalapeno and garlic. Since they are dry-roasted, they will add little to no water to the mixture. If they aren’t adding water to the mixture, you don’t have to adjust the salt in the recipe.
Supplies You Need to Make Sauerkraut
Things You May Need:
Fermenting Jalapeno Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut naturally takes time. I recommend fermenting your sauerkraut for at least 14 days before eating, with 21-28 days being the best fermentation time for optimal flavor and health benefits.
By checking the progress of microbial stages under the microscope, we have provided you with a handy timeline below! If you follow our recipe and directions, your timeline of sauerkraut fermentation should approximately match ours!
Note that temperature will influence how fast or slow sauerkraut ferments. This timeline is applicable between 70-80° F. If you keep your home colder, the process is slower. If your home is warmer, it will be faster.
Jalapeno Sauerkraut Fermentation Timeline
24 – 48 hours: All contents in the jar should be submerged beneath the brine. At this time, there are still Gram-negative bacteria and possible pathogens present.
48 hours – 5 days: After 48 hours, you should start to see lots of bubbles being produced. This is when the ferment enters stage two of vegetable fermentation. Leuconostoc bacteria begin to thrive, and Gram-negative organisms die off.
5 – 10 days: The bubbles in the brine will decrease as the ferment leaves stage two and enters stage three. The ferment will become cloudy, the color will change, and a pleasant sour smell will develop. You should also recognize garlic and pepper smells. Lactobacillus species begin to thrive at this time.
10 – 21 days: Next, Lactobacillus make up most or all of the microbial population. They produce copious amounts of lactic acid, making the fermented cabbage smell even more pleasantly sour. This is when the vegetable mixture becomes sauerkraut and is preserved.
21 – 28 days: This is when you want to smell and taste test. Wait for the kraut to smell and taste as you like, and refrigerate when you find the smell and taste most pleasant! We like ours best when we refrigerate at about 25 days.
Jalapeno Dill Sauerkraut Care Instructions
During the first few days of fermentation: carbon dioxide and bubbles will be produced. Sometimes mason jars will become very full of liquid, and this liquid can seep out. You will need to burp the jar.
- When burping the jar, remove the lid and tamper everything back down using a clean tamper or spoon. Make sure everything, including the weight, is still submerged below the brine. You can also rinse off the lid daily to keep things clean.
Always Trust your sense of smell: In the beginning fermenting cabbage smells funky. When fermentation is finished, fermented cabbage should smell pleasantly sour and like strong cabbage. Never eat anything that smells repulsive or yeasty.
Never eat anything that has mold growing on it: By following directions, you should not encounter this problem.
After 3-4 weeks, remove the fermentation weight, smell, and taste test. Your fermented cabbage should smell pleasantly sour. It should taste tart, salty, and cabbage. Store it in the fridge.
More Sauerkraut Recipes to Try
- How to Make Old Fashioned Sauerkraut with Caraway Seeds
- Fermented Beet and Red Cabbage Sauerkraut
- Turmeric Napa Cabbage Sauerkraut
- Homemade Kimchi Inspired Spicy Sauerkraut Recipe
Roasted Jalapeno Sauerkraut with Dill and Garlic
Enjoy this spicy, salty, flavorful jalapeno sauerkraut made with roasted jalapenos, garlic, and dill. This jalapeno dill sauerkraut is long fermented for 21 days, giving it the best flavor and making it perfect for gut health.
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 504 hours 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 500 grams cabbage
- 18 grams unrefined sea salt
- 200 grams filtered water
- 100 grams jalapeno, slices
- 50 grams garlic
- 2 sprigs fresh dill
Instructions
- Chop the jalapeño and crush the garlic cloves.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 450° F
- Dry roast (NO OIL) the jalapeño and garlic for about 20 minutes until lightly browned.
- Wash your fermentation equipment (jar, weight, and lid)
- Remove the outer leaves of your cabbage and lightly rinse with cool water. Using a knife, chop the cabbage to your desired thickness.
- Place your kitchen scale on the counter. Turn it on and set it to weigh in grams.
- Measure out all of your ingredients using your kitchen scale.
- Mix everything, including the water, in a large bowl.
- Pack it all, including the water, into a clean jar with a rust-proof lid. I suggest placing the dill sprigs in the bottom of the jar first, then packing everything else in. (a 32-ounce jar works best)
- Place a fermentation weight in the jar, making sure to submerge the cabbage pieces and weight fully into the liquid. If you don’t have quite enough liquid, place your glass fermentation weight in the jar and submerge as much as possible. Over the next 12 hours, the cabbage should release more liquid and you can press the fermentation weight down below the brine.
- Secure the lid (you do not need to tighten it all the way. Just secure the lid but leave it ever so slightly loose so the gas doesn’t build up too much). You can keep the jar in a glass dish to catch any spills.
- It should get bubbly in the first few days. If you have a tightly secured lid, you will need to burp the jar. You can rinse off the lid and re-adjust the fermentation weight whenever needed.
- Ferment at room temperature for 21-28 days, then remove the fermentation weight and refrigerate.
- If you try this recipe and love it, please leave a five-star review below!
This version of kraut was amazing! I used some fermented jalapeno peppers instead (making sure to keep the total weight and salt ratio consistent) and it was delicious. I’m so happy to have discovered your blog and scientific instructions for making consistently good fermented foods.
I held on to this Instagram post since April, till summer when local chiles were available. When I finally read ur blog I was blown away by how creative your recipes are (and thorough with the microbio details!!) and now I check weekly for ur posts. So thank you!!! Can u recommend any other high quality food preservation blogs?
Loved this recipe! We eat a lot of sauerkraut and it was nice to vary the flavor with the jalapeño flavor. Will definitely make a double batch next time!
Loved this recipe! We eat a lot of fermented food so we loved the addition of the jalapeño flavor. So good! We will definitely make a double batch next time.🙂
This is amazing
Just finished whipping up the second (double this time) batch of this amazing kraut! It will be a constant staple in our fridge, I’m sure. 🙂 So damn good!!!
So so good! I loved it so much that I gave a bunch to friends to try and now I have to make another batch so I have two jars going this time.
Kaitlynn, just discovered your blog and I’m obsessed. As a nutrition expert with a long history of understanding the importance of the microbiome, not to mention low-key foodie who has cooking in her genes (my grandfather was trained in French Cuisine!) your recipes get me SO excited! Can’t wait to try this one!! Do you think Anaheim chilies would work as well? We have several pounds from the garden that I’d love to put to good use. Thanks for your amazing blog 🙏
Welcome to the blog! I think Anaheim chilies will be wonderful in this recipe! Let us know how it turns out.
This is the best tasting sauerkraut I have ever eaten. Thank you for this recipe!
Love to hear this! This is one of my all time favorite sauerkraut recipes too!
My first time making sauerkraut and this was love at first taste. I immediately got to work making a double batch. The recipe is easy to follow and has me excited to try other ferments. 10/10!!
Absolutely delicious! After I tried it, I sent the recipe to my sister. Her family gave it fabulous reviews
too!
I’m glad you all loved the recipe!
I have diced mixed spicy peppers in my freezer from last years garden, as well as organic garlic cloves that I bough pre peeled from Costco. Is it okay to just use them without roasting?
How long will this last in the fridge?
A very long time. It doesn’t expire at all. It will just get softer after a year or so in the fridge.
Do I weigh the jalapeños and garlic before or after roasting them? I just made a batch and weighed the jalapeños and garlic before roasting, and then I realized that I lost a lot of water weight from the roasting process. I may have messed up the ratios because I ended up with 25 grams of roasted garlic, so I added some diced garlic from a jar to make up the other 25 grams. Now I’m worried that the recipe has been ruined.
You weigh the garlic and jalapeno before roasting. It sounds like what you did will be fine. Even with the addition of more garlic the salt ratio is good.
First ferment and it came out great. Starting another today.
yay! I’m glad you had a great first ferment!
Love this recipe! This is my third time making it and this time one of my jars is growing something that looks like a scoby. Is that normal??
This recipe is amazing (I mean, I find all of yours that I’ve tried so far incredible), I cannot wait to make more after sharing my jar with friends and family. Since I love spice and garlic I will probably double the jalapeño and garlic next time, but just my personal preference. Incredible, 10/10, you will enjoy it. My family is sometimes hesitant to try new things, especially fermented, and my sister often does not like to try vegetables, but every single person tried it then went back for more.
So Yummy, wonderful flavor.
Such a great recipe. First time I made it was for my parents when I was visiting them – left it behind and didn’t get to try it. Had to make it for my wife when I got home because she was jealous, and after the first time we tried it I got a double batch going ASAP so we wouldn’t have to wait that long! That was just a few months ago and I just did another double batch today. New staple in the fridge!
I’m new to fermenting and have not had a miss following your recipes. This one is easily my favorite so far. I finished my first jar too fast and am picking up ingredients to make a double batch for the next round!
This is SO GOOD!!!
This was SOOOO GOOD! Officially a new fan of sauerkraut!
2nd time making this and it’s fabulous!
yay! Glad you’re enjoying it!