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.

Jalapeno Sauerkraut

Homemade Sauerkraut is the best fermented food to make if you’re new to fermenting vegetables at home. Sauerkraut is particularly easy for a first fermentation project because cabbage ferments exceptionally well.

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.

Ingredients for Jalapeno Dill Sauerkraut

The recipe makes one quart of sauerkraut (32 ounces). Here are the simple ingredients you need to make this recipe:

• 500 grams cabbage
• 18 grams unrefined sea salt
• 200 grams filtered water
• 100 grams jalapeno, slice
• 50 grams garlic
• 2 sprigs fresh dill

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

For the best sauerkraut flavor and texture, you should use weight measurements for your fermentation ingredients. That means you need a kitchen scale. Weighing your ingredients gives you consistent and superior fermentation results. This is the scale we use in our home kitchen.  

Here is the equipment you will need to make it:

• 32-ounce Wide Mouth Mason Jar
• Fermentation Weight
• Standard Metal Mason Jar Lid (this can rust in the presence of salt)
• OR Rust-Free Plastic Lid
• or you can use a Weck Jar (without the gasket; only use the clips to secure the lid)
• Sea Salt
• Scale
• Mixing Bowl 

If you would like to read more about the best jars and lids for fermenting vegetables, click here.

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

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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.

• Author: Kaitlynn Fenley
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• fermentation time: 21 days
• Total Time: 504 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 32 ounces
• Category: fermented vegetables
• Method: fermentation

Ingredients

• 500 grams cabbage
• 18 grams unrefined sea salt
• 200 grams filtered water
• 100 grams jalapeno, slices
• 50 grams garlic
• 2 sprigs fresh dill

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Instructions

1. Chop the jalapeño and crush the garlic cloves.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 450° F
3. Dry roast (NO OIL) the jalapeño and garlic for about 20 minutes until lightly browned.
4. Wash your fermentation equipment (jar, weight, and lid)
5. Remove the outer leaves of your cabbage and lightly rinse with cool water. Using a knife, chop the cabbage to your desired thickness.
6. Place your kitchen scale on the counter. Turn it on and set it to weigh in grams.
7. Place a mixing bowl on your kitchen scale and tare/zero the scale.
8. Add the designated amounts of chopped cabbage plus the roasted jalapeño and garlic.
9. Remove the bowl from the scale and set it aside.
10. Place a small, empty bowl on your scale and tare/zero the scale. Weigh out the salt.
11. Add the salt into the bowl with the cabbage, and mix with your hands until the cabbage becomes wet.
12. Place your empty, clean jar on the scale, and tare/zero the scale. Make sure your scale is still set to grams, and add the filtered water to your jar.
13. Add the water into the bowl with the cabbage and salt. Mix everything well.
    Place the dill sprigs in the bottom of the jar.
14. Starting with the liquid, add the entire contents of the bowl into your jar, and pack everything down.
15. Place your glass fermentation weight in the jar, submerging the cabbage pieces and weight fully into the liquid. If your weight is smaller than the diameter of your jar, you can tuck everything in with a large cabbage leaf and place the weight on top. If you don’t have 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 down your fermentation weight below the brine.
16. Secure the solid lid to the jar. 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.
17. Ferment for 21-28 days, then remove the weight and refrigerate. Don’t forget to burp the jar daily during the bubbly phase, making sure everything stays submerged.
18. If you try this recipe and love it, please leave a five-star review below!

Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist

Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.

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