What can I make with jalapenos?
Wondering what to make with jalapenos? Below are recipes from our library that use it, followed by practical cooking, storage, and substitution notes for jalapenos.
4 recipes with jalapenos
Huevos Rancheros
Fried eggs on tortillas with smoky ranchero salsa.
Mexican25m2
Portuguese prego with green piri-piri
STEP 1 Rub the garlic over the steaks then put in a sandwich bag and tip in the olive oil, sherry vinegar and parsley stalks.
Portuguese4
Creamy Aji green sauce
step 1 Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix into a sauce.
4
Algerian Bouzgene Berber Bread with Roasted Pepper Sauce
Preheat your oven's broiler.
Algerian4
How to cook with jalapenos
- 1Start with aromatics - onion, garlic, or ginger softened in fat - then add the jalapenos.
- 2Season early and taste as you go rather than salting only at the end.
- 3Give it enough heat and enough space; a crowded pan steams instead of browning.
- 4Finish with acid and fresh herbs, the two things that make a simple dish taste deliberate.
What goes well with jalapenos
Jalapenos is at its best with onion, garlic, olive oil, lemon, herbs and black pepper. Any two or three of those, plus jalapenos, is already a dinner rather than an ingredient list.
Storing jalapenos
Store jalapenos sealed and cool, and use the oldest stock first. If it is close to turning, cook it rather than throwing it out - roasting, soup, and a quick sauce all forgive slightly past-peak ingredients.
Substituting jalapenos
If you are out of jalapenos, look for something that behaves the same way in the pan rather than something that tastes the same. Match the moisture level, the cooking time, and the richness, and adjust the liquid slightly if your substitute releases more water. When in doubt, describe what you actually have in the chat and Mr. Chef will rewrite the recipe around it.
Jalapenos recipes: common questions
- What can I make with jalapenos and not much else?
- Plenty. With jalapenos plus an onion, garlic, oil, and salt you already have the base of a skillet dinner, a soup, or a simple sauce. Add a starch - rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes - and it becomes a full meal. The recipes above are ordered so the ones needing the fewest extra items come first.
- What is the quickest jalapenos recipe?
- Look for the entries above marked 20 minutes or less. As a rule, anything cut small and cooked in a hot pan beats anything roasted whole, and one-pan recipes save more time in cleanup than in cooking.
- Can I substitute jalapenos?
- In most recipes yes, as long as the replacement plays a similar role - similar moisture, similar cooking time, similar richness. Swapping across roles (a watery vegetable for a starchy one, for instance) usually needs a change in liquid or cooking time too.
- How do I use up leftover jalapenos?
- Fried rice, a frittata, a grain bowl, a soup, or a quesadilla will absorb almost any leftover jalapenos without a recipe. If you want something specific, tell Mr. Chef exactly what is in the fridge and it will build a recipe around it.