Dangerous. Small but mighty. Penetrating. HOT. These are the words that come to mind when I think jalapeños. Up until this post, I can’t say that I had ever worked that much with jalapeños. As would be evidenced in the list of Once A Month Meals recipes containing jalapeños. None. We just aren’t a hot and spicy family (well, not in the kitchen at least – wink, wink). It hasn’t been until recently that I have started expanding my palate to more spicy foods. So jalapeños? Not on our regular grocery list. So I took heed when readers indicated it was important to wear gloves. And I dug a pair out of the closet.
I have here both a small and a medium jalapeño. I couldn’t find any that I would deem large and we typically just use the medium measurements around these parts so I just included the measurements for those two sizes. I hope this will help in our once a month cooking. I do know that there are plenty of jalapeños in recipes on our OAMM menus. What do you think of jalapeños? Do you use them often? Do you wear gloves? Any horror stories from jalapeño prep? On to the research. Here is what I got when measuring:
Recipes Using Jalapeños:
- Grilled Raspberry Jalapeño Chicken
- Shredded Pork Tostadas
- Paleo Marinated Mango Chicken
- Slow Cooker Jalapeño Popper Chili
- Slow Cooker Beef Burritos
- Pork Tenderloin with Peach Salsa and Blackberry Syrup
- Smoky Monterey Jack Burgers
- Paleo Jalapeño Chicken Burgers
- Asian Flair Pork Ribs
- Southwest Flank Steak Pinwheels
7 Comments
Join the discussionI am really sensitive to hot and spicy things, but I think jalapenos add great flavor. I just remove seeds and membranes for flavor without a lot of the heat. YUM!
It’s really hard to tell how big the “small” and “medium” jalapenos are in the photo without something to show scale. A ruler placed next to the item(s) is the best way, but coins are also pretty popular. Or state in the text or caption something like “a ‘small’ jalapeno is approximately two inches long”.As for horror stories, well… even if you’ve worn gloves to handle hot chile peppers, wash your hands, with soap, twice before you even THINK about taking out your contact lenses. I will leave the details to your imagination. Since capsaicin is an oily substance that is poorly soluble in water, a “grease cutting” dishwashing liquid makes an excellent handwash when one has been handling chiles.
I grew a variety called “fooled you” last year. They look like jalapenos, and they taste like jalapenos minus the heat. I roasted and froze most of them. They would probably be excellent stuffed.
What a great idea! My husband, son and I all love peppers but my daughter can’t do the spice. This way we could all eat them!
I almost never want my jalapenos sliced. I find they work their way into and across foods much better if they’re diced, chopped or pureed. Likewise, I almost never want my jalapenos (or anything) pickled. They’re much better fresh. Sadly, when I order something with jalapenos from a restaurant, they almost always come sliced and pickled :-(.
the word is palate (roof of the mouth); palette is the board or slap used by artists to mix their colors.
Thank you for the edit Annie, we have updated this article.