Freezing peppers when they’re in season, or when you find them on the reduced-price rack, is an easy way to save money, and it can also save you time when you’re preparing meals. Here’s how to freeze peppers, so they’ll be easy to use later. This method works for sweet, bell and hot peppers.

This bell pepper soup is jam-packed with flavor and good-for-you-ingredients, and it’s one of my go-to dinners for busy days. Spend 10 minutes in the kitchen; then, go hide with a good book for 20 minutes, while dinner cooks itself.

Cayenne pepper is a definite pantry staple. It’s used in chili recipes, in taco seasoning and in so many other dishes that call for a little heat. So, today, I’m going to show you how to grind your own. If you don’t have any cayenne peppers, just use whatever hot pepper you do have (I’ve been using jalapenos with great results).

How to Make Ground Hot Pepper

Prep Time:

15 mins

Cook Time:

24 – 72 hrs

What You Need:

Dried hot peppers
A spice grinder
An empty spice jar
A wide-mouth funnel
Gloves

What You Do:

First step: dry your hot peppers. You’ll find complete instructions here.

Be sure to pull on a pair of gloves to protect your hands from the Capsaicin in the peppers. It can be pretty irritating stuff.

Alright, now it’s time to show you why a girl who isn’t crazy about spicy foods is suddenly so excited about drying hot peppers …

Today, I’m going to show you how to use dried peppers to make crushed pepper flakes. Next week, I’ll show you how to use them to make three more common spices that everyone keeps in their spice rack (even can’t-take-the-heat girls, like me).

So, let’s get this pepper-fest started, shall we?

How to Make Crushed Pepper Flakes

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook time: 24 – 72 hrs

What You Need:

Dried hot peppers (any variety will do)
A spice grinder
A spice jar
A wide-mouth canning funnel (optional)
Gloves

What You Do:

Start by drying your hot peppers. If you missed my post on that, you’ll find it here. Traditionally, pepper flakes are made with red peppers, but there’s no reason you can’t make them with green peppers. In fact, making your own pepper flakes gives you the opportunity to choose a pepper that matches your heat tolerance. I used jalapeno peppers because they’re on the milder end of the hot pepper spectrum, and because, well, I got a bunch of them for free.

I’ve never really been a fan of hot peppers – I’m not big on spicy foods. But it turns out, I just hadn’t found the right way to use them yet, and now that I have, I can’t get my hands on enough of them.

I have four things that I’m going to show you how to make over the next week, and they all call for dried hot peppers, so today, I’m going to start by showing you how to dry peppers.

Let’s get started!

How to Dry Peppers

What You’ll Need:
Hot peppers (any variety will work)
A knife
A cutting board
A dehydrator (optional, but a big help. Scroll to the bottom of the post for instructions on drying without one)
Gloves

First things first … don’t skip the gloves. The Capsaicin that gives peppers their heat can irritate your skin. A thick pair of kitchen gloves is ideal, but if you don’t have any, doubling up on latex gloves will also work (that’s what I did). Believe me, I’ve made the mistake of handling hot peppers ungloved, and you don’t want to go there.

Some people dry peppers in their oven, but I don’t recommend doing it that way. As the peppers dry, the Capsaicin will get into the air, and it can become extremely irritating to your eyes, nose and lungs. To avoid all of that unpleasantness, I just take my dehydrator out on the porch, and dry them in that. It works like a charm, and it gives me an excuse to get outside for a little while.

What You Do:

Wash and dry your peppers, and cut off their stems. If you’re working with larger peppers, like jalapenos, cut them in half lengthwise. This will help the peppers to dry out faster. But, don’t scoop out the seeds – they’re what give the peppers their heat, so you want to dry them, too.