The Best Uses For Trader Joe's Popular Hot & Sweet Jalapeños

If you like bread and butter pickles — but you also like your life to be exciting — you absolutely have to head to Trader Joe's and pick up a jar of Hot & Sweet Jalapeños. If there's somewhere you'd put a pickle or pickle juice, try a pickled hot and sweet jalapeño in its place.

Trader Joe's describes these pickled jalapeños as sassy, with just enough sweetness to balance the spicy heat of the pepper. They're inspired by cowboy candy — candied jalapeños — but without quite as much sugar. If you're someone who thinks black pepper is too spicy, these aren't for you. TJ's amps up the spice to make sure the hot pickling process doesn't dampen the kick of these pickled peppers, adding pureed ripe red jalapeños and dried chilies to the brine. And while they pack a punch, they won't blow you away.

Just like the superfans of their Reddit thread, there's almost nowhere we wouldn't put a hot and sweet jalapeño, honestly. Sandwiches, salads, tacos, nachos, drinks, dips, spreads, charcuterie boards; the options are endless. We'll even use the brine.

Trader Joe's themselves recommends putting their hot and sweet jalapeño slices on a burger or grilled cheese, nachos, charcuterie boards, crackers and cream cheese, and in guacamole. Of course they're going to be amazing in many sandwiches and tacos, with their sassy kick. They're also the perfect topping for a Sonoran dog, the hot dog specialty of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. Wrapped in bacon and topped like nachos, these dogs are the perfect home for hot and sweet jalapeños. Don't let the desert have all the fun; throw the pickled peppers on a Chicago dog or top your Italian beef sandwiches with them (in place of or alongside giardiniera). Absolutely put them on your smoked brisket sammies, in a cubano, or on a Bahn mi.

But don't stop there! Mince them for deviled eggs. Dice them for potato, pasta, egg, tuna, or chicken salad (basically any savory mayo-based salad). Please, please put them on homemade pizza. Make eggs benedict for brunch with smoked salmon, cajun seasoned hollandaise, and these babies — or top an everything bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese spiked with them, diced finely. Sub out some of the normal canned jalapeños in this jalapeño popper dip for the sweet and hot ones. Put them in mac and cheese, cornbread, and cheese grits. Use them in this apricot jalapeño jelly. We could keep going, but you get the idea.

Given all the delicious ways you're going to be using the Trader Joe's hot and sweet jalapeños, you'll probably want to pick up a couple of jars at a time. But what happens when you use the last slice out of your jar? Do not, under any circumstances, dump the brine down the drain. You can reuse the brine in a batch of quick pickles, or use it as an ingredient!

Pickle brine is often used to marinate chicken before frying, and we've recommended brining in kimchi before. This time, try the syrupy brine out of these jalapeños. Make a marinade out of it with cilantro and lime, and marinate some flank steak in it for tacos or fajitas. Use it in a vinaigrette to amp up the flavor, or toss a dash of it into a homemade buttermilk ranch dressing. Replace the vinegar in a homemade mustard recipe with it. And don't stop at food — add a bit of it into a bloody Mary mix or a spicy margarita, where it's right at home. Want to get a little more adventurous with your cocktails? Swap it out for the pickle juice in a pickleback. You could also make this dirty pickle martini with a little spice, substituting the half ounce of pickle juice for jalapeño brine and garnishing with a slice. Or just drink it straight out of the jar. We won't judge you, promise.