When we get peppers from our farm share, we get piles and piles of them, sweet, hot, and in between. Since we have little ones, I don’t make food too spicy, and so in the past, the hot peppers were either drying on the windowsill (and still not getting used) or going bad in the crisper drawer.

None of recipes I found were quite what I was looking for, so I combined a few different ideas and came up with this. Because it’s a mix of peppers with varying heat, it can be added by the spoonful and gives your dish a little kick without setting anyone on fire. I use it in dishes like Indian food, soup, pelau, and homemade baked beans.

Best Freezer Chili Paste

Peppers (hot, extra hot, sweet, whatever you have)
1-2 Onions, quartered
Olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Garlic cloves
Lime juice

Spread the onion pieces and washed peppers out on a ungreased cookie sheet. (You can include the garlic cloves for roasting, or add them fresh later).

Bake for about 20 mins. at 450 degrees, flipping them halfway through.

Remove from oven when peppers have started to soften and collapse. It’s OK if they are blackened.

Leave on counter until cool enough to handle (about 15 mins.)

Work the stems off of the peppers and discard.

If the peppers are very seedy, you may want to use a spoon to scrape some of them out to discard. With hot peppers, the less you handle them, the better, and most or all of the seeds can stay if you want.

Scrape the rest into a food processor with the garlic cloves (1-2 for a mild garlic flavor, more if you like)

Add salt and pepper (I guestimate, but 1/2 tsp each should do it)

Blend it, adding olive oil till the consistency is a smooth paste.

Add a squirt of lime juice – the smell will tell you when you have the right amount, about a tablespoon or two – and give it one more quick blend.

Divide the mixture into half pint jars and freeze.

If you make spicy food frequently, you may be able to keep a jar of this in the fridge, where it will keep for a couple of weeks.

If I’m using mine infrequently, I keep the current jar in the freezer and just scrape off a scoop when I need it.

The chili paste is gives you another tool when you are putting a meal together, and in our house it reduces waste. That makes it a double win.