How and When to Harvest Peppers of All Types

To enjoy the tastiest and most colorful peppers from your garden, it's important to know how and when to harvest peppers. This quick guide will give you all the pepper harvesting tips you need to pick delicious mild and hot peppers. Then you'll be ready to enjoy them fresh or cooked in your favorite recipes.

When to Harvest Peppers

Different peppers mature at different rates, so it’s a good idea to consult your seed packet to determine when the pepper plants should be ready to harvest. In general, most peppers take between 70 and 85 days to start fruiting when they’re grown from seed, but you can harvest peppers earlier by growing plants from nursery starts. Bell peppers tend to mature more quickly than hot peppers, and some of the most fiery hot peppers, like Carolina Reapers, can take 150 days to ripen.

Pay attention to size and color.

One of the interesting things about peppers is that most varieties change color as they reach maturity. For example, all bell peppers start as green bell peppers, but they ripen into shades of yellow, red, orange, and even purple. Jalapeño peppers, on the other hand, are usually harvested when they’re slightly immature and green, but they turn a brilliant red when fully ripe.

All pepper varieties can be harvested as soon as they reach a usable size, and peppers can be eaten when they’re green, or they can be allowed to ripen and develop color. Whether you harvest green peppers or not is up to you, but sweet peppers will be sweeter, and hot peppers will be more fiery if you allow them to develop color. In general, it takes full-sized peppers about 2 to 4 weeks to turn from green to fully ripe shades of red, orange, yellow, and other colors.

Depending on your preferences, you can harvest peppers when they’re fully ripe and colorful or pick peppers while they’re still green. If you enjoy cooking with color, try picking some peppers when they’re green and allow the rest to mature fully. This will provide you with more pepper color variety for your recipes.

Watch for corking.

While most gardeners use pepper size and coloration to determine ripeness, corking can also indicate that peppers are fully mature. Jalapeños and some other hot peppers begin corking as they ripen, which looks like fine streaking on the pepper’s skin; it occurs when peppers grow fast. Corking is a clear sign of pepper ripeness, and hot pepper aficionados generally agree that spicy peppers taste best if they display at least a bit of corking.

Harvest often.

If you want to get more out of your garden, harvest the peppers often. This encourages plants to produce more fruit and ensures you get the freshest peppers. Healthy pepper plants can remain productive well into fall, but peppers are not frost-hardy, so harvest all your peppers before a frost. Green peppers can continue to ripen on your counter after harvesting; however, very young and underdeveloped peppers will likely not ripen off the plant.

How to Harvest Peppers

Harvesting peppers isn’t difficult. You can harvest peppers by pinching or pulling the peppers off the plant. While some types of peppers may break off easily from the plant when ripe, others may be more stubbornly attached. Plus, pepper plants can be easily damaged if you tug too hard, so picking this way is not the preferred method.

Instead, cut the pepper stem with a pair of sharp pruners or kitchen shears. If possible, leave a bit of stem attached to the pepper when harvesting it. The stem helps the pepper last longer and resist drying out.