Best Peppers for Hot SauceWe've picked out our favorite peppers for hot sauce (and some of your favorites) that you can grow in your garden to make hot sauce! Find our favorite hot sauce recipes and make them your own with any of these hot peppers. You can use any hot pepper or combination of peppers to make hot sauce, so don't feel limited, experiment! The sky's the limit. You'll find that some you love some peppers even more than others, but it's fun to try them all. Hot sauce captures the essenc...
NEW SEEDS FOR 2025WE HAVE NEW SEEDS ARRIVING! We are excited to announce the addition of new seeds to our mid-season lineup.New seeds now available: Gypsy Sweet Pepper This super fast growing sweet pepper has a fantastic sweet flavor and is never bitter like a bell pepper can be. The plants produce an unbelievable amount of fruit all season that you can enjoy early at the yellow-green stage or wait until they fully ripen to orange-red. Sun Gold F1 TomatoThese bright golden orange tomatoes have a sweet, juicy,...
What peppers would you consider a must grow?While there are hundreds of peppers of the world you can grow (see just some of them above), we have a (fairly long & evergrowing) list of our favorite peppers that we grow each and every season. Many of these varieties are hard to find at the store, so they are great to grow – plus, all homegrown peppers (like tomatoes) taste better than store-bought! You can also let them fully ripen to get the maximum flavor that you'll want to taste and grow again and again. Here's our top pi...
Types of Peppers to GrowAt Sandia Seed we have seeds for over 101 peppers of the world to grow in your garden! There are many types of peppers to grow, ranging from sweet to super hot, so there is a pepper for everyone. What is the Best Pepper to Grow? Golly, it's really hard to choose just one pepper considering the huge range of flavors, heat levels and colors they provide. Sorry, but it's just too hard to narrow down to just one pepper, so here are a few of our top favorites for the best peppers to ...
How to Dry PeppersHere are our top ways you can dry peppers: 1. Make Chile Ristras!Chile Ristras can be made from lots of different kinds of peppers, not just the common New Mexico and Hatch chile varieties. This is a great way to store your peppers for the winter. You want to string up the peppers so that they get maximum airflow and hang them in a dry sunny place to dry out. Then you can use them in your kitchen for recipes and making red chile sauces. Growing peppers that have think flesh and are suited ...
Homegrown Sriracha Sauce RecipeHomegrown Sriracha Sauce 1.5 pounds Sriracha Peppers, or other red hot peppers such as cayenne, goat horn, fresno, bishop crown, thai hot, or jalapeno peppers ⅓ cup water 6 cloves garlic, peeled 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon kosher salt ½ cup white vinegar Cut off stems of peppers, add to a food processor or blender and add water, garlic, brown sugar, and salt.Pulse, then blend until smooth. Add puree into a large glass jar or pitcher, and keep covered in a cool dark location for 3 ...
Red Chile Powder RecipeRed Chile Powder - Homemade This red chile powder recipe is quick and easy to make from scratch. It has an incredibly robust and vibrant flavor when compared to store bought powders. INGREDIENTS 4-6 cups Dried Red Chile peppers or 4-6 ounces (We recommend a combination of hatch red chiles, ancho, guajillo and any other variety you like, and if you want heat add some arbol or cayenne.) 2 tablespoons Garlic Powder or freshly dehydrated garlic 2 tablespoons Onion Powder or freshly dehydrate...
Can you overwinter New Mexico Chile plants?We were recently asked: Is it a 100% no for overwintering NM Chile plants? If so why? We've found that New Mexico chile plants don't produce as well after being overwintered – they will survive if kept from frost, but they are not usually anywhere near as productive as fresh started plants the next year. Some pepper plants are more suited to overwintering and can live and produce for many years, but New Mexico chile plants seem to be best in their first year. The super hot Rattl...
Growing Peppers in ColoradoThere are many different growing zones in Colorado, and you can grow peppers in any areas that you can grow tomatoes and other veggies! For Colorado gardeners, starting peppers indoors is a must with short season gardening, we recommend starting your pepper seeds at least 6-8 weeks before mid-to-late May when you will transplant them into the garden. Use a seedling heat mat to keep the pepper seeds warm during germination, they like to germinate around 80˚F! Choose short season peppers for...
What are the easiest peppers to grow?What are the easiest peppers to grow? We think most peppers are easy to grow, but growing faster growing peppers can help improve your success, especially in shorter growing seasons. The fastest germinating peppers are typically in the Capsicum Annuum family, so we'd say they are easiest to grow. This is a big family of peppers, so for an easier garden, you can grow fast-growing jalapeño seeds, serrano seeds, cayenne seeds, Anaheim chile seeds, Hatch chile seeds, and poblano seeds. A cou...
How to Germinate Pepper SeedsWhat You will need: Pepper seeds Indoor/Outdoor potting soil Plastic growing tray, at least 2” deep with holes for drainage Seed germination warming mat Grow light or bright window Distilled water Labels. Fill growing tray almost to the top with potting soil. Moisten thoroughly with water and allow to drain completely. Always use distilled water. Make an indentation with a pencil eraser approx. a quarter of an inch deep or less, about every 2 inches in the soil. Place one pepper seed int...
Types of PeppersThere are many types of peppers to grow in your garden! There are the five major types of peppers: Capsicum annuum: Life span: 1.5-3 years These include a lot of the largest peppers including Bell Peppers, sweet/Italian Peppers, Serrano, Cayenne, Paprika, Hatch Chile Peppers, ornamental peppers like the gorgeous NuMex Twilight pepper, and all of the fast growing Jalapeños. These pepper plants can live between 1.5-3 years. We find that the New Mexican Chile varieties really produce t...
Grow Peppers in PotsDid you know you can grow peppers in pots? Many pepper varieties do great in pots! Check our list of Best Peppers to Grow in Pots Add more peppers to your garden this year! Growing peppers in pots is a great way to expand your garden, you can place pots on patios, decks, or balconies to increase your harvest each season. Fire and Ice Peppers are perfect for pots! They really do look like flames as they change in color from pale yellow to orange to bright red. They make a great show, plus ...
Pepper SeedsLooking for Pepper Seeds? Sandia Seed offers a great selection of pepper seeds, from sweet pepper seeds to hot pepper seeds. We have bell pepper seeds, as well as cayenne pepper seeds and poblano pepper seeds.Sandia Seed is part of a sustainable movement to change the way the world buys seeds. We offer heirloom & open-pollinated seeds that are not readily available from large seed companies. Today’s gardeners can grow them and keep their unique genetic makeup viable for future generations...
2022 Seed CatalogCheck out Sandia Seed's brand new 2022 Seed Catalog that we just designed and got back from the printer! Our 2022 Seed Catalog is packed with seeds for some of your favorites like our Hatch Chile seeds, plus several new peppers of the world, plus organic vegetable seeds and heirloom tomato seeds. Our pepper-packed 2022 Seed Catalog is printed and is now shipping!Check out the 2022 Seed Catalog, it's packed with recipes, growing tips and lots of seeds! Perfect for winter-ti...
No-Peel Canned Salsa with Apples!We have an apple tree, and this year it was loaded with fruit! While we like apple pie, we like salsa better, so we just made the No-Peel version of this Canned Salsa Recipe, below, and we added a few peeled & cored homegrown apples to the batch, for a bit of sweetness. It's spicy and delicious! We simply peeled and cored the four apples and threw them into the food processor along with the tomatoes and chiles. We had some sample tastes before canning, it was delish! We can't wait...
I'm going to grow these every year, they are HOT!! They make great poppers and salsa. Very productive, easy to grow, quick germination and fast growing plants. Thank you for the stellar seeds.
I planted several cultivars from wholesale seed. These were prolific. See all that RED (and green)?!? Looking forward to harvesting in a few days. Thank You Sandia Seed!
I pretty much use Sandia seeds exclusively! A few years ago I just happened to order your Jalapeño M. To me it's the perfect Jalapeño! Really nice size! Perfect heat for what we like! Wonderful flavor with a meatyness that's perfect for many different uses! I make my own Sriracha so I wait for them to turn red. They're one of my base peppers for my sauce! I praise them to all my personal friends and to members of groups that I belong to!
Serrano Hidalgo Seeds fromSandia Seed produce even in the HOT drought of central Illinois this year! I love adding a little Mexican kick to my salsa but also tossing these on the grill! They have great flavor and produce all summer long!
I had looked high & low, and searched the web with many word combinations ‘looking’ specifically for my favorite chili, the Dynamite xx Hot… so I could grow my own. The peppers were sold in Colorado at select places during roasting season, but you couldn’t buy seeds for them… anywhere!
Finally, as luck and persistence would have it, I discovered Sandia Seed Company.
Thank you Sandia! I planted them and had a great crop this year. I plan on growing them every year as well as trying some of their other seeds,
There's just something fun about growing a jalapeno that is light enough in color that some people think it's a banana pepper. LOL! I picked these just for color variety, and I'm very pleased that my plants have been loaded with them all season! We donated about 50 lbs of mixed peppers this year from our garden and I still had enough to freeze some and can more jars of recipes than we'll probably be able to use before next season. All my peppers were from Sandia Seed Company. I've never had such great pepper production before using these seeds!!
This spinach germinated well, and produced way more spinach than I'd initially expected. It grew really well, was slow to bolt in the summer, and has a really nice mild flavor for salads or steamed.
This was my first time growing these and I will definitely be growing them from now on. Great germination and very sturdy plants that have withstood some really high winds. Huge long peppers that are excellent green or red, very easy to peel skin.
Growing these in Florida, (Recent transplant of NM).
Lovely peppers. Took a couple weeks is all and wow! I have several budding; 2 large enough to nickname. They're still in their infancy, but I can tell they are going to be great! Love the seeds!
I got these to make Chipotle chilis. These fruit early and are mild-ish when green, but when they ripen, they are perfect for smoking and drying with great flavor and nice heat. Don't plant too many as they are quite prolific.
Best Peppers for Hot Sauce
We've picked out our favorite peppers for hot sauce (and some of your favorites) that you can grow in your garden to make hot sauce! Find our favorite hot sauce recipes and make them your own with any of these hot peppers. You can use any hot pepper or combination of peppers to make hot sauce, so don't feel limited, experiment! The sky's the limit. You'll find that some you love some peppers even more than others, but it's fun to try them all. Hot sauce captures the essenc...
NEW SEEDS FOR 2025
WE HAVE NEW SEEDS ARRIVING! We are excited to announce the addition of new seeds to our mid-season lineup.New seeds now available: Gypsy Sweet Pepper This super fast growing sweet pepper has a fantastic sweet flavor and is never bitter like a bell pepper can be. The plants produce an unbelievable amount of fruit all season that you can enjoy early at the yellow-green stage or wait until they fully ripen to orange-red. Sun Gold F1 TomatoThese bright golden orange tomatoes have a sweet, juicy,...
What peppers would you consider a must grow?
While there are hundreds of peppers of the world you can grow (see just some of them above), we have a (fairly long & evergrowing) list of our favorite peppers that we grow each and every season. Many of these varieties are hard to find at the store, so they are great to grow – plus, all homegrown peppers (like tomatoes) taste better than store-bought! You can also let them fully ripen to get the maximum flavor that you'll want to taste and grow again and again. Here's our top pi...
Types of Peppers to Grow
At Sandia Seed we have seeds for over 101 peppers of the world to grow in your garden! There are many types of peppers to grow, ranging from sweet to super hot, so there is a pepper for everyone. What is the Best Pepper to Grow? Golly, it's really hard to choose just one pepper considering the huge range of flavors, heat levels and colors they provide. Sorry, but it's just too hard to narrow down to just one pepper, so here are a few of our top favorites for the best peppers to ...
How to Dry Peppers
Here are our top ways you can dry peppers: 1. Make Chile Ristras!Chile Ristras can be made from lots of different kinds of peppers, not just the common New Mexico and Hatch chile varieties. This is a great way to store your peppers for the winter. You want to string up the peppers so that they get maximum airflow and hang them in a dry sunny place to dry out. Then you can use them in your kitchen for recipes and making red chile sauces. Growing peppers that have think flesh and are suited ...
Homegrown Sriracha Sauce Recipe
Homegrown Sriracha Sauce 1.5 pounds Sriracha Peppers, or other red hot peppers such as cayenne, goat horn, fresno, bishop crown, thai hot, or jalapeno peppers ⅓ cup water 6 cloves garlic, peeled 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon kosher salt ½ cup white vinegar Cut off stems of peppers, add to a food processor or blender and add water, garlic, brown sugar, and salt.Pulse, then blend until smooth. Add puree into a large glass jar or pitcher, and keep covered in a cool dark location for 3 ...
Red Chile Powder Recipe
Red Chile Powder - Homemade This red chile powder recipe is quick and easy to make from scratch. It has an incredibly robust and vibrant flavor when compared to store bought powders. INGREDIENTS 4-6 cups Dried Red Chile peppers or 4-6 ounces (We recommend a combination of hatch red chiles, ancho, guajillo and any other variety you like, and if you want heat add some arbol or cayenne.) 2 tablespoons Garlic Powder or freshly dehydrated garlic 2 tablespoons Onion Powder or freshly dehydrate...
Can you overwinter New Mexico Chile plants?
We were recently asked: Is it a 100% no for overwintering NM Chile plants? If so why? We've found that New Mexico chile plants don't produce as well after being overwintered – they will survive if kept from frost, but they are not usually anywhere near as productive as fresh started plants the next year. Some pepper plants are more suited to overwintering and can live and produce for many years, but New Mexico chile plants seem to be best in their first year. The super hot Rattl...
Growing Peppers in Colorado
There are many different growing zones in Colorado, and you can grow peppers in any areas that you can grow tomatoes and other veggies! For Colorado gardeners, starting peppers indoors is a must with short season gardening, we recommend starting your pepper seeds at least 6-8 weeks before mid-to-late May when you will transplant them into the garden. Use a seedling heat mat to keep the pepper seeds warm during germination, they like to germinate around 80˚F! Choose short season peppers for...
What are the easiest peppers to grow?
What are the easiest peppers to grow? We think most peppers are easy to grow, but growing faster growing peppers can help improve your success, especially in shorter growing seasons. The fastest germinating peppers are typically in the Capsicum Annuum family, so we'd say they are easiest to grow. This is a big family of peppers, so for an easier garden, you can grow fast-growing jalapeño seeds, serrano seeds, cayenne seeds, Anaheim chile seeds, Hatch chile seeds, and poblano seeds. A cou...
How to Germinate Pepper Seeds
What You will need: Pepper seeds Indoor/Outdoor potting soil Plastic growing tray, at least 2” deep with holes for drainage Seed germination warming mat Grow light or bright window Distilled water Labels. Fill growing tray almost to the top with potting soil. Moisten thoroughly with water and allow to drain completely. Always use distilled water. Make an indentation with a pencil eraser approx. a quarter of an inch deep or less, about every 2 inches in the soil. Place one pepper seed int...
Types of Peppers
There are many types of peppers to grow in your garden! There are the five major types of peppers: Capsicum annuum: Life span: 1.5-3 years These include a lot of the largest peppers including Bell Peppers, sweet/Italian Peppers, Serrano, Cayenne, Paprika, Hatch Chile Peppers, ornamental peppers like the gorgeous NuMex Twilight pepper, and all of the fast growing Jalapeños. These pepper plants can live between 1.5-3 years. We find that the New Mexican Chile varieties really produce t...
Grow Peppers in Pots
Did you know you can grow peppers in pots? Many pepper varieties do great in pots! Check our list of Best Peppers to Grow in Pots Add more peppers to your garden this year! Growing peppers in pots is a great way to expand your garden, you can place pots on patios, decks, or balconies to increase your harvest each season. Fire and Ice Peppers are perfect for pots! They really do look like flames as they change in color from pale yellow to orange to bright red. They make a great show, plus ...
Pepper Seeds
Looking for Pepper Seeds? Sandia Seed offers a great selection of pepper seeds, from sweet pepper seeds to hot pepper seeds. We have bell pepper seeds, as well as cayenne pepper seeds and poblano pepper seeds.Sandia Seed is part of a sustainable movement to change the way the world buys seeds. We offer heirloom & open-pollinated seeds that are not readily available from large seed companies. Today’s gardeners can grow them and keep their unique genetic makeup viable for future generations...
2022 Seed Catalog
Check out Sandia Seed's brand new 2022 Seed Catalog that we just designed and got back from the printer! Our 2022 Seed Catalog is packed with seeds for some of your favorites like our Hatch Chile seeds, plus several new peppers of the world, plus organic vegetable seeds and heirloom tomato seeds. Our pepper-packed 2022 Seed Catalog is printed and is now shipping!Check out the 2022 Seed Catalog, it's packed with recipes, growing tips and lots of seeds! Perfect for winter-ti...
No-Peel Canned Salsa with Apples!
We have an apple tree, and this year it was loaded with fruit! While we like apple pie, we like salsa better, so we just made the No-Peel version of this Canned Salsa Recipe, below, and we added a few peeled & cored homegrown apples to the batch, for a bit of sweetness. It's spicy and delicious! We simply peeled and cored the four apples and threw them into the food processor along with the tomatoes and chiles. We had some sample tastes before canning, it was delish! We can't wait...
