Peppers are a great vegetable to grow on a patio, deck or sunny balcony. So if you don't have a lot of space, you can still grow some peppers! Some people even grow them under lights indoors, year-round! Above are Fire and Ice peppers growing in a glorious blue ceramic pot – this variety is perfect for patio containers as it really looks like fire at the end of the season with colorful yellow to orange to red peppers growing upwards.
Most peppers grow great in pots and containers – and can add lots of color, flavor and heat (if you like spice) to your life. Whether you like spicy hot peppers or sweet savory peppers, we have eight varieties that will grow happily in pots in small spaces!
Tips to grow peppers successfully in pots:
Make sure your pepper plants will have at least 6-8 hours of sunlight a day for best growth and chile production. It is also important to use high quality potting soil when growing peppers in pots, and ensure that there is plenty of drainage wholes in the container so that they don't get water logged.
We recommend using a pot that is at least 5 gallons so that the pepper plant roots have plenty of room to grow. The larger the pot, the less quickly the soil will dry out – you have to be more diligent about checking the soil moisture and water more often with smaller containers. Some people treat their peppers like "bonsais" and keep them in very small containers, but just know that pepper bonsais take a lot of babysitting and care!
We have picked our 10+ favorite peppers that grow well in pots below – these varieties are loved by both chefs and home cooks alike, plus they'll look beautiful and become a fun conversation piece when included in a courtyard, patio, deck or balcony.
First Six Peppers that grow well in pots for Spice Lovers:
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Cayenne Peppers - Ring of Fire
This hot pepper will ignite your dishes with a 50,000 Scoville punch—perfect for spice lovers who crave heat without overpowering pepper flavor. The plants are beautiful in pots with their pencil-thin 4" long bright red peppers. The peppers have thin flesh that dries easily so that at the end of the season you can make them into fiery hot pepper flakes, powders, or hot sauces.
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Jalapeños
Nothing beats the crispy, thick-walled fiery hot flesh of a Jalapeño! These are super fast growing, so they are great for patio pots as they are fast growing, so you'll pick these peppers much sooner than other hot pepper varieties. There are lots of varieties of Jalapenos: grow the Early Jalapeno, or try some of the hotter varieties including the Yellow Lemon Spice Jalapeno or the golden Jalapeno Jaloro, or the Orange Spice Jalapeno or the brighter orange Pumpkin Spice Jalapeno (shown above.) Grow them in pots for a variety of colors and different spice levels to try as poppers or in salsas. As with most jalapenos, the Early Jalapeno does eventually turn red when fully ripe, but you can also pick and enjoy all jalapenos when they are green, which is how they are most often sold in the store. If you let them ripen to their mature color, you'll be rewarded with more flavor and gorgeous colors! They don't typically sell fully ripe red jalapenos at the store or markets as they are more perishable when red, so growing them yourself makes for a special treat.
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Habaneros
One of our all time favorites, the super hot classic Orange Habanero (shown above) is often grown in pots. It can become very bushy and can be grown for many years if kept from frost! Many peppers can be grown in pots for years! Learn more about how long peppers live. This fruity pepper is beloved for hot sauces, salsas, pico-de-gallo and more with it's citrusy freshness and a subtle apricot aroma. It has 250,000 Scoville heat units, so it's HOT! Not as hot as a Carolina Reaper, but Habaneros will definitely spice up your life. We also like to freeze some at the end of the season to use to make salsas all winter long with canned tomatoes, long after the summer growing season is over.
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Cascabellas
These brilliant yellow peppers that turn to orange to red as they ripen are delicious pickled! In fact, Cascabellas are what Mezzetta™ Hot Chili Peppers are made from, here's our Pickled Cascabella Recipe. These prolific, small golden hot peppers just keep coming all summer long. They grow great in patio pots in small places and look great all season.
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Fish Peppers
These hot peppers, with their unique striking mottled green and white leaves and pendant-shaped peppers that resemble swimming fish are a gardener's delight! This unique mottled pepper plant is not only a showstopper in containers! Grow a piece of living history, these peppers trace back to the 1940s when they were grown and used by black caterers around the Chesapeake Bay area in and around Baltimore, used as white paprika, often with fish dishes. They are milky white at first, then they turn from white to yellow to stripy green to blazing red as the pods mature. The plants are unusual and beautiful, perfect patio pot specimens that are also great for the chefs in the kitchen.
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Fire and Ice Peppers
Our Fire and Ice peppers really look like fire at the end of the season, see photo of a potted Fire and Ice plant in August. After the summer show, you can dry these and crush for hot pepper flakes. These are great for pots even on the smaller size as the plants are compact, and the thin peppers grow upwards and change colors for a fire-like effect.
Four peppers for pots that are mild or sweet for people who don't want a lot of heat but love flavor:
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Banana Peppers
Who doesn't love sweet pickled banana peppers? These peppers make great patio plants in pots, and produce beautiful yellow peppers quickly for use for pickling, chopped for salads, or even stir fried or stuffed! You'll want to grow these every season.
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Padron Peppers
This gourmet Spanish pepper is perfect for kitchen gardens on the patio! These are highly productive pepper plants, producing tons of flavorful pods that are perfect for popping in your mouth or as a delicious appetizer. They are mostly sweet, but every once in a while you'll get a spicy one! They range from 0-500 Scovilles, but they're most often sweet with no heat. Very easy to grow in containers, these peppers are a great addition to any garden.
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Chilhuacle Negro Peppers
Discover the rich, smoky flavors of Chilhuacle Negro Peppers, a rare and ancient variety from Oaxaca, Mexico. These unique mild peppers are prized for their deep, complex taste and ease of drying, making them a must-have for culinary enthusiasts and home gardeners alike. These compact pepper plants are perfect for growing for a kitchen patio garden in pots in a small space. These special peppers are used to make delicious mole negro, a classic Mexican sauce. They have mild heat with about 1500-2500 Scoville heat units, and deliver great flavor, reminiscent of chocolate, tobacco, and dried plum. Yum!
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Vallero Peppers
Another great pepper to grow in containers is the exceptional Vallero Pepper, a prized variety from the Buenaventura Valley in Chihuahua, Mexico. Known for their deep chocolate-brown hue and rich, earthy flavor with a hint of sweetness, these medium-hot peppers are a must-have. They are mild with 500-1,500 Scovilles, and packed with intense flavor. This one grows 3-4' tall so it's good grow in a large deep container such as a half whiskey barrel so the plants can grow deep roots.
Ok, so we admit... we couldn't stop at picking just 10 peppers!
And we've added more of our favorite peppers for pots below...
Ornamental peppers are also all great for containers, don't miss our colorful pastel Easter Peppers (shown above). These put on a pastel show all summer, starting out a beautiful lavender purple, and ripening from pale sherbert orange to a pink red over time.
Above: Easter peppers are a delightful lavender-purple at first!
Twilight peppers, shown above, grow happily in a pot. Having a rainbow pepper container on a patio adds even more color than flowers, plus you get peppers out the deal! These are spicy, and work well when added to salsas, hot sauces, or dried and crushed for hot pepper flakes.
Shishito Peppers also grow great in pots, this one above was planted with two Tomatillo companions in a large pot. Despite the dense planting, the Shishito grew very tall, bushy and productive over the summer. Shishitos are delicious sweet Japanese peppers that are perfect when sauteed with olive oil and a dash of salt. They are almost always sweet, but, like Padron peppers, every once in a while you will get a hot one!
But, don't stop at these picks! There are many more hot and sweet peppers that grow great in pots.
View all of our top peppers for pots »
