How to Grow Serrano Peppers in Containers

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If you like a little heat in your food, Serrano peppers are the perfect addition to any container garden.

They grow well in small(er) containers
They’re consistently productive
They can be used in a variety of side dishes and main dishes
They add a pop of color to your patio or balcony
They grow well in full sun locations
You can make your own hot sauce!

Those are my reasons to add Serrano peppers to your patio garden. You should not add Serrano peppers to your patio garden if no one in your household likes spicy peppers. That’s it, that’s the only reason you shouldn’t do it.

I started growing Serrano peppers on a whim because I was buying seeds from the dollar store and I needed one more seed packet to get the 4 for a dollar deal. I started my first seeds in July and they did amazing. Thankfully I liked them, because I had never tried a Serrano pepper before in my life and definitely thought they were some kind of jalapeno.

I have found that Serrano peppers may be the most indestructible pepper you can grow. I have experimented and abused my peppers to the degree that they should not be alive, and yet, every time I check on them they are not only surviving, but producing new flowers and fruit, and thriving!

Some ways that I have successfully not killed my peppers include:

Forgetting to water them until they look very dead (but not crispy). If you give them a nice deep drink, they come right back!
Put a branch in a wine bottle full of water as a centerpiece and forgot about it. The branch grew roots and started producing new flowers! I started using a hydroponic nutrient solution when the leaves became yellow and then I grew that plant in the bottle for 2 years!
Kept them in a 1 gallon pot. This is severely on the small side for hot peppers, but I just trimmed the roots when they got too root bound and occasionally gave the plant some liquid fertilizer (in the form of the hydroponic nutrient solution I already had) and the plant produced peppers throughout the winter.
Kept them inside and outside. They just need a significant amount of light and you need to pollinate the flowers if you don’t have bees in your house (which I really hope you don’t).
Brought them inside every winter and then put them back outside in the spring (this is called “overwintering”).

There are two ways that I did manage to kill my pepper plants. The first is that I sacrificed them to the frost gods and left them outside in the snow. I knew those plants would die and I let them because I had no more room for plants in my house. The second is that I had an aphid infestation in my rental home and I did not treat said infestation in a timely manner. Unfortunately, the plant had just been brought inside for the winter and the aphids ate all the fresh leaves before the plant had enough leaves to keep itself alive.

I highly recommend adding Serrano peppers to your container garden this year. In addition to being relatively easy to not kill, in containers you can also:

Grow them anywhere
Walk all the way around them to harvest fruit
Bring them inside for winter to “overwinter” them

Have I convinced you yet? Keep reading to learn how to take care of them!

How to grow hot peppers in containers

Sun: Serrano peppers love full sun. This means they need 6-8 hours of direct sunlight a day. They do not need more than 8 hours of sun! In fact, I’ve found 12 hours of sun tends to stress them out a little bit and they don’t produce as much fruit.
Moisture: This plant prefers moderate moisture. The soil should always feel moist to the touch but not wet. You will see the plants visibly wilt when they need water but they recover very quickly!
Soil: I have kept my plant in a standard potting mix since 2020 and it has thrived! You will need to refresh the potting mix each year because peppers are heavy feeders.
Container Size: I recommend planting this herb in a 10 inch pot. I had one plant live for 4 years in a 10 inch pot on my windowsill. That being said, when I planted an identical plant in a larger container that plant grew larger and produced even more.
Planting/Propagating: You can plant this veggie by seed, start, or cutting. Seeds can be started 8-10 weeks before your last frost for an early harvest, but I’ve started mine in July before and got such a huge harvest in September that I was giving serrano peppers away. Starts should be transplanted into the garden once the nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. If you’d to clone an existing plant, I’ve had success chopping off an established branch and then forgetting about it in a wine bottle. I put the flowering branch in a bottle of water as a decoration and then by the time I thought to maybe throw it away it had grown roots! I actually kept that plant alive and producing in the wine bottle for 2 years using a hydroponic nutrient solution.
Yearly Maintenance: Most people treat hot peppers as annuals. They can be planted out in the spring and then pulled up in the fall after the first frost. I like to overwinter my plants but I’ll talk more about that in the next section.
Winterizing: If you live in a colder climate but would like your peppers to last you multiple years you can overwinter your peppers. This involves chopping off the majority of their branches and all of their leaves, pruning their roots, and then potting them in a small pot and bringing them inside until the spring. Most people will tell you to put them in a darkish corner of your home, but from my experience a sunny window works best. When I deprived my plants of light they all died. In a sunny window the plants will not go as dormant as you may want but they will stay alive! My peppers have grown back over the winter and even produced peppers!
Pruning/Harvesting: You will hear people say you should “top” your peppers in the spring when they get a couple inches tall with a few sets of true leaves. I’ve tried this, and I don’t think it gave me a bushier plant or a bigger harvest. Follow the advice you feel comfortable following. In terms of harvesting, peppers can be harvested green or when they are fully ripe. Fully ripe peppers tend to have a more complex flavor but both green and ripe peppers are edible and pack a punch. You can also eat the leaves of hot pepper plants as a cooked green!
Preserving: Peppers can be frozen, dehydrated, pickled, canned or fermented!

Using Serrano Peppers

How you use your hot peppers is up to you! Depending on the type of pepper I like to:

Dry and grind them to make a spicy powder for my seasonings cabinet
Ferment them and make hot sauce
Add them to my morning omlette
Use them in curries and soups
Fill them with cream cheese and wrap them in bacon to make poppers
Add them to jars with pickling cucumbers to make spicy pickles

My favorite way to use Serrano peppers is wrapped in bacon to make poppers.

Best Serrano Poppers

Cut your peppers in half and remove the seeds. Fill with cream cheese and a small dollop of raspberry jam. Wrap in raw bacon and place on a baking sheet. Cook at 350 until the bacon is cooked through. Enjoy!