Fire Roasted Pepper Infused Oil

I promised the Fire Roasted Pepper Oil recipe a couple weeks ago. So, here it is! It's super simple and makes adding a little extra flavor to a dish really easy.

You will need:
A canning jar or 2
Pure Olive Oil- not extra virgin
Peppers- So far, I've only done this with bell peppers and baby bell peppers but I'm sure you could use other peppers as well. I've heard chili pepper infused oil is really good!

In this batch used a total of 4 full size bell peppers for the 2 quart jars shown to the right. Half a pepper of each color (red, green, orange, and yellow) went into each jar.
I have seen similar recipes which included garlic and/or onions as well. I might try that next time!!

Preheat the oven to about 275°F. Wash the peppers, cut them in half, remove the seeds and stems. I wait and make this whenever I happen to be grilling so I don't have to light the grill just to roast peppers for 10 minutes. You could also roast them in the oven if you don't have, or don't want to use, a grill.

So, once the peppers are prepared, and the grill is hot, you put them on the grill for about 5 minutes on each side. Just until they are a little softened and have grill marks on them. You don't want them too charred or too mushy. They will cook a little more in the next step.

When they are ready, put half of each pepper in each jar. Then, pour the olive oil over them. You can really use as much or as little as you want but make sure to leave at least an inch or so of space at the top. Place the jars in a metal roasting pan and into your pre-heated oven until the oil in them is bubbling steadily, about 20-30 minutes. This is why you don't want to over fill the jars, so it doesn't bubble over. After the oil reaches a boil, remove the tray of jars from the oven and carefully place the jar lids on the jars. Make sure they are on straight in order to properly form a seal, but be careful the metal lids heat up fast! As the jars cool the lids should suction and seal. Allow them to cool all the way to room temperature before transferring them to the fridge.

From what I've read, the peppers and oil can be kept for up to 3 months in the refrigerator, or longer in the freezer. The oil becomes cloudy and solidifies a bit in the fridge making it really easy to scoop out a tablespoon or 2 for cooking. I find myself replacing olive oil with this pepper oil in pretty much all my dishes. So, I go through it pretty quickly but I did put one of these jars in the freezer because I doubt I could use both quarts within 3 months.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

*A note about canning: I am a complete noob to canning. I have a basic understanding but not much experience, yet. Many recipes similar to this make no reference to sealing the jars at all (most skip the oven step completely-but I think it gets more pepper flavor into the oil). It is refrigerator kept and is good for 3 months even without being sealed — So, sealing the jar is probably not imperative, for this recipe. I do wonder though, could properly sealed jars keep for longer, maybe even out of the fridge? I've read arguments against oven canning, but I can find just as many people who are pro-oven. Would I need to pressure can them, since there is oil involved?
Have you made or canned infused oils before? If so, what have you learned?