This '70s Jarred Staple Instantly Makes Breakfast Sandwiches 20x Better

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At the intersection of "old school breakfast dishes we rarely see today" and "extremely cool of-the-moment ideas" is the idea of spreading pepper jelly on breakfast sandwiches. Pepper jelly was reportedly born in Texas in the '70s, and its popularity spread like wildfire ... for a while. Today, the cult of pepper jelly is mostly concentrated in the American South, where it's an appetizer mainstay when served with a block of cream cheese and your choice of crackers. But we're here to tell you that pepper jelly has broader appeal than meets the eye, and it should be the star of all your morning sammies.

Pepper jelly, for the uninitiated, is actually more a culinary jam. It's made from a combination of mild and hot peppers mixed with vinegar, sugar, and pectin for consistency. You could make it pretty easily yourself if you aren't intimidated by home canning, but customer reviews are largely favorable for Stonewall Kitchen's hot pepper jelly that runs less than a 10-spot as of this writing. 

Bell peppers and habaneros may not be normal fixtures on the list of high-fiber breakfast fruits to make you feel full 'til lunchtime, but their jelly is a sweet-spicy condiment that enriches nearly every sandwich it touches. Think of it as a sub for hot mustard that has an additional sweetness. It pairs exceptionally well with cheese and egg (two breakfast sandwich mainstays) and compliments just about any protein you might stuff in a bagel, biscuit, or English muffin. Even leafy greens get an undeniable zhuzh factor from pepper jelly, so we feel that there's no reason not to get creative while building your sandwiches.

Reddit is buzzing with ideas about how to incorporate pepper jelly into breakfast sandwiches. A lot of Redditors liked the concept of a grilled cheese with pepper jelly, but one commenter struck gold: "Breakfast sandwich: English muffin, pepper jelly, egg, cheese, sausage patty." On another Reddit thread, one poster got hyperbolic (we assume) when waxing rhapsodic about "Fried chicken on a biscuit with a slice of sharp cheddar and jalapeño jelly. I'd slap my momma for one right now. She'd slap me for one too." A thread about creative uses for pepper jelly led to yet another idea that could be the base of a DIY sando: "Yes yes yes. Morning bagel with cream cheese and pepper jelly. Yum!"

We know that cream cheese and pepper jelly are a match made in culinary heaven, but here's a delightfully offbeat idea: peanut butter and pepper jelly for an Asian-inspired mashup that could be amazing with chicken sausage and some greens. If you're a vegetarian, how about an egg sandwich with plenty of spinach and sautéed mushrooms and onions, bedecked with a schmear of pepper jelly? That millennial breakfast centerpiece, avocado, with some pepper jelly under a runny egg on your favorite crusty bread? Oui, s'il vous plaît! We also love the idea of a basic ham and cheese toastie with pepper jelly ... it's an unexpected addition that really elevates your morning meal. Science knows the best time to eat breakfast; now we know the best condiment to spice it up!