Cayenne Pepper Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Cayenne Is Doing

Ground cayenne is a hot red chile, Capsicum annuum, and in the trade it is often sold simply as “red pepper”.¹ It brings fast, clean heat with little smoke or sweetness. The heat comes from capsaicinoids, mainly capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin, which every hot chile contains in some amount.² So any hot chile can stand in for cayenne’s heat. The questions are how much heat it carries and what else comes with it: smoke, sweetness, salt, vinegar or a different texture.

Quick answer

The rest of the page explains each choice and the other options.

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship, with the source named.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. We show each one and do not average them.
• Method: we found no published ratio. We give a direction and a cautious starting point, and say so.

The ratios we found come from three bylined food publications, Chili Pepper Madness, Mashed and PepperScale, and Mashed credits several of its figures to a gardening blog. None of them says how its numbers were arrived at. Because no one publishes how hot a given jar of cayenne is (see below), no ratio can promise to match its heat. Add the substitute in stages and taste.

How hot is cayenne?

The published figures do not agree, and they are not measuring the same thing.

How to read this:

• The 30,000–50,000 range has named sources but no published measurement behind it. DeWitt’s scale, Chili Pepper Madness and PepperScale all carry it; none says what was measured or how.⁵ That makes it attributable, not proven, and not wrong.
• The cultivar figures describe those cultivars, grown in those trials. They show how much one type of chile can vary. They do not show that the 30,000–50,000 range is wrong, and they are not figures for retail cayenne powder.
• The same cultivar name gets two different numbers. DeWitt’s approximate scale puts ‘Large Red Thick’ at 2,500–5,000; the New Mexico trial measured 12,900 by HPLC.⁶⁷ They come from different methods and are not reconciled here.
• What sits in a jar depends on its maker. NMSU notes that Scoville taste tests are subjective and that HPLC is the most accurate method.² Retail jars rarely state either.

How hot are the substitutes?

These figures come from different kinds of sources; they are listed for orientation, not ranked against the cayenne figures above.

If cayenne is clean heat in a cooked dish

This is cayenne’s main job: heat without much other flavor, in stews, sauces, soups and braises.

1. Red pepper flakes, ground

McCormick Science Institute says crushed red pepper flakes typically use the cayenne variety, alone or blended with other cultivars,¹ so flakes are often the same chile in a coarser form, seeds included. It also says cayenne powder is typically hotter than the flakes.¹ Grinding the flakes in a spice grinder or mortar spreads the heat more evenly through a dish; that is kitchen practice.

Ratio (Disputed):

Our starting point (Method): begin at the same amount, the low end Chili Pepper Madness and Mashed give, taste, and work up toward PepperScale’s double. PepperScale adds that flakes spread heat unevenly, so judge by the mouthful rather than by the pot.⁵

2. Chile de árbol powder

Gernot Katzer groups chile de árbol among the less aromatic, more pungent Mexican chiles.¹⁷ DeWitt’s scale puts it in the same band as crushed red pepper.⁶ It is the closest single-chile powder to cayenne’s clean heat, in our judgment.

Ratio (Attributed): Mashed suggests a one-to-one swap of powdered chile de árbol for cayenne.¹⁶

3. Gochugaru

Korean red pepper powder is fruitier and usually coarser than cayenne; that description is ours. Its heat varies widely by variety and lot, from 7.0 to 126.1 mg of capsaicinoids per 100 g across two Korean studies (table above).¹⁴¹⁵ So a bag can be much milder or about as hot as cayenne; taste a pinch first.

Ratio (Attributed): Chili Pepper Madness says to use equal measures of gochugaru for cayenne.⁴ Mashed says to start one-to-one and taste as you go.¹⁶

If cayenne is color as well as heat

In rubs, deviled eggs and finishing dusts, cayenne adds red color along with heat.

Hot paprika

Paprika’s red comes from carotenoids, chiefly capsanthin and capsorubin.¹⁸ By the international standard’s definitions, paprika has no more than 480 Scoville units and hot paprika sits between 480 and 900,¹³ so even hot paprika is mild next to any cayenne figure above. Spanish pimentón comes in sweet, bittersweet and hot types; the hot type has “pronounced heat on the palate”, and Pimentón de la Vera is smoke-dried,¹⁹ while Pimentón de Murcia is dried in the sun or with hot air.²⁰ A smoked pimentón will add smoke as well as color.

Ratio (Disputed): Chili Pepper Madness says to use double the amount of paprika.⁴ Mashed gives the same doubling.¹⁶ PepperScale says to start at roughly one for one and adjust, because paprika heat is inconsistent between brands.⁵ Our starting point (Method): begin one for one, taste, and go up toward double if you want more color. Doubling gives you color; in our judgment it will not give you cayenne’s heat. If heat matters, add a pinch of red pepper flakes too.

If cayenne is heat inside a spice blend

Chili powder

American chili powder is a blend of ground chili pepper, cumin, oregano, salt and garlic powder,¹² so it brings those flavors as well as some heat. USDA’s purchasing specification accepts 900–2,000 SHU for it.¹² That is a buyer’s specification, not a survey of store shelves, but every published cayenne figure above is higher.

Ratio (Attributed): Chili Pepper Madness says to use equal measures of chili powder for cayenne.⁴ Mashed’s cayenne article also says an equal amount works if you want.¹⁶ Expect much less heat at that ratio; PepperScale says you will need noticeably more chili powder to reach the same heat, and that it brings a Tex-Mex flavor along with it.⁵ Mashed’s separate chili powder article, by a different writer, goes the other way and uses only ⅛ teaspoon of cayenne for each teaspoon of chili powder,²¹ which shows how far apart the two spices’ heat is thought to be. Cut back on the recipe’s own cumin, oregano and salt.

If cayenne is heat in a liquid dish

Hot sauce

McCormick Science Institute describes a mash of red peppers as the key ingredient in Louisiana-style hot sauces, and New Mexico’s cayenne growers supply that market.¹⁷ Bottled sauces also carry vinegar and salt; check the label. DeWitt’s scale puts Tabasco brand sauce at 5,000–15,000 SHU and Louisiana hot sauce at 2,500–5,000.⁶

Ratio (Disputed):

Eight drops is far less than half a teaspoon, so the two sources are a long way apart. Our starting point (Method): begin with a few drops, as Mashed and PepperScale suggest, taste after a minute of simmering, and move toward Chili Pepper Madness’s amount only if the dish can take the extra vinegar and liquid.

Other options

No published ratio was found for chipotle or jalapeño powder in place of cayenne; the Method amounts are starting points, not measured equivalents.

If the recipe calls for fresh cayenne

Fresh cayenne pods are harder to find than the powder. PepperScale publishes swaps for the fresh chile, with its own heat figures, none with a stated method:⁵

PepperScale notes that a tabasco pepper is juicier, with a sweet, fruity edge that cayenne lacks, and that serrano and jalapeño taste brighter and grassier.⁵

What isn’t known

• No published measurement compares the heat of a retail cayenne powder with any substitute. Every ratio above is a rule of thumb.
• The common 30,000–50,000 SHU range for cayenne can be attributed to named writers but not to a published measurement. Lab measurements exist only for specific cultivars.
• It is sometimes said that gochugaru is about 10,000 SHU. No source we found measures it in Scoville units; the Korean studies report capsaicinoid content, which varies widely.

Related

• Cayenne pepper and cayenne pepper uses
• Red pepper flakes and red pepper flakes substitutes, chile de árbol powder, gochugaru
• Paprika, smoked paprika, paprika vs. cayenne
• Chili powder, chipotle powder, jalapeño powder, guajillo powder
• Black pepper vs. cayenne