How to Make Smoked Paprika

Creating Your Own Smoked Paprika

Wash and dry red peppers that you want to make smoked paprika with. Use red bell peppers if you want a milder, sweeter paprika or red chili peppers if you want spicy smoked paprika. Rinse your chosen peppers thoroughly under cool running water, then pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels or let them air dry completely. Paprika can be made from any capsicum pepper, but the traditional paprika is made from pimiento peppers (small, sweet, red peppers with thin walls) You don’t have to only use red peppers, although this is what gives paprika its rich red color. Feel free to mix some orange or yellow peppers in with some red peppers to create your own unique blend of flavors. Note that 1 lb (0.45 kg) of fresh peppers will give you about 3/4 of a cup (86 g) of smoked paprika powder.

Deseed and chop the peppers. Place your peppers one at a time on a cutting board and use a sharp kitchen knife to cut off the top with the stem, then cut out and remove the center and the seeds. Slice each pepper in half, cut out any white ribs, and scrape out any remaining seeds. Cut larger peppers, such as bell peppers, into 4-8 thinner slices. If you’re making your paprika with hot peppers, wear latex gloves while you cut and prepare them to avoid getting the spicy capsicum on your hands. Be very careful not to touch your face, especially your eyes, while you’re preparing your peppers or you might transfer capsicum and experience an unpleasant burning sensation.

Use a smoker filled with oak wood chips to smoke the peppers. Soak the oak wood chips in water for at least 15 minutes, then load them into an electric or charcoal smoker. Put all your prepared peppers in a basket on the smoker’s grill and smoke them for at least 3 hours. Traditional smoked paprika is made by smoking the peppers very slowly over a period of days or weeks until they are totally dry. However, this isn’t really practical if you’re making it at home. You can just smoke them for a few hours to impart the smokey flavor, then finish drying them out using a dehydrator or your oven. If you don’t have a smoker, you can also use a regular charcoal grill as a smoker.

Dry the peppers out in a food dehydrator or in your oven. Lay the peppers out in an even layer on a food dehydrator tray or a baking tray. Set the dehydrator or oven to 125 °F (52 °C), then put the peppers inside and dehydrate them for at least 5 hours, or until they’re completely dry. If you’re using an oven and it doesn’t go down to 125 °F (52 °C), just use the lowest temperature it has and check on the peppers every hour or so. If you dry them out at 170–200 °F (77–93 °C), for example, they might be done after 3 hours. If you’re using a dehydrator and it has a different recommended temperature for dehydrating vegetables, use that instead. Keep in mind that 5 hours is the minimum time your peppers will need in a dehydrator, but you can leave them overnight or for up to 12 hours. Keep in mind that very spicy peppers can give off an intense odor while they’re dehydrating, so open up windows and use a fan for ventilation if you’re drying out hot peppers. If you’re using a portable dehydrator, you can even put it outside if you have room.

Grind the peppers into a powder using an electric blade-style coffee grinder. Transfer the peppers in small batches to the grinder. Put the lid on, turn the grinder on, and blend the peppers up until they turn into a fine, uniform powder. Pour the powder out into a bowl and repeat the process until you grind all the peppers. Blade-style coffee grinders are also often marketed as herb or spice grinders. They’re the same thing. If your grinder has multiple settings, choose the finest grinding setting.

Sift the powder through a fine mesh strainer to make sure there are no chunks. Place a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and pour all your paprika powder through it. Stir it around with a spoon to break up chunks and help it fall through the strainer until all the powder is in the bowl below. Discard any large pieces, such as bits of skin, that are left in the strainer. If you have a lot of bigger pieces left in the strainer, you can try grinding them up again. If you just have a few bits of skin and things like that, go ahead and just throw those pieces away.

Store your smoked paprika in a sealed container at room temperature. Transfer the powder to a sealable container, such as a jar with a screw-on lid, and put the lid on tightly. Put the jar somewhere where it will stay at room temperature, like in a cupboard, away from heat sources like the stove and sunlight. Paprika doesn’t go bad, but it can lose potency over time, especially when exposed to heat. In general, it will be most potent within 6-8 months of making it.

Using Smoked Paprika Substitutes

Utilize other types of paprika to get the paprika flavor without the smokiness. Try equal amounts of Hungarian, sweet, or hot paprika powder in your recipes instead of smoked paprika. These paprikas don’t have the smoky flavor, but at least you’ll get the pepper taste and red color of paprika. This would probably be best for recipes that only call for small amounts of smoked paprika, in which the difference won’t be super noticeable. If you’re making a recipe that relies heavily on smoked paprika for the seasoning, try a different alternative that recreates the smokiness of it.

Try chipotle powder for a very similar store-bought substitute. Store-bought chipotle powder is widely considered to be the best substitute for smoked paprika. Use the same amount of chipotle powder as the amount of smoked paprika that your recipe calls for. Chipotle powder is made out of smoked, dried jalapeño peppers, which have a similar flavor profile to the smoked peppers used to make smoked paprika. Some chipotle powders can be spicier than smoked paprika, depending on how hot the jalapeños used to make them were. If you don’t like the heat, reduce the amount of chipotle powder you use by 1/4 or so or just add it a little at a time to taste.

Use liquid smoke instead of smoked paprika to replicate the smokey flavor. Use half as much liquid smoke as you would smoked paprika in your recipe. Measure out liquid smoke in 1/2 the amount of the smoked paprika that your recipe calls for and pour it in. This will infuse a smoky flavor into the food to provide the essential component that smoked paprika contains. For example, if your recipe calls for 1 tsp (2.3 g) of smoked paprika, use ⁄2 tsp (2.5 mL) of liquid smoke instead. You can add 1/2 tsp (1.65 g) of a different kind of paprika for each ⁄2 tsp (2.5 mL) of liquid smoke to add some paprika flavor and color as well. Liquid smoke is usually available in the spice aisle of your local supermarket, alongside BBQ seasoning mixes and similar things. Alternatively, you can order it online.

Mix 2 parts sweet paprika with 1 part cumin for a passable substitute. Combine sweet paprika and cumin in a 2-1 ratio in a small bowl and mix them together thoroughly. Add this mix to your recipe in the same amount as the smoked paprika that the recipe calls for. The sweet paprika will give you the color and flavor of paprika, while the cumin adds a bit of smokiness. Cumin also naturally pairs well with the flavors in many dishes that call for smoked paprika, so it won’t harm your recipe at all.

Choose cayenne, guajillo, or ancho pepper powders for smoky alternatives. These are 3 types of peppers that all have natural smoky, spicy flavors to certain degrees. Use these in recipes instead of smoked paprika in equal amounts or to taste. Cayenne is the spiciest of these options, so use it if you want to add extra heat to your dishes. You can also mix these into other types of paprika or into paprika combined with cumin to make your own kind of spice blend that is similar to smoked paprika.