Gochugaru Substitutes, Ranked by the Job Gochugaru Is Doing

Gochugaru is hard to replace because many Korean dishes use it by the spoonful, for color as much as heat. Maangchi, the Korean cooking author, says it comes in mild and hot versions and uses the mild flakes for kimchi “so that I can add a lot for color without making the dish too spicy.”¹ Most other chiles are too hot to use that way. For kimchi, sweet paprika with a pinch of cayenne gets you closest. Aleppo pepper covers coarse flakes with moderate heat, gochujang works in stews and sauces, and with anything hotter, use less than the recipe says.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

Maangchi says readers often ask whether they can use chili powder or other crushed chili flakes, and her answer is that they “won’t work with Korean dishes” because the flavor is different and they’re too spicy.¹ When a reader had nothing else, she advised using less than her recipe calls for.¹ Every amount below follows that lead.

Why heat is the hard part

Gochugaru’s heat isn’t one number. Korean lab studies measure capsaicinoid content, not Scoville units:

Within the 1994 study alone, the hottest pepper had about 11 times the capsaicinoids of the mildest (75.9 vs 7.0 mg per 100 g). The two studies sampled different peppers, so we don’t combine them. PepperScale’s two Scoville ranges come from two of its own articles and don’t agree with each other. Neither says where it came from, so we show both as published. We haven’t converted any of these figures to Scoville units. What that means for you: check whether your recipe assumes mild or hot gochugaru before you pick a substitute.

If gochugaru is color and gentle heat

This is the kimchi job. The Codex kimchi standard describes the seasoning as mainly red pepper (Capsicum annuum) powder with garlic, ginger, other alliums and radish.⁷ You need a lot of red with little burn.

1. Sweet paprika with a pinch of cayenne

Paprika brings the color at low heat. Codex classes paprika as having a pungency of 480 Scoville units or less, hot paprika as above 480 and below 900, and chilli as 900 or more.⁸ Chili Pepper Madness suggests paprika powder or flakes, including smoked, hot or Hungarian types, “for vibrant color and a touch of heat.”⁹ A pinch of cayenne nudges the heat up toward a mild gochugaru. Smoked paprika adds smoke that gochugaru usually doesn’t have, so use it only if you like that.

Ratio (Method): Use the same volume of sweet paprika as gochugaru, add cayenne a pinch at a time, and taste. Paprika is usually finer than gochugaru flakes, so the texture will be smoother.

If gochugaru is coarse flakes with moderate heat

For dipping sauces, marinades and garnishes, the flake texture matters.

1. Aleppo pepper

The Spice House describes Aleppo pepper as flakes that add “color, mild heat, and a unique salty-raisiny flavor,” with notes of raisin, pomegranate and sun-dried tomato. Its ingredients are chiles, vegetable oil and salt.¹⁰ Chili Pepper Madness also suggests Aleppo flakes.⁹ PepperScale rates Aleppo as a better flavor match than crushed red pepper, with comparable heat and a lightly sweet flavor, though it’s harder to find in stores.⁶ Expect something fruitier and saltier than gochugaru, with a slight oily sheen from the added oil.

Ratio (Method): Start with about three quarters of the gochugaru amount, taste, and cut back any added salt a little.

2. Crushed red pepper or cayenne flakes

Chili Pepper Madness notes that cayenne pepper flakes have a texture similar to gochugaru and are spicier than the powder.⁹ This is the swap Maangchi warns about: other chili flakes are usually too hot to use by the spoonful.¹ PepperScale calls crushed red pepper the convenience pick, not the best flavor match. It’s typically made from cayenne, which PepperScale rates at 30,000 to 50,000 SHU, it often contains seeds, and it tastes more neutral than gochugaru’s sweet, slightly smoky flavor. PepperScale suggests crushing the flakes finer in a mortar and using less.⁶

Ratio (Method): Start with about a quarter of the gochugaru amount, and make up the color with paprika.

If gochugaru is heat and body in a stew or sauce

1. Gochujang

Gochujang is a fermented paste, not a dried chile. The Codex standard lists its basic ingredients as grains, red pepper powder, salt and water, with optional ingredients including powdered meju, soybeans, sugars and fish sauce.¹¹ So gochujang brings Korean chile flavor, but also salt, sweetness, fermented depth and water.

Chili Pepper Madness says gochujang gives you the taste of gochugaru with a different texture, and warns to add less salt since gochujang is already somewhat salty.⁹ PepperScale makes the same point about salt and describes gochujang as sweet, salty and earthy, good in soups and sauces.⁶ It’s best in soups, stews and sauces, where the paste dissolves. In kimchi it changes the texture of the seasoning.

Ratio (Method): Start with an equal amount, cut back on salt and on salty seasonings like soy or fish sauce, then taste. See gochugaru vs. gochujang.

2. Cayenne

Ratio (Method): Chili Pepper Madness answers the opposite question, saying to use equal measures of gochugaru in place of cayenne.¹² Maangchi’s advice for Korean dishes points the other way: other chiles are too spicy, so use less.¹ Cayenne is a fine, usually hot powder, so start with about a quarter of the gochugaru amount and add paprika for color.

Mexican dried chiles

These are easy to find in the U.S., and each covers part of gochugaru’s job. None of them tastes Korean.

These ratings are for each chile type as a whole, not measurements of any one powder, and you can’t compare them directly with the Korean capsaicinoid figures above.

• Ancho is the chile usually used in American chili powder, according to Saveur.¹⁶ The Chile Pepper Institute describes it as sweet and smoky with dried-fruit notes.¹³ It’s mild, so add a little cayenne if you need heat.
• Guajillo goes into mole, and Saveur pairs it with chile de árbol in chili con carne.¹⁷
• Chile de árbol is a long, pointed chile of “biting heat,” in Katzer’s words, and less aromatic than milder types.¹⁸ Use it the way you’d use cayenne.
• Chipotle powder is ground from smoked, dried red jalapeños. PepperScale suggests it as a substitute with comparable heat but much more smoke than gochugaru, and says to mix in only a little where smoke could take over.⁶

Ratio (Method): Start with an equal amount of ancho or guajillo powder, or about a quarter as much chile de árbol, and taste.

What isn’t known

• We found no Scoville measurement of gochugaru as a category. The often-repeated range of 1,500 to 10,000 SHU shows up in PepperScale’s gochugaru profile, which doesn’t say where it came from;⁵ the Korean studies above report capsaicinoid content, which varies widely by variety and district.³²
• PepperScale says gochugaru is typically made seedless.⁶ None of the sources we checked shows how widely that holds.

Related

• Gochugaru, the full profile, and gochugaru vs. gochujang
• Korean spices and Korean BBQ spices
• Paprika, paprika substitutes, cayenne pepper, cayenne pepper substitutes
• Red pepper flakes and red pepper flakes substitutes
• Ancho powder, guajillo powder, chile de árbol powder, chipotle powder

Footnotes

1. Maangchi, Korean hot pepper flakes (Gochugaru), Maangchi.com. maangchi.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

2. Chai et al., Relationships Between the Content and Sensory Evaluation of Pungent Principles in Red Pepper, Analytical Science and Technology, 1994. accesson.kr · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩²

3. Choi, Jeon and Park, Comparison of Quality of Red Pepper Powders Produced in Korea, Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2000. koreascience.kr · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩²

4. Kwon, Jang, Yang and Chung, History of Korean gochu, gochujang, and kimchi, Journal of Ethnic Foods, 2014 (abstract). agris.fao.org · Peer-reviewed ↩

5. Matt Bray, What Is Gochugaru? The Story Behind The Spice, PepperScale, 2023. pepperscale.com · Publication · PepperScale is also owned by Matt Bray, the editor of this site. ↩ ↩²

6. Matt Bray, What’s A Good Gochugaru Substitute?, PepperScale, 2022. pepperscale.com · Publication · PepperScale is also owned by Matt Bray, the editor of this site. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

7. Standard for Kimchi, CXS 223-2001, Codex Alimentarius. fao.org · Standard ↩

8. Standard for Dried or Dehydrated Chilli Pepper and Paprika, CXS 353-2022, Codex Alimentarius. fao.org · Standard ↩

9. Hultquist, Gochugaru: What It Is and How to Use It, Chili Pepper Madness. chilipeppermadness.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

10. Aleppo Peppers, The Spice House. thespicehouse.com · Merchant ↩

11. Regional Standard for Gochujang, CXS 294R-2009, Codex Alimentarius. fao.org · Standard ↩

12. Hultquist, What Can I Substitute for Cayenne Pepper?, Chili Pepper Madness. chilipeppermadness.com · Publication ↩

13. Ancho recipe card, Chile Pepper Institute, New Mexico State University. cpi.nmsu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩²

14. Sorg, DISH: Tips on which peppers suit which dish, INDY Week, 2015. indyweek.com · Publication ↩

15. DeWitt, Heat Scale Updated, Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central, 2008. fieryfoodscentral.com · Publication ↩

16. Chili Powder, Saveur, 2009. saveur.com · Publication ↩

17. Chili Con Carne, Saveur, 2012. saveur.com · Publication ↩

18. Gernot Katzer, Paprika and Mexican chiles (Capsicum annuum), Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩

Also drawn on

• Chile seco (product sheet, with data attributed to SIAP), Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, Government of Mexico. gob.mx