Red Pepper Flakes Substitutes, Matched to the Heat and Texture You Need

Red pepper flakes do two jobs: they add heat, and at the table they add little specks of red that hit you in small bursts. Pick your swap by which one you need. A jar is usually mostly cayenne, alone or blended with other chiles.¹ Ground cayenne covers the heat in a cooked dish, at about a third of the amount. For the shaker, crush your own dried chiles de árbol, the closest heat match.

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.

Heat swings so much by chile and by lot that no ratio could promise a match (see the table below). Add any substitute a bit at a time and taste.

How hot are red pepper flakes, and the chiles that replace them?

The figures below come from different kinds of sources and measure different things, so they sit side by side and aren’t combined.

McCormick Science Institute also says cayenne powder is typically hotter than red pepper flakes,¹ and PepperScale says the same.⁴ None of these figures comes with a sample or method, and retail jars rarely state a heat figure. Use the numbers here as a rough guide to which chiles are hotter, not as the basis for a precise swap.

If the flakes are heat and texture at the table

This is the pizza and pasta shaker. McCormick Science Institute describes red pepper as a finishing sprinkle for pizza, pasta and “anything.”¹ You need something that looks and acts like flakes: dry, coarse, and hot enough that a pinch does the job.

1. Crush your own dried chiles

Under the international standard for dried chile, crushed or flaked chilli can be made with or without seeds.² That’s all flakes are, so any dried red chile you can break up will make them. The chile you pick decides the heat.

• Chile de árbol is the closest heat match. DeWitt puts it on the same row of his scale as crushed red pepper, 15,000 to 30,000 SHU.³ Gernot Katzer describes de árbol as a long, pointed chile “of biting heat” and groups it with the less aromatic, more pungent cultivars.⁶
• Guajillo and ancho make mild flakes. Guajillo also goes by mirasol in Mexico,⁷ and DeWitt rates mirasol at 2,500 to 5,000 SHU and ancho at 1,000 to 1,500.³ On his scale both are far milder than crushed red pepper. Use them when you want chile flavor and color more than heat.

Break the chiles into pieces, pull off the stems, and pulse briefly in a spice grinder until you’ve got a mix of flakes and seeds. For less heat, take out the pale inner walls along with the seeds before grinding. Researchers at The Ohio State University describe the heat compounds collecting in small blisters along the inner walls of the fruit.⁸

Ratio (Attributed): PepperScale calls crushed chiles de árbol a very good heat match and the closest to one for one of its substitutes, but says to taste, since it depends on the pods.⁴ With guajillo or ancho you can use more, but expect something milder and fruitier.

Drying fresh chiles. You can also dry your own red jalapeños or serranos in a low oven or dehydrator and crush them. DeWitt’s jalapeño profile gives 2,500 to 10,000 SHU for the pod,⁵ milder than crushed red pepper on his scale.³ That’s a fourfold range, so taste a pinch of each batch before you use it.

2. Other countries’ chile flakes

Several cuisines make their own flakes. They’re usually milder than American crushed red pepper, and some contain salt and oil.

• Aleppo-style pepper. The Spice House says its flakes “add color, mild heat, and a unique salty-raisiny flavor.”⁹ Its label lists chiles, vegetable oil and salt.⁹
• Turkish pul biber. Turkey’s food codex allows pul biber up to 40 percent seeds by weight and up to 7 percent salt, and added vegetable oil is permitted.¹⁰

PepperScale rates Aleppo at around 10,000 SHU, milder than a usual jar of flakes, with a tangy, almost fruity edge.⁴ Both can contain salt, so taste before you salt the dish.

Ratio (Method): Start with 1 part for 1 part flakes and add more if you want more heat. These flakes are milder, so you can usually go higher.

If the flakes are heat cooked into a dish

In a pan sauce, an arrabbiata, a chili oil or a stew, the flakes melt into the dish and their texture stops mattering. A powder does the same job and spreads the heat more evenly.

1. Cayenne powder

Flakes are typically cayenne,¹ so ground cayenne is usually the same chile, just finer. McCormick Science Institute says cayenne powder is typically hotter than the flakes.¹ A powder also releases its heat all at once instead of in bursts, so it’s easier to overshoot.

Ratio (Attributed): PepperScale names cayenne the best option, warns against a one-for-one swap, and says to start at about a third of the flakes called for.⁴ Chili Pepper Madness’s advice for the reverse swap uses 1 to 1½ parts flakes for each part cayenne,¹¹ which points the same way, and so does McCormick Science Institute’s view that cayenne is the hotter of the two.¹ Cook for a minute, taste, and add more.

2. Hot sauce or chili powder

A vinegar-based hot sauce or a chili powder blend will heat up a cooked dish too, but each brings more than heat. Chili powder carries cumin, oregano, garlic and salt (see chili powder), and DeWitt rates chili powder at only 500 to 1,000 SHU.³ Use either one only where those extra flavors suit the dish.

Ratio (Attributed): PepperScale says a few drops of a basic hot sauce like Sriracha is often enough to match the heat of a teaspoon of flakes.⁴ For chili powder it says to start at around half the flakes, keeping in mind the garlic, onion and cumin that come along.⁴ By DeWitt’s ratings, though, chili powder is far milder than crushed red pepper,³ so matching the heat would take a lot more. In most dishes its other flavors will take over first.

If the flakes are there for mild warmth and color

Sometimes flakes go in by the spoonful, as much for color as for heat.

1. Gochugaru

Gochugaru is Korean red pepper, sold as coarse flakes or a finer powder. Maangchi, the Korean cooking author, says she uses mild gochugaru flakes in kimchi “so that I can add a lot for color without making the dish too spicy.”¹² So it’s a good pick when color and gentle warmth are the point.

Its heat is hard to pin down. Kwon and colleagues state that Korean gochu should have mild spiciness, under 1,000 SHU, without giving samples or a method.¹³ A 1994 HPLC study of 20 Korean red peppers measured capsaicinoids from 7.0 to 75.9 mg per 100 g,¹⁴ a tenfold range. Maangchi says gochugaru comes in mild and hot versions.¹²

It doesn’t work the other way around, though. Maangchi says other chili flakes “won’t work with Korean dishes” because the flavor is different and they’re too spicy.¹² See gochugaru substitutes.

Ratio (Attributed): PepperScale says to start at one for one and go up, since by its rating gochugaru is milder than the usual jar.⁴ If the dish needs more heat, add a pinch of cayenne instead of more gochugaru.

2. Paprika plus a pinch of cayenne

Sweet paprika gives you red color with very little heat. Codex defines paprika as 480 SHU or less.² For that reason, PepperScale lists paprika on its own as a swap to skip: you get the color and a little earthy sweetness but almost none of the heat.⁴ Add a pinch of cayenne for the heat. See paprika substitutes and paprika vs. cayenne for how the two compare.

Ratio (Method): About 1 part paprika plus a small pinch of cayenne per part flakes is a reasonable place to start.

If you only have fresh chiles

Finely chopped fresh red chile works in cooked dishes, where its moisture and bulk don’t matter: stir-fries, sauces, braises. It’s a poor pick for sprinkling on pizza. Heat varies a lot. DeWitt’s range for the jalapeño alone runs from 2,500 to 10,000 SHU,⁵ so add fresh chile a little at a time and taste.

Ratio (Method): Start with a small piece, cook it for a minute, and taste.

What isn’t known

• No retail jar we know of states its Scoville rating or capsaicinoid content. The DeWitt figures are rough ratings for chile types, not measurements of any product.³
• You’ll often hear that gochugaru is the same as Western red pepper flakes, just without the seeds. PepperScale describes gochugaru as seedless,⁴ but none of the sources we reviewed measures how much seed it contains.
• We found no source that rates Anaheim chiles on a heat scale, so we can’t say how mild flakes made from them would be.

Related

• Red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper and cayenne pepper substitutes
• Chile de árbol powder, guajillo powder, ancho powder
• Gochugaru and gochugaru substitutes
• Paprika, chili powder, paprika vs. cayenne, black pepper vs. cayenne
• Cayenne pepper uses