Shichimi Togarashi Substitutes: Rebuilding the Heat, the Tingle and the Citrus

Out of shichimi togarashi? If you have nanami togarashi, you’re set: it’s the same blend under another name. Shichimi, also sold as Japanese seven-spice, does three things at once: chile heat, the tingling bite of sansho, and the aroma of citrus peel, seeds and seaweed. A homemade mix of chile, sansho and sesame gets you most of the way. If you need only one of those jobs, chile flakes cover the heat, and ground sansho or Sichuan pepper with orange zest covers the tingle and citrus.

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.

What shichimi contains

Recipes change from maker to maker. Here are three published ingredient lists:

Nippon.com names chile, sansho and sesame as the standard ingredients and says the rest vary.⁴ Yagenbori, a Tokyo maker, lists roasted chile among its ingredients and says roasting mellows the chile’s heat.⁵ Shichimiya Honpo says that apart from the chile, it picked every ingredient for aroma.¹

Why the sansho matters. Like other Zanthoxylum spices, sansho gets its bite from compounds called sanshools. Nippon.com describes the result as a heat that seems to numb the tongue.⁴ Chile flakes alone won’t give you that.

If you need the whole blend

1. Nanami togarashi

This isn’t really a substitute. Just One Cookbook lists nanami togarashi as another name for shichimi togarashi,⁶ and Tomo, a Japanese writer, explains that the characters 七味 can be read as either shichimi or nanami.⁷ Accounts differ on whether products sold under the two names are actually different. The Daring Gourmet says the two use the same ingredients in slightly different ratios, with less orange peel in nanami.³ Tomo says the contents are the same, though export versions vary by country.⁷ We found no source for the common claim that nanami has a stronger citrus flavor. See nanami togarashi.

Ratio (Method): Use it one to one. Since recipes vary by brand, taste a pinch first.

2. Make your own

At minimum you need the three standard ingredients: chile, sansho and sesame.⁴ Citrus peel and seaweed cover most of the rest.

No sansho? Sichuan pepper is the closest replacement. Katzer describes Korean chopi, the same species as Japanese sansho, as “very similar to Chinese jiao,”⁸ the Chinese Sichuan pepper, and The Daring Gourmet’s recipe lists “sanshō or sichuan peppercorns” at the same amount.³

A basic homemade shichimi, about 1/4 cup: 1 tablespoon red chile flakes, 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds, 2 teaspoons ground sansho or Sichuan pepper, 2 teaspoons dried orange or mandarin peel, 1 teaspoon black sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon aonori or crumbled roasted nori, and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger. Want it hotter? Add more chile. The Daring Gourmet’s version is hotter, with chile as its biggest part, and it suggests using less chile to taste.³

Ratio (Method): Use the result just as you would shichimi.

If you need the heat only

1. Ichimi togarashi

Ichimi is red chile on its own. You get shichimi’s heat with none of the tingle or aroma.

Ratio (Method): In shichimi, the other ingredients dilute the chile, so pure chile is hotter spoon for spoon. Start with half as much and taste.

2. Red pepper flakes or gochugaru

Ordinary red pepper flakes do the same job as ichimi. They’re coarser, and the heat is sharper. Korean gochugaru varies in heat; see red pepper flakes substitutes for how hot each one runs.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much red pepper flakes as the shichimi called for, or the same amount of a mild gochugaru, and taste.

3. PepperScale’s quick mixes

PepperScale offers two pinch-hitter mixes: 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper with 1/4 teaspoon sesame seeds and a pinch of black pepper, or a much spicier version of 1/2 teaspoon cayenne with 1/4 teaspoon each sesame seeds and black pepper.⁹ It warns that you lose the complexity of the real blend.⁹ Our read: the black pepper is there for bite, and nothing in either mix gives you sansho’s tingle.

Ratio (Attributed formula, amount): PepperScale gives the mixes but not how much of each replaces a given amount of shichimi. Start with half the shichimi amount, as above, and taste.

If you need the tingle and citrus

If the dish is delicate (a clear soup, grilled fish) and you want shichimi’s aroma more than its heat, rebuild just that part.

1. Ground sansho or Sichuan pepper, with orange zest

Sansho or Sichuan pepper brings the numbing bite, and dried orange peel or fresh zest brings the citrus. Toast a little sesame alongside to add back the seed note. See sansho pepper and Szechuan pepper.

Ratio (Method): Start with a pinch of ground sansho or Sichuan pepper and a little zest per serving. The bite is easy to overdo.

If you need the seeds and savor

Sometimes shichimi is there for a crunchy, savory sprinkle more than for heat. Other sesame-based blends can fill in, with chile added.

1. Furikake

Just One Cookbook describes furikake as a mix of bonito flakes, toasted sesame seeds, nori, sugar and salt, with versions that add salmon, shrimp, shiso, egg or wasabi.¹⁰ It shares shichimi’s sesame and seaweed but has no chile or sansho, and it’s salty. It suits rice, fish and noodles.

Ratio (Method): Use 1 part furikake plus a pinch of red pepper flakes, and cut back the salt elsewhere in the dish.

2. Dukkah

The Oxford Companion to Food describes dukkah as a crushed dry mixture that typically includes sesame and coriander seeds, cumin, salt and pepper, and perhaps hazelnut.¹¹ It shares the sesame but tastes of cumin and coriander, not citrus and sansho, so it’s a loose stand-in at best. See dukkah.

Ratio (Method): It only works where crunch matters more than flavor, as a crust or topping. Use 1 part plus a pinch of chile.

3. Za’atar

At its most basic, za’atar is usually sumac, thyme, oregano and sesame seeds.¹² The sumac’s sour note can loosely stand in for citrus, but the herbs pull it far from Japanese flavors. See za’atar.

Ratio (Method): Use 1 part plus a pinch of chile, and only where thyme and oregano suit the dish.

Not a substitute: Chinese five-spice powder

Don’t let the similar English name fool you. PepperScale calls five-spice an entirely different flavor profile and not a good alternative to shichimi.⁹ See shichimi togarashi for how little the two blends share.

Allergens

Shichimi and most of its substitutes contain sesame, which the FDA lists among the major food allergens, along with tree nuts and fish.¹³ Dukkah recipes often include nuts (Food & Nutrition Magazine’s version uses hazelnuts),¹⁴ and furikake made with bonito contains fish.¹⁰ Check labels if allergies are a concern.

What isn’t known

• It’s not settled whether products sold as nanami togarashi have more or less citrus than those sold as shichimi. Sources disagree, and recipes vary by brand.⁷³
• You’ll sometimes see a West African blend, tsire, suggested as a substitute. None of the sources here describe its ingredients, so we don’t cover it.

Related

• Shichimi togarashi and nanami togarashi
• Sansho pepper and sansho pepper substitutes; Szechuan pepper and Szechuan pepper substitutes
• Red pepper flakes, gochugaru
• Furikake, dukkah, za’atar, sesame seeds, black vs. white sesame seeds
• Japanese spices