Smoked Paprika Substitutes: How to Replace the Smoke, the Color and the Heat

Out of smoked paprika? Your best swap depends on what it’s doing in the dish: smoke, color and sweet pepper flavor, or (in the hot kind) heat. The best-known kind, Spain’s Pimentón de la Vera, spends 10 to 15 days drying over holm oak or oak fires,¹ and few single spices cover all three of smoked paprika’s jobs. For smoke without heat, sweet paprika with a drop of liquid smoke is the cleanest swap. Chipotle powder brings real smoke too, but far more heat, so start with about half as much.

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.

The ratios here come from two bylined sources, Sonja Overhiser of A Couple Cooks and PepperScale, and neither says how it got its figures.²³ Treat them as rules of thumb, not measurements. Where the two agree, both are cited. Where they disagree, as on liquid smoke, you’ll see both.

How hot is smoked paprika compared with its substitutes?

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

No source gives a Scoville figure for any smoked paprika. PepperScale calls it usually mild.³ So you can’t make an exact comparison with chipotle. On every figure above, though, chipotle sits well above even the Codex ceiling for hot paprika. PepperScale’s hot paprika range runs past that ceiling and above DeWitt’s figure. The Codex standard is the stronger source, but both ratings are shown as published.

If smoked paprika is there for smoke

This is the job most recipes mean: a smoky note in beans, stews, rubs and roast vegetables. America’s Test Kitchen says smoked paprika is “best used to season grilled meats.”⁸

1. Liquid smoke, with sweet paprika for color

Liquid smoke brings smoke and nothing else, so it’s the cleanest swap when you don’t want extra heat. Sonja Overhiser of A Couple Cooks calls it the best smoked paprika substitute for smoky flavor, and warns that it’s “very strong” and can take over.² PepperScale also calls it powerful, and notes that some people find smoked paprika tastes a bit like liquid smoke in powder form.³⁹

Ratio (Disputed): the two published amounts are far apart.

Neither source says how it got its amount, and we don’t average them. Brands of liquid smoke vary in strength, so start with a single drop per teaspoon of paprika and work up toward the bigger amount only if the dish needs it. It’s a liquid, so it also suits wet dishes better than dry rubs.

2. Chipotle powder

Chipotle is a ripe jalapeño dried over wood smoke. Like smoked paprika, it’s a smoke-dried chile, so you get real smoke along with chile flavor and color. The Spice House lists chipotle powder as its substitute for smoked sweet paprikas,¹⁰ and PepperScale calls it the closest match to smoked paprika in most kitchens.³

The catch is heat. Vann puts chipotle usually at 5,000 to 10,000 SHU,⁷ while the international standard caps even hot paprika below 900.⁴ Mashed, writing about the reverse swap, notes that smoked paprika “doesn’t actually contain much heat at all.”¹¹ Not everyone’s a fan: A Couple Cooks calls chipotle powder and cayenne “bogus ideas” for replacing smoked paprika.²

Ratio (Attributed): PepperScale says to use about half as much chipotle powder.³ Mashed treats the opposite swap, smoked paprika for chipotle, as one to one,¹¹ but that doesn’t work in reverse because of the heat gap. If heat worries you, start lower, make up the rest of the volume with sweet paprika for color, and taste before adding more.

3. Smoked salt

A Couple Cooks also suggests smoked salt and says to cut the recipe’s other salt to match.² PepperScale makes the same point and treats smoked salt as a finishing touch, not a direct swap in a spice mix.³

Ratio (Method): Use smoked salt in place of some of the recipe’s ordinary salt, not in place of the paprika, and add sweet paprika for color.

If smoked paprika is there for color and sweet pepper flavor

Sometimes smoked paprika is there more for color than smoke, as in a final dusting or a light sauce. Then an unsmoked paprika does most of the job.

1. Sweet paprika, with or without cumin

Sweet paprika matches the color and the sweet pepper flavor, with no smoke and little or no heat (see the table above). You can add cumin too. A Couple Cooks says a paprika and cumin mix gets close to smoked paprika “in color and nuance, but not in smoky flavor.”² Cumin brings earthiness, not smoke.

Ratio (Attributed): A Couple Cooks: “1 teaspoon smoked paprika = 2/3 teaspoon regular paprika + ⅓ teaspoon cumin.”² PepperScale gives the same proportion, 2 parts paprika or chili powder to 1 part cumin, and says it gets close without matching smoked paprika’s depth.³ Leave out the cumin if it doesn’t suit the dish.

2. Ancho powder

Ancho is a dried poblano. The Chile Pepper Institute describes its flavor as “sweet, smoky” with hints of dried fruit and rates it mild.⁶ No source we found says anchos are smoke-dried, so that smoky note is about flavor, not actual smoke. The Spice House lists ancho powder as a substitute for sweet paprikas.¹⁰ PepperScale describes ancho as gently hot, with a deep earthy sweetness and a hint of smoke.³

Ratio (Method): Start with 1 part ancho powder for 1 part smoked paprika. It rates a little hotter than paprika on the scales above, so taste before adding more.

3. Chili powder

American chili powder is a blend. The USDA’s purchasing specification lists ground chili pepper, cumin, oregano, salt and garlic powder,¹² and Saveur says the chile is usually ancho.¹³ The Spice House lists chili powder among its smoky substitutes, for hot or sharp paprikas.¹⁰ It brings salt and herbs along with color, so it fits Tex-Mex dishes best.

Ratio (Method): Start with 1 part chili powder for 1 part smoked paprika, and cut back on the recipe’s salt, cumin and oregano.

4. Gochugaru

Gochugaru has no smoke, but Korean cooks use it for color. Maangchi uses mild gochugaru in kimchi “so that I can add a lot for color without making the dish too spicy.”¹⁴ Its heat varies by product; see gochugaru.

Ratio (Method): Start with 1 part for 1 part, and add liquid smoke if the dish needs smoke.

If you’re replacing hot smoked paprika

Hot Pimentón de la Vera has “pronounced heat on the palate.”¹ Add heat separately to any of the substitutes above.

Hot paprika

PepperScale suggests hot Hungarian paprika. It lacks the smoke but has more heat than sweet paprika, and PepperScale suggests adding cumin or smoked salt to make up for the missing smoke.³

Ratio (Attributed): PepperScale says one for one.³

1. Guajillo powder

Guajillo is also called mirasol in Mexico.¹⁵ The Spice House lists guajillo powder as a substitute for hot or sharp paprikas.¹⁰ DeWitt rates mirasol at 2,500 to 5,000 SHU,⁵ above the Codex ceiling for hot paprika.⁴ PepperScale credits it with a mild smokiness and a subtle sweetness close in tone to smoked paprika,³ though no source documents any smoke from how it’s dried.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much guajillo as the recipe’s hot smoked paprika, make up the rest with sweet paprika, and taste.

2. A pinch of cayenne or hot red pepper flakes

The Spice House suggests pairing its smoky substitutes with hot red pepper flakes when you want the heat of hot smoked paprika.¹⁰ Cayenne does the same job as a powder; see paprika vs. cayenne.

Ratio (Attributed): For cayenne on its own in place of smoked paprika, PepperScale says to start with a third of the amount,³ though by every figure above that’s far hotter than hot smoked paprika. If you’re adding it to another substitute, start with a pinch per teaspoon and taste.

If it’s the backbone of a Spanish dish

In some Spanish products, smoked paprika isn’t a background note. It’s part of the definition. The specification for Chorizo de Cantimpalos requires that at least half the pimentón be Pimentón de la Vera, at 18 to 25 grams of pimentón per kilogram of meat.¹⁶ The La Vera specification itself calls its pimentón the best preservative for sausages and cured meats.¹

Ratio (Method): Nothing reproduces a product defined by its paprika. For a home dish in that style, sweet paprika plus liquid smoke (as above) is the closest of these options. For a protected sausage, there’s no substitute.

What isn’t known

• We found no published Scoville or capsaicinoid figure for any smoked paprika, sweet or hot. The La Vera specification describes heat in words only.¹
• No source explains how either A Couple Cooks ratio was worked out.
• You’ll sometimes hear that smoked paprika adds umami. None of the sources reviewed here back that up.
• Guajillo often gets described as tasting of cranberries, and PepperScale is one source that says so.¹⁷ That’s a writer’s description, not an aroma analysis.

Related

• Smoked paprika, paprika and paprika substitutes
• Chipotle powder and chipotle powder substitutes
• Ancho powder, guajillo powder, chili powder, gochugaru, cumin
• Paprika vs. cayenne, paprika vs. chili powder