Szechuan Pepper Substitutes: What Can Replace the Numbing Tingle, and What Can’t

Out of Szechuan pepper? For the numbing tingle, reach for Japanese sansho, green Sichuan peppercorns, timur or Tasmanian pepperberry. Nothing outside that short list numbs. Gernot Katzer describes the bite as one that slowly produces “a strangly numbing, almost anaesthetic feeling on the tongue,” over an aroma that’s “lemon-like, with more or less pronounced warm and woodsy overtones.”¹ For that citrusy aroma alone, black pepper plus ground coriander gets you partway.

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 only Attributed figure here is a blend recipe that lists sansho and Sichuan pepper as alternatives.

Why the tingle is hard to replace

The numbing comes from a specific group of compounds, the sanshools, which most Zanthoxylum species make.¹ Black pepper, grains of paradise and chile are hot in other ways, and none of them tingle. Only the substitutes in the next section do.

If you need the numbing tingle

1. Japanese sansho

Sansho (Z. piperitum) is your closest match: same genus, same kind of tingling compounds.¹ Katzer calls Korean chopi, the same species as sansho, “very similar to Chinese jiao,”¹ and The Spice House says the two “both provide a slight tingle and numbness sensation on the tongue.”²

Where it falls short is strength. Just One Cookbook says the Chinese pepper “has a punchy and strong flavor” while the Japanese one “is more delicate,” with a “strong citrus flavor.”³ Expect something brighter and gentler.

Ratio (Attributed, in a blend): The Daring Gourmet’s shichimi togarashi recipe calls for “1 teaspoon sanshō or sichuan peppercorns,”⁴ so either one at the same amount.

Ratio (Method): Start with the same amount of sansho, taste after cooking, and add more if the tingle’s too faint. See sansho pepper.

2. Green Sichuan peppercorns

Can’t find the red kind? The Woks of Life suggests looking for green Sichuan peppercorns, which it says “will usually offer a stronger numbing sensation.”⁵

Ratio (Method): Since they’re said to numb harder, start with about three quarters as much and taste.

3. Timur and other Zanthoxylum peppers

Z. armatum, the source of Nepal’s timur, is among the species used for Sichuan pepper in China.¹ It smells different, though. Katzer says it “reminds more of rose and cassia than to lemon,” and that the Nepali spice is a good deal more pungent than the Chinese ones.¹ See timut pepper.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much and taste.

4. Tasmanian pepperberry

Tasmanian pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata) isn’t related to Szechuan pepper. It’s the one non-Zanthoxylum spice here that numbs. Katzer writes that the berries taste sweet for a second, then hit with an “intensive pungency which again does not last very long,” followed by “a strange sensation of numbness, similar to water pepper and Sichuan pepper.” The pungent compound isn’t a sanshool, so the effect is similar but not identical.⁶

Ratio (Method): It’s described as intensely pungent, so start with a pinch of ground berries, taste, and build up.

If you need the aroma

When Szechuan pepper is one spice among several, as in five-spice powder,⁷ or in the salt-and-pepper condiment Katzer describes, where coarse salt and dried Sichuan pepper “are toasted together until some smoke evolves,”¹ the citrusy, woody smell matters more than the tingle.

1. Black pepper plus coriander seed

Coriander seed shares linalool,⁸ one of the compounds in Sichuan pepper’s aroma,¹ and black pepper brings the bite. Together they cover some of the smell and some of the warmth, but no tingle. Use ground coriander seed, not fresh cilantro.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much black pepper and half as much ground coriander as the Szechuan pepper called for, then taste.

2. Tellicherry pepper

Tellicherry is the name of a grade of black pepper. McCormick Science Institute describes pepper grades and varieties identified by where they’re grown,⁹ and Pure Indian Foods, which sells it, describes “a citrus-forward brightness that comes through even in cooked dishes.”¹⁰ That’s a seller talking about its own product, and we found no comparative study. It’s still black pepper, with no tingle. See Tellicherry pepper.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much, freshly ground, and add coriander (above) if you want more citrus.

If you need peppery warmth only

Grains of paradise

Grains of paradise are pungent seeds from West Africa.¹¹¹² Katzer lists alligator pepper among their English names, describes the taste as “Spicy, hot and warm, a little bitter,” and says the heat is “not as strong as in pepper, but more subtle.”¹³ They don’t numb. See grains of paradise.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much, freshly ground, and taste. Save this one for dishes where warmth matters more than tingle.

What isn’t known

• You’ll often read that Tasmanian pepper tastes of juniper and fennel and is wild-harvested only in Tasmania. Katzer makes no such comparison, and says the plant also grows in Victoria and New South Wales.⁶
• You’ll also read that Tellicherry peppercorns stay longer on the vine, or that the name gets used regardless of origin. None of the sources we reviewed back up either claim.

Related

• Szechuan pepper, sansho pepper and sansho pepper substitutes
• Timut pepper, Tellicherry pepper and Tellicherry pepper substitutes
• Grains of paradise, alligator pepper, black pepper, coriander
• Shichimi togarashi, too much pepper?