Learning how To Make Homemade Smoked Paprika became one of the easiest spices to grow, smoke, dry and grind at my home.
The Joy Of Making Homemade Paprika
Every year, as the last of my summer peppers ripen to their deepest reds, I feel that tug, the one that says, don’t let this season fade too quickly.
So, I do what I taught myself how to do: I gather the peppers, slice them open, and let them in my fun new hydrater, oven or dry slowly until their glossy skins turn brittle. That’s when the magic happens, when those peppers become paprika, and the memory of summer gets sealed in a jar.
Making homemade paprika is one of those kitchen rituals that feels almost alchemical. You begin with a basket of peppers, and end with a fine, fragrant powder the color of sunset. The process is simple, but the result is anything but ordinary, smoky, sweet, or bright, depending on which peppers you choose and how you treat them.
What Is Paprika?
Paprika, may look like a simple red spice on your shelf, but it’s so much more than that. Simply explained, it is peppers dried and ground into a spice.
While it’s often used as a garnish or color enhancer, true paprika adds depth and character to food. It’s what gives goulash its warmth, deviled eggs their glow, and roasted vegetables a whisper of sweetness.
Every culture that grows peppers has its version of paprika. The Hungarian style is famously rich and sweet; the Spanish pimentón is often smoked and robust. Homemade paprika can fall anywhere in between, that’s the beauty of making your own. You’re crafting something entirely unique to your kitchen.Â
While this flavorful spice is most often a deep red, having used only red peppers, it is also made from a variety of other peppers.
Is Bell Pepper And Paprika The Same?
For the most part, yes, paprika is most often made from red bell peppers.
The peppers used to make paprika, however, will determine how sweet or hot the paprika will be.
As for my preference, I enjoy a little addition of heat in my spice, so for this reason I will often toss in a few chili peppers to the mix.
Smoked Paprika vs. Sweet Paprika
The real difference between smoked and sweet paprika comes down to how the peppers are dried.
- Sweet paprika is made from air-dried or dehydrated peppers. The result is bright, mild, and slightly fruity, perfect for soups, stews, and egg dishes.
- Smoked paprika, or pimentón ahumado, is dried slowly over wood smoke, often oak, or a small tabletop culinary smoker with a variety of wood shavings.
- The gentle smoking process infuses the peppers with a deep, savory aroma, the kind that reminds you of campfires and rustic kitchens.
You can even blend the two: a touch of sweet for color and freshness, a dash of smoked for body and warmth. Once you start experimenting, you’ll never see that little red jar in the spice aisle quite the same way again.
If you want a deeper spice flavor in your dishes, then smoking the peppers is the way to go. Sweet paprika, not smoked, can be made from a range of peppers; anywhere from sweet to very hot.This choice is up to you.Â
Homemade Smoked Paprika
You might be saying to yourself ‘why make it when I can buy it’?
The answer to that is ‘quality and price’!
Homemade paprika made from home grown peppers is so easy and abundant that you will never buy it from a store again.
Growing Your Own Peppers For Paprika
If you’ve ever grown peppers, you already know their charm, glossy green leaves, delicate white flowers, and those little lanterns of red that brighten the garden by late summer. Growing peppers for paprika is especially rewarding because you’re cultivating flavor from seed to spice.
Choose varieties with thin skins (they dry faster) and complex flavor rather than just heat. Peppers love sunlight, steady warmth, and well-drained soil. By the end of the season, your plants will offer a bounty of ruby-red fruit, perfect for drying and grinding.
Make Your Own
To make your own paprika, simply slice and dry the peppers, in a dehydrator, an oven set low, or even the sun, if the weather allows. Once crisp, grind them finely in a spice mill or mortar and pestle. The aroma that rises up is almost intoxicating: sweet, earthy, and warm.
A jar of homemade paprika doesn’t just season food, it seasons time. It’s a little reminder that flavor doesn’t have to come from far away; sometimes it grows right outside your kitchen door.
Are Peppers Easy To Grow?
It’s only been in recent years, and particularly since the onset of the 2020 pandemic, that I found a passion for growing food.
If the only location you have to grow a pepper plant, is on your balcony or in a sunny window, then by all means give it a try. Such a satisfying experience and one that will test your patience but only in waiting for their arrival.
Pepper plants or seeds planted in early spring stay in place quietly all summer, needing very little from you, and then at summer’s end they fast become the encore to your summer growing season.
Smoking Foods At Home
Who loves to impart the flavor of smoke in their grill cooked foods? I always look forward to the smell and flavor of the grill after a long freezing winter.Â
But smoking our food doesn’t always have to be from the grill or even done in large quantities. Homemade food items, smoked with a small smoking gun are easy, fun and so affordable.Â
A variety of types of wood chips can be used in these smoking guns to impart a favored wood flavor or smell.
Making Homemade Smoked Paprika
Undoubtedly, you will want to start with fresh peppers, preferably locally grown, not shipped in from ‘who knows where’.
Since smoking peppers will add a deeper dimension to the flavor, you will want to carefully select the peppers you will use.
Choosing either very sweet peppers, such as bell peppers, or mild peppers like the banana pepper and toss in a few chili peppers, will assure a deep rich flavor in the paprika.
Tips For Smoking Paprika
I have found the best way to approach this task is to freeze the peppers you plan to use, first.
Surprisingly, freezing the peppers, which makes them soggy, also is the trick to making them more absorbing of the smoking process.
Once the peppers have been frozen and then thawed, simply cut them open, clean out the seeds and slice the peppers into thin strips.
Working With A Smoking Gun
Setting up the smoking gun couldn’t be easier; simply attach the hose, fill the metal cup with wood chips and light the wood to burn.
Meanwhile the container, used to place the peppers and smoking hose in, can be tricky. Most important is to use something that will not allow the smoke to escape; like a zip baggie.
Occasionally I have used a plastic container with an airtight lid and punctured a hole the size of the smoking hose.
This works great but the hole isn’t always easy to make. Just be careful and try to keep the hole a tight fit for the hose.
Dehydrating Peppers To Make Paprika
Lastly, though most important, is to dehydrate the peppers so that they can be ground into a spice powder.
Surely this step can be done in an oven set on low, leaving the peppers in the oven for a long drying-out process.
Dehydrators Vs. Oven Drying
However, the oven can’t be used for anything else for as long as it takes; often up to 10 hours or more.
The oven uses more energy and will require more of your attention to keep an eye on it.
I bought a small dehydrator, about a square foot in dimensions, sits on the countertop, uses way less energy and indicates the length of time for the item used.
Using A Dehydrator To Make Paprika
Once the peppers have been smoked (if you plan to smoke them), sliced and placed on the dehydrator shelves, I closed the door, set it as indicated and forgot about it.
Once the peppers were dried, the machine cuts off and there was nothing I had to do until I was ready to grind them.
The best news about this fun kitchen tool is the price; just under sixty bucks! I plan to use this dehydrator for drying my herbs, fruits and an endless array of other food items.
Recipes For Smoked Paprika
Since I have learned to grow some amazing foods in my garden, I also have discovered so many more ways to incorporate smoked paprika into them. These are just a few yummies from Whisk and Dine:
- Smoked Vegan Garden Gumbo – A lovely end-of-summer soup using okra from my garden that also has been lightly smoked.
- Deconstructed Ratatouille Pizza – My favorite pizza made from fresh peppers, zucchini and eggplant, all the ingredients that typically go into a ratatouille.
- Countryside Chicken and Waffles – This delicious sandwich made from homemade waffles and chicken cooked with smoked paprika is also the very same one I made on the PBS series The Great American Recipe!
- Mediterranean Spiced Lamb Tajine With Apricots – A traditional Moroccan dish I grew up eating and have always love.
- Shakshuka – A Mediterranean style of cooking an egg over a bed of smoked peppers and tomatoes, a dish I also prepared on The Great American Recipe.
Equipment Needed
- Zip baggie or airtight plastic container for locking the smoke inside while the pepper absorb the smoke essence
- Cutting board and chopping knife
- Smoking gun is a tabletop and easy tool for smoking small items of food
- Food Dehydrator this 4-shelf dehydrator about the size of a toaster oven can be used to dehydrate many food items
- Spice grinder works better than a food processor since the amount to be ground is not large and will grind better into a powder
- 2 oz. airtight jar for pantry storage
Ingredients Needed
- Peppers – Red Bell, a few red chilies or any pepper you enjoy
- Hickory of Apple wood chips – often come with the smoking gun
How To Make Homemade Smoked Paprika
Equipment
- smoking device
- spice grinder
- food dehydrator
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Peppers loosely chopped
- 1 tbsp Hickory or Apple wood chips
Instructions
- Freeze the peppers for just a few hours or. Thaw enough to cut into, remove seeds, and slice into thin strips.
- Place the strips of peppers into a zip bag or airtight plastic container, with a hole made the size of the smoking hose. Seal it shut with the hose in place.
- Place the wood chips into the metal cup of the smoking gun, turn it on (to start the draw of air through the hose), and light the wood, keeping it lit while smoking. Smoke for bout 15 minutes.
- Place the smoked peppers onto the shelves of the dehydrator. Follow the instructions for the recommended drying time.
- Once the peppers are dried, place them into a small spice grinder and grind to the desired texture. Store in an airtight container.
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