Homemade Smoked Paprika

Smoked paprika is an absolute staple in my spice cabinet. Smoky, mildly spicy, and slightly sweet it brings a depth of flavor to so many dishes. I love adding it to soups, proteins, and even salad dressings, and I happen to go through a BUNCH.

In the early autumn if your farmers’ market, garden, or both look anything like mine you are overwhelmed (in a good way!) by peppers. For some reason I’ve never had the best of luck with early season peppers but late season? BASKETS of them. So, what on earth to do? Smoked Paprika of course.

The History of Paprika

As with many spices, the history of paprika is long and rather convoluted. However, the gist of it is that Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ the paprika pepper in the 1500’s while on his expeditions around southern Mexico and Central America. He brought it back to Europe where it was introduced to Hungary via the Balkans, and it evolved into the paprika we know today. However, I have an issue with history saying that Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ anything at all. The indigenous people of the Americas were using peppers, granted as a less prominent flavor profile than the Hungarians later did, for thousands of years before Columbus stumbled upon the flavor and brought it home.

I do, however, appreciate the global implications of bringing peppers back across the Atlantic Ocean, and I will be focusing on the European ‘sweet’ paprika that resulted from European experimentation.

Smoked Paprika Peppers

Now, because of this history, there are a huge variety of peppers you can use to make paprika depending on your taste and whether you’d like it to be sweet or spicy, or in my case sweet and smoky. Some people have very strong thoughts about not using bell peppers because of their thick walls, but generally I do use a mix of bell peppers and some other sweet peppers. Traditionally any variety of peppers from the Capsicum annum species works! These include bell peppers, cayennes, jalapeños, paprika, and serannos. In short look for sweet red peppers (or some spicier red peppers) and you’re go to go!

Note: looking to grow some peppers specifically for paprika? Try Hungarian Maygar, Kalosca, or Alma seeds!

Smoked Paprika Method

Smoke Your Peppers

After you’ve gathered (or grown!) the peppers you’ve decided to use for paprika the method is quite simple, if a bit time consuming. You can use an inside electric or outside wood-fired smoker, but because I don’t have a grill, I use a small one that works off batteries and I love it!

Especially if you are using thick-walled bell peppers, a bit of pepper prep is key. I like to break down the peppers, remove the seeds and stem, and then slice into strips so you have the most surface area possible.

Choose your smoke ‘flavor’ depending on what you are looking for, you can use a variety of different woods to smoke the peppers with. Hickory (my personal favorite,) oak, and cherry are all popular choices and are relatively easy to find! Because I use a small smoker, I only need a small bag of wood chips that you can pick up at somewhere like Lowes or online!

Smoke your peppers! If you are using an outdoor smoker, smoke the peppers at a temperature of around 180° to 190° for about three hours (or more if you want a stronger smoke flavor.) I smoked mine for two hours on my inside smoker without heat, I found the smoke flavor to be perfect this way, because unlike using heat, the peppers I smoked didn’t start to dehydrate at the same rate as an outside smoker did, so as we *actually* dehydrate in the next step the smoke flavor will concentrate more.

Dehydrate the Smoked Peppers

Once your peppers are smoked, transfer them to dehydrator trays in a single layer and pop in your dehydrator at 135° (a veggie setting) for 8-10 hours or until the peppers are dry enough that when broken they snap. The peppers being COMPLETELY dry is necessary here- they need to make a powder which will not happen if they retain any moisture.

Grind the Peppers

Using either a mortar and pestle, a spice grinder, or a food processor, grind the dehydrated, smoked peppers into a powder. In order to get an even grind without any larger chunks, I like to pass my powder through a fine mesh sieve, tapping the side to let fine powder come through and returning any remaining larger bits to the grinder under everything is in powdered form.

For some reason I cannot find my photos of peppers being ground, so these are tomatoes, same process!

Storage

Store the powder in an airtight container in a dry, dark area (like your spice cabinet) for about a year. Please note: because we did not add any anti-caking agents sometimes the powder will stick together but not to worry! Just give it a bit of a mix and you’re good to go!