Dried peppers are a staple in Mexican cuisine, and can be used in many different ways, everything from salsas to sauces. If you have never used dried peppers in your cooking before, this beginner's guide is for you! We'll discuss flavor profiles of the most popular dried chiles used in Mexican cooking, and how they affect dishes differently. We'll also give some recipes on how to incorporate these dried chiles into your meals. Finally, we will share the Scoville rating for each pepper so that you know what level of heat you're getting!
Mexican cuisine is known for its extensive flavor profile and use of local ingredients. This includes its dried chiles, which are used in many different ways to add flavor and spice to dishes.
When it comes to Mexican peppers, the list can go on and on- there are so many of them! They are often the key ingredient used in sauces or marinades. Many traditional celebrational meals wouldn't be the same without them, like the traditional mole de olla which has 3 different peppers in the dish!
How Dried Peppers Are Used In Mexican Cuisine
While most people see the words 'pepper' or 'chili', their minds automatically go to spicy. In reality, most of the dried peppers are mild! They are used to add flavor and texture to a dish rather than adding hot spiciness to it.
How do I pick a dried chile that is good for cooking?
When you buy dried chiles, there are 3 main things to look out for:
- Make sure they are not broken
- That they still have their stem
- And, they also look clean from dirt, dust, and any small insects.
Another thing to keep an out for is the pepper's color. It should be bright and you should be able to slightly fold them. If the peppers break when you try folding them, it means they are old and won't have a lot of flavors.
How do I properly store dried Mexican peppers?
During the time the chiles stay in storage, they will keep dry. They will change in color and texture, but they won't lose their flavor.
Just make sure to store whole chiles in plastic bags in your freezer! This way, they will keep their texture and color for at least 6 months. Or better yet, make them into a paste by roasting the chiles and mixing them with a neutral oil.
I like to make this pepper paste to have on hand when I am in a hurry to cook something delicious and still authentic to Mexican flavors.
For those hot dried peppers, is there a way to make them less spicy?
To reduce the hot spiciness of some of the dried chili peppers, make sure to remove the veins and seeds. Peppers can also lose a little bit of their spiciness when they are soaked before cooking.
Note: I'm adding theScoville heat index of each Mexican pepper based on the book"101 Chilies To Try Before You Die"by Author David Floyd as a reference. But, let me tell you-each pepper's spiciness also depends on the soil of the region where they were harvested.
A Beginner's Guide To Mexican Dried Peppers
In today's post, I'm sharing with you a list of 10 of the most popular Mexican dried peppers you will find here in the United States. These are the ones we consume the most often in our daily cooking.
This list is based on my experience from the places I have lived and traveled to in Mexico, plus the many offerings you can now find buying online.
Note: The name of some Chiles changes according to the region, their color, or if they are fresh or dried.
Let's get started!
Chile Guajillo Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 2,000 – 5,000
This pepper is one of the better-known basic peppers in Mexican gastronomy.
Chile Guajillo is very popular in México, and it blends very well with other chiles like:
- Ancho
- Mulato
- Chipotle
Note: The fresh version of this pepper is called "Chile Mirasol"!
Shape: It has a long and conical shape, measuring approximately 3-½ to 4 inches in length and about ¾ inches wide.
Color: Its skin is smooth and shiny, with a deep red color. The Guajillo pepper (as well as the Ancho) gives a beautiful red color to many different Mexican caldos or sopas (broth and stews). When it is fresh, it has a green color that changes to a deep red when it ripens.
How To Buy: When buying Guajillo peppers, make sure they have a dark color and a thick texture. There are many peppers sold as Guajillo, but their color is lighter and the skin is thin. Those peppers are from China and are not the Guajillo peppers from Mexico. You might also see this pepper mislabeled as "Chile Cascabel" in some areas of México but that's a different pepper!
Recipes Using This Pepper
When it comes to using the Guajillo pepper in a recipe, I highly recommend trying some of these listed below. They are some of my favorites!
- Guajillo Pork Stew
- Asado de Boda
- Red Enchiladas
- Mole de Olla
- Red Pozole
Chile Ancho Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 500-3,000
This is a very popular pepper! Since this well-known chile is used all over the country, I think it is important to mention that it is called by different names depending on the region of the country. Here are some of the names you might come by:
- Chile Color
- Chile Colorado
- Ancho Chino
- Pasilla Rojo
It is a key ingredient in adobos, moles, and sauces for enchiladas and salsas. It is also a very mild chile with a fruity flavor!
Shape: This chile measures about 4 to 5-½ inches in length, and about 2-3 inches wide.
Color: When is fresh, it's a Chile Poblano, and once it matures, it changes to a red color. To dry them, the fresh chile poblanos are left on the plant until they are mature and had a red color. After that, they are sun-dried.
How To Buy: Make sure the skin texture of this pepper is bright-corrugated soft skin, and it has a dark red color.
Recipes Using This Pepper
When it comes to the Ancho pepper, you will find it often mixed in with another pepper to make a sauce or a base for a dish. Take a look at these recipes:
- Mole Poblano
- Asado De Puerco
- Adobo Sauce
- Enchiladas Potosinas
Chile Mulato Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 500 -3,000
This pepper is a dried version of the Chile Poblano. It has a slightly sweeter flavor and it can be found dried or roasted in its fresh state.
The difference between Chile Ancho and Chile Mulato comes from a pair of distinctive genes that makes them ripen in a special color.
Sometimes, if you get confused between the Ancho and Mulato pepper, just place the two of them together and the one that has a darker color is a Chile Mulato. Its skin has the same characteristics as an Ancho pepper, and the same dimensions.
It's great to use in mole sauces, stews, and salsa.
Shape: The Mulato Pepper, as well as the Guajillo, are two peppers of very similar size (about ¾ to one inch wide and about three inches in length). They have a conical shape.
Color: When it dries, the color is almost like a deep reddish-brown, very close to a chocolate color. It also has a smooth skin texture with no bumps or ridges on the surface.
How To Buy: Make sure the skin is thin and smooth. The Mulato pepper should have a dry texture with no visible dots or ridges.
Recipes Using This Pepper
This wonderful dried pepper goes well in many different Mexican recipes! Here are some recipes that use this dried Mulato Pepper:
- Mole Poblano
- Mole De Olla
- A Variety Of Stews
Chile Chipotle Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 5,000 – 10,000
The Chile Chipotle pepper is also known as Meco, which name comes from the Náhuatl word "Chilpoctli". It means “smoked pepper”!
This pepper is a chile jalapeño that has to ripen to a red color on the plant then harvested and dried and smoked to achieve that color and flavor.
Nowadays, most of the process is done by industrial drying machines, but there are still a few regional small producers that smoke and dry the peppers using old-fashioned methods with Guava and Oakwood.
Depending on the smoking method, and the humidity of the environment, the Chipotle chiles can take from one week up to a month to dry.
These peppers have an earthy flavor that's not too spicy. The dried version of this pepper gets a smoky flavor that adds a nice touch to recipes!
Shape: This dried pepper is an average 3” long, cylindrical and narrow at one end, where it was attached to the plant. It has a shiny surface with some bumps and wrinkles on its skin similar to those of dried chiles de árbol.
Color: The Chipotle pepper has a light dusty brown color.
How To Buy: Make sure the dried chile is flexible and doesn’t break when you bend it.
Recipes Using This Pepper
Chile Chipotle peppers are very popular, especially the ones sold in a canned version with an adobo sauce. When this dried pepper is used, it gives a nice smoky flavor to dishes!
These are some of my family's favorite recipes that use dried Chipotle peppers:
- Chipotle Meatballs
- Chicken with Creamy Chipotle Sauce
- Chipotle Adobo Tacos with Oxtail
- Smoked Pork Chops In Chipotle Sauce
- Chipotle Salsa Recipe
Chile Árbol Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 15,000 – 30,000
The dried Chile Árbol is a chile árbol that has been dried. This pepper has an acidic flavor to it with some heat behind it. Be careful when you eat this dried pepper because sometimes they can be spicier than the fresh version of them.
They are used to add heat to table sauces and stews, like the famous“Salsa Taquera”here in the United States. Seeds and veins are not usually removed from these peppers when you cook them.
Shape: This is a spicy, long skinny pepper, with thin and bright red skin. They measure between 2 – 3 inches long and ¼ inch width.
Color: The dried Chile Árbol chile has a dark red color on the inside and outside of its skin.
How To Buy: Make sure to buy the peppers that had the stem, that they are fluffy and not flat, and the skin is a little thicker. The ones sold without the stem are from Chinese or even India, a very different pepper than the Mexican Árbol pepper.
Recipes Using This Pepper
I always like to have this pepper on hand to make these dishes:
- Chile De Árbol Salsa
- Mexican Spicy Peanuts (Cacahuates Enchilados)
- Ancho Árbol Chile Salsa
- Mexican Spicy Potatoes
- Tacos Tlaquepaque
Chile Piquín Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 50,000 -25,000
These Chile Piquíns are very hot and very small peppers, also known as “bird peppers".
There are several small types of hot chiles (some have a cylindrical shape too) that are called indistinctly “Piquín” when they are dried, but when they are fresh, they may be called other names according to their shape and the region where they are grown.
Piquín peppers are a very common chile in the northern state of Nuevo León, México, and also found here in the USA (Texas, Arizona & New Mexico). You can find other varieties of these chiles in the south of México and other central and south American countries.
Other peppers similar to Piquín peppers:
- Chilpaya
- Tepin
- Timpinchile
- Totochile
- Quimiche
- Chile De Monte
- Chile Bolita
- Canica
- Piquín De Coahuila
Shape: The Piquín pepper has a small but elongated shape, measuring about ¼” long and ⅛” in width. The Chile Tepin is very similar but is round.
Color: The dried chile Piquín is a bright red color and the inside of the skin has little seeds.
Caption: The above picture represents the one that you can find here in the States as Piquin Pepper, and this one is a mix between a Totochile or a Timpinchile.
Recipes Using This Pepper
While it may be a very hot pepper, even adding a little bit of this little bird pepper can really give your dish a good flavor. Check out these recipes!
- Piquín Pepper Salsa
- Chile Piquín Enchiladas
- Hot Piquín Pepper Powder
- Empalmes
- Nopales With Ground Beef
Chipotle Negro Peppers
SCOVILLE RATING: 5,000 - 8,000, and up to 10,000
This Black Chipotle pepper (also known Mora) is a spicy pepper with great taste!
Chipotle Negro peppers are similar in shape to a Chipotle pepper, but have a darker shiny color, are smaller in size, and have a unique fruity flavor.
They are also called “Chipotle Mora” or “Red-Black Chipotle”, due to their deep, vibrant color. In Veracruz, they are also called "Chile Seco"
Although Chipotle Negro peppers are smoked like chipotle peppers, the smoking process for them is shorter. If a recipe asks for these peppers and you don’t have any available, you can use Chipotle, instead. Use one Chipotle pepper for every two Chipotles negros peppers required.
These peppers are Jalapeños when fresh!
Shape: This dried chile has a long and narrow shape, measuring about 1½ inches in length and ⅔ inches in width.
Color: The dried chipotle negro is wrinkled with a deep brown/black color.
How To Buy: Make sure the dried chile has a deep and dark color, is not dried out, and that it still feels firm. If you buy dried chipotle negro with light brown spots on them, they are probably old.
Recipes Using This Pepper
This dried chile can be used in soups, stews, sauces; it also works well when you want to make marinades or rubs for red meats like beef, pork, or game.
Here are some of my go-to recipes:
- Salsa Macha
Pasilla Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 1,000 – 2,500
The Pasilla pepper is called “Pasilla” because its dark and wrinkly skin resembles that of prunes or raisins, which in Mexico are called “ciruelas pasas” and “pasitas”, respectively.
The pepper is mild in heat but has a lot of flavors, almost fruity and smoky at the same time. I like to use Pasilla in salsas or stews that have a combination of tomatoes and tomatillos.
It is commonly found all over Mexico, and when it’s fresh, it is the Chilaca pepper. Other names for the Pasilla pepper include “Chile Mixe” and “Chile Negro”!
Shape: The Pasilla is a long and narrow pepper that measures about 6-9 inches long.
Color: It has wrinkled skin and a very dark color, almost black.
How To Buy: It is important to note that there is also another pepper called “Pasilla”, the Pasilla pepper from Oaxaca (also called “Pasilla de Oaxaca”), which is smaller and has a reddish color. It is usually only found in Oaxaca, although I know that more and more of these different peppers are slowly appearing in some specialty stores here in the US.
Recipes Using This Pepper
My favorite way to use this dried pepper is in different types of salsas and sauces like these:
- Mole Poblano
- Chicharrones En Salsa Roja
- Salsa Boracha
Puya Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 5,000-8,000
These pointy peppers are spicy hot, making them great for salsas for tacos! They are used to add heat to stews or salsas.
First, they are roasted and then soaked in water before blending into a sauce. Puya peppers are often used in combination with Guajillo peppers.
Shape: They look like a smaller version of Guajillo peppers, and measure about 2 - 2½ inches in length and ½ - ¾ inches in width.
Color: The dried chile has a deep red color.
How To Buy: Look for dried Puya peppers that are heavy in weight, have an even dark red color all around, and feel firm when you press on them or squeeze them between your fingers. Don’t buy dried Puya peppers that look flimsy or light.
Recipes Using This Pepper
I don't use this specific pepper often but I do like to use it in this salsa recipe!
- Super Spicy Puya Pepper Salsa
Cascabel Pepper
SCOVILLE RATING: 1,300-2,000
Last, but not least, we have the Cascabel pepper.
Cascabel peppers are very typical in Central Mexico, where they are used in salsas and sometimes added to stews. They have a mild and slightly sweet flavor.
The name “Cascabel” (meaning “rattle”, or “jingle bell”) comes from the sound made by the loose seeds inside when you shake the pepper.
Shape: This beautiful round pepper measures about 1 - 1½ inches in diameter.
Color: It has a reddish-brown color!
How To Buy: To buy the dried form, the Cascabel pepper looks a little wrinkled and almost shiny – its shape is round but it’s not perfectly round.
Recipes Using This Pepper
I don't have many recipes using this pepper but I wrote a guest post recipe using Cascabel peppers for my friend Douglas, from the blog Mexican Food Journal, go check it out!
Tips For Cooking With Mexican Dried Peppers
Here are some of my best-kept tips when it comes to using dried peppers in my kitchen...
Wear Gloves!
If you had never cooked a meal with dried peppers, make sure to use plastic gloves to avoid skin irritability when cleaning the peppers and removing the seeds and veins.
Better safe than sorry!
If you don't use gloves, as many of us do, but still feel a little burning sensation in your hands or fingers, dip them in cold milk to soothe the feeling. Milk also helps to reduce the burning sensation if your food is too spicy for your taste.
Buy A New Batch Every Few Months
I keep these peppers in my kitchen for those dishes and salsas that require them, but, if for some reason I don’t use them after 6-8 months, I prefer to go to the store and buy a new batch.
Remember that even though you might store them well, the peppers can still lose their flavor and become crumbly with time.
Don't Forget To Toast Them!
Did you know that the best way to bring out all those flavors is to toast the peppers before adding them to a sauce or dish? It's true!
Just be careful when toasting the peppers, as some will have skins that are thicker or thinner than others, and this will affect the toasting time needed.
Keep an eye on the peppers’ change in color, and remove them from the skillet when they start releasing their aromas.
I hope that this beginner's guide was helpful to you, and don’t forget to leave your questions about these or other peppers in the comments section below!
Provecho!
Mely Martinez
