10 Best Substitutes For Chipotle Powder

If you are a fan of extra flavors in your cooking, you must already know how wonderful spices like cumin, herbs, or peppers can transform one dish from boring to great.

When it comes to spice, spiciness is the ultimate flavor to go for, and no one can deny that chipotle powder is one of the stars in the tangy herb family.

As for the fact that it can be one of the vital ingredients, there will be circumstances when you run out of chipotle chili powder while you need it. 

That is when the best substitute for chipotle powder can come in and save your dish. Are you excited to find out what the ingredients that can replace chipotle are? Stay tuned to find out!

Top 10 Herbs To Use As Substitute For Chipotle Powder

#1. Smoked Paprika

Smoked paprika is a good replacement for chipotle chili powder because both have a chilly smoked base. To be more specific, chipotle chili powder is made using smoked dried jalapeño peppers. 

Meanwhile, smoked paprika is regularly mellow, made by pimento peppers with a more smokey tense flavor than its relative, medium heat jalapeño. 

For that reason, smoked paprika is likely the nearest thing you will discover as a substitute for chipotle pepper in most zest racks.

However, it would help if you considered before doing the substitution that smoked paprika will cause your dishes to lose some heat.

Depending on the kind of smoked paprika that you use or its amount, the heat intensity level can vary less compared to when you use the original flavor. 

You can find smoked paprika directly at your local store, but this spice is quite mild compared to chipotle chili powder, which requires you to add extra zest to make its flavor denser, such as cumin, chili powder, etc. 

The actually smoked paprika qualified for a chipotle powder substitute alone is called the Spanish Pimenton de la Vera. 

This special kind of paprika is not easy to find in grocery stores. However, they can bring the resembling flavor to chipotle as you were looking for. 

2. Chili Powder – Most Common Substitution

Chili powder is one of the most common substitutes for smoked chipotle because they look alike.

If you need to have some pepper powder instantly in your dishes when you run out of chipotle, chili powder can be the spice to go for. However, there are some notices you must bear in mind.

While both chili and chipotle powder are common in Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes, they still have some differences.

If the chipotle powder is derived mostly from smoked jalapeno peppers, chili powder is simply chili powder with spices such as cumin powder, oregano, and garlic powder.

Because of this difference, chili powder cannot deliver the heaty, smokey flavor compared to chipotle. 

When you must substitute chipotle with chili powder, modify your dish to where the amount of chili powder is acceptable.

If you want to maintain the same flavor as when you use it, use the same amount of chili powder, then add some ground cayenne pepper for the substance to become smokier, and you are good to go.

3. Cayenne Powder – Most Sultry Ever

This kind of spice usually gets compared with chipotle powder. So, before learning how cayenne can be an excellent substitute for chipotle.

How about finding out if these two spices are truly identical or not?

They are both culinary spices that work similarly well to increase the zest level in food, including spiciness. Both originate from stew peppers, easy to find and use; however, there’s still a difference that sets these two apart.

The most noticeable difference is their heat, and this is one territory where cayenne pepper and chipotle chili powder separate significantly. 

In comparison, cayenne pepper powder is more sultry. Cayenne scores somewhere in the range of 30,000 – 50,000 on the Scoville scale. While ground chipotle pepper falls somewhere in the field of 2,500 and 8,000 Scoville heat units. 

Even though cayenne peppers fill your dishes with a taste more intense than chipotle chili powder, they don’t have any of the smokiness of chipotle powder as they are not smoke-dried. 

Instead, cayenne pepper is set up from the dried seeds of different stew peppers, frequently known as ‘Fowl Chiles’. 

4. Ancho Powder – Giving Smoky Flavor

Ancho chili powder is made of dried Poblano peppers with a smokey base that can be a perfect company to your dishes when chipotle chili powder is not available. 

Both comprise dried, ground peppers with no extra flavors. Like smoked-jalapenos used to make chipotle powder, some ancho chilies are smoked and will give a comparable smoky flavor to your chipotle spice recipes.

However, its tangy flavor and intensity will be less because Poblano peppers are milder than jalapenos.

While preparing your dish, make sure that you increase the amount of ancho powder for the food to have an equivalent taste to something made with chipotle powder. 

5. Gochugaru Powder – A Friend Come From Korea

If you are a fan of Korean food, you must have heard of a special kind of chili name Gochugaru.

Contrary to the common belief that Asian chili doesn’t complement Western dishes, smoked chipotle powder, on the other hand, stands out to be one of the best gochugaru substitutes.

For that reason, it’s quite frank to state the opposite view, gochugaru is also one of the coolest substitutes to chipotle peppers.

Being a coarse-grind chile powder, gochugaru has similar heat characteristics that chipotle powder is well-known for. Despite the difference in where they originate, both of them have the same ability to make your dishes smokey and spicy. 

So, next time when you are preparing some Asian dishes, lay your eyes on a bottle of gochugaru instead of, and you won’t be disappointed with the result, we bet. 

6. Aleppo Pepper – Giving Mild and Hot Taste

The name Aleppo pepper might seem distant to you, but it is a spice that appears regularly in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean’s kitchen. As for the look, Aleppo pepper will capture your gaze at first glance with a deep, bold red.

Furthermore, its taste is mild and hot at the same time. When you use Aleppo pepper as the chipotle powder substitute, consider that Aleppo cannot bring a smoky flavor to the food. 

All it can give to your dishes is the hot and tangy flavor coming from its amazing chili. Other than that, if your meal does not have to be extremely spicy, Aleppo pepper is the worth-to-try choice of ground chipotle pepper substitute.

7. Piri Piri Powder – New Taste To Try

If you are looking for a change in flavor, do not feel like sticking with the smoky flavor from chipotle anymore, Piri Piri powder can be your favorite substitution from now on. 

This kind of powder contains a beautiful combination of paprika, cayenne pepper, and ginger to deliver the hot spice; oregano to make the spiciness elegant and delightful. 

This pack of flavors shows that Piri Piri powder is an ideal chipotle powder substitute.

8. Guajillo Powder – Rich and Tart Taste

Being a significant flavor in Mexican cooking, guajillo pepper utilizes the dried mirasol pepper with a rich and tart taste. It likewise has an intricate flavor that incorporates traces of pine nut, berries, and green tea.

For these exquisite extra flavors, like Piri Piri powder, guajillo pepper powder can be a new chipotle substitute in your chipotle powder dishes!

9. Pasilla Powder

Made from ground pasilla black chilies, pasilla powder has a deep, rich taste with a sense of fruity flavor similar to raisins or prunes. However, the smoky flavor in pasillas is milder compared to chipotle.

Even so, pasilla powder can be one of the tasty chipotle alternatives thanks to its sweet resembling-to-chipotle flavor. 

10. Chipotle-based Products

Well, the last thing you can use as a substitute for chipotle powder is, surprisingly, chipotle products! Other than powder, chipotle also comes from liquid or paste. 

Since these ingredients are chipotle in the first place, you can stop worrying if your dish’s flavor is altered or not. 

However, the thing to bear in mind here is the difference in texture can affect your recipe. They may not work in all cases where a powder will. 

For example, with complex dishes that include mushrooms or veggies, chipotle paste or chipotle sauce will do no problem with your dishes’ quality. 

If you don’t know how to make chipotle powder, try one of these alternatives, such as adobo sauce, and you will love the result. 

Conclusion

And that’s our list of the best chipotle powder substitutes. As you can see, chipotle chili powder is not your last option when it comes to bringing the spiciness and smoking into your dishes. 

There is a variety of chipotle chili powder substitutes that you can experience in your cooking journey. Thank you for reading this article, and we will catch up with you soon!