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If you are a gardener, chances are you have tried growing your own peppers. Sweet peppers are delicious when fresh, and have a number of uses in the kitchen. But did you know you can use them to make your own paprika powder?

In this article, I’ll share how to make paprika from scratch using a fresh pepper harvest. You can use virtually any red pepper variety to make this simple homemade spice. As a bonus, paprika powder will keep for up to a year (or longer) when stored properly. Let’s get into it!

Fresh ground sweet paprika powder — Fresh, homemade sweet paprika powder.

How Is Paprika Made?

Paprika is made by grinding dried red peppers into a powder. The type of peppers used varies from sweet to medium heat, and the drying technique also varies. Some popular dehydration methods include air-drying, smoking, and commercial food dehydrators to dry the peppers rapidly.

How to make paprika — Dried red peppers are ground into a powder to make paprika.

The enemy of dehydrating paprika peppers is moisture. Air-drying peppers may not be feasible in a humid climate. When the air is too humid, peppers often develop mold inside before they are fully dried. In wetter climates, a dehydrator or dehumidifier is required.

Sun-drying red peppers can bleach the pepper’s skin, resulting in a less vibrant color. Ideally, paprika peppers should be dried in a partially-shaded location to keep the peppers bright red.

Fun fact: Hungary is considered the paprika capital of the world, as it is a staple in their cuisine. If you go to a restaurant in Hungary, it is common to see salt and paprika on the table instead of salt and black pepper.

If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend tasting some genuine imported Hungarian paprika powder. Whenever I make homemade paprika, my goal is to get as close to this flavor as possible!

How is smoked paprika made? Spanish smoked paprika is made by slow-smoking red peppers over smoldering oak logs. This leads to a fiery, smoky flavor that is much more bold and pronounced than standard sweet paprika. You can make your own smoked paprika by smoking the fresh peppers for about 2 hours before dehydrating.

Types Of Peppers For Paprika

Technically speaking, any red pepper can be used to make paprika powder. In fact, the Hungarian word paprika literally translates to pepper. Traditionally, sweet paprika is made using a non-spicy red chili pepper. Hot paprika is made with slightly spicy chili peppers, giving the spice a mild warming effect.

Most of the peppers used to make paprika have thin walls that make the peppers easier to dry without developing mold. This is critical if you plan on air-drying your peppers.

Suitable peppers for paprika:

Alma paprika – seeds
Hungarian wax (hot or sweet)
Sweet banana pepper – seeds
Aji monagre (shown in this article) – seeds
Magyar pepper – seeds
Antalya dan

Sweet peppers for paprika — Sweet peppers with thin walls are ideal for making paprika.

Can you use bell peppers to make paprika? While red bell peppers can be used to make paprika, they are not an ideal choice. Bell peppers have very thick walls, so drying them takes much longer. This increases the possibility of mold, and the color also tends to be paler than with other chilies.

How To Make Homemade Paprika

Over the last 10+ years, I have made a lot of dried pepper powder. I love making homemade cayenne powder, superhot pepper powder, and my own custom blends. With this experience, I have learned that the #1 most important step for a flavorful powder is curing the peppers.

In essence, allow the fresh peppers to finish ripening and develop a deep red color before harvesting. Then, after picking the peppers, allow the peppers to sit in a warm, dry place for at least 7 days before dehydrating fully. After this resting period, the peppers can be fully dried with a dehydrator.

If you live in an arid climate, I would suggest air drying your peppers. While air drying can take up to 30 days or longer, a dehydrator tends to take out some of the flavor. So air-drying is best whenever possible. But here in New England, our summers are humid, which means I have to use a food dehydrator to finish the job.

How To Make Paprika

Harvest ripe red peppers
Allow your sweet peppers to fully ripen and change color to red. Paprika can also be made with yellow or orange sweet peppers, but the traditional varieties all ripen to red.
Rinse and dry the peppers
Rinse off any excess soil or debris from the peppers and dry them with a towel.
Cure the peppers for 7+ days
Place the cleaned peppers in a warm location out of direct sunlight. The ideal temperature is around 80°F with low humidity. I usually cure my paprika peppers above the refrigerator or on a windowsill.
Remove the seeds (optional)
After the peppers have cured for about a week, they will begin to shrivel slightly. At this point, slice the peppers in half and remove the seeds (recommended). This leads to a more concentrated paprika flavor and a richer red color.
Dehydrate the peppers
Place the sliced peppers onto a dehydrator tray and dehydrate at about 115°F (46°C). Avoid setting it too hot as it can impact flavor. If you live in a hot/dry climate, you can try air-drying the peppers for the best possible flavor, just be careful to avoid rainfall or high humidity.
Grind the peppers into a fine powder
After the peppers are fully dried (peppers should crack when bent), they can be ground into a powder. Add the dried peppers to a spice grinder (or coffee grinder) and pulverize them into a powder. This should take about 30-60 seconds per batch to reach a finely-ground texture.

If you want the freshest possible flavor from your powder, you can leave the dried peppers whole until you’re ready to use them. Then, grind the peppers into powder when you are ready to add them to a recipe.

Paprika Recipes

If you have a fresh batch of homemade paprika, you’ll need some tasty recipes! Thankfully, paprika works well in a variety of different dishes, including goulash, chicken paprikash, deviled eggs, and salsas.

Goulash. Traditional Hungarian stew with meat and vegetables. The primary seasoning is paprika, but can also include black pepper, caraway, and bay leaf.
Peri Peri sauce. Our own peri peri hot sauce recipe includes smoked paprika as an important spice. This is a perfect spicy topping for roasted fish or vegetables.
Chicken paprikash. Chicken, doused in a flavorful, creamy paprika sauce.

Peri Peri sauce — *Homemade peri peri sauce.*

Other uses for paprika include adding it to soups and stews, roasted squash and other vegetables, or as an addition to homemade spice blends and rubs. Paprika makes up an important portion of our taco seasoning recipe, and always adds beautiful color and depth of flavor to homemade chili.

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make paprika from scratch. Homemade paprika powder from the garden is always more flavorful and enjoyable in home cooked meals. The extra effort and fresh peppers make all the difference in the final spice!