However, for other paprika recipes where you only need the traditional pinch, you can easily manipulate your recipe with one of these smoked paprika substitutes. To make smoked paprika the chili peppers are smoked for between 10 and 15 days over an oak fire. However, some concern over paprika toxicity exists, since the spice is also added to many foods to provide red coloring and flavor in place of chemicals.

It’s worth noting that when it comes to spice levels, paprika will never give your dishes the same blow-your-socks-off heat as, for example, cayenne pepper or dried chilli flakes. There, paprika or smoked paprika is the essential ingredient, so it would be hard to work with smoked paprika substitutes. Smoked paprika is made with the same chili peppers as sweet paprika, but they are smoked first.
Paprika, a spice ground from bell peppers, is commonly used to add flavor and a vibrant red color to various ethnic dishes. If you dump a handful of the hot kind into your meal, thinking it's sweet, your taste buds will be in for a rough ride. That means some kinds of paprika are pretty hot, and you should treat them more like cayenne than sweet paprika.


When using smoked paprika, a little goes a long way with this spice and the smokiness can sometimes get a little overpowering if you use too much. There now may be a smoked variety available - as it's become so popular - but it's not a 'traditional' Hungarian thing. You can try adding more liquid (dairy based, in particular) to dilute the flavor. This can be as simple as moving the dish to a larger vessel and simply doubling everything in the recipe except for the paprika. (If it gets too runny you can try adding flour or cornflour to thicken). How to use smoked paprika. Hungarian paprika comes in sweet or hot (and in a good spice shop, in several subtle but distinct variations in between, mostly on the sweet/delicate end.) Instead, expect a warming but palatable heat with a smoky, more complex profile. You have a few options when it comes to the effective dilution of a dish with too much paprika. as long as we're talking about ordinary paprika here, not hot chilli peppers, i think there's no such thing. When experimenting with it in a new dish, start off with a half teaspoon and work your way up from there. The first is simply to add more of the ingredients in the dish.