Chipotle Vs. JalapeƱo – How Do They Compare?

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Two of the most heard words in the hotĀ pepper world are chipotle and jalapeƱo. There are so many products surrounding these two chili types,Ā products that tend to play up theirĀ differences. One’s smoky and earthy, the other bright and crisp. Yet, for the pepper scale uninitiated, there’s more similarity than you mayĀ first realize. We dive into it all in our comparison: chipotle vs. jalapeƱo.

Table of Contents

The heat: Is the chipotle hotter than the jalapeƱo?

It typically is, but it shares the same ceiling for spiciness. Here’s why: Chipotle peppers are really jalapeƱos; they’ve just been aged to maturity, dried, and smoked. Chipotle are made from fully-ripened red jalapeƱo peppers, which leads to the heat difference. As chilies ripen, the amount of capsaicin in them increases as well. Capsaicin is the compound that causes the heat in chilies, so these mature red chilies are going to be tapping out at the upper end of the jalapeƱo’s Scoville heat range (2,500 to 8,000 Scoville heat units).

What does this mean? You can get jalapeƱos just as hot as chipotle peppers, but the average overall heat you’ll experience from a crop of chipotle will be higher than from a similar crop of jalapeƱo.

The look: How different do these chilies appear?

Comparing a fresh chili versus its dried counterpart is like comparing a grape to a raisin. Yes, they have the same roots, but you’d never be able to tell from an immediate glance. Chipotle peppers, being dried with the jalapeƱo is in its mature red state, are flat, wrinkly, and dark-hued. Their rusty red coloring and wider appearance (due to the flattening) are what throws people from the jalapeƱo relation.

Most jalapeƱos are picked green – before maturity – for fresh use. Their shape is pod-like, tapering the a rounded point at their base, growing roughly 2.5 to 3 inches long. They still have this shape as they age into their mature red color.

The taste: How does the chipotle’s flavor differ from an jalapeƱo?

Here’s the biggest difference of all. Beyond the heat, they really have totally different flavor profiles. The jalapeƱo has a crisp, bright, and grassy bite that’s a favorite for eating fresh on salads, sandwiches, and in salsas. It’s a flavor that doesn’t take over a dish, so it’s perfect too for a heat complement in many recipes featuring white and light meats (chicken, turkey, many fish). Plus, the taste, along with their thick walls, make the jalapeƱo one of the best stuffing peppers on the planet.Ā JalapeƱo poppers are an appetizer favorite.

Red jalapeƱos take on a bit more sweetness, due to their extended time on the vine. Learn more about the differences between green and red in our comparison here.

Chipotle is a different world, yet just as tasty. It’s bold, smoky, and earthy. It’s a flavor meant for barbecue, savory sauces, and heartyĀ meals. The smokiness goes very well with red meats and barbecue of most types. This is the kind of flavor profileĀ that’ll take over a meal if you’re not careful, but when used just right, it can turn an average dish into something amazing.

Can you find them at grocers or gourmet stores?

JalapeƱos own a lot of grocery real estate. They are becoming a staple of the fresh produce aisle, as well as a common ingredient in many grocery-carried hot sauces and salsas. It’s a heat most everyone can enjoy. Pickled jalapeƱos are available in many supermarkets, too, in the same area you’d find regular pickles.

Whole chipotle chilies are not something you’ll find at most supermarkets, though you can pick it up at Mexican specialty stores and online. But that’s not to say that chipotle is not a common sight along the aisles. Chipotle in adobo sauce is a very popular ingredient for many international recipes. Plus, chipotle’s smokiness makes it a very popular hot sauce and salsa chili, for instance Tabasco’s Chipotle Hot Sauce. Barbecue sauces and dry rubs, too, love to mix in the smoky heat of the chipotle.

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Does the chipotle do well as a jalapeƱo substitute? Or vice versa?

So similar, and yet so different – that’s the world of these two chili types. While they are the same pepper, the chipotle and jalapeƱo don’t make good substitutions for one another. There’s too much flavor difference. There are plenty of jalapeƱo substitutes and chipotle substitutes out there, though, and many are very easy to find.

  • Chipotle Grilled Cheese: You may never return to plain grilled cheese again after trying this recipe.
  • The Hot Pepper List: The jalapeƱo and chipotle are just two of over 150 chilies we profile. Search by name, heat level, flavor, and origin.
  • Our Hot Sauce Rankings: These two chilies fuel many different hot sauces. Search our hot sauce list by chili pepper used to see which.

UPDATE NOTICE: This post was updated on September 6, 2022 to include new content.
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Jeff Scott

Can you not smoke green jalepenos — of so, what would they be called?