Hungarian and Spanish paprika are both ground dried red pepper, and each country takes its paprika seriously. But they don’t always swap cleanly. The biggest difference is smoke: Spain’s best-known paprika, pimentón de la Vera, is dried over oak fires, while traditional Hungarian paprika isn’t smoked at all. Hungarian paprika is known for a sweet, fruity flavor and comes in eight grades, and Spanish paprika keeps it to three heat levels. The peppers behind both came from the Americas, but each country made the spice its own. Here’s how they compare, and when you’d use each one.
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What’s the difference between Hungarian and Spanish paprika?
Smoke is the big one. In La Vera, in western Spain, the damp climate won’t let the peppers dry in the sun, so growers dry them over oak fires for 10 to 15 days. That’s where pimentón de la Vera gets its smoky flavor. Not all Spanish paprika is smoked, though. Murcia, in the southeast, dries its peppers in the sun or with hot air, and most Spanish paprika isn’t smoked unless the label says so.
Traditional Hungarian paprika isn’t smoked. Its character comes from where it’s grown, around Szeged and Kalocsa in the south. The peppers there don’t ripen as fully as they would in sunnier countries, so they keep some of their sugar, and that’s what gives Hungarian paprika its sweet, fruity taste. The pods are dried gently and ground, and in Szeged they’re traditionally ground between millstones.
Both countries protect their famous paprikas. Szeged and Kalocsa paprika from Hungary, and pimentón de la Vera and pimentón de Murcia from Spain, are all protected designations of origin in the EU.
Which is hotter, Hungarian or Spanish paprika?
It depends on the tin. Most of both is sweet, with little or no heat, and regular paprika runs just 100 to 500 Scoville heat units. Both countries make hot versions, too. Hungary’s hottest grade is erős, and Spain’s hot type is picante.
Neither country rates its paprika on the Scoville scale. Hungary’s protection rules measure capsaicin instead: in Szeged, paprika with up to 100 mg per kilogram counts as non-pungent, and anything over 200 mg is hot. Murcia’s rules cap its sweet paprika at 0.003% capsaicin, or 30 mg per kilogram, so it has almost no heat. If heat matters to you, read the label. Look for erős or csípős on a Hungarian tin and picante on a Spanish one.
How does each taste?
Sweet Hungarian paprika is rich, sweet and fruity, with a slightly roasted edge. It’s the flavor that carries goulash and paprikash.
Smoked Spanish paprika adds a deep, smoky flavor on top of the sweet pepper, and it’s the one you’ll notice in a dish. Unsmoked Spanish paprika, like Murcia’s, is sweet, with a strong aroma, so it’s closer to a sweet Hungarian paprika. Agridulce, the bittersweet type, is a little sharp, with a touch of heat.
What does each look like?
Both are red, but the shades vary. Kalocsa paprika is a deep, silky red. Pimentón de la Vera is deep red and a little shiny, and Murcia’s is a bright red. The color changes across Hungary’s grades, too: rózsa is pale red, and the hot erős can be light brown rather than bright red. So the color won’t always tell you which one you’ve got, but the label will.
Why does Hungarian paprika have more types?
Hungary sorts its paprika into eight grades, from különleges, the mildest and brightest, up to erős, the hottest. Édesnemes, or noble sweet, is the type that’s exported most, so it’s the Hungarian paprika you’ll usually find. Our guide to Hungarian paprika covers all eight.
Spain keeps it simpler, with three types: dulce (sweet), agridulce (bittersweet) and picante (hot). In La Vera, each one’s made from specific local pepper varieties, and our guide to Spanish paprika goes into how. Here’s roughly how the two systems line up.
| Heat | Hungarian grades | Spanish type |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet, little or no heat | Különleges, csípősmentes csemege, csemege, édesnemes | Dulce |
| A little heat | Csípős csemege, rózsa, félédes | Agridulce |
| Hot | Erős | Picante |
Which is easier to find?
You’ll find both online and in well-stocked grocery stores. Édesnemes is the Hungarian type you’ll usually see outside Hungary. A tin that just says “paprika” doesn’t tell you where it came from, though, so check the label for the country, or for Szeged, Kalocsa, La Vera or Murcia. If you want the real smoked kind, look for pimentón de la Vera; protected tins carry a numbered label from its regulating council.
Which is more useful in the kitchen?
For Hungarian cooking, use Hungarian paprika. Goulash and paprikash are built on sweet paprika bloomed in fat with onions, and our Hungarian goulash shows how it’s done.
Smoked Spanish paprika brings smoke to dishes that never see a grill, from roasted potatoes and stews to rubs and our smoked paprika potato chips. In Spain, pimentón is what makes chorizo chorizo, and it’s the finishing touch on pulpo a la gallega, Galician octopus with olive oil and coarse salt.
Whichever you use, paprika burns easily, and burnt paprika’s bitter. If you’re blooming it in hot fat, take the pan off the heat first, stir it in for a few seconds, then add your liquid or other ingredients right away.
Can you substitute one for the other?
Often, yes. Many dishes use paprika as much for its color as its flavor, and there the sweet, unsmoked versions of both swap well. Spanish dulce and Hungarian édesnemes trade places without much change in most dishes, and the same goes for an unsmoked picante and Hungarian erős.
Smoke is where it gets tricky. Smoked Spanish paprika won’t ruin a goulash, but it won’t taste traditional. Going the other way, Hungarian paprika can’t give you the smoke. If you’re out of smoked paprika, you can get close with a sweet Hungarian paprika and a little liquid smoke, and we’ve got more ideas in our smoked paprika substitutes.
Overall: let the smoke decide
If you want smoke, Spanish pimentón de la Vera is the one to use. If you want a sweet, fruity paprika, especially for Hungarian dishes, go Hungarian. For everything else, a sweet version of either does the job, and if you cook with paprika a lot, keep a tin of each in the cupboard.
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Related reading
- Smoked Paprika Vs. Paprika: PepperScale Showdown: How smoked and regular paprika behave differently in a dish.
- What’s A Good Paprika Substitute?: What to use when the tin runs out.
- Cayenne Pepper Vs. Paprika: PepperScale Showdown: For when you want heat, not just color.
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