Paprika is good for you in a small way. A teaspoon has about 6 calories and 6 percent of your daily vitamin A, plus a little vitamin E and fiber. But it’s a spice, and most of the nutrition claims you’ll read about it assume you’re eating far more than anyone sprinkles over a dish. Here’s what’s in a teaspoon, what the research behind the bigger claims tested, and what to watch for when you buy a jar.
One quick note first: we know chili peppers and the spices made from them, but we’re not doctors. If you’re thinking about paprika, or a paprika supplement, for your eyes, your weight or anything else health-related, talk it over with your doctor. They know your health, and we know peppers.
What is paprika made from?
Paprika is ground dried red peppers, usually Capsicum annuum, the same species as bells and jalapeños. Sweet paprika comes from mild peppers, hot paprika keeps some of the heat, and smoked paprika is dried over a wood fire before it’s ground. The two classic styles come from Hungary and Spain, and our guide to what paprika is covers the rest.
What’s in a teaspoon of paprika?
USDA keeps one nutrition record for paprika, without separate figures for sweet, hot and smoked. Here’s what USDA’s FoodData Central lists for a level teaspoon (2.3 grams) and a tablespoon (6.8 grams), with the percent of the daily values used on today’s nutrition labels.
| Nutrient | 1 teaspoon | % DV | 1 tablespoon | % DV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 6.5 | 19 | ||
| Vitamin A | 57 mcg | 6% | 167 mcg | 19% |
| Vitamin E | 0.7 mg | 4% | 2 mg | 13% |
| Fiber | 0.8 g | 3% | 2.4 g | 8% |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.05 mg | 3% | 0.15 mg | 9% |
| Iron | 0.5 mg | 3% | 1.4 mg | 8% |
| Vitamin K | 1.8 mcg | 2% | 5.5 mcg | 5% |
| Potassium | 52 mg | 1% | 155 mg | 3% |
| Calcium | 5 mg | under 1% | 16 mg | 1% |
| Sodium | 2 mg | under 1% | 5 mg | under 1% |
So who eats a tablespoon of paprika? You would, in a bowl of our Hungarian goulash, which uses four heaped tablespoons to serve four. A dusting over eggs or potatoes is a small fraction of that, and at those amounts paprika brings color and flavor first and nutrition a distant second.
Is paprika high in vitamin A?
For a spice, yes. Paprika’s vitamin A comes from carotenes, mainly beta-carotene, which your body turns into vitamin A. A teaspoon’s worth adds up to 57 micrograms of vitamin A, or 6 percent of the daily value.
You may have read that a serving covers a quarter of your vitamin A. That figure made sense on older nutrition labels, which measured vitamin A in international units against a daily value of 5,000. By that math, a teaspoon of paprika came to about 23 percent. Today’s labels use a unit that credits the beta-carotene in food with much less vitamin A, and on those a teaspoon is 6 percent.
Want to get the most out of it? Keep it fresh. In a Spanish storage study, paprika kept at room temperature for 18 months held on to only about 55 percent of its original color, and that color tracked its carotenoid content. Our guide to how long dried peppers last covers storage.
Is paprika good for your eyes?
Paprika’s red comes mostly from capsanthin, a carotenoid found in ripe red peppers. Your body doesn’t turn capsanthin into vitamin A, but paprika also carries lutein and zeaxanthin, about 0.4 milligrams in a teaspoon. Those two collect in the macula, the part of the retina you use for sharp central vision, so paprika gets pitched as food for your eyes.
The best-known research used far more. In the National Eye Institute’s AREDS2 trial, a supplement formula with 10 milligrams of lutein and 2 milligrams of zeaxanthin a day slowed the disease’s progress in people who already had intermediate macular degeneration. The institute says those supplements don’t prevent it from starting. A teaspoon of paprika has less than 4 percent of that dose.
Is paprika a good source of iron, fiber or potassium?
On paper, yes. Per 100 grams, paprika looks impressive, with 35 grams of fiber and 21 milligrams of iron. But a teaspoon weighs 2.3 grams, so you get 0.8 grams of fiber, half a milligram of iron and 52 milligrams of potassium, each 3 percent of the daily value or less. And it’s the plant kind of iron, which your body absorbs less readily than the iron in meat.
The calcium, vitamin K and B6 claims shrink the same way. If you’re after fiber, our guide to fiber in peppers covers which peppers carry more of it.
Does paprika have capsaicin?
Sweet paprika has little or none. Spain’s rules for Murcia paprika cap its capsaicin at 0.003 percent, and Hungary’s Szeged paprika counts as non-pungent at up to 100 milligrams per kilogram. If you want heat, hot paprikas like Hungarian erős and Spanish picante carry more capsaicin, the compound behind a chili’s burn.
Capsaicin is where the bigger claims about blood sugar, weight and cancer come from. When you see it called a cancer fighter, that’s mostly lab work on cells and animals, as we cover in our look at chili peppers and cancer. Whatever capsaicin does in those studies, sweet paprika has almost none of it to give.
Can paprika help you lose weight?
Not as a spice. The research people point to tested paprika xanthophylls, the carotenoid pigments, concentrated into capsules. In a 12-week Japanese trial, 100 overweight adults took capsules holding 9 milligrams of the pigments or a placebo, and the paprika group ended up with less belly fat on CT scans. Seven of the eight authors worked for Ezaki Glico, a Japanese food company.
That’s one trial of an extract, mostly by company researchers. It isn’t evidence that shaking paprika on dinner moves the scale. Our guide to capsaicin and weight loss looks at the heat side of the same question.
Is smoked paprika as healthy as regular paprika?
It’s the same spice dried a different way, and USDA doesn’t list it separately. The difference is the smoke, which leaves behind polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and some of those cause cancer. German officials found high PAH levels in three samples of Spanish smoked paprika. Even so, in a 2024 opinion, Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment judged them of little concern for public health at normal amounts, though it still wants producers to bring the levels down.
So use it the way it’s meant to be used, as a seasoning. Our smoked paprika vs. paprika comparison covers how the two differ in the kitchen.
Is paprika ever contaminated?
Occasionally. In 1994, dealers in Hungary cut paprika with red lead to stretch it for profit, and the government pulled paprika from sale while police tracked them down. One clinical report described 141 adults who ate the tainted spice, 53 of whom developed signs of lead poisoning.
Today’s problems are smaller and more ordinary. When Consumer Reports tested dried herbs and spices for lead, arsenic and cadmium in 2021, paprika fell into its some-concern or moderate-concern range depending on the brand, with at least one brand of no concern. Paprika also turns up in recalls for Salmonella and for mold toxins, and a French brand was recalled for aflatoxin and ochratoxin A in August 2026.
There’s nothing to see or taste, so keep an eye on recalls and toss a jar if yours is on one.
Paprika health claims: fact or fiction?
- “Paprika is high in vitamin A.” Fact, for a spice, at about 6 percent of the daily value per teaspoon and 19 percent per tablespoon.
- “A serving gives you a quarter of your vitamin A.” Outdated. That came from the old label math, and today’s labels put a teaspoon at about 6 percent.
- “Paprika is a good source of iron, calcium and fiber.” Fiction at spice amounts, with each at 3 percent of the daily value or less per teaspoon.
- “Paprika prevents macular degeneration.” Not shown. The AREDS2 supplements slowed it in people who already had it, at more than 25 times the lutein and zeaxanthin in a teaspoon.
- “Paprika helps you lose weight.” Not shown for the spice. The trial behind the claim used a concentrated extract in capsules.
- “All paprika is spicy.” Fiction, since sweet paprika has little or no capsaicin.
- “Smoked paprika is dangerous.” Fiction at normal amounts, according to Germany’s risk assessors, though it does carry more PAHs.
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Related reading
- Cooking With Paprika: What To Know: How to choose the right type and get the most flavor from it.
- Vitamins In Peppers: How Much You Get, Pepper By Pepper: How fresh peppers compare.
- Gochujang Nutrition: How Healthy Is It?: Another chili seasoning, and why its sodium matters more than its vitamins.