You’ve found a recipe that calls for a guajillo, or a serrano, or a Scotch bonnet, and it’s the one pepper you don’t have on hand. The instinct is to grab whatever’s close, but no two peppers trade places cleanly. A swap can land milder or far hotter than the original, and it can pull the flavor in a whole different direction.
This finder sorts that out for you: tell it the pepper you’re replacing and whether matching the heat, the flavor, or simply finding something at the store matters most, and it ranks the best stand-ins, including how much hotter or milder each one runs, which flavor notes carry over, and roughly how much to use in place of the original. It’s the difference between hoping a substitute works and knowing how it will.
Take our tools with you! Every PepperScale tool lives in one free app that runs right on your phone, even offline, perfect for real-time supermarket and kitchen support. Save it to your home screen for one-tap access:
- iPhone (Safari): tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
- Android (Chrome): tap the menu (⋮), then Add to Home Screen.
The method behind the heat: why mango lifts a habanero, why fat tames the burn, and how to pair any chili by flavor instead of guesswork. A field guide to 30 peppers, three pairing principles, and a dozen real dinners that put it all on the plate.
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