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I recently found out that I'm allergic to capsaicin, so that means no spicy Mexican food, which I love. Are there any substitutions that I can use? I can have black pepper, but too much black pepper and that's all you taste.

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    Very related: cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/33534/… (Not a duplicate though, because capsaicin is not contained in bell peppers so the asker of that question is apparently allergic to those too, so must be something different contained in all capsicum.)
    – leftaroundabout
    Feb 20, 2019 at 21:18
  • also related : cooking.stackexchange.com/q/64382/67
    – Joe
    Feb 21, 2019 at 3:29
  • @leftaroundabout Just to cite what Judith White wanted to reply with (but couldn't for the lack of 50 rep): "To tell someone with an allergy to Capsacin that there is none in bell peppers... you would be dead wrong. As it was I did end up in emergency. There is some. But almost none is not none. Things that I have been playing with instead: wasabi, basil, black pepper, garlic and oregano as well as the recommended Cumin."
    – Anastasia Zendaya
    Jun 18, 2021 at 23:20
  • @AnastasiaZendaya some allergy cases are extreme, but as the OP just “recently found out” they're allergic to capsaicin – but loves Mexican food – this does not seem to apply here. Anyway, my remark was not to suggest that bell peppers are a safe thing to try for someone with known capsaicin allergy, but to point out that the other question is probably not about capsaicin allergy but about something different (unfortunately not clear from the way it was asked).
    – leftaroundabout
    Jun 19, 2021 at 11:02

4 Answers 4

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You could try other piperine containing types of peppers (Piper genus), these include P. longum (long pepper) and P. retrofractum, as well as white pepper P. nigrum, though any member of the Piper genus should contain some piperine, but amounts and hence spiciness will vary.

You could also try ginger (Zingiber genus), as well as mustard seeds and shoots/leaves (Sinapsis genus and Brassica juncea), all of which are objectively "hot", though also with different (and strong) flavours and heat levels.

Wikipedia also has a list of peppers under their Template:Herbs and Spices, which includes such things as Alligator pepper (Aframomum), Schinus genus, Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum), and a couple of others.

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  • You can also get 95% piperine concentrate, extracted from black pepper, which could give you the heat of black pepper without the full flavour. Not sure exactly what it tastes like though as it's sold as a supplement rather than an ingredient.
    – Richard
    Feb 22, 2019 at 9:20
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You could ramp up the heat by adding more cumin rather than more black pepper. It's commonly used in both Indian, and in Mexican cuisine, so the flavour shouldn't be too strange. It can make spicy dishes feel much more fiery.

Other possibilities are to use other warm spices, such as cloves, cinnamon, ginger, Szechuan pepper corn, mustard seeds, etc . . . but then again, these might affect the flavour in ways that make the dish taste more Asian, rather than Mexican.

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If you're looking for something to mimic the flavor profile of chili peppers, to give you familiar-ish tastes in your food, the best I've found is sweet or smoked sweet paprika.

Sweet paprika is made from bell peppers would contain no capsaicin, since bell peppers do not. Hot paprika, on the other hand, is made from capsaicin bearing peppers and would not be safe - and some paprikas are made from mixed batches of peppers, so it may take some label-reading and deciphering to make sure you get a pure-bell-pepper paprika. I've only seen smoked sweet paprika in my area, though it seems that smoked hot paprika is available elsewhere.

I'm pretty strongly intolerant of capsiacin, and this works for me to get the flavors in food balanced well when working with recipes that call for chili peppers. It will of course still be different, but it can be flavorsome and very good. I would suggest caution, though, when trying paprika at first as tolerance levels can vary a lot - mine is severe enough that I consider sweet paprika safe enough for me as safe to recommend, but there's always the possibility of individual differences.

If what you're missing is not flavor-profile-stuff but the actual spiciness, bob1's answer on foods and flavorings with other spicy compounds may work well.

Or you could maybe just try eating your food while really boiling hot, to replicate the scorching of one's mouth :)

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    If you're suggesting smoked paprika I assume you mean sweet smoked paprika. The hot (picante) kind definitely includes capsaicin (I have both, for different things)
    – Chris H
    Feb 21, 2019 at 8:19
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    As it is the answer is wrong. And since OP is dealing with allergy, a lower limit is difficult to be established and even sweet paprika might contain capsaicin as for capsaicin absence relies on perfect removal of seeds and perhaps other parts of the fruit. I support the above comment.
    – Alchimista
    Feb 21, 2019 at 9:34
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    @ChrisH - I've only ever seen the smoked paprika that's made from sweet paprika in our area, I didn't realize it was available elsewhere - thanks for the heads up!
    – Megha
    Feb 22, 2019 at 1:38
  • @Alchimista - Paprika made from red bell pepper would be safer (bell peppers have no capsaicin), that's sweet paprika. Hot paprika does contain capsaicin - and I will edit in a warning about smoked hot paprika, I just hadn't run across it before. As for relative tolerance, bell pepper is widely assumed to be safe for capsaicin intolerance or allergy (see leftaroundabout's unchallenged comment above, not to mention a score of other sources I found when researching), and I know it is edible even with my own very severe intolerance - though I will edit in some additional warnings for that, too
    – Megha
    Feb 22, 2019 at 2:02
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    I see that bell pepper do not contain capsaicin. By other sources I was convinced that there is some capsaicin in all capsicum. As it is your answer is better, especially more clear. I didn't down vote even before, by the way.
    – Alchimista
    Feb 22, 2019 at 8:20
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Black pepper is in the Piperine family, and is safe for me. I actually have been replacing all cayenne and paprika with sumac. It is not spicy, but it has a tang like lemon and has the bright red/pink color you expect from paprika, red pepper flakes, or cayenne. If your allergy is as bad as mine, I feel for you. It is in EVERTHING. Most foods list "spices" as an ingredient, and 99% of the time, that means there is something that I can't have in it. Good luck to you! I also use fresh ginger, radishes, garlic, and horseradish to add heat to my food. I'm going to try the long pepper next!

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    Welcome! I edited your answer to remove some health advice, which is off-topic for this site.
    – Sneftel
    Mar 8 at 8:14
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    add Sichuan chili oil (no relation to chili peppers) to list. Warm numbing glow pairs well with western dishes too
    – Pat Sommer
    Mar 8 at 20:09

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