To recreate the spice of hot paprika, the best substitute is another dried chilli, like ground cayenne, aleppo pepper powder, crushed red pepper flakes, red chilli powder, or even a dash of hot sauce. If your recipe calls for smokiness and sweetness, try chipotle chilli powder or ancho pepper powder. Chipotle powder has a smoky taste, but is hotter than paprika with a more earthy flavour, lending itself to barbecue sauces, rubs and chillis. Due to the difference in heat, use a ¼ teaspoon of chipotle powder for every teaspoon of paprika and adjust depending on your taste buds.

If you’re looking to replicate the flavour of sweet paprika add a pinch of sugar or some honey. Adding mild chilli powder or tomato powder works too. Bell peppers are another great substitute for sweet paprika and they come from the same Capsicum annuum family. Mild, sweet and aromatic, bell peppers give the same delicious taste and aroma, while adding a splash of colour too. When buying your bell peppers, make sure they’re nice and ripe.

One of the best substitutes for paprika is cayenne pepper. It’s a spicy chilli pepper, used to flavour many different cuisines and quite similar in colour. It’s a lot stronger and hotter than paprika, so if you’re using it as a substitute in your cooking, make sure you use a lesser quantity. If you have a lower tolerance to spicy food, you can add salt, cream, chopped tomatoes or more liquid (water or broth) to try and dial down the heat.

Like paprika, chilli powder packs a lot of flavour and is another worthy substitute. It’s also not as spicy as cayenne pepper, so you can use the same quantities.  The same goes for cajun spices. A combination of black and white pepper, plus other herbs and spices, it can work as a good substitute for smoked or sweet paprika, offering a similar flavour. But you won’t get the same beautiful red colour – more of an orange, warm hue.

You can also use cumin instead of paprika. But it’s a lot hotter, so go easy on the quantities. Like cajun spices, you won’t achieve the gorgeous red colour of paprika, as cumin has more of a yellowy-brown colouring, but you’ll still get an earthy flavour with hints of bitterness and sweetness.

In recent years, the demand for paprika in China has been steadily increasing, as consumers become more adventurous with their cooking and seek out new flavors. This has led to a rise in the production of paprika in China, as farmers and producers work to meet the growing demand.

It also lacks the extra ingredients that you'll find in most blended chili powder preparations. You can substitute one for the other in some recipes, but you might need to adjust your other ingredients to account for the change in flavor.

Chipotle powder is probably the best smoked paprika substitute on your spice rack. Like the original ingredient, this replacement is also considered mildly spicy with a heat level that ranges from 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) on the Scoville Scale. Made from smoked dried jalapeño peppers, this spice is also known for its remarkable smoky and earthy taste — the result of the smoking process. Its bright red color also closely resembles paprika. All things considered, the chipotle powder is a fantastic backup for smoky dishes rather than spicy recipes. 

Red pepper dust is a popular spice that adds heat and flavor to a variety of dishes. As a sought-after ingredient in many cuisines around the world, it is important to find a reliable supplier of red pepper dust to ensure the quality and authenticity of the product.

You have a few options when it comes to spicy ketchup. You can easily make it yourself (see our recipe for smoky chipotle ketchup) or you can buy one of the many options available at most grocery stores. Heinz also carries a chili sauce in its line (affiliate link) that’s really much more like spicy ketchup than a Sriracha.