08/23/2026
🌶️ MAKE SMOKED PAPRIKA FROM YOUR GARDEN PEPPERS
If you have fully ripe red peppers coming out of the garden, here’s a preservation idea you may not have considered: turn them into your own homemade smoked paprika.
Paprika is simply made from peppers that are thoroughly dried and ground into powder. Adding smoke during the drying process gives you that deeper, smoky flavor that works beautifully in so many fall and winter dishes.
Start with fully ripe red peppers. Sweet paprika-type peppers are ideal, although other ripe red sweet peppers can also be used. Wash and dry them, remove the stems, then cut them open. Removing the seeds and membranes will give you a smoother, milder finished spice.
Smoke the peppers at a low temperature, around 150–180°F, using a mild hardwood such as oak or apple. You’re looking for smoke flavor without actually cooking or charring the peppers.
After smoking, finish drying the peppers in a dehydrator at about 125–135°F. They need to become completely brittle. If they still bend, they aren’t ready for grinding or storage.
Once completely dry, grind the peppers into powder using a spice grinder. Give the powder a moment to settle before opening the grinder so you don’t get a face full of pepper dust!
Transfer your paprika to a clean, dry, airtight jar and keep it somewhere cool, dark and dry.
No smoker? You can still dehydrate ripe red peppers and grind them into homemade paprika. You’ll miss the smoky flavor, but you’ll still have a wonderful garden-grown spice for beans, soups, stews, roasted vegetables, eggs and homemade seasoning blends.
One more way to keep that garden harvest working for you long after summer ends. 🌶️
