Last year I tried smoking peppers for the first time. It was near the end of the season for the peppers, and I didn’t have a lot of them to choose from. But I loved the results, and the finished product is all gone except for the chipotle powder that is too hot for me to use in much quantity. This year I wanted to get a jump on the process, and I actually planted a few extra pepper plants with smoking in mind. You can see some of the ground peppers from last year in the below photo.
ground chipotles and green Anaheim peppers from 2014
It’s still a bit early here for peppers, at least ripe ones, but I found enough to try my hand at smoking a batch this week. The ones in the below photo include Biggie Chili, Aji Golden plus a couple of the sweet Jimmy Nardello. Biggie Chili is a hybrid Anaheim type, while Aji Golden is a C. baccatum variety with a mild fruity taste. Both of these were partially ripe but still partly green . Last year I enjoyed the smoked green ones as much as I did the red ones, so I figure it doesn’t really matter too much. The Jimmy Nardello peppers are fully ripe, and there’s one ripe Aji Angelo in the mix plus one ‘mystery’ pepper which is likely a Hot Happy Yummy that is not true to type.
peppers for smoking
Last year I had the best results using my charcoal Weber grill, so that’s the method I used this year. I built a small fire on one side, then added a foil packet of dry cherry wood chips. I poked holes in the top of the packet, and set it down right on the hot coals. Then I arranged the peppers on the grill away from the heat, closed down the vents to just a crack, and put on the lid. My goal was to use as little heat as possible, and to keep all that smoke inside the grill.
smoking peppers on the grill
I left the peppers on for about an hour and a half. By that time the wood chips were done smoking. Then it was off to the dehydrator to dry them out. I moved the dehydrator out to the front porch so the whole house wouldn’t wind up smelling smoky. The Aji Golden, Aji Angelo and Jimmy Nardello should be ready first, as they are thin walled peppers. But the Biggie Chili will surely take longer since they are a bit meatier. They need to get to the leathery stage if you want to use them whole or store them for later use. If you want to grind them up into powder then they need to be crisp, and I will likely put them in the oven to finish them off and get them to that stage.
smoked pepeprs before drying
I plan on smoking more peppers later on as more varieties are ready. I especially want to try the mild jalapenos when they are ripe, and the Aji Angelos. Some ripe anchos would also be nice to try, since I didn’t have any for last year’s trials. I also have several varieties of paprika peppers planted and I hope to try smoking some of them as well. Last year I smoked a few of the Dulce Rojo and the smoked paprika was awesome. It will likely be tomorrow before the peppers have finished drying, and I will be back later to show what they looked like then.
You’ve got the perfect technique with the heat to one side. I had to rig up a method with my single burner bbq. I actually found mine were pretty dry just from the hour or two of smoking. I spread them out on a plate for a week or so before putting them in the jar just in case though. What a terrific idea to grind them into a powder … think I’ll give that a go.
The ground peppers are great in and on a number of dishes!
Smoked peppers are certainly addictive! I planted a few peppers this year with smoking in mind – a jalapeño, a Spanish paprika pepper, a Macedonian seasoning pepper, and an off type Topepo Rosso from last year that was delicious smoked, and a mystery Chilean pepper that I’m hoping will be good smoked. I’m not sure if my peppers are ripening early this year, my tomatoes are, but I’m surprised that mine seem to be ripening at the same time that yours are. I seem to remember seeing your harvests of ripe peppers while I was still waiting on mine. It’s been an unusually mild summer here this year, a lot less fog than usual, ad I think it’s accelerated things in the garden.
Those sound so delicious.
Oh, I should definitely try that, although we only have a gas grill which is on it’s last legs. That may actually be a good thing for this as one of the burners generates only a small amount of heat which is not great for grilling but may do the trick for smoking.
When you finish off the peppers in the oven, what heat do you use? I tried drying some Ostra Cyklon peppers in the oven & I only got them down to the leathery stage – I thought they would keep drying out if I left them to dry naturally, but it’s been a couple of weeks and they are not brittle yet.
I use the lowest heat the oven will operate, in our case 170°F. And I cycle it on and off, leaving the peppers sit in the oven as it cools off. I’ve definitely found that less heat is better when smoking the peppers!