Taking the heat out of my too spicy chili

[foodrocks]

So last night I decided to make this great sounding chili recipe I got off of the Craigslist message board for Chicken and Chorizo Chili. It sounded great, but the fact that part of the directions read "throw all the shit in the pan and cook it" should have been the first sign that the person who posted it was not the most meticulous recipe writer. Despite my better judgement, I ended up following the recipe, and 1 jalepeno and 1/8 cup of cayenne powder later (i know, i know), I had a great tasting chili that burned the crap out of everyone's mouth. The initial taste was great, but this guy was converting a restaurant-sized recipe to one that feeds two people, and was totally off.
My question to you is, is there any way to take the heat out of chili when you accidentilly put too much hot stuff in? I know if something is too salty, you can put a potato in to soak up the extra salt. I read a couple places that extra stock or even extra veggies or beans can help, but it just made it more liquidy without really taking away enough heat. Clearly, I will alter this recipe before trying it again, but it'd be nice to know what to do in the future. Thanks!

[StringerBell]

2 tbsp cayenne and 1 jalapeno is too hot for someone who likes spicy food? I usually use about 7 or 8 chipotles, 20 chiltepines, a few guajillos, 10 chiles de arbol, a few fresh red jalapenos, a large ancho, a couple New Mexico, and some cheap vinegary cayenne sauce for some acidity, and it's not extremely hot.

Capsaicin dissolves in oil though, and the oil floats on the top while cooking, so skimming off some oil from the top would probably help. You could probably pour in some extra oil and stir thoroughly every few minutes for awhile, then let it float to the top, then skim and discard the oil (or save it for something else). I've never done this to reduce the heat but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I've noticed that if I don't stir the chili before scooping the first few bowls are much hotter than the rest.

[TrishjPhilly]

So glad I checked in here! Made a batch of beef chili (williams Sonoma cook book) no cayenne here, but half cup of chili powder. Flavors were too strong. I tried two tbs of peanut butter and one tbs brown sugar. Perfect! And a little chocolate. Thanks for your help. The fat and sugar work.

[texaseve]

thank you all for your help with the chili. I made up the Zatarain's dirty rice and was able to tone it down with your suggestions!

[rstewart62]

Oh thank you, molasses person! I must've put some super spicy chili powder in my pulled pork and when I opened the crock pot (I know, I hate them) it was like pepper spray. Dumped various sweet things in, barely registered. And then, molasses. YES! Totally mellowed. Let's see what happens in the a.m., but I'm hopeful.

[flic5180]

Just a quick note. The main cook in this house prepares authentic Mexical Charro Beans like you wouldn't believe. She made a batch to sit for a day before serving to Nebraska friends who are "Picante" intolerable. Used too many Serrano Chilis this time and knowing the guests for Sunday evening will not be able to enjoy them, I searched this site and find that to either throw them out and begin anew or make a double batch with no spices and merge them are the only solutions. She is in the process of the latter. Will post with the results after they are finished. I shall have a plethora of leftovers to enjoy later, whatever the outcome.

[Tiggilene]

Simple answer: FLOUR.

Put 2 tbl. regular flour in 1/8 cup of cold water. Dissolve (it should kinda look like smooth glue). Pour into chili as it cooks and stir. Wait a few minutes and taste. Repeat as necessary.

Flour mixed in water mutes the taste of most strong ingredients in any stew/soup.

BTW, it'll thicken whatever you add it to. Just an FYI.

[PeachWeb]

Karl S, Peanut Butter is the bomb! (oh, did I just date myself? LOL) Seriously, I found this post because the batch of Tortilla soup I made tonight was blazing hot. I know better than to allow peppers to simmer too long, but never-the-less did so. Terrified no one would be able to tolerate more than a spoonful, I searched the net for solutions and wound up here. With no time to make a new batch, I decided to try the peanut butter, just a tiny bit at a time. Surprisingly, just a small dab (maybe 1/2 a tablespoon) made a difference. So, I added another dab of the same size. And wow, just as Kloomis said, you can hardly taste it and it adds a "depth of flavor". Not only is this a great solution for human err, but I believe a future purposeful addition for the lovely, roasted flavor it adds. THANK YOU!

[Savanah]

I took more beans and mashed them with a potato masher and mixed them into my too hot chili and it did the trick without diluting the liquid.

[achtungpv]

YOu could do what I do for my 3 year old. Take half the chili and rinse it under cold water in a strainer until all the sauce/spice/heat is gone. Mix back in with the chili. Voila, you now have half the heat as the original. Unless your chili is really dry, there will be enough sauce. It actually doesn't affect the taste at all other than cutting down the heat. I do this all the time for her.

[John E.]

I remember reading most of these posts some time ago and I don't recall anyone else suggesting the rinsing of the chili/meat idea. It sounds like that would work.

[JudiMorrison]

Trust me, nothing works! Tried everything on the Internet. Well, I take that back....I did finally fix it. I tossed it down the garbage disposal and started over from scratch. A very time consuming and expensive way to learn a lesson but the kind that sticks with you.

The only thing I did different with my chili that I've made successfully for years......I used CHIPOTLE Chile Powder instead of my standard mild chili powder. I had no idea Chipotle was so much hotter. Burned my mouth, throat and nose. I do NOT like to hurt when I eat! :)

Oh, it also had nothing to do with the amount of Chipotle chili powder I used, I know this because I tasted the Chipotle chili powder AFTER this disaster by wetting my finger and touching the inside of the lid and then my mouth. HOT HOT HOOOOOOOT! So it was the Chipotle and not the amount.

[John E.]

Regular chili powder is frequently made with Anaheim or New Mexico chiles which are not that hot. Chipotle is made from smoked jalapenos which is considerably hotter. The heat of your chili really was due to the amount of Chipotle chili powder you used because obviously if you used less of it, it would not have gotten so hot. You could have doubled the recipe without any chili powder and added it to the too hot chili and it probably would have been fine.

[dochavoc]

Added 2 Tblsp of Hershey's Cocoa powder, 2 Tblsp of dark Karo syrup, and my too-spicy chili cooled down some -- but not enough for the kids. Went to the reefer and added about 1/2 Tblsp of sour cream (all I had left in the reefer) and a 1 to 2 Tblsp splash of whole milk, and it's good to go. Wanted to try the peanut butter, but only had chunky and didn't want to encounter those chunks of foreign flavor in the chili. Thanks to all previous posters for some great suggestions!

[shaogo]

I've found that just waiting a day or two will sometimes mellow out a spicy dish that's just too over-the-top (although we're quite fond of a spice level many think is over-the-top anyhow).

If all else fails and you don't want to throw it out, extend it with the addition of more meat and lots of glazed onions. Serve it with plenty of avocado cubes, and some sour cream, served on top.

[MGZ]

Onions, especially cooked, are a great source of sugar. Sour cream, too.

[tonka11_99]

Yes, add some sugar. If you don't mind it getting lighter add dairy, probably sour cream. If you do mind it getting lighter, you could add some beef base or kitchen bouquet to darken it back up.

You could also calm it way down by serving it with a dallop of sour cream and a dallop of quacamole and cheese on top.

The trick to eating food that is too spicy is to get fat in it somehow. That is why buffalo wings are served with ranch dressing or blue cheese. I believe the fat shields your taste buds.

In fact, if you ever go to a social event and the host tries to force his firehouse whatever on you. Just grab the queso or the quacamole or the sour cream and even some milk. It will calm it right down and nobody will call you a girly man.

Vanilla Ice Cream afterwards is great too.

[John E.]

When I had a situation like this, I didn't add sugar, because it didn't occur to me. What I did was to add more meat, onions and beef stock, basically I just doubled the batch of chili and the heat was fine without changing the flavor. You need to have freezer space for this solution I suppose.

[dochavoc]

The vanilla ice cream afterward is just so the next morning when the Scofield units are having their way with the lower end of your digestive system, you can groan out, "Come on, ice cream!" :-)

[MGZ]

Well, considering that the Scoville scale is basically based upon the amount of sugar needed to be added to neutralize capsaicin, the addition of sugar(s) will help mitigate the heat of your chili. That sugar can be in the form of molasses, brown sugar, carrots, peanut butter, dark beer (as each was mentioned above), or honey, fruit, corn syrup, etc.

[okiegrl405]

After reading this post, I tried adding 2 Tbsp peanut butter AND 1/2 Cup pureed carrots to my spicy chili. IT WORKED!! Thanks for the advice from the posters!

[JeLo]

My son and I just made some BYFAO chili for a cook-off tomorrow. We used 2 tbsp cayenne PLUS another 3/4 cups of various chili powders. We're definitely gonna try the brown sugar thing!

[Perilagu Khan]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

[Joeyz51]

I made my soup too spicy using chili paste so I used natural sunflower butter and it worked perfect, also gave it another layer of flavor.

[Perilagu Khan]

Only 1/8 cup of cayenne? I'd dump in a tablespoon of CaJohn's 10 or a couple of blasts of Holy Jolokia.

[roosterlady]

I've been known to go heavy on the heat myself (but sometimes ok w/me!). Have tried many options to turn down the heat for the woosies, depending on the dish flavors; but usually more broth/liquid usually does the trick and other non-heat spices will do or more veggies. Just made a great Moroccan Beef stew which called for habenero, and cayenne, and bunch of other great spices. Turned out tasting great BUT some thought it too hot...SO I added more beef broth and some orange marmalade. Have to say its fantastic now! It even improved the flavor of my stew!! Really blended all the flavors nicely. So, really no set rule, just be creative to the flavors of your dish! ~ Bon appetet!

[JewishGourmet]

I too had a problem with Moroccan Beef stew, but keeping kosher requires us to separate meat and dairy - so sour cream or yogurt were out of the question. I drained off some of the original liquid (crock pot), added 1 tbsp brown sugar, a can of tomato sauce, 0.5 cup of OJ (since I ran out of my favorite orange marmalade). I also added more chickpeas and white beans, and just a 1/4 cup of barley for thickening the whole dish since I didn't have any rice or potatoes in it to begin with. I ended up needing more salt, but that problem was easily remedied. I saved the liquid, which is basically your beef stock with curry, and at a later date I will use it to make either a quick chicken dish or as a base for another beef stew.

[whs]

A dollop of sour cream will help. If you serve the chili with rice, it should mitigate the heat. Though, isn't the point of chili the chili? I like it when the back of my neck sweats after a bowl.

[altwegg]

Made a batch of pork chili with too much chipotle and chili powder. Just stirred in two tablespoons of brown sugar and a tablespoon of peanut butter and a bit more chicken broth. It's settled right down and will be grand. Thanks for the suggestions.

[dmd_kc]

Add a gastrique of some description, even just one as simple as some plain table sugar dissolved in cider vinegar. Fruit (mango, for example) can add a great, hard-to-pin-down note in chili.

But really, as others have said, your best bet is to make another batch of the same recipe with zero heat and mix the two.

[chef chicklet]

I would add a very dark beer, the whole bottle. A heavy stout, and a tsp of sugar after for the bitterness. 1/8 of a cup. That reminds me of the time I first made pizza dough I followed a recipe to the T and it advised about the same in salt, and I didn't know any better. That was the hardest dough ever.

[monsoon]

My chili was too spicy yesterday so I added some Cocoa Powder and some molasses and it took the heat down perfectly. Hope this helps

[sheilal]

Sour cream or a lime crema would do the trick

[jlawrence01]

1/8 CUP of cayenne powder ... that is going to be almost impossible to dilute ...

Sometimes you just have to toss it and vow never to do it again ...

[kloomis]

I have stirred in a couple tablespoons of smooth peanut butter to cut the heat. Sounds strange, but it seems to work, and doesn't alter the taste (gives a little depth to the flavor). It also makes the chili a little creamier, if that makes sense.

[cookingmama]

Just tried the Peanut Butter...worked great! Thanks for the suggestion.

[cheryl_h]

My DH made a batch of Joy of Cooking's Wild Caribbean Chili (great recipe BTW) and put in about four times the amount of chile pepper as the recipe instructed. He was using habaneros so this was quite a bit hotter than we wanted. We ended up doubling the ingredients, basically a lot more beans and other seasonings, except for the chile. This worked except that we ate chili for a long, long time.

[Karl S]

A couple of things:

1. The potato myth has been busted for tampering seasoning imbalances. It's a placebo at best, as it were.

2. You cannot reduce heat unless you can somehow float the capsaicin oil to the top and skim it. So, heatig up, adding liquid and refrigerating to skim fat can sometimes help, but the double refrigeration process is not going to help the overall quality of the leftovers....

3. Dilution and small servings are really the best bets. The only other remedy is emulsification of that hot oil. The single best emulsifier of capcaisin are nut/seed butters (peanut butter is classic). Fatty dairy (like sour cream) is next best.

[TongoRad]

Well, that explains why my tahini/chipotle/piquin wing sauce has never reached the levels of heat that I expected. Good to know.

[wayne keyser]

You can

(1) Dilute it (make more, except without the heat, and combine),

(2) Serve it in small portions over rice or noodles,

or (3) Get different diners - I believe it would be just fine for me as it is.

[jenniebnyc]

yes, dairy will cut the hot

[tomes]

add apple sauce. unsweetened is best.

[monkeyrotica]

Make four more servings of the chili (minus the cayenne) and dilute your original chili among the four. Freeze what you can't eat. Every time you get the urge to use cayenne in anything, go to the freezer for a remind of why that's not a good idea.

If it's still too hot, dilute with lots of dairy like cheddar cheese and sour cream or even yogurt.

[Anonimo]

Ad more tomato sauce.

[CDouglas]

Competition cooks sometimes add brown sugar to their pots to even out the bitterness and heat of chiles. Against that much cayenne I don't know if it will work.

Carrot puree could be added for a vegetal sweetness that might balance out the heat. Many of the best tasting hot sauces start with a base of carrot puree to give the sauce body and flavor while slightly taming the heat.

This really is one of those instances like oversalting - easy to add but very difficult to take out. Add gradually, tasting as you go and remember that with chili the flavors get more concentrated as it ages.

[HillJ]

When I've overdone the heat, a trick my grandmother taught me was to float a large Idaho potato in the pot to which can act as a neutralizer/sponge. Sometimes it works, sometimes its too late BUT it won't require adding add'l flavors to balance or alter the consistency (as in watering down) the chili.

[C. Hamster]

A potato doesn't do anything other than act as a sponge, alas. You could throw a household sponge in and it would have the same effect. It would soak up some of the liquid, certainly, but the heat (substitute "salt" "sweet" "sour," etc, as th epoor potato is suggested as a remedy for many a culinary miscue) level remains the same. Potatoes don't selectively soak up excess capsaicin (or salt or sugar, etc.). In fact, you'd have the same result with a potato or sponge as you would have ladling out some liquid. The only thing you can do is dilute the chili's heat by adding more of the non-heat producing ingredients, preferably in the same ratio as called for in the recipe.

[HillJ]

PHd in potato science? Thank you for the clarification. :)

[C. Hamster]

Nope, though Tater Tots are dear to my heart :-) Just a McGee, Wolke, etc. fan

[HillJ]

In respect to my dear Grandmother I'm going to keep her suggestion in the family but thankfully the OP has your help!

[Walters]

Foodrocks, My suggestion is to take a teaspoon of Dave's Insanity Sauce each morning to start your day. In no time you will find that no chili is too hot and that Szechuan peppers are better than popcorn for watching movies.

[berrrdman]

And then get ulcers.

[StringerBell]

Capsaicin does not cause or promote ulcers in any way. It actually helps to prevent them.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16...

[food_eater79]

I'd go with this approach no problem! lol

[LauraB]

I am not sure how it would go with chicken and chorizo chili, but I am a big fan of mixing a little bit of 70% or unsweetened chocolate into chili at the very end (1/2 or 1 oz per batch). This might slightly cut down on the spiciness. Otherwise I might suggest using it as a nacho topping with cheese and sour cream. Dairy and starch are the best things I have found for cutting down on spice.

[amkirkland]

while certainly not traditional, some dairy would remove the burn. However, I think the best way is a little sugar. It doesn't necessarily cut the fire, but it eases the blow. I actually always over spice my chilli a little bit, then give it some sugar cause I like what it does to the chilli. I've also noticed that any spicy concoctions like that mellow out if they age a bit.

[Nyleve]

Yeah - dilute the chili with more ingredients (can you increase the amount of veggies and beans?) AND serve it with sour cream or yogurt.

1/8 CUP??? That's very funny.

[Kagey]

That's 2 tablespoons, isn't it?

[Nyleve]

Correct. But that's a lot of cayenne, seriously. And I like hot food.

Of course if the recipe was for, like, 50 servings, that would be a different story.

[dhedges53]

One of my favorite recipes is Paul Prudhomme's Crawfish Etouffee which requires 2 Teaspoons of Cayenne. I love hot food, and I love his recipe, but 2 teaspoons is too much for my guests, so I cut it in half. I can't imagine 2 Tablespoons.

[Bada Bing]

A bit off topic, but: I read a Prudhomme interview once where he bemoaned the oversight that his first cookbooks didn't note that cayenne comes in different heat levels. The cayenne that he used in LA is really milder than the cayenne that people buy in most parts of country. Only once, in the D.C. area, did I find a grocer that sold (I think) three different cayennes, each marked by heatness level with a Scoville number or whatever that system is.

Prudhomme regretted that this mistake actually established what he regards as a false national impression of how blazing hot cajun/creole cooking is supposed to be.

[TongoRad]

If you have really good quality mild paprika, the sort sold at Indian markets, or even mild chile powder then the best way would be to make another batch, substituting that for the cayenne, and blend the two.

An easier way, I suppose, would be to make a simple chile gravy with the mild powder (roux, powder, water, cumin, oregano and salt) and add it along with some beans. It would dilute the heat without making the end results all watery.