Cameroon Pepper substitute

Best substitute

Cayenne Plus Smoked Paprika

Use ¾ teaspoon cayenne plus ½ teaspoon smoked paprika for every teaspoon of Cameroon pepper

Best for Nigerian stew base

Close match

The standard fix is cayenne plus smoked paprika: for every teaspoon of Cameroon pepper use about 3/4 teaspoon cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika. If you have one jar only, chipotle powder at 1:1 is the best single-jar answer because it is genuinely smoky. Cameroon pepper does two jobs at once, heat and smoke, which is why plain cayenne on its own always tastes like something is missing.

Other cameroon pepper substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Chipotle Powder
Close match
Use the same amount plus ¼ teaspoon cayenne per teaspoon if you want real heat
The best single-jar option because chipotle is a smoked chilli, so the smoke is inherent rather than borrowed.
What changes
Widely stocked and inexpensive.
Best for
stews, grilled meat, jollof rice, marinades, pepper sauces
The smoke is fruitier and rounder than Cameroon pepper's dry wood smoke, and it reads faintly Mexican, which some people notice in a Nigerian stew. Chipotle is also milder, so most dishes need cayenne alongside it.
3Hot Smoked Paprika (Pimenton Picante)
Different texture
Use the same amount plus ¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne per teaspoon
Gets the colour and the smoke exactly right and is the easiest thing to find in a European supermarket.
What changes
It is only mildly hot on its own, so the cayenne is not optional if the dish should bite.
Best for
stew base, jollof rice, rubs, sauces where colour matters
Finer-ground than Cameroon pepper, so it disappears into the sauce rather than speckling it. Sweeter and less roasted-tasting. Bloom it in oil, because paprika turns dusty when it is only stirred into liquid.
4Dried Scotch Bonnet or Habanero Powder Plus Smoked Paprika
Different taste
Use ¼ teaspoon chilli powder plus ¾ teaspoon smoked paprika for every teaspoon of Cameroon pepper
Useful if what you have on hand is a very hot African or Caribbean chilli powder, which is common in the same shops.
What changes
The smoked paprika stretches it and supplies the smoke.
Best for
pepper sauce, shito, stews, suya, grilled fish
Much hotter and considerably fruitier, with the floral apricot note habaneros have and Cameroon pepper does not. Start at a quarter teaspoon per teaspoon and go up slowly; this combination is easy to overdo.
5Gochugaru Plus Cayenne
Different taste
Use 1 teaspoon gochugaru plus ¼ teaspoon cayenne for every teaspoon of Cameroon pepper
An odd-looking choice that works well on appearance and texture, because gochugaru is coarsely ground and gives the same red flecked look Cameroon pepper does.
What changes
The cayenne brings the heat up to level.
Best for
stews where the visual matters, sauces, rubs
Fruity, mild and completely unsmoked, so you get the colour and the warmth and none of the smoke, which is half of what makes Cameroon pepper distinctive. Add a pinch of smoked paprika if you have any.
6Whole Dried Chillies, Toasted and Ground Yourself
Close match
Use the same amount by volume of the ground result, with a pinch of smoked paprika
The closest you will get to the real character at home, because the toasting supplies the roasted, faintly bitter depth that a jar of cayenne simply does not have.
What changes
Dry-toast whole dried arbol, guajillo or cayenne chillies in a pan until they smell nutty and just darken, cool them, then grind coarsely.
Best for
stew base, suya spice, pepper soup, anything worth making properly
Do not let them scorch. Burnt chilli is acridly bitter and there is no fixing it, so pull them off the heat while they still smell sweet. Adjust the chilli mix for heat: arbol is hot, guajillo is mild and fruity.

What is Cameroon Pepper?

Cameroon Pepper is Cameroon pepper, also spelled Cameroun pepper, is a dark, coarsely ground, wood-smoked dried chilli powder from Cameroon that is hot and distinctly smoky, and it is the dried pepper specified in a great many Nigerian and Cameroonian recipes.

Cooking tips

Bloom it in hot oil for 20 to 30 seconds before the tomatoes and peppers go in. Smoky chilli powders taste dusty and raw when they are only stirred into liquid, and the oil carries the smoke through the whole pot.
Cameroon pepper is hotter than it looks and its heat keeps building over a long simmer. Season with about two-thirds of what you plan to use at the start, then correct at the end.
If a stew has gone too hot, add fat and starch rather than water. A spoon of palm oil or peanut butter, or simply more rice or yam on the plate, tames it without thinning the flavour.
Buy it in small quantities. Ground smoked chilli loses its aroma within about six months, after which you keep adding more for heat and getting less and less smoke.
Because it is dark and coarsely ground it speckles the sauce. If you want a smooth red stew base, blend it with the fresh peppers rather than sprinkling it in dry at the end.

Frequently asked questions

Is Cameroon pepper the same as cayenne?

No, and this is the substitution people most often get wrong. Cayenne is a straight hot chilli powder, bright red and purely pungent. Cameroon pepper is dried over wood, so it carries a real smoke aroma along with the heat, plus a darker colour and a slightly roasted, bitter edge. Using cayenne alone gives you the burn and loses the smoke, which is why the result tastes thin.

How hot is Cameroon pepper?

Roughly in cayenne territory, which is hot but not extreme, and batches vary considerably depending on which chillies went into them. It is much hotter than paprika and much milder than a fresh scotch bonnet. Because the grind is coarse, the heat also arrives less evenly than with a fine powder, so taste the pot rather than trusting a measurement.

Can I use ordinary chilli powder from the supermarket?

Be careful, because in the United States "chili powder" usually means a blend containing cumin, oregano and garlic, and it will make your stew taste like tacos. If it is all you have, use half the amount and accept the flavour shift. What you actually want is a jar labelled simply cayenne, ground red chilli, chipotle or smoked paprika, which are single ingredients.

Can I just leave it out?

Yes, if the dish already has fresh chillies such as scotch bonnet in it, which most Nigerian stews do. You lose the smoke and a layer of dry, roasted depth, and the stew tastes fresher and simpler. What you should not do is leave out both the Cameroon pepper and the fresh heat, since these dishes are built around chilli and go bland without it.

Where can I buy Cameroon pepper?

African grocers stock it in small packets, sometimes labelled Cameroun pepper, dried pepper or simply hot pepper, and several online African food shops carry it. It is almost never in mainstream supermarkets. If you are ordering online anyway it is cheap and lasts a few months, so it is worth buying rather than approximating every time.

Related substitutes

More peppers substitutes

Cameroon Pepper substitute

Other cameroon pepper substitutes

2Chipotle Powder

3Hot Smoked Paprika (Pimenton Picante)

4Dried Scotch Bonnet or Habanero Powder Plus Smoked Paprika

5Gochugaru Plus Cayenne

6Whole Dried Chillies, Toasted and Ground Yourself