Merken substitute

Best substitute

Hot Smoked Paprika with Cayenne and Coriander

Per 1 tablespoon merken: 2 teaspoons hot smoked paprika, ¼ teaspoon cayenne, ½ teaspoon ground coriander seed, ¼ teaspoon salt

Best for grilled meat

Different texture

Spanish pimenton supplies the smoke and colour, cayenne dials in the heat, and coriander seed provides merken's warm citrusy background note.

Other merken substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Chipotle Powder plus Ground Coriander
Close match
Per 1 tablespoon merken: 2 teaspoons chipotle powder plus ½ teaspoon ground coriander
Smoke-dried jalapeno ground fine, which gives you real chilli smoke rather than smoke borrowed from paprika.
What changes
Best for
grilled and roast meat, beans, stews, rubs
Excellent on anything grilled and a genuinely close cousin in character. Two differences to expect: chipotle is hotter than most merken and carries a raisiny, faintly sweet fruitiness that merken does not have, so it can dominate delicate things like fish, potatoes or a plain egg. Use two thirds of the amount on anything mild.
3Gochugaru plus Smoked Paprika
Close match
Per 1 tablespoon merken: 2 teaspoons gochugaru plus 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Coarse Korean chilli flakes bring mild fruity heat and the right flaky texture, and the paprika brings the smoke.
What changes
Best for
finishing, pebre, grilled meat, sprinkling on bread and butter, eggs
Lands surprisingly close, and it is the best of these swaps for texture, because gochugaru's coarse flakes look and eat much more like merken than any fine powder does. What is missing is the coriander note, so add a quarter teaspoon if you have it. Some gochugaru is faintly smoky already, which helps.
4Aleppo Pepper plus Smoked Paprika
Close match
Per 1 tablespoon merken: 2 teaspoons aleppo pepper plus 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Aleppo's mild, fruity, faintly tangy heat is a good stand-in for cacho de cabra, with paprika supplying the smoke.
What changes
Best for
finishing, salads, grilled vegetables, fish, pebre
The gentlest option here and the safest if you are cooking for people who do not like heat, since aleppo is genuinely mild. It brings a slight sour-fruity edge that merken lacks, which happens to work well over grilled fish and tomatoes. Add a quarter teaspoon of ground coriander to round it out.
5Ancho Chilli Powder plus Smoked Salt
Different taste
Per 1 tablespoon merken: 2 teaspoons ancho chilli powder plus ½ teaspoon smoked salt
Ground dried poblano, very mild and dark, with the smoke coming from the salt rather than the chilli.
What changes
Best for
stews, braises, beans, mild palates
A rounder, sweeter, considerably milder result with a distinct raisiny depth that merken does not have. It suits long-cooked dishes better than finishing, because the sweetness needs something to balance it. Since the smoke is coming from salt, remember to salt the dish less elsewhere.
6Plain Hot Paprika or Cayenne
Different taste
Use 1 teaspoon cayenne or 1 tablespoon hot paprika for every 1 tablespoon merken
Straight ground chilli with no smoked component.
What changes
Best for
adding heat only, when nothing smoked is available
This is the honest least-good option and it should be described as such: you will get the heat and roughly the colour and none of the character. Merken without smoke is just chilli powder, and the smoke is the entire reason the seasoning exists. If you have liquid smoke, a single drop mixed into the oil gets you closer than the chilli alone.

What is Merken?

Merken is a Mapuche seasoning from southern Chile, also spelled merquen, made from cacho de cabra chillies that are sun-dried, smoked over wood and then ground, usually with toasted coriander seed and salt, so one spoonful brings smoke, gentle heat and an earthy warmth together.

Cooking tips

Merken is as much a table condiment as a cooking spice. Chileans sprinkle it over bread and butter, boiled potatoes, fried eggs, grilled meat and pebre, and that is where its aroma comes across most clearly, because heat drives it off.
For stews such as charquican or pantrucas, bloom it in a spoonful of warm oil for 20 to 30 seconds before adding liquid. The smoke and the colour open up in fat in a way they never do in water.
Most commercial merken already contains salt, sometimes a lot of it, so taste before you salt the dish and adjust at the end rather than the start.
Coarse is correct. Merken has a slightly gritty, flaky texture that is part of how it eats, so if you are blending your own, grind the coriander seed coarse and choose flakes over fine powder where you have the choice.
The smoke is the first thing to fade. Buy small quantities, keep the jar dark and airtight, and expect the aroma to be noticeably weaker after about six months even though the heat and colour remain.
It suits fat and starch better than acid. Merken over potatoes, butter, pork or beans sings, while stirred into something very sharp and vinegary the smoke tends to read as ashy.

Frequently asked questions

How hot is merken?

Milder than most people expect. Cacho de cabra is a moderate chilli, and merken is usually cut with toasted coriander and salt, so a typical jar sits somewhere between sweet paprika and cayenne in heat, and plenty of versions are gentler still. Its point is aroma rather than burn, which is why substituting straight cayenne overshoots badly on heat while missing everything else. Brands vary, so taste a pinch before you commit a whole dish.

Is merken just smoked paprika?

Not quite, though smoked paprika is the closest single thing on a supermarket shelf. Both are smoke-dried ground red pepper, so the family resemblance is strong. Merken is hotter than sweet pimenton, coarser in grind, smoked over native southern Chilean woods rather than oak, and usually blended with toasted coriander seed and salt, which gives it a warm citrusy background that plain paprika does not have. Add a little cayenne and coriander and you are close.

What is cacho de cabra?

The Chilean chilli merken is made from, its name meaning goat's horn after the long curved shape of the pod. It is a moderately hot red chilli grown in the south of the country, and it is traditionally dried in the sun and then smoked over wood before grinding, which is where merken's defining aroma comes from. Fresh cacho de cabra is very hard to find outside Chile, and dried whole pods occasionally turn up from specialist online chilli sellers.

Can I leave merken out?

In a stew where it is one seasoning among many, yes, and you will lose some warmth and colour without breaking anything. In pebre, or sprinkled on potatoes or bread, it is the flavour rather than a supporting note, so leaving it out means making a different and much plainer thing. If you have to omit it, add a little smoked paprika or a small pinch of smoked salt so at least the smoke is present.

Is merquen the same as merken?

Yes, they are two spellings of the same Mapudungun word, and you will also see merkien and merquen written on labels and in recipes. Some jars are labelled simply as Chilean smoked chilli or smoked cacho de cabra. What does vary between producers is whether the blend includes coriander seed and salt, whether it has been ground coarse or fine, and how heavily it was smoked, so read the ingredient list rather than the name.

Related substitutes

More spices & herbs substitutes

Merken substitute

Other merken substitutes

2Chipotle Powder plus Ground Coriander

3Gochugaru plus Smoked Paprika

4Aleppo Pepper plus Smoked Paprika

5Ancho Chilli Powder plus Smoked Salt

6Plain Hot Paprika or Cayenne