How to Make Paprika Powder

Want to make paprika powder from homegrown peppers?  I’ll show you how!

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More about peppers:

• How to Grow an Entire Year’s Supply of Peppers
• How to Freeze Bell Peppers
• The Easiest Way to Deseed a Pepper
• How to Pinch Pepper Plants (And Why)
• How to Support Pepper Plants
• Grain-Free Stuffed Italian Peppers
• Honey-Sweetened Hot Pepper Jam

My quest to make paprika powder

Last year, I experimented with growing a few paprika pepper plants to see how they’d do.  They did great, but I didn’t have nearly enough to make a substantial amount of my own paprika powder.

So this year I made sure to start plenty of paprika pepper seeds.  From 20-25 seeds, I planted 18 healthy seedlings in the ground.

Thus far, we’ve filled the dehydrator twice with paprika pepper pieces, then ground them into powder.  Each dehydrator load amounted to one full-ish quart-sized jar of powder.

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I think we’ll get at least one or two more dehydrator loads of paprikas, which should supply most or all of our paprika powder needs for one year.

I’m so thrilled to have accomplished my goal of growing our own paprika powder!  For more details, keep reading…

Paprika peppers

According to my research, there may be several types of peppers that fall under the paprika category.  I chose actual paprika pepper seeds from Baker Creek. 

These peppers are medium sized and bright red when ripe.

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How to make paprika powder

The process is simple. 

PLEASE NOTE: I highly recommend wearing gloves.  Do not touch the raw pepper parts with your bare hands.  You may also need to take an occasional breathing break from the pepper slicing zone.  And be very careful during the grinding step, especially when removing the blender lid and pouring the powder into jars.  Do not inhale the pepper powder!  These peppers are potent!  

1. Remove the stems, seeds, and membranes from each pepper.
2. Roughly slice each pepper to produce flat-ish segments that will lay on the dehydrator racks.
3. Fill each rack with a single layer of pepper pieces. 
   

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4. Dehydrate at about 125 degrees Fahrenheit until dry and crispy.  This can take hours or even a full day.
5. Load dry pepper pieces into a high-speed blender and grind into powder.
   

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6. Store paprika powder in an airtight container or jar.
7. Don’t forget to label the contents and date!  

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And that’s it!  Have you ever grown paprika peppers or made your own powder?

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