12 Dried Chile Peppers to Spice up Any Dish

The chipotle pepper is one of the most familiar chiles in Tex-Mex and Mexican dishes. It is a red jalapeño that is wood-smoked for days until dry, and there are two varieties. The most common in the U.S. is the morita, which is smoked until deep red or purple and retains soft skin. Chile meco is smoked longer until the skin is almost gray and crispy.

Like green jalapeños, a chipotle can be relatively mild or very spicy, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 SHU. The smoky flavor is chipotle’s biggest appeal. It’s a favorite for spicy barbecue sauces, and slow-cooked beef, and is often found canned in adobo sauce. It is the traditional chile choice that rounds out the complex flavor of the cold Spanish fish dish, escabeche.