Ancho Chile Pepper
Ancho Chile Pepper
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Reach for ground ancho when you want the deep, smoky-sweet backbone of Mexican cooking without wrestling whole dried pods. It carries the flavor cooks chase in mole, birria, red enchilada sauce, and chili: dried plum and raisin, a note of cocoa, gentle earthy warmth, and only mild heat, closer to a red bell pepper than a fiery chile. Stir it straight into a stew or rub it onto sweet potatoes, ribs, or eggs.
An ancho is a poblano pepper left to ripen deep red and then dried, which concentrates its sugars into something sweet, leathery, and dark. Because we stone-grind ours fresh from clean pods, you skip the steps that ruin so many ancho sauces: no soaking, no toasting that scorches into bitterness, no gritty soak-water to throw out.
Stone-ground, packed fresh in small batches. No salt, sugar, or fillers.
Common Questions
How hot is ancho?
How hot is ancho?
Mild. Most cooks find it not much warmer than a red bell pepper, which is why it is prized for flavor and color rather than heat. It builds depth in a dish without lighting it up.
Is ancho powder the same as "chili powder"?
Is ancho powder the same as "chili powder"?
No, and this trips up a lot of recipes. Supermarket "chili powder" is usually a Tex-Mex blend with cumin, oregano, garlic, and salt mixed in. This is pure ground ancho chile and nothing else, so you control exactly what goes into the dish.
How does it compare to guajillo or pasilla?
How does it compare to guajillo or pasilla?
Ancho is the sweetest and darkest of the three dried-pepper "holy trinity" of Mexican cooking, leaning into raisin and cocoa. Guajillo is brighter and more tart, pasilla more herbal. Ancho is the one that brings body and a touch of sweetness.
What do I use it in?
What do I use it in?
It is the foundation of mole, birria, pozole, and red enchilada sauce, and it shines in dry rubs for ribs blended with brown sugar and cocoa. It also crosses into sweet territory: a pinch in dark chocolate, hot cocoa, or chili-chocolate bark.
Why ground instead of whole pods?
Why ground instead of whole pods?
Whole dried anchos need cleaning, de-seeding, careful toasting, and soaking, and any misstep turns a sauce bitter. Fresh stone-ground powder gives you the same flavor stirred straight in, with none of that risk.
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Ingredients:
Ancho Chile Pepper
$12.00