How to take spice out of food

이 브라우저는 더 이상 지원되지 않습니다. 업데이트하여 최적의 YouTube 환경과 최신 기능을 이용하세요. 자세히 알아보기

By M.T. Wroblewski Updated December 06, 2018

Many cooks have lifted spoons to the mouths of eager, volunteer taste-testers before uttering the famous words, “Tell me now if I should make this spicier. I can put more spice in, but I can't take it out.” You might wish you could eat these words, especially if your taste-tester starts coughing while his eyes gush with tears. These physical reactions are probably caused by capsaicin, the chemical compound that gives chilies their burn factor. Before you turn a fire hose on your creation, remember that you're a cook, so you're naturally resourceful. Reach into your cabinet or fridge for a few key ingredients that will lower the heat.

Try one of these additions to salvage your four-alarm meal. Add a little at a time and stir well before sampling and deciding whether to add even more.

Add dairy. Dairy is to capsaicin what a hose is to a fire: a potential salvation. Sour cream is a natural choice to cool down Mexican dishes such as enchiladas, burritos and tostadas. You can also use milk, yogurt or cheese. Pare the calories by using a low-fat variety.

Bulk up. Add more of one of the major ingredients in the dish you're serving. For chili, add more ground sirloin or beans. Or get creative and add bland ingredients, such as avocados, potatoes, rice or squash, to soak up some of the spice.

Go nuts. The fat in almond butter, cashew butter or peanut butter can neutralize spicy food. Especially in soups, stews and Asian dishes, a scoop of nut butter can add texture you might commit to your permanent record. Another alternative: tahini.

Rely on acid. Acidic liquids put heat on a lower flame. Choose one that best complements your meal. It might be lemon or lime juice. Or perhaps a splash of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. A scoop of diced tomatoes or even ketchup can help too.

Take a sweet turn. Adding a sweetener might be your first choice, but it makes sense to add a sweetener last, especially if other efforts fail to satisfy your palate. Whatever you do, go easy when sweetening your dish, and try honey or brown sugar before reaching for white sugar. You might need less than you think to counterbalance the spice.

Sometimes, a burning sensation can linger, and not just for minutes after a meal but for hours. By this point, you might have tried dousing the flame with water, only to wonder why you need to keep guzzling more. It's because capsaicin is an oil and – you guessed it – oil and water do not mix. Instead, ingest one of these familiar remedies to stifle the flame.

Drink milk. Exchange that glass of water for milk, which should cut through the capsaicin once and for all. If you don't have milk, try a spoonful of yogurt, cottage cheese or even ice cream.

Indulge on starch. If you didn't break bread with your meal, it could be time to munch on a dinner roll or a flour tortilla. Alternatively, try plain rice or plain potatoes.

Reach for fruit. Put “acidic science” to work for you after your meal by eating fruit with acidic qualities. Lemons, limes, oranges, pineapples and strawberries can cool off your mouth in a hurry.

Savor sweet relief. Since eating a teaspoon of sugar or honey might not be your idea of sweet relief, try putting a sugar cube directly on your tongue. Or eat a few pieces of milk chocolate – a better choice than dark chocolate in this case because it contains the fat that will cut through the capsaicin.

No cook is spared the occasional misstep, and you probably have a good idea as to how you made this one. But just in case, the next time you make a spicy recipe, reduce the spicy elements – especially if you've never tried them before – by half and taste your creation. Your earlier words are correct; you can always add more spice. And, like salt, add the spice late in the cooking process. As you now know, you can make adjustments at the end if you have to.

Mary Wroblewski earned a master's degree with high honors in communications and has worked as a reporter and editor in two Chicago newsrooms. She worked alongside a noted Chicago area nutritionist and holistic healthcare adviser whose groundbreaking work focuses on food allergies and the belief that 1) many people have them but don't know and 2) once you identify them, people can make healthy eating an integral part of their life. Mary writes extensively about healthy eating and healthy living topics.

I like a bit of spiciness to some dishes, especially Mexican foods and Cajun dishes. That heat that’s added by chilli pepper, jalapenos and other seasonings can take a dish that is simply decent and elevate it, making it more interesting. I’m a fan of adding the unexpected spiciness as well, putting a bit of heat into dishes that you might not expect it in to give them a bit of intrigue.

I know that there is always a risk of making food too spicy. If you are not used to eating spicy foods, it may not take much heat to make the food unpalatable. If you are not used to cooking with hot peppers and other spicy seasonings, it is easy to go overboard on them and not even realise it until you are biting into the dish. What what an unexpected experience that is!

Once you get used to cooking with some spicy seasonings, you will get better at judging how much should go into a dish and you will be able to control it better, but until then, you may have some unpleasant, unfortunate mistakes.

There is also the problem of cooking spicy food for other people. Each person has their own tolerance level for spiciness, and you don’t always know that that is. How to make food less spicy for guests and family members? How to get the spiciness under control so that the food is palatable and enjoyable? There is the risk that you will kill the flavour and overwhelm your food with spiciness. There must be a way to fix it, but how to make spicy food less spicy?

I want to share with you a few methods I use to get the heat under control in foods I make. These are tested and proven methods that anyone can use, and I will give you enough variety in heat control options so that you will be able to handle the spiciness in any kind of dish.

Pick the Right Sides

The simplest ways are sometimes the most effective ways, and the easiest way to deal with spicy food without diluting the flavour or messing up the dish and its carefully chosen ingredients is to choose out the right side dishes to go with it. So, if you have a spicy food that is too spicy, you can get it under control by choosing a bland or starchy food as a side. This counteracts the spiciness, and you can eat the two together to pleasant effect as the side dish handles the overpowering spiciness in an agreeable way.

This is why chips are served with salsa or spicy burritos have a bland tortilla shell with them. These are built-in ways to handle the spiciness of some of the ingredients, and you can do the same with your food.

Some dishes that are great at diluting spiciness when used as a side are breads, potatoes, root vegetables, and pasta. If you find that your main dish is too spicy, just pick out one of these sides to go with it and help deal with the heat level of your main course.

Add More Ingredients

Another simple way to make a food less spicy without changing the flavour too much is to add more of the non-spicy ingredients to that food. This is my favourite way how to make a food less spicy.

So, if you have a chili soup that is overly hot and spicy, you can simply add in more of the ingredients that aren’t spicy, like ground beef, beans, and even water. Be careful about adding in too many bland foods to your dish. You can kill the flavour, so watch that flavour balance as you try to dilute the spiciness.

Remember that you are not trying to remove the flavour of the dish but tone down the spiciness. There is a difference there, and you have to be careful about how all of your food’s different flavours interact with and balance out one another.

Add in Some Milk

How to make your food less spicy without adding a bunch of extra food? Milk is a great heat dispeller. Milk is excellent at getting rid of the heat in a food or toning it down, if used sparingly. Some soups and most anything that is cheesy can be toned down using milk.

Be careful about adding diary to anything that doesn’t have it already. Diary can drastically change the flavour and acidic balance of the food, but in appropriate situations, adding milk is a great way to control the heat.

Add in Some Sugar

This is one you have to be careful of, but introducing some extra sugar to a food can have an effect on the spiciness. The problem with using sugar as a spiciness diluter is that you can make your food too sweet and too sugary. If you don’t want the dish to turn into dessert, just add sugar sparingly. You probably won’t need a lot of added sugar to get the spiciness under control, so only add a little bit at a time and test it out before adding any more.

Add Some Acid

Did you know that many dishes call for acid as a way to counteract spicy chilies and other spicy foods? This is true of Thai foods in particular, which use lime and other kinds of citrus to help cover up the very spicy chilis used in the dish, and you can do the same thing. Adding some lemon zest, lime juice or some other acidic liquid to the food can tone down the spiciness a bit. This can make the food more palatable and give it an extra bit of flavour as well, so it’s win-win if you know what you are doing.

One acid that is easy to add to dishes and works in so many of them is ketchup. This is really useful if you are serving slightly spicy foods to kids. They typically don’t like spicy foods at all, but they tend to love ketchup. So, an easy solution for food that is too spicy for a kid is to smother it in ketchup. That may be a lot easier and simpler than trying to cook separate food for kids and adults. Knowing what you can add to tone down the spiciness can save you work and help you to get a spiciness level that you can handle.

What Not to Do

I want to end this guide in a note about something you should not do if you are looking for how to make Thai food less spicy or tone down the spiciness in your breakfast sausage. There are certain kinds of foods that enhance the spiciness of a dish. One of those is a hot drink. If you have some hot cocoa, tea, or coffee with your meal, that will increase the spiciness. I’m not sure if you have ever noticed this, but it is definitely something to watch out for.

If you are eating something spicy with your meal and you are concerned about it being too spicy, then drink something cold or room temperature with your meal. Drinking something hot will bring out that spiciness even more and enhance it, so do not drink anything hot with a meal that is already too spicy for you.

I’m Pauline, a retired patisserie chef, mother of four and now a full time food blogger! When i’m not cooking i love long walks, reading thriller novels and spending time with my grandkids. Head to my about me page to learn more about the woman behind the food!