Best Gochugaru Substitute

Gochugaru is the single hardest Korean ingredient to fake, because what makes it distinctive isn't heat — it's the combination of moderate heat, real fruity sweetness, and a deep red color that stains a dish properly. Most substitutes deliver the heat and miss the rest.

The most common mistake is a straight one-to-one swap. Gochugaru is genuinely milder than most chili powders sold in Western supermarkets, so measure-for-measure substitution usually makes a dish uncomfortably hot while still looking pale.

What works, in order

1. Aleppo pepper (best overall). Similar coarse texture, comparable mild heat, and a fruity note that's genuinely close. Use roughly 1:1. If you can find only one substitute, this is the one.

2. Kashmiri chili powder. Prized for exactly the same reason gochugaru is — strong red color with modest heat. Slightly finer, so the texture differs, but the color is excellent. Use about 1:1.

3. Ancho or guajillo powder. Mild, fruity, and dark red. Noticeably smokier than gochugaru, which reads as a different dish rather than a wrong one. Use around 1:1.

4. Paprika + cayenne blend. The improvised option: mostly sweet paprika for color and body, with a small pinch of cayenne for heat. Start with 1 tablespoon paprika to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne per tablespoon of gochugaru called for, then taste.

What to avoid

Plain crushed red pepper flakes (the pizza-shop kind) are the most common substitution and the least successful — much hotter, with none of the sweetness, and they include seeds that add bitter, harsh heat.

Cayenne alone brings heat and almost no color or flavor depth. Sriracha or chili paste can't substitute at all in dry applications like kimchi paste, since the added liquid changes the texture and fermentation behavior.

For kimchi specifically

Be more cautious here than in cooked dishes. Gochugaru's volume is doing physical work in a kimchi paste, not just adding flavor — a much finer powder produces a pastier, denser coating that clings differently to the leaves. If you're substituting in kimchi, favor the coarsest option available and accept that the texture will differ somewhat from the real thing.

Worth saying plainly: for a dish genuinely built around it, gochugaru is worth sourcing properly. It keeps for months in the freezer, so a single bag goes a long way.