Homemade Chili Flakes

Ripe red hot chilies dried until brittle, then crushed into your own crushed-red-pepper flakes.

  • Serves16
  • Prep10 min
  • Cook120 min
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound ripe red hot chilies

Method

  1. Wipe the chilies clean and pull off the stems.
  2. Spread them in a single layer on a rack or dehydrator tray.
  3. Dry in a 170°F (75°C) oven or dehydrator until brittle, several hours.
  4. Let the chilies cool completely so they snap rather than bend.
  5. Crush them by hand or pulse briefly in a grinder to the flake size you like.
  6. Store the flakes in a tight jar away from light.
Thin-fleshed hot chilies dry fast and evenly, with no watery inside to slow them down or turn moldy. That is exactly what makes them the pepper to turn into your own crushed red flakes — brittle enough to shatter cleanly into that familiar seed-and-flesh mix. Wear gloves while you crush them, because the dust is potent.