Mexican dried chile field guide

Same chile, new name

The first thing that trips people up: in Mexico a chile often gets a new name once it dries. A fresh poblano and a dried ancho are the same plant. That is why a recipe can call for both and mean two different ingredients.

All eight, side by side

Heat is listed two ways. The Scoville range is the published figure for that chile; our sources note that pods of the same type can differ a lot, so treat it as a range, not a promise.¹⁰ America’s Test Kitchen also rates several of these on its own 1-to-4 scale, which is handy for comparing them to each other.¹

Sweet and dried-fruit: ancho and mulato

Ancho

The dried poblano. The name means “wide,” after the flat, heart-shaped pod.² America’s Test Kitchen describes it as rich, with raisiny sweetness, and gives it the lowest heat rating on its scale.¹ Anchos are often ground into chile powder and go into mole sauces.² If a recipe wants depth without a lot of burn, this is usually the pod it means.

Mulato

Same species, different ending. Mulato comes from a poblano variety that ripens to dark brown instead of red, so it dries brownish-black, darker and sweeter than ancho.^8,2 Tasting notes run to chocolate, licorice, cherry and tobacco;⁸ ATK calls it very smoky, with hints of licorice and dried cherry.¹

The red workhorse: guajillo

Guajillo

The dried mirasol, with Zacatecas as a main producer. It is thin and smooth-skinned, sweet and somewhat fruity, and shows up everywhere: mole, tamales, pambazos, consomés, carne adobada, marinades and salsas.³ Guajillos are often soaked or simmered and pureed, as in the sauce for tamales. Published heat runs 2,500–5,000 SHU, though reported values range from 2,000 to 15,000; the smaller guajillo puya is the hotter one.³

Dark and rich: the two pasillas

Pasilla (chile negro)

The dried chilaca: long, dark and wrinkled, which is where the “little raisin” name comes from. It is used especially in sauces.⁴

Pasilla de Oaxaca

Not the same thing. This is a smoked pasilla from Oaxaca, smaller and hotter than the standard one, mahogany-red with thin walls, and described as somewhat fruity with a deep smokiness.⁹ In Oaxaca it goes into mole negro and stuffed chiles.^4,9

Smoke: chipotle, morita and meco

Chipotle

A ripe red jalapeño, smoke-dried. Two kinds come out of Mexico: the darker, reddish-purple morita, which is the one most common in the United States, and the larger, grayish-tan meco, smoked longer and mostly used at home in Mexico.⁵ The thick flesh means chipotles usually go into cooked dishes rather than raw; they turn up in salsas, adobo, barbecue sauce, chili and stews.⁵ ATK sums up the flavor as smoky, chocolaty, with tobacco-like sweetness.¹

Sharp and nutty: árbol and cascabel

Chile de árbol

The hottest pod here by published numbers, at 15,000–30,000 SHU.⁶ Small, slender and bright red, it is a close relative of cayenne and pequín, and goes by bird’s beak or rat’s tail chile. Cooks toast and grind it into thin salsas, steep it in oil, or powder it.⁶ ATK: bright, with smoky undertones.¹

Cascabel

Round, about 2–3 cm across when fresh, and named for the seeds that rattle inside the dried pod. It is grown in Coahuila, Durango, Guerrero and Jalisco and used rehydrated or powdered in salsas, soups and stews.⁷ ATK calls it nutty and woodsy.¹

The usual mix-ups

Ancho vs pasilla

Different plants. Ancho is a dried poblano; pasilla is a dried chilaca. The confusion is real, though: in the United States the name “pasilla” is sometimes wrongly put on fresh poblanos.⁴ If the pepper in the bin is fresh, green and heart-shaped, it is a poblano whatever the sign says.

Ancho vs mulato

Same poblano family, different ripe color: red-ripe becomes ancho, brown-ripe becomes mulato. Mulato is darker, sweeter and softer.^8,2

Guajillo vs guajillo puya

Same family. Puya is the smaller, hotter version.³

Chipotle morita vs meco

Both smoked jalapeños. Morita is darker and the one you are most likely to find in the US; meco is bigger, tan and smoked longer.⁵

Buying and prepping

• Buy pliable pods. ATK’s rule: choose chiles that are pliable and smell slightly fruity.¹
• Toast fast. Rick Bayless lays torn, flattened pieces in a hot pan, presses them with a spatula, and flips them as soon as they release their aroma, maybe with a wisp of smoke.¹¹
• Soak. Cover with hot tap water, weight with a plate so they stay under, and give them 30 minutes.¹¹
• Taste the water. If the soaking liquid is very bitter, Bayless says to toss it and blend with fresh water; a little sugar helps balance a hint of bitterness.¹¹

How to read the heat numbers

Scoville heat units come from a 1912 test by pharmacist Wilbur Scoville: dilute a pepper extract in sugar water until most of a five-person panel stops tasting heat. Labs now usually measure capsaicinoids directly with HPLC instead. Either way, heat within one pepper type can vary tenfold or more with seed line, climate and soil, which is why every figure on this page is a range.¹⁰

Practical upshot: use the numbers to rank pods against each other, not to predict exactly how hot tonight’s salsa will be. Taste the soaked chile before you commit the whole batch.

Every chile above has its own profile with full sources on the dried chiles shelf. Want them already ground? See the seasonings shelf.