Ají amarillo is a hot, fruity Capsicum baccatum chilli from Peru, orange-yellow when ripe and the essential base of Peruvian dishes such as papa a la huancaína, ají de gallina and causa.
What it is¶
Ají amarillo ("yellow chilli") is the most important chilli in Peruvian cooking. It is a Capsicum baccatum chilli, the Andean species whose flowers have yellowish or greenish spots, about 10–13 cm long and tapering, ripening to a deep orange-yellow (the "yellow" of the name is generous). It is hot, around 30,000–50,000 SHU, but its fruity flavour matters as much as its heat, and in Peru it is used more like a vegetable base than a garnish, often blanched to tame it.
The dried form is called ají mirasol in Peru (not to be confused with the Mexican mirasol that becomes guajillo). Outside Peru, ají amarillo is mostly sold as a smooth, golden paste.
Origins and history¶
C. baccatum was domesticated in the southern Andes, probably in what is now Bolivia and southern Peru. Chillies have been found at archaeological sites on the Peruvian coast dating back thousands of years, and they appear on Moche and Nazca ceramics and textiles. In Inca times chilli, uchu in Quechua, was one of the staple seasonings.
Ají is a word the Spanish borrowed from the Taíno of the Caribbean and applied across South America; in Peru it still means chilli in general. Ají amarillo became central to Peruvian Creole (criollo) cooking in Lima after the conquest, combined with ingredients brought by Spanish, African, Chinese and Japanese communities. See peruvian cuisine.
Flavour and aroma¶
Ají amarillo tastes bright and fruity, with notes often compared to passion fruit, mango and apricot, a faintly grassy, sunny edge, and a clean, moderately fierce heat that fades relatively quickly. Removing the seeds and veins and blanching the chillies (see below) leaves the fruit and removes much of the burn.
In the kitchen¶
- Papa a la huancaína: boiled potatoes in a creamy sauce of ají amarillo, fresh cheese, evaporated milk and crackers, served with egg and olives.
- Ají de gallina: shredded chicken in a thick, golden sauce of ají amarillo, bread, milk, walnuts and cheese, over rice.
- Causa limeña: layered mashed potato seasoned with ají amarillo and lime, filled with chicken, tuna or crab.
- Ceviche and tiradito: ají amarillo purée or leche de tigre with ají adds colour and fruity heat (ají limo is also common).
- Sauces: blended with mayonnaise, lime and herbs as a dip for grilled chicken (pollo a la brasa) and chips.
Making paste: halve and deseed 6 fresh or frozen ají amarillo. Blanch in boiling water three times, changing the water each time, to tone down heat and bitterness. Blend with a little oil and salt until smooth. Keeps a week in the fridge, or freeze in portions.
💡 Buying it
Fresh ají amarillo is rare in Britain, but frozen whole chillies and jarred paste are sold in Latin American shops and online. The paste is the most practical form for most recipes: 1–2 tbsp flavours a dish for four.
Buying and storing¶
Fresh chillies keep for one to two weeks in the fridge; frozen, for many months. Opened paste keeps for a few weeks refrigerated. Dried ají mirasol keeps for a year airtight; soak before blending like other dried chillies (see rehydrating dried chillies).
Substitutes¶
There is no perfect match.
- Yellow or orange habanero (much hotter), blended with roasted yellow bell pepper to dilute the heat: roughly one habanero to one bell pepper.
- Scotch bonnet, treated the same way.
- Other C. baccatum chillies such as ají limo or 'Lemon Drop'.
- For colour and mild fruit only, yellow bell pepper with a pinch of turmeric and cayenne.
Pairs well with¶
Potatoes, fresh cheese, evaporated milk, lime, red onion, garlic, coriander leaf, huacatay (black mint), sweetcorn, chicken, fish, prawns and walnuts.
Growing your own¶
C. baccatum plants are tall, rangy and vigorous, growing 1–1.5 m or more, with distinctive spotted flowers. Sow indoors in February at 22–27°C and grow in a greenhouse or polytunnel in the UK, where they need a long season: fruits ripen late, often from September. Stake well. They are perennial and can be overwintered frost-free. See growing chillies and overwintering chillies.