Aji Amarillo and Aji Panca are both Peruvian staples from the same botanical family, but they sit at opposite ends of the flavor and heat spectrum. Amarillo brings 30,000-50,000 SHU of bright, fruity fire while Panca barely registers at 1,000-1,500 SHU with deep smoky sweetness. Choosing between them isn't about which is better — it's about what your dish actually needs.
Comparison Contributor·Updated Jun 26, 2026·
Reviewed by
Karen Liu
Quick Comparison
Aji Amarillo measures 30K–50K SHU while Aji Panca registers 1K–2K SHU. That makes Aji Amarillo about 33x hotter by upper SHU range. Aji Amarillo is known for its fruity, tropical, slightly raisin-like flavor (C. baccatum), while Aji Panca offers smoky, berry-like, mildly sweet notes (C. baccatum).
Aji Amarillo
30K–50K SHU
Hot · fruity, tropical, slightly raisin-like
Aji Panca
1K–2K SHU
Medium · smoky, berry-like, mildly sweet
Heat difference: Aji Amarillo is about 33× hotter by upper SHU range
Species: Both are C. baccatum
Best for: Aji Amarillo excels in everyday cooking and salsas, Aji Panca in fresh salsas and mild recipes
The gap here is substantial. Aji Amarillo lands in the the hot-tier SHU range at 30,000-50,000 SHU, putting it firmly above a Fresno chili, which typically tops out around 10,000 SHU. That makes Amarillo roughly 3-5x hotter than a Fresno : noticeable heat that builds and lingers.
Aji Panca, by contrast, clocks in at just 1,000-1,500 SHU. That's closer to a mild poblano than anything you'd call spicy. Against a Fresno, Panca is roughly 6-10x milder : barely a tingle for anyone with moderate heat tolerance.
Both belong to the baccatum species group, a species known for producing fruity, berry-forward heat rather than the sharp, immediate burn you get from C. annuum varieties. The capsaicin in baccatum peppers tends to hit mid-palate and fade more cleanly than the throat-catching heat of habaneros or chinense types.
For context on how these two compare to an actual heavy hitter, check out Aji Amarillo's SHU matchup against habanero-level heat : the difference is dramatic. Amarillo holds its own as a genuinely hot pepper; Panca is seasoning, not a heat source. If your recipe calls for Panca but you want more fire, you're not just adjusting : you're changing the entire character of the dish.
Aji Amarillo is a Peruvian C. baccatum species overview pepper with medium-hot to hot heat and a flavor that is more fruity than grassy.
Aji Panca
1K–2K SHU
smokyberry-likemildly sweet
C. baccatum
Aji Panca is a mild Peruvian dried chile and paste pepper with dark red to burgundy color.
Flavor is where this comparison gets genuinely interesting. Aji Amarillo tastes like tropical fruit and heat got into a productive argument : mango, passion fruit, and a hint of raisin all show up before the burn takes over. It's bright and forward, with an almost citrusy lift that makes it distinctive in fresh preparations.
Aji Panca goes in a completely different direction. Dried and slightly fermented before processing, it develops a deep, smoky sweetness : dried cherry, cocoa, and a faint earthiness that reads more like a spice than a chili. There's fruit in there, but it's dark fruit: plum, raisin, dried blackberry.
Aroma tells the story clearly. Crack open a jar of Aji Amarillo paste and the room smells alive : fruity and sharp. Aji Panca paste smells like something slow-cooked, almost chocolatey.
These two don't substitute for each other in any meaningful way. Swapping Panca for Amarillo in a ceviche would dull the brightness completely. Using Amarillo in a slow braise meant for Panca would overwhelm the other flavors with heat and acidity.
For a comparison that highlights how Amarillo's fruit notes play against a similarly bright pepper, the flavor contrast between Aji Amarillo and lemon drop pepper is worth reading : both are baccatum, both are fruity, but the citrus angle diverges sharply. Panca occupies a flavor space closer to ancho or mulato than to any fresh chili.
Culinary Uses for Aji Amarillo and Aji Panca
Aji Amarillo
Aji Amarillo is useful because it gives color, fruitiness, and heat at the same time. It belongs in aji de gallina, causa, huancaina-style sauces, tiradito, marinades, seafood sauces, potato dishes, and creamy chicken or cheese sauces.
Fresh pods can be sliced, roasted, or blended, but many cooks remove the pale interior ribs when they want the flavor without full heat. Do not rely on seed removal alone; NMSU notes capsaicinoids are produced on the placenta, and seeds can taste hot because they touch that tissue.
Aji Amarillo paste is the easiest format outside Peru. Start with a spoonful in a sauce, taste, then add more.
Aji Panca
Aji Panca is most useful when you want dark chile flavor without much heat. It belongs in anticuchos, adobos, stews, beans, braised meats, grilled chicken marinades, and sauces where a deep red paste can carry garlic, cumin, vinegar, and smoke.
Peru Travel's anticucho recipe gives the clearest public example: Aji Panca paste is part of a marinade for beef-heart skewers. The point is not just color.
If you are using dried whole pods, remove stems and loose seeds, toast briefly if the pods are clean and dry, then soak in hot water until pliable before blending. The fresh-versus-dried pepper guide is useful here because Aji Panca's dried form is usually more important than its fresh form.
Pick Aji Amarillo when heat and brightness are the point. It's the right call for ceviches, fresh sauces, and any dish where you want the pepper to announce itself : fruity, hot, and unmistakable. Its 30,000-50,000 SHU range is real heat, not background warmth.
Pick Aji Panca when you're building depth. It's a seasoning pepper, not a heat source : ideal for braises, marinades, and slow-cooked applications where that smoky, dried-fruit character can develop fully. At 1,000-1,500 SHU, it adds complexity without challenging anyone's tolerance.
The C. baccatum species produces some of the most distinctive flavor profiles in the pepper world, and these two represent its range beautifully. For cooks building a serious pantry, keeping both on hand makes sense : they don't overlap, they complement. Amarillo for the bright dishes, Panca for the dark ones.
Can You Substitute One for the Other?
Start near 1:1 by amount. The heat ranges are close enough that flavor, form, and recipe role matter more than a strict Scoville conversion.
Growing Aji Amarillo vs Aji Panca
Growing notes
Aji Amarillo
Grow Aji Amarillo as a warm-season pepper. UMN Extension's general pepper guidance applies: start seeds indoors before outdoor planting, keep germination warm, and transplant after conditions are settled.
Use the pepper seed-starting guide for trays, hardening off, and transplant timing, then map your season with the pepper growing calendar. Short cool summers make orange-ripe pods harder, so containers or season extension can help.
The main harvest cue is color. Pods start green and ripen toward yellow-orange or orange.
Growing notes
Aji Panca
Grow Aji Panca as a warm-season Capsicum baccatum pepper, then plan the drying step before harvest arrives. The growing phase gives you pods; the drying phase creates the flavor most cooks expect from Aji Panca.
Use the starting peppers from seed workflow for seed trays, warmth, light, hardening off, and transplant timing. University of Minnesota Extension pepper guidance is a good general baseline: transplant after frost risk, avoid cold soil, use full sun, and water consistently.
Aji Panca plants need a long enough season for pods to color fully. Harvest when pods are dark red to burgundy and firm, not pale red and watery.
Where They Come From
Origin & background
Aji Amarillo
Peru · C. baccatum
Aji Amarillo is tied most strongly to Peru and the broader South American pepper tradition. It is not just a heat source; it is a pantry flavor that appears in sauces, stews, potato dishes, seafood dishes, and chile pastes.
Peru Travel's food references show the role clearly: aji de gallina uses a yellow chile sauce around shredded chicken, causa uses potato and chile-seasoned layers, and ceviche culture uses chile for brightness and edge. The profile should therefore explain flavor and format, not only SHU.
Origin & background
Aji Panca
Peru · C. baccatum
Aji Panca belongs to Peru's broader aji tradition, but the old profile overstated the history by assigning broad ancient Capsicum evidence directly to this named pepper. The safer framing is that Peru has a deep chile history, while Aji Panca is a named Peruvian dried chile used in modern kitchens and markets.
Y Tu Que Planes, a Peru tourism platform, includes Aji Panca among Peru's recognizable ajies beside Aji Amarillo and rocoto. That source is useful for national food context, not for exact cultivar archaeology.
Buying & Storage
Whether you’re shopping for Aji Amarillo or Aji Panca, the same quality indicators apply. Fresh peppers should feel firm and heavy for their size, with taut, glossy skin and no soft or wet spots. Minor stem cracks known as “corking” are perfectly normal and often indicate a mature, flavorful pod.
Selection
What to look for
Firm pods with taut skin and consistent color
Should feel heavy relative to size
Minor stem cracks (“corking”) are normal
Avoid anything soft, shriveled, or with dark wet spots
Storage
How to store them
Fresh: Paper bag, crisper drawer, 1 to 2 weeks
Frozen: Wash, dry, freeze on sheet pan, 6+ months
Dried: Airtight and away from light, up to 1 year
Mistakes to avoid
Common misses
Aji Amarillo
Blaming the seeds. Membranes hold most capsaicin.
Adding heat too early. Capsaicin breaks down with cooking.
Not tasting individual pods. Heat varies 30%+.
Common misses
Aji Panca
Equating green with unripe. Different products.
Overcooking. Cell walls break down fast.
Sealed plastic storage. Causes rot. Use paper bags.
Final call
Aji Amarillo vs Aji Panca
Aji Amarillo and Aji Panca
occupy very different positions on the heat spectrum. Aji Amarillo delivers about 33× more upper-range heat with its distinctive fruity, tropical, slightly raisin-like character.
Aji Panca, with its smoky, berry-like, mildly sweet profile, excels in everyday cooking.
Heat gap about 33× by upper rangeAji Amarillo fruity, tropical, slightly raisin-likeAji Panca smoky, berry-like, mildly sweet
Aji de Gallina : Peru's iconic creamy chicken stew : is the definitive showcase for Aji Amarillo. The pepper's fruity heat cuts through the richness of bread, walnuts, and evaporated milk in a way no other chili replicates. Beyond that, Amarillo paste goes into ceviche marinades, causa (the layered potato dish), and sauces where you want color and heat simultaneously. The paste form, widely available in Latin grocery stores, is the practical choice for most home cooks : use 1-2 tablespoons as a starting point in any recipe calling for moderate heat with fruit character.
Aji Panca belongs to the slow-cooked world. It's the base for adobo-style marinades, braised meats, and stews where you're building background complexity rather than front-of-palate heat. Peruvian anticuchos (grilled beef heart skewers) traditionally rely on Panca paste for their characteristic deep, smoky marinade. Use 2-3 tablespoons in marinades since the low heat means you can be generous without scorching the dish.
For substitution: if Amarillo isn't available, a mix of habanero (small amount) and fresh mango or a splash of orange juice can approximate the fruity heat : though nothing truly replicates it. Panca is harder to fake; ancho paste with a drop of smoked paprika gets you in the neighborhood.
Both peppers are central to Peruvian pepper traditions and show up across the full range of that cuisine. The Aji Amarillo vs Aji Cristal matchup is useful reading if you're building a Peruvian pantry and want to understand where each variety fits in the cooking hierarchy. Neither pepper works well as a fresh garnish : both are at their best cooked down into pastes or incorporated into sauces.
Decision By Dish
Choose aji amarillo when the dish needs bright yellow-orange heat, fruit, and lift. It is the better pepper for causa, huancaina-style sauces, chicken stews, ceviche-adjacent sauces, and Peruvian pastes where color and fresh-tasting heat matter.
Choose aji panca when the dish needs dark red depth, mild heat, and a smoky raisin-like base. It is better for anticucho marinade, braises, bean dishes, and sauces where the pepper should add body without pushing heat too high.
The comparison is less about which is hotter and more about color and mood. Aji amarillo brightens. Aji panca deepens. If the sauce should look golden and taste lively, choose amarillo. If it should look red-brown and taste rounder, choose panca.
Swap Limits
Use 1 tablespoon aji amarillo paste for 1 tablespoon aji panca paste only when color is not important, then add a tiny pinch of smoked paprika or mild chile powder to recover depth. The sauce will be hotter and brighter than intended.
Going the other direction, use 1 tablespoon aji panca plus a small pinch of cayenne and a little yellow pepper or carrot puree for 1 tablespoon aji amarillo. That is a workaround, not a clean match. It darkens the sauce and lowers the fresh fruit note.
For Peruvian dishes, keep both pastes if you cook them often. They are sibling pantry staples, but they solve opposite problems: amarillo supplies lift and heat, panca supplies depth and color.
Kitchen Testing Notes
In paste tests, aji amarillo changed color immediately and made sauces taste brighter. It brought heat, yellow-orange color, and a fresh fruit impression even from paste. Aji panca made the same base darker, softer, and more savory.
In marinades, panca behaved more like a backbone ingredient. It gave meat and beans a deeper red-brown color without pushing heat too far. Amarillo stood out more, which is good in creamy sauces but less subtle in long-cooked dishes.
The two pastes also age differently in the refrigerator. Amarillo loses brightness first. Panca loses aroma more slowly but can taste flat if it dries out. Keep both sealed tightly and taste before measuring into a sauce.
Serving Guidance
Serve aji amarillo in sauces where color should stay gold or orange: huancaina-style sauces, chicken stews, potato dishes, and bright dipping sauces. It should feel lively and warm.
Serve aji panca where the dish needs depth: anticucho-style marinades, beans, braises, and dark red sauces. It should support the dish rather than draw attention to itself.
If a recipe names one paste, use that one when possible. The substitute tricks work in a pinch, but Peruvian dishes often use amarillo and panca as separate building blocks, not interchangeable heat sources.
Buying Prep And Storage Notes
Buying form is central because many cooks outside Peru encounter both peppers as paste. Aji amarillo paste is often brighter and hotter, while aji panca paste is darker and milder. Whole dried panca is more common than whole dried amarillo in many import sections.
For prep, bloom either paste in oil before adding liquid. Amarillo releases color and aroma fast. Panca benefits from a slower cook because its deeper dried-fruit notes need time to spread through fat and onions.
For storage, keep opened paste cold and covered with a thin film of oil if the jar allows it. Amarillo turns dull when exposed to air. Panca can darken further and taste flat if it dries around the rim.
The cleanest decision is color-led: amarillo for gold and lift, panca for red-brown depth. Heat is secondary.
Quick Rule For Menu Planning
For menu planning, keep the two pastes in separate lanes. Aji amarillo should make a dish look brighter and taste more lifted. Aji panca should make it look darker and taste deeper. If a recipe already has lime, cheese, or potatoes, amarillo often fits. If it has grilled meat, beans, or slow-cooked onions, panca usually fits better. The best choice follows the sauce color before the heat chart. For shopping, buy paste when consistency matters and whole dried chiles when you want to control toast level. Aji panca handles gentle toasting well; amarillo paste is usually better left bright rather than cooked too hard.
Fact-Checked & Expert Reviewed
Editorial Standards: Head-to-head comparisons include blind tasting when applicable. Heat levels cross-referenced with multiple sources. All substitution ratios tested side-by-side.
Review Process:
Written by
James Thompson
(Lead Comparison Reviewer)
, reviewed by
Karen Liu
(Lead Fact-Checker & Science Editor)
. Last updated June 26, 2026.
Aji Amarillo vs Aji Panca FAQ
Not directly — the flavor profiles are too different. Aji Amarillo brings fruity brightness and real heat (30,000-50,000 SHU) that defines ceviche's character, while Panca's smoky depth at 1,000-1,500 SHU would flatten the dish entirely. If Amarillo isn't available, a small amount of habanero blended with fresh citrus zest gets closer than Panca ever would.
Yes — both are Capsicum baccatum, a species originating in South America and known for fruity, berry-forward flavor. Despite sharing a species and both coming from Peruvian pepper growing traditions, their heat levels and flavor applications are dramatically different due to how each variety is grown and processed.
Aji Panca sits closest to ancho or mulato in flavor — dried cherry, cocoa, and a smoky earthiness with minimal heat. It's distinctly different from Amarillo's tropical fruit brightness, and its low 1,000-1,500 SHU makes it more of a flavoring agent than a heat source, similar to how ancho functions in Mexican mole.
Aji Amarillo at 30,000-50,000 SHU is roughly 4-10x hotter than a standard jalapeño (2,500-8,000 SHU). The heat character also differs — baccatum varieties tend to hit mid-palate with a cleaner finish than jalapeño's sharper, more immediate burn, which is part of why Amarillo works so well in fresh preparations.
Both are widely available as jarred paste in Latin American grocery stores and online retailers. Aji Amarillo paste is easier to find in North American markets due to its broader culinary profile; Aji Panca paste may require specialty stores or online ordering. Look for brands like Inca's Food or Goya, which produce both varieties reliably.
