Peppadew is the pickled sweet-heat choice for antipasto, cheese fillings, and bright salads. Piquillo is the roasted Spanish choice for tapas, stuffed peppers, sauces, and warmer savory dishes.
Editorial Contributor·Updated Jun 29, 2026·
Reviewed by
Karen Liu
Quick Comparison
Peppadew Pepper measures 280–650 SHU while Piquillo Pepper registers 500–1K SHU. That makes Piquillo Pepper about 1.5x hotter by upper SHU range. Peppadew Pepper is known for its sweet, tangy, and lightly brined flavor (C. baccatum), while Piquillo Pepper offers sweet and smoky notes (C. annuum).
Peppadew Pepper
280–650 SHU
Mild · sweet, tangy, and lightly brined
Piquillo Pepper
500–1K SHU
Medium · sweet and smoky
Heat difference: Piquillo Pepper is about 1.5× hotter by upper SHU range
Species:C. baccatum vs C. annuum
Best for: Peppadew Pepper excels in everyday cooking and salsas, Piquillo Pepper in fresh salsas and mild recipes
Piquillo Pepper is
about 1.5× hotter than Peppadew Pepper.
They fall in different heat tiers: Peppadew Pepper is classified as mild while Piquillo Pepper sits in the medium range.
Peppadew Pepper spans 280–650 SHU.
Piquillo Pepper spans 500–1K SHU.
Use the ranges to decide whether the recipe needs a measured dose, a mild overlap, or a hard substitution limit.
Tools: Scoville chart and SHU calculator.
The Peppadew pepper is best understood as a branded sweet piquante pepper, not as a generic grocery-store chile. The official PEPPADEW FAQ says the brand name belongs to a South African company and that the pepper most people associate with it is a Capsicum baccatum product, not a cherry pepper.
What makes the route distinctive is the shape-and-use combination. The fruit is small, round, red, and naturally hollow enough to stuff cleanly, which is why deli counters lean so hard on the cheese-filled version.
Piquillo Pepper
sweetsmokyC. annuum
Grown in the Navarra and Rioja regions of northern Spain, the piquillo pepper (Capsicum annuum) is harvested in autumn, hand-roasted over wood fires, and peeled by hand - a process that gives it a depth of flavor no oven-roasted substitute fully replicates.
The name means 'little beak' in Spanish, a nod to its pointed triangular shape. Each pepper measures roughly 3–4 inches long, with thick, meaty walls and a cavity perfectly sized for stuffing.
Peppadew Pepper (C. baccatum) and Piquillo Pepper (C. annuum) come from different species, giving them fundamentally different flavor profiles.
Peppadew Pepper brings sweet, tangy, and lightly brined notes, so it fits recipes where that flavor should remain visible.
Piquillo Pepper leans sweet and smoky, which can change the sauce, filling, marinade, or garnish even when the heat range looks close.
Culinary Uses for Peppadew Pepper and Piquillo Pepper
Peppadew Pepper
Most cooks meet Peppadew in a jar, and that is the right starting point. The sweet brine and mild heat are the whole point of the eating experience.
Stuffing is the standout use because the fruit is naturally shaped for it. A quick deseeding method that protects the cavity for stuffing keeps the walls intact and gives you a neat pocket for goat cheese, whipped feta, or herbed ricotta.
Fresh fruit is rarer, but when you find it the flavor still points you back toward the same use cases. It is brighter and less briny than the jarred version, with a clean sweet-acid profile that sits closer to pickling peppers than roasting peppers.
Piquillo Pepper
Piquillos arrive in most kitchens already roasted, peeled, and jarred - which makes them one of the most convenient flavor-packed ingredients you can stock. The classic preparation is stuffed piquillos: filled with bacalao (salt cod) and cream, or with braised oxtail, then warmed in a light tomato or pepper sauce.
Beyond stuffing, they slice beautifully over grilled bread with manchego, fold into pasta sauces where their smokiness replaces the need for added spices, and puree into romesco-adjacent sauces for grilled vegetables or fish. A quick blitz with olive oil, garlic, and sherry vinegar produces a sauce that works on everything from roast chicken to scrambled eggs.
You prefer sweet, tangy, and lightly brined flavors
You need a C. baccatum variety
Best fit
Choose Piquillo Pepper if…
You want maximum heat
You prefer sweet and smoky flavors
You need a C. annuum variety
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 Peppadew Pepper vs Piquillo Pepper
Growing notes
Peppadew Pepper
Growing true Peppadew is less straightforward than growing a standard garden pepper because the brand and licensing history complicate seed sourcing. For home growers, the practical question is usually whether you can source a sweet piquante or Juanita-type seed line and whether your season is long enough to finish the fruit properly.
Oregon State University Extension lists Sweet Piquante under Capsicum baccatum and notes that baccatum peppers benefit from warmth and season extension in cooler climates. That tracks with the Rutgers proceedings work on Peppadew production in New Jersey, which reported roughly 120 days for the gold line and a much longer 160-day production period for the red piquante line.
Treat it like a warm-season, long-run crop. Start seed indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost, transplant only after settled warmth, and give the plants the brightest spot you have.
Growing notes
Piquillo Pepper
Growing piquillos is straightforward if you're in a warm climate - they share the same needs as most C. annuum varieties. Start seeds indoors 8–10 weeks before last frost.
Transplant outdoors once nighttime temps stay above 55°F. Piquillos need full sun and well-drained soil with a pH of 6.
For practical guidance on how long peppers grow from transplant to harvest, piquillos typically reach maturity in 80–90 days. They start green and ripen to a deep red; for authentic flavor, wait for full red color before harvesting.
Where They Come From
Origin & background
Peppadew Pepper
South Africa · C. baccatum
The official PEPPADEW materials place the discovery story in South Africa in the mid 1990s. Their FAQ says the brand was created after the discovery of the Piquante Pepper, and their product page repeats the same broad timeline.
A 2013 Rutgers NJAES proceedings paper adds useful detail and also shows why this history gets repeated loosely. That paper describes Peppadew as a sweet-tangy Capsicum baccatum fruit discovered about 16 years earlier in Tzaneen, South Africa, then developed into a licensed commercial crop.
Origin & background
Piquillo Pepper
Spain · C. annuum
Piquillo peppers have been cultivated in the Ebro River valley of northern Spain for centuries, with the Lodosa region of Navarra becoming their spiritual home. The DOP designation - protecting the name and production methods - was established in 1987, formalizing what local growers had practiced for generations.
The tradition of wood-fire roasting over embers (rather than gas or electric heat) is what separates authentic piquillos from imitations. This technique developed as a practical preservation method: roasting loosens the skin for peeling, and the charred wood smoke penetrates the flesh during the process.
Buying & Storage
Whether you’re shopping for Peppadew Pepper or Piquillo Pepper, 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
Peppadew Pepper
Equating green with unripe. Different products.
Overcooking. Cell walls break down fast.
Sealed plastic storage. Causes rot. Use paper bags.
Common misses
Piquillo Pepper
Equating green with unripe. Different products.
Overcooking. Cell walls break down fast.
Sealed plastic storage. Causes rot. Use paper bags.
Final call
Peppadew Pepper vs Piquillo Pepper
Peppadew Pepper and Piquillo Pepper
occupy very different positions on the heat spectrum. Piquillo Pepper delivers about 1.5× more upper-range heat with its distinctive sweet and smoky character.
Peppadew Pepper, with its sweet, tangy, and lightly brined profile, excels in everyday cooking.
Heat gap about 1.5× by upper rangePeppadew Pepper sweet, tangy, and lightly brinedPiquillo Pepper sweet and smoky
Open the jar and taste the liquid first. Peppadew lives in sweet brine from the South African pepper lane, so its acid and sugar are part of the ingredient. Drain it completely and you still taste pickle.
Piquillo usually arrives roasted, peeled, and packed with a softer pepper liquid. The jar supports the roasted flesh instead of defining the whole bite.
Stuffing exposes the difference quickly. Peppadew stays snappy and sweet when filled cold with goat cheese, cream cheese, or herbed ricotta.
Piquillo is better warmed. Its thinner roasted wall folds around salt cod, tuna, braised meat, or mushrooms, then takes sauce without fighting the filling.
Smoke Vs Brine
Peppadew brings brightness first. The mild heat is secondary to sugar, vinegar, and the round baccatum fruit note.
Piquillo brings roast first. Good jarred piquillos taste sweet and smoky, with a soft texture that can disappear into a pan sauce.
Species explains part of the split. Peppadew is tied to C. baccatum flavor, while piquillo is a C. annuum pepper from the Spanish roast tradition.
Do not swap them by color. Both can be red and mild, but one adds brine while the other adds roasted body, the same job that separates it from pimento-style sweet peppers.
One To One Needs Repair
A 1:1 volume swap works only after you repair the missing piece. Replacing Peppadew with piquillo usually needs a little vinegar and sugar; replacing piquillo with Peppadew or a piquillo substitute often needs draining and less added acid.
For warm tapas, start with piquillo. For cold boards or bright chopped salads, start with Peppadew and let the brine count as seasoning.
Shopping Label Rule
Buy by label, not by vague red-pepper wording. PEPPADEW brand or sweet piquante points to the South African pickled product, while Pimiento del Piquillo de Lodosa points to the Spanish roasted lane.
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
Marco Castillo
(Founder & Lead Reviewer)
, reviewed by
Karen Liu
(Lead Fact-Checker & Science Editor)
. Last updated June 29, 2026.
Peppadew Pepper vs Piquillo Pepper FAQ
Yes, but add the missing sweet acid. Use piquillo 1:1 by volume, then add a small splash of vinegar and a pinch of sugar if the recipe expected Peppadew brine.
Only for cold or room-temperature appetizers. Peppadew is smaller, firmer, and pickled, while piquillo is softer, roasted, and better for warm stuffed tapas or sauced dishes.
Both are mild. Peppadew is listed at 280-650 SHU and piquillo at 500-1,000 SHU, so texture, brine, and roast flavor matter more than heat.
Most Peppadew peppers are sold pickled in sweet brine. Piquillos are usually roasted and peeled before packing, so their flavor leans smoky and soft instead of sweet-sour.
