Food too spicy

What to do now

1. Add dairy. Yoghurt, cream, coconut milk, soured cream or butter. Fat dissolves capsaicin and carries it away from the receptors, and milk proteins bind to it. By far the most effective fix.
2. Add more bulk. More of everything else — vegetables, pulses, tomatoes, stock. Dilution works, though it takes a lot.
3. Add something sweet. Sugar, honey, or a sweet vegetable. It distracts from heat and works better than most people expect.
4. Add acid. Lemon, lime or vinegar cuts through and rebalances.
5. Add starch alongside. Rice, bread, potato or noodles on the plate. The most practical answer at the table.
6. Remove visible chilli pieces if you can see them. It helps a little and costs nothing.

Why water makes it worse

Capsaicin is oil-soluble and not water-soluble. Drinking water spreads it around the mouth without removing any of it, which is why a glass of water after something very hot gives a moment of relief and then makes things worse.

Milk, yoghurt and lassi work because the fat dissolves the capsaicin and the casein protein helps lift it off the receptors. This is not folklore — it is why every cuisine that cooks with a lot of chilli serves something dairy or coconut alongside.

Alcohol also dissolves capsaicin, though a drink strong enough to help is usually not what you want mid-meal. Bread and rice work mechanically, by absorbing and physically wiping.

Where the heat lives

The pith and seeds

Most of the capsaicin is in the white pith the seeds attach to, not the seeds themselves. Remove the pith to reduce heat while keeping the chilli flavour.

Variety

Enormously variable, and not reliably predictable from appearance. Two chillies from the same plant can differ considerably.

Cooking time

Long cooking distributes the heat throughout a dish rather than reducing it. A chilli simmered for an hour makes everything hot.

Whole against chopped

A whole chilli added and removed gives aroma with modest heat. Chopped or blended gives everything.

Dried against fresh

Dried chillies are more concentrated by weight and often much hotter than they look.

Avoiding it next time

• Add chilli in stages and taste. It is far easier to add than to remove.
• Taste a tiny piece of the actual chilli before using it. Heat varies hugely between individual fruits.
• Deseed and depith when you want flavour without much heat.
• Add a whole slit chilli you can fish out, rather than chopping it in.
• Remember that a dish gets hotter as it sits and as it reduces.
• Wash your hands thoroughly after handling chillies, and do not touch your eyes. Oil, not water, removes capsaicin from skin.

Rescuing it, dish by dish

The general answers are dairy, fat, acid and bulk. Which one is available depends on what the dish is.

A curry or stew

Yoghurt, cream or coconut milk stirred in, plus more of the base. The most rescuable case.

A tomato sauce

More tomato, a little sugar, and a knob of butter at the end. Cream if the dish allows it.

A soup

Dilute with stock and add potato or a starchy vegetable, then re-season. Blend if it suits.

A stir-fry

Hard. Add more vegetables and serve with a lot of plain rice and something cold and dairy alongside.

A dressing or salsa

Make a second batch without chilli and combine. Usually the only real fix.

A dry rub already on meat

Scrape what you can off, and serve with a yoghurt or soured cream sauce.

At the table

Rice, bread, yoghurt, a sweet chutney and something cold. Not water and not beer.

Common questions