These Southern Italian Chile Flakes Will Upgrade Almost Anything You Sprinkle Them On

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

If you like to add some heat to your recipes, you probably keep a jar of dried red pepper flakes in your spice cabinet. While they do add zing to food, they don't do much in regard to actual flavor. For flavor plus heat, look to Calabrian chile peppers, which you can find in many forms, such as preserved in oil, pickled, and dried into flakes or powders.

These little red peppers come from the Calabria region of Italy, the most southwestern part of the country's mainland, and the section closest to Sicily. Some describe Calabrian peppers as having a sweet kind of heat, with detectable fruity notes, a little smokiness, and a good amount of spice. On the Scoville scale (which measures the heat of peppers in units), Calabrian chiles range from 25,000 to 40,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), which is anywhere from three to 16 times hotter than jalapeños. The difference is that the heat in these peppers doesn't linger as long as it does in other pepper varieties, giving the diner an opportunity to detect more of the inherent flavor of the chiles rather than pure heat alone.

You can use Calabrian chile flakes the same way you would use other kinds of pepper flakes. Sprinkle them over pizza and sandwiches, add them to shrimp and lemon linguine pasta, or make a side dish with olive oil, cannellini beans (or a white bean substitute, like butterbeans), lemon, and fresh herbs.

To really geek out on these exciting little peppers, you can research all the different types of chiles grown in Calabria. If you're shopping for dried versions, you'll probably stumble across Diavolicchio or "little devil" peppers, which are often dried and packaged in flake form. They are also made into Calabrian chile paste, which is the store-bought pepper paste Giada de Laurentiis swears by. Other chile varietals from Calabria include Naso di Cane, Sigaretta, and Casarella, which are typically used for stuffed peppers. Another specialty from this part of Italy, 'nduja, is a spicy, spreadable sausage made with Calabrian chile peppers. In fact, if you're looking for a substitute for 'nduja, you can mimic the flavor with a bit of Calabrian chile paste.

Calabrian chile flakes may or may not be available at your local grocery store. If not, check out specialty or Italian markets. You can also purchase Calabrian chile flakes on Amazon, or scout for them in the food sections of stores like HomeGoods and TJ Maxx. 

Gardeners will be pleased to know that Calabrian chile peppers are generally considered easy to grow. They need anywhere from six to eight hours of sunlight each day and should be protected from super cold weather. Remember, Calabria is a very warm, sun-drenched region, and these peppers thrive in such conditions. When they're ripe, dry and crush them to make your own chile flakes.