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Homemade Ancho Chile Powder is easy and inexpensive when you make it at home, and it’s just one ingredient. Add it to salsas, salad dressings, and marinades for a smoky, spicy heat.
The problem with Ancho Chile Powder is not its versatility nor its robust flavor. It’s the COST. It’s usually several dollars for a jar, or even more, and I’m guessing you only shell out that kind of money for saffron. And probably not even for saffron.
So the punchline of all this is, homemade Ancho Chile Powder is SO EASY to make, and dirt cheap. So let’s get right to it.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Ancho chiles: Ancho chiles ripened, dried poblano peppers. At the store, fresh poblanos are green because they are harvested before they are ripened. If left to ripen, they turn red. Ripened, red poblanos are then dried to make ancho chiles. They have a smoky flavor that is common in Mexican and Southwestern cooking. Their flavor is mild (1,000 – 2,000 Scoville heat units). Their skins are wrinkly and look a little bit like giant raisins with a stem.
What should I use to grind ancho chiles?
I like to use an electric spice grinder, but a small food processor or a high-quality blender should also be able to handle the job. The KRUPS Fast Touch Electric Grinder is my favorite one because it’s powerful and easy to clean. You can get it at Walmart for $22.56 but I recommend a few others in my best spice grinder roundup!
Step-by-step instructions
- Open the chile peppers by pulling them apart with your hands or cutting with a knife (wearing gloves is recommended). Carefully pull out and discard the stem. Shake or scrape out all seeds. Repeat with remaining chilies.
- Tear cleaned chile pieces into 1” or 2” pieces. Place in an electric grinder or small food processor.
- Process in batches until finely ground.
- Store covered in an airtight container.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: One (2-ounce) package dried chiles will contain 2 to 4 dried chiles, depending on their size, and will yield about ¼ cup ancho chile powder.
- Storage: Store Ancho Chile Powder in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months (or longer, but the potency decreases after 6 months) in a spice jar or other airtight container.
- Chili: Use Ancho Chile Powder in your next batch of Homemade Chili Seasoning or add directly to Beef Chili, Venison Chili, Turkey Chili, Hot Dog Chili, or Chili Con Carne.
- Chipotle Copycat Recipes: Ancho chili powder is a cornerstone ingredient in Chipotle Chicken, Chipotle Barbacoa, Chipotle Steak, and Chipotle Sofritas.
Recipe FAQs
They are the same thing; it’s really just a matter of naming conventions. “Chile” is the Spanish word for capsicums such as jalapeños, serranos, habañeros, poblanos, and so on. Americans sometimes spell it “chili” but now we are moving towards “chile” because “chili” is the stew with the meat.
We sometimes say “pepper” in the United States because when Columbus arrived, he thought chiles were “peppers” (as in spicy black pepper, a member of the Piper genus). He was wrong. We always use the word “pepper” for non-spicy peppers such as bell peppers.
Chili powder is a blend made from various ground spices including, but not limited to, ground chiles, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and/or cayenne pepper. Ancho chile powder is just one specific chile, dried poblanos, that have been ground up. It is slightly spicier than regular chili powder.
Note: If you shop at an international food market and buy “chili powder,” sometimes this is just straight-up ground dried red chiles (cayenne pepper), not the Americanized chili powder blend you’re thinking of. You should be able to tell by the color of the powder.
You can substitute regular chili powder plus a small amount of crushed red pepper for heat.
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder = 1 teaspoon regular chili powder + ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Ancho dried chiles are always in stock at my local International foods markets and Mexican grocery stores. Sometimes I find them at regular groceries stores too or even Walmart. They usually sell for around $2 or less for a 2-ounce package. You can also buy them online, although I understand that spending $8 on dried ancho chiles isn’t much better than spending $6 on a bag of Ancho Chile Powder. Even if it’s a good value, it’s still a lot of money. So, try to find them locally.
Put your ancho chile powder to work
Chipotle Copycat Recipes
Chipotle Chicken (Copycat)
Chipotle Copycat Recipes
Chipotle Steak (Copycat)
Chipotle Copycat Recipes
Chipotle Barbacoa (Copycat)
Chipotle Copycat Recipes
Chipotle Sofritas (Copycat)
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Homemade Ancho Chile Powder
Ingredients
- 2 ounces dried Ancho Chiles (see note 1)
Instructions
- Open the chile peppers by pulling them apart with your hands or cutting with a knife (wearing gloves is recommended). Carefully pull out and discard the stem. Shake or scrape out all seeds. Repeat with remaining chilies.
- Tear cleaned chile pieces into 1” or 2” pieces. Place in an electric grinder or small food processor and process in batches until finely ground. Store covered in an airtight container.
Notes
- Ancho chiles: Ancho chiles ripened, dried poblano peppers. At the store, fresh poblanos are green because they are harvested before they are ripened. If left to ripen, they turn red. Ripened, red poblanos are then dried to make ancho chiles. They have a smoky flavor that is common in Mexican and Southwestern cooking. Their flavor is mild (1,000 – 2,000 Scoville heat units). Their skins are wrinkly and look a little bit like giant raisins with a stem.
- Yield: One (2-ounce) package dried chiles will contain 2 to 4 dried chiles, depending on their size, and will yield about ¼ cup ancho chile powder.
- Storage: Store Ancho Chile Powder in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months (or longer, but the potency decreases after 6 months).
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Will make this tomorrow! I expect greatness thank you. Where I live I have to order the ground version online.
Hi LuAnn, you’re welcome! I hope you find it easy to make. – Meggan
This ancho chili powder recipe saved me! I couldn’t find it in the store. Thank you soo much!
You’re so welcome, Maureen! Happy to have been able to help. Take care! – Meggan
Hi,
Can we use Mulato chilli instead of Ancho? The ancho is out of stock here and can’t find dried ancho/ancho powder anywhere!
I live in Delhi, India.
Thanks!
Bhavika
Hi Bhavika, I would suggest using this substitution instead! 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder = 1 teaspoon regular chili powder + ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper. Hope this helps. – Meggan
I would suggest toasting them a bit in a skillet or Dutch oven before grinding them.
This is awesome. I did buy a bag of ancho Chiles first time ever and made powder from 2 big peppers. The powder looked and felt a bit soggy. So I waited it in low heat in a pan and let it cool down fully and then ground it again. Now the powder is much smoother. But it tastes a bit bitter when I used it in eggs and in vegetables. Did I hear it too much or these Chiles do taste a bit normally? I do love the smoky flavor.
Any suggestions? Thank you
Hi S, sorry your chili peppers taste bitter! It is possible that the peppers were past their time. Older peppers may taste more bitter. – Meggan
Hi Meggan – Thank you for this posting on Ancho powder. Very helpful because I came across a chili recipe requiring it and while none of the grocers carry the powder, some carry the ancho chiles.
I would like your opinion on the following. As I was removing the seeds, the chiles themselves did not seem totally dry. So I decided to put them in the oven at 450 F to “dry them out further” before putting them in my food processor. Well, in less than two minutes, they started smoking! Opps!!! Can you recommend the approach to dry them out?
Thanks
Mark
Hi Mark! Smoking chiles is totally normal! I know that sounds crazy, but that is a common technique before you rehydrate them. Often people do it in a pan, and you cook them until they start to smoke (then you cover them in boiling water and let them sit, but the first step is to smoke them in a pan). So you didn’t do anything wrong. If you want to save the batteries in your smoke detector, you could reduce the oven temperature to 300 or something like that. I don’t know how long it would take to dry them at that temperature (could be hours). So I would say, don’t worry about the smoking. Let me know if you hate this plan. Thank you!:) -Meggan
Easy and so incredible.