Chilli vs. Pepper — What's the Difference?

Capsaicin, the active component, is what gives chillies their heat.

This term can refer to mild bell peppers or the unrelated spice, black pepper.

Integral to dishes in Mexican, Indian, and Thai cuisines.

Essential spice in cooking, used to enhance flavor.

Comes in several varieties, each with a distinct level of heat.

Bell peppers are sweet and can be red, green, or yellow.

Can be eaten fresh, dried, or as a powder.

Black pepper is one of the most commonly used spices globally.

A hot, pungent fruit used in various cuisines to add spice.

Black pepper is derived from the dried fruit of Piper nigrum.

A small hot-tasting pod of a variety of capsicum, used in sauces, relishes, and spice powders. There are various forms with pods of differing size, colour, and strength of flavour.

A perennial climbing vine (Piper nigrum) native to India, widely cultivated for its long slender spikes of small fruit.

Variant of chili.

A pungent black or white spice produced from the dried fruit of this plant, used as a condiment.

Alternative spelling of chili

Any of several other plants of the genus Piper, such as cubeb, betel, and kava.

See Chili.

Any of several tropical American, cultivated varieties of capsicum, having podlike, many-seeded, fruit.

Very hot and finely tapering pepper of special pungency

The podlike fruit of any of these plants, varying in size, shape, color, and degree of pungency, with the milder types including the bell pepper and pimiento, and the more pungent types including the habanero.

Any of various condiments made from the more pungent varieties of capsicum, such as cayenne pepper, tabasco pepper, and chili. Also called hot pepper.

Any of various other plants producing pungent fruits, such as the Szechuan pepper.

(Baseball) A warm-up exercise in which players standing a short distance from a batter field the ball and toss it to the batter, who hits each toss back to the fielders. Also called pepper game.

To season or sprinkle with pepper.

To sprinkle liberally; scatter

To strew something over

A plant of the family Piperaceae.

(uncountable) A spice prepared from the fermented, dried, unripe berries of this plant.

A bell pepper, a fruit of the capsicum plant: red, green, yellow or white, hollow and containing seeds, and in very spicy and mild varieties.Surely "pepper" covers all varieties as in most of this definition, while "bell pepper" and "capsicum" only refer to the large roundish mild varieties specifically

(baseball) A game used by baseball players to warm up where fielders standing close to a batter rapidly return the batted ball to be hit again

(cryptography) A randomly-generated value that is added to another value (such as a password) prior to hashing. Unlike a salt, a new one is generated for each value and it is held separately from the value.

(transitive) To add pepper to.

(transitive) To strike with something made up of small particles.

(transitive) To cover with lots of (something made up of small things).

(transitive) To add (something) at frequent intervals.

To beat or thrash.

A well-known, pungently aromatic condiment, the dried berry, either whole or powdered, of the Piper nigrum.

The plant which yields pepper, an East Indian woody climber (Piper nigrum), with ovate leaves and apetalous flowers in spikes opposite the leaves. The berries are red when ripe. Also, by extension, any one of the several hundred species of the genus Piper, widely dispersed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the earth.

Any plant of the genus Capsicum (of the Solanaceae family, which are unrelated to Piper), and its fruit; red pepper; chili pepper; as, the bell pepper and the jalapeno pepper (both Capsicum annuum) and the habanero pepper (Capsicum chinense); . These contain varying levels of the substance capsaicin (C18H27O3N), which gives the peppers their hot taste. The habanero is about 25-50 times hotter than the jalapeno according to a scale developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912. See also Capsicum and http://www.chili-pepper-plants.com/.

To sprinkle or season with pepper.

Figuratively: To shower shot or other missiles, or blows, upon; to pelt; to fill with shot, or cover with bruises or wounds; as, to pepper him with buckshot.

To fire numerous shots (at).

Climber having dark red berries (peppercorns) when fully ripe; southern India and Sri Lanka; naturalized in northern Burma and Assam

Any of various tropical plants of the genus Capsicum bearing peppers

Pungent seasoning from the berry of the common pepper plant of East India; use whole or ground

Sweet and hot varieties of fruits of plants of the genus Capsicum

Add pepper to;

Attack and bombard with or as if with missiles;

Yes, chillies generally provide a more intense heat compared to the pungent kick of black pepper.

Chilli is mainly used to add heat to dishes, while pepper (depending on the type) is used to add either a sweet flavor or a pungent spice.

Substitutions depend on the desired flavor profile; chilli adds heat which black pepper does not, and bell peppers offer a sweetness not found in chillies.

Chillies can boost metabolism and help in pain relief, while black pepper aids in digestion and has antioxidant properties.

Chillies are key in many Asian and Latin American dishes, while peppers are staples in global cuisines from America to Europe and Asia.

Chillies and bell peppers are grown similarly, often in warm climates and require full sun, whereas black pepper is a vine requiring more specific conditions.

Chillies can be kept fresh in the refrigerator or dried for longer storage, while bell peppers should be refrigerated and black pepper kept in a dry place.

Both are versatile, but pepper (both kinds) is used more universally across different cuisines.

Chillies originated in the Americas and were spread globally by Europeans, while black pepper is native to South Asia.

Chillies add a significant heat that can alter a dish's flavor profile dramatically, whereas peppers add depth, sweetness, or a mild spice.