Paprika vs. Pepper — What's the Difference?

Common in European cuisine.

Ground from black peppercorns.

A ground spice from dried red peppers.

Universal seasoning.

Used for color and mild flavor.

Known for its sharp and spicy taste.

Often smoked or plain.

Enhances both flavor and digestion.

Ranges in heat and sweetness.

Can be used whole or ground.

Paprika (American English more commonly (listen), British English more commonly (listen)) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from Capsicum annuum varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder and have thinner flesh.

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

A powdered spice with a deep orange-red colour and a mildly pungent flavour, made from the dried and ground fruits of certain varieties of pepper.

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

A powdered seasoning made from sweet red peppers, ranging in flavor from mild to hot.

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

A dark to deep or vivid reddish orange.

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

(uncountable) Powdered spice made from dried and ground fruits of sweet pepper (bell pepper) or chili pepper (cultivars of Capsicum annuum), or mixtures of these (used especially in Hungarian cooking).

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.

(countable) A variety of the spice.

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

A dried but not yet ground fruit of sweet pepper (bell pepper) or chili pepper sold for use as a spice.

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

A bright reddish orange colour resembling that of the ground spice.

(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.

Of a bright reddish orange colour, like that of the dried paprika.

To season or sprinkle with pepper.

The dried ripened fruit of Capsicum annuum or various other species of pepper; also, the mildly pungent condiment prepared from it.

To sprinkle liberally; scatter

Plant bearing large mild thick-walled usually bell-shaped fruits; the principal salad peppers

To strew something over

A mild powdered seasoning made from dried pimientos

To strike with small missiles or gunfire.

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;

Paprika is rich in antioxidants and vitamins A and E.

Paprika ranges from sweet to mildly hot, whereas pepper is sharply spicy.

It is used universally as a seasoning to enhance flavor.

Dried peppers of the Capsicum annuum variety.

Not usually, as their flavors and roles in cooking are quite different.

Yes, it aids digestion and has antioxidant properties.

Both should be stored in a cool, dark place to maintain their potency.

It can, particularly in its hotter varieties, though the types of heat differ.

For its color and specific flavor profile suited to certain dishes.

Hungarian, Spanish, and parts of Eastern Europe.

Paprika peppers are air-dried, while peppercorns are dried in the sun or mechanically.

Yes, including sweet, smoked, and hot varieties.

It adds a spicy, bold dimension to dishes.