Puerto Rican Peppers: A Guide to Ají Dulce, Pimientos de Cocinar & More

When people unfamiliar with Puerto Rican food hear the word pepper, they sometimes assume one thing:

Spicy.

But that’s not really the story of peppers in the Puerto Rican kitchen.

Puerto Rican cooking generally relies on peppers for aroma, sweetness, color, and depth of flavor rather than intense heat. Two peppers are particularly important: the small and wonderfully aromatic ají dulce and the longer pimiento de cocinar, commonly associated with the Cubanelle type.

Together with garlic, onion, recao, and cilantro, these peppers help create the unmistakable aroma of Puerto Rican sofrito. A University of Puerto Rico agricultural publication identifies both Cubanelle-type pimientos de cocinar and mild ají dulce as important peppers in Puerto Rican agriculture and cuisine.

So what’s the difference between them—and what should you buy if you’re cooking Puerto Rican food in the continental United States?

Ají Dulce: Small Pepper, Big Flavor

If there is one pepper that deserves to be better known outside the Caribbean, it’s ají dulce.

Also called ajicito, this small pepper can be green, yellow, orange, or red depending on variety and ripeness.

Here’s where things get confusing.

An ají dulce can look surprisingly similar to a habanero or Scotch bonnet.

But don’t judge this pepper by its appearance.

The ají dulce traditionally used in Puerto Rico is prized for being mild and highly aromatic, rather than intensely hot. University of Puerto Rico research describes the local Capsicum chinense ají dulce as mild or minimally pungent and particularly valued as a condiment in sofrito.

Its aroma is one of the things that makes Puerto Rican sofrito taste like Puerto Rican sofrito.

Ají Dulce vs. Habanero

This is an important distinction if you’re shopping outside Puerto Rico.

Ají dulce and habanero can look remarkably similar, and they’re closely related botanically. But the eating experience can be dramatically different.

Ají dulce: aromatic, fruity, generally very mild.

Habanero: aromatic, fruity—and extremely hot by comparison.

In other words, don’t substitute several habaneros for several ají dulces in your sofrito.

You could transform a mild aromatic cooking base into something extraordinarily spicy.

Puerto Rican cooking certainly can include hot peppers, but traditional sofrito is generally about aroma rather than chile heat. PBS’s Cook’s Country, for example, specifically notes the visual resemblance between ají dulce and habanero or Scotch bonnet while emphasizing their very different heat levels.

Pimiento de Cocinar: The Everyday Cooking Pepper

Another essential pepper is the pimiento de cocinar, literally “cooking pepper.”

In Puerto Rico, this commonly refers to elongated, light-green Cubanelle-type peppers. University of Puerto Rico agricultural research specifically identifies Cubanelle types as popular Capsicum annuum cultivars on the island.

They’re considerably larger than ají dulce.

The pepper is generally long and somewhat tapered, with relatively thin walls and a mild flavor. You’ll see it used in sofrito and many other savory preparations.

A traditional sofrito might combine several ají dulces with a larger pimiento de cocinar, creating layers of pepper flavor without making the finished mixture hot.

Cubanelle vs. Green Bell Pepper

If you live in the continental United States, you’re probably much more familiar with the green bell pepper.

It can work in Puerto Rican cooking, but it isn’t exactly the same.

A Cubanelle-type cooking pepper is generally longer, thinner-walled, and more delicate than a bell pepper.

A green bell pepper is thicker, crunchier, and has a stronger vegetal flavor.

Think of them this way:

Cubanelle / Pimiento de CocinarMild + thinner + slightly more delicate

Green Bell PepperMild + thicker + more vegetal

If your Puerto Rican recipe calls for a pimiento de cocinar and you’re standing in a typical U.S. supermarket, look for something labeled Cubanelle pepper first.

Bell Peppers: Pimiento Morrón

Bell peppers are also used in Puerto Rican cooking.

University of Puerto Rico sources distinguish the blocky, thick-walled bell type as pimiento morrón, in contrast with the elongated Cubanelle-type pimiento de cocinar.

Green bell peppers can contribute a slightly grassy flavor, while fully ripened red, yellow, and orange peppers become sweeter.

You’ll encounter them in different family versions of sofrito as well as rice dishes, stews, meats, sauces, and other preparations.

Like almost everything in Puerto Rican home cooking, recipes vary from household to household.

What About Hot Peppers?

Puerto Rican cuisine isn’t traditionally defined by chile heat in the same way as some other Latin American and Caribbean cuisines.

That’s an important point for visitors.

A dish can contain several different peppers and still not be particularly spicy.

Of course, Puerto Rico does have hot peppers, hot sauces, and cooks who enjoy plenty of heat. You may encounter hotter varieties and locally made pique—Puerto Rican hot sauce—made by infusing vinegar with hot peppers and other ingredients.

But hotter isn’t automatically more authentically Puerto Rican.

Many of the peppers fundamental to everyday Puerto Rican cooking are valued precisely because they provide flavor without overwhelming heat.

The Peppers Behind Sofrito

This is where everything comes together.

A Puerto Rican sofrito might contain:

Ají dulce + pimiento de cocinar + onion + garlic + recao + cilantro

Recipes differ enormously between families, but a Puerto Rican sofrito recipe published by PRoduce, for example, combines ají dulce and Cubanelle peppers with onions, garlic, cilantro, and recao.

Blend those ingredients together and you get a fragrant green mixture that can become the starting point for:

Arroz con gandules • Habichuelas • Asopao • Soups • Stews • Braised meats • Rice dishes

The peppers aren’t there to make these dishes hot.

They’re there to help build the flavor underneath everything else.

Cooking in the United States: What Can You Substitute?

If you’re trying to recreate Puerto Rican food in the continental United States, finding the right ingredients can sometimes be challenging.

Fortunately, you have options.

If You Can’t Find Pimiento de Cocinar

Look for a Cubanelle pepper.

That’s usually the closest and easiest match.

If your supermarket doesn’t carry Cubanelles, an Italian frying pepper can be a reasonable alternative because of its mild flavor and thinner walls.

In a pinch, use a green bell pepper.

The flavor won’t be identical, but your recipe will still work.

If You Can’t Find Ají Dulce

This is trickier.

Ají dulce contributes an aroma that isn’t perfectly replicated by a standard bell pepper.

Check Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Latin American, or specialty produce markets first. You may find them labeled ají dulce, ajicito, or sometimes cachucha.

If they’re unavailable, mini sweet peppers are a practical U.S. supermarket substitute. Another option is to combine mini sweet peppers with Cubanelle pepper.

Several Puerto Rican-style sofrito recipes intended for U.S. cooks recommend Cubanelle or mini sweet peppers when genuine ají dulce isn’t available.

What you shouldn’t casually substitute is a habanero simply because it looks similar.

Puerto Rico → U.S. Supermarket Cheat Sheet

Puerto Rican Ingredient	What It Is	Heat	U.S. Alternative
Ají dulce / Ajicito	Small aromatic Caribbean pepper	Very mild	Mini sweet peppers
Pimiento de cocinar	Usually Cubanelle-type cooking pepper	Mild	Cubanelle or Italian frying pepper
Pimiento morrón	Bell pepper	None/mild	Green or colored bell pepper
Hot chile	Used when heat is actually desired	Varies	Jalapeño, serrano, or other chile depending on recipe

There’s one important caveat with ají dulce: pepper names and varieties can be inconsistent, and occasional peppers sold under similar names may have more heat than expected. PRoduce’s discussion of Puerto Rican ajíes also notes how complicated popular pepper names can be across varieties and regions.

When you’re unsure what you’ve bought, taste a tiny piece before adding a whole handful to the blender.

Green, Yellow, Orange or Red?

Pepper color can also tell you something about ripeness.

Many peppers begin green and change color as they mature. As they ripen, their flavor can become sweeter and more developed.

That means a red ají dulce isn’t necessarily a completely different ingredient from a green one—it may simply be further along in ripening, depending on the variety.

The same general idea applies to bell peppers.

A green bell pepper offers a more vegetal character, while a fully ripened red pepper is noticeably sweeter.

Puerto Rican cooks can take advantage of both depending on the flavor and color they want.

Which Peppers Should You Keep in Your Kitchen?

If you’re beginning to cook Puerto Rican food, you don’t need a refrigerator filled with exotic peppers.

Start with three:

Ají dulce for that distinctive Puerto Rican aroma.

Pimiento de cocinar/Cubanelle for a mild, versatile cooking pepper.

Bell pepper as an easy everyday option.

Combine them with garlic, onion, recao, and cilantro, and you have the building blocks for some of the most recognizable flavors in Puerto Rican cooking.

It’s About Flavor, Not Fire

Perhaps the biggest misconception about Puerto Rican peppers is that their purpose is to make food spicy.

Usually, it’s exactly the opposite.

Peppers such as ají dulce and pimiento de cocinar add fragrance, sweetness, freshness, and complexity without dominating the dish with heat.

And that’s an important lesson in understanding Puerto Rican cooking more broadly.

The flavor isn’t usually created by one overpowering ingredient.

It’s built in layers.

A little garlic.

Some recao.

Onion.

A handful of ají dulce.

A pimiento de cocinar.

Blend them together into sofrito, drop a spoonful into a warm caldero, and suddenly you’ll understand why these humble peppers have such an important place in the Puerto Rican kitchen.