Mild Peppers Under 2,500 SHU, Listed by Heat

What counts as a mild pepper?

In this index, any pepper whose range midpoint sits below 2,500 Scoville heat units. That's half of an average jalapeño at about 5,000 SHU¹, and it's the first of the five bands on the Scoville scale we use.

A bell pepper anchors the bottom at zero, and the poblano tops out the common mild peppers at 2,000 SHU¹. The jalapeño sits in the chart to show you where mild ends: its range starts at 2,000 but its middle sits well past the line.

Which peppers are mild?

These are the mild peppers with a published heat figure we could read on a primary source, mildest first, so you can compare them on one scale.

Every mild pepper on the list except ají dulce is C. annuum, the same species as the jalapeño. So mild comes from the pod type and its genes. You don't need a separate kind of plant to get a pepper with no burn.

What is the difference between sweet and hot peppers?

One gene. A Cornell-led study traced pungency to the Pun1 locus and found that every non-pungent pepper tested carries the same broken copy, a deletion across the start of the gene⁵. Without a working copy, the pod you buy makes no capsaicinoids.

That's why a sweet pepper isn't "a little bit hot". It's either off, like a bell, or on at some level, like the mild hot peppers below. It also means your garden can't turn a sweet pepper hot: University of Maryland Extension says planting sweet types next to hot types will not make the sweet ones hot⁷.

Why does a red bell taste sweeter than a green one?

Because you let it ripen longer. Clemson's Home and Garden Information Center says fully colored peppers are sweeter than green ones⁶. A green bell is a full-size pod picked before it changes color, so if you want the sweetest bell, leave it on the plant until it turns, then pick it once it reaches the color you want.

Which peppers are mild enough for cautious eaters?

The ones bred to be. New Mexico State University has released several chile cultivars measured well under 1,000 SHU, and its circular gives a lab figure for each; the strip at the top of the page plots all six, from NuMex Garnet at 160 SHU to Joe E. Parker at 900⁴.

They let you cook New Mexican dishes with almost none of the heat. For your child's plate, a bell pepper at 0 SHU is still the safest pick¹.

Which mild peppers are easiest to grow?

The sweet types, mostly because they give you a crop quickly. University of Maryland Extension puts most sweet and hot peppers at 70 to 85 days from transplanting, against 90 to 120 for habanero types⁷. Clemson gives the same 70 to 85 days from a transplant, and 100 to 120 days if you count from seed⁶.

Your peppers like it warm. Clemson says they grow best at 70 to 85 °F by day and 60 to 70 °F at night, spaced 12 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart⁶. On a balcony, University of Maryland Extension sets the floor at a 5-gallon container⁷.

If you're starting for the first time, a sweet type you can harvest green gets you a crop weeks before a habanero type would ripen⁷.

Which mild peppers are easiest to find?

Bell peppers, by a long way. UF/IFAS calls the bell a common type of pepper you can use fresh in salads and sandwiches or cook¹. The NMSU Chile Pepper Institute notes that the poblano is the name US produce markets use for a green ancho³, which is why you'll see it next to the jalapeños.

You will find cubanelles wherever Caribbean cooking turns up, since UF/IFAS ties them to Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican kitchens¹.

Can a mild pepper be hot?

Yes, at the edges of a pod type. UF/IFAS puts the Anaheim at usually about 1,000 SHU but says some varieties reach 5,000¹, which crosses into the medium band. NMSU's Big Jim, a long green chile of the same New Mexican kind, measured 6,500 SHU⁴.

So "mild" on a label tells you the pod type, not the pod. When it matters to you, pick a named cultivar with a published figure from the table above.

What goes wrong with mild peppers?

Two kinds of trouble: a pod that bites when you expected none, and a plant that won't give you pods. Here's what usually causes each.

Which mild pepper should you pick?

Pick by what you want on your plate:

• Zero heat, guaranteed: a green, red or yellow bell. Skip the black and purple ones if you're cooking for someone who avoids all heat².
• A little warmth with flavor: a poblano at 1,000 to 2,000 SHU, roasted or stuffed¹.
• Something for the frying pan: a cubanelle, the Caribbean frying pepper at about 1,000 SHU¹.
• A pickle jar: a banana pepper, at 0 to 500 SHU and often pickled¹².