Adding a little extra salt to your dish is quite common, but trust me, so is spice too! There are so many of us out there and I plead guilty too, to having made a dish super spicy and then had to rack my brains on ways to make it taste better.
But the good part is, that there are multiple different things you can add to your food to reduce the level of spice and I’ve tried and tested these methods, so you don’t have to!
So, go ahead and check out this article for things you can add to your food to reduce its spiciness and you can thank me later!
6 Things to Add into Food to Reduce Spiciness
1. Add Dairy
Dairy is a great addition to a dish when it comes to toning down the level of spice. Be it adding in some sour cream, yogurt, milk cream, fresh cream, milk etc., it can help temper the spice. You could also add in mild types of cheese as well, to counteract the effect of the spice.
Note: For those who cannot consume dairy products due to lactose intolerance, you can add in any other plant-based milk or even coconut milk.
2. Add Acid
Adding acid in the form of citrus juice (orange, lemon, lime juice) or vinegar, chopped pineapples, sauce or ketchup etc., depending on the type of dish, it can help reduce the spice. Spice is alkaline and when mixed with something acidic, it can help neutralize the effect of the heat. Start off by adding in just a little and then increase as needed.
3. Add Broth
In case a dish is too spicy, you can add in some vegetable or meat broth. This will help dilute the dish a little and could help diffuse the heat. You could also add in some water, in case you do not have a ready broth at home. This method will work best with liquid-based dishes like soups, casseroles, stews etc.
4. Add Vegetables
You can add chopped vegetables like cubes of potato, wedges of carrot etc., to help reduce the heat. Vegetables contain natural sugars that can help reduce the spice, while its porous texture can help absorb some of the spiciness as well.
5. Add a Sweetner
Add sugar, honey, jaggery, maple syrup or any other sweetener of choice can help counteract the effects of the spice in any dish. You could even add in some ketchup or tomato sauce to reduce the heat. Make sure to start with adding in the sweetener little by little at a time.
6. Add Nuts
Nuts can help dissolve the spice in a dish. You can add in some nut paste or nut butter or tahini into a dish to help reduce the level of spice. This hack may not be suitable for all types of dishes, so user discretion is required. It would be more suitable for a coconut curry, as compared to a salsa for example.
General tips for when food is too spicy:
- In case you’re eating out, you could still use a few of these hacks if you are served any spicy food that you cannot handle.
- If your dish is too spicy, you can always make a smaller batch of the same food without the spice and add it into the dish. It will help disperse the spice.
These are some amazing and helpful tried and tested hacks to help tone down the spciiness of a dish. Nevertheless, what would be more advisable is not making the dish spicy in the first place, right? So, all you need to do is, always add in the spice, just a little at a time and taste test the dish before adding in more. Thereby, it can help moderate the level of spice as per your requirements.