Crushed Red Pepper

Crushed red pepper is a mix of dried, flaked hot chiles with some seeds. It delivers quick, clean heat with tiny ruby flecks and sprinkles easily over pizza, pasta, eggs, and soups; the coarse flakes are a standard table condiment. Retail packages are labeled red pepper flakes or peperoncino.

Flake-style chile seasoning developed in regions rich in dried Capsicum annuum, notably southern Italy and the Balkans, and became a staple in Italian-American cooking. Producers dry ripe red chiles and crush them to coarse flakes, often leaving seeds to lift the heat.