Ingredient substituter
Pick an ingredient you cannot find. Get honest substitutes with ratios, impact ratings, and the technique adjustments needed to make them work.
Ingredient substituter
Pick an unavailable ingredient to see honest substitutes with ratios and impact ratings.
Substitutes for Scotch bonnet pepper
Same species, nearly identical heat and fruitiness. Best substitute.
Hotter but no fruity flavour. Add a pinch of red bell pepper to compensate.
Much milder, slightly smoky. Doubles the quantity to get closer to the heat.
No fruity flavour at all. Last resort only. The dish tastes generic without the fresh fruity chilli note.
The scotch bonnet's fruity note is not replaceable by dried spice alone. If you cannot find it, habanero is your only honest alternative.
On substitution honesty
Most substitution guides tell you everything works fine. They lie. This guide rates the impact honestly: minimal (you probably cannot tell), noticeable (experienced cooks will know), and significant (the dish is genuinely different).
Some substitutes are not worth making. Dried cayenne for scotch bonnet produces a dish that tastes like generic spiced rice, not jollof. If you cannot find habanero either, consider making a different dish or postponing until you can source the real thing.
The most common real-world substitution is canned tomatoes for fresh plum tomatoes. This one is genuinely fine, especially in winter when fresh tomatoes are underripe. High-quality Italian canned plum tomatoes produce better jollof than pale winter tomatoes from a UK supermarket.