Ways to reduce spiciness in your food

Have you accidentally made your food tasteless by adding too much heat? You are in the right place if the response is in the affirmative.

We’ll explain how to deal with the spice in any cuisine in this article. Although once introduced, spices cannot be taken out, there are some simple ways to reduce their flavour.

Add more ingredients
Adding more components to a dish to dilute the amount of the hot component is the simplest technique to temper a dish that is overly spicy. Try adding more liquid if it’s a soup or stew. Any other ingredients, such as vegetables, protein or carbs can be added.

Add dairy
Dairy can offer a lovely cooling impact and is excellent at balancing spice. You can add milk, sour cream, or even a dollop of plain yoghurt over each serving, but beware of adding and then cooking the dairy on high heat, as it may curdle.

Coconut milk technically isn’t dairy, but lends a great creaminess to dishes; plus it goes well with a lot of Asian flavours if that’s the kind of dish you’re trying to tone down.

Add acid
Take this trick from Thai cuisine, which happily uses lots of chillies. To counteract spiciness, a lot of their dishes use a liberal amount of acid from citrus, vinegar, or even ketchup. A spoonful can really do wonders to balance out and counteract the spiciness.

Add a sweetener
Similar to how acid adds a new flavour aspect that helps balance spiciness, sugar or other sweets do the same. The caution with this one is that you need add very modest amounts and taste frequently to prevent your savoury dish from turning into dessert.

Add nut butter
It’s a clever method that will enhance the flavour of any dish while also soften it down. You can add any type of butter to any curry, from almond to peanut. They will not only enhance the flavour of the meal but also highlight and improve its richness. No one will be able to identify the nut butter in the meal, which is a funny truth.

Serve with bland, starchy foods
Let’s say your overly spicy dish tastes perfect otherwise, and you don’t want to mess with it by adding other ingredients. The simple solution is to serve it with something bland and starchy so that when eaten together, the spice is diffused a bit. The best bet is to serve the dish with rice, pasta, crusty bread, or even a side of potatoes.