Is paprika high in histamine?
Paprika is low in histamine on the evidence available: none was found in a group of 12 spices sold in Spain, or in the fresh red peppers of the kind it is made from.
- Histamine
- Not detected
- Other amines
- Not measured
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Lab measurements, Spain (food group) 1 | Measured | No detectable histamine in 12 spice samples; the spices are not named. |
| Red bell peppers, Spain 2 | No histamine and little putrescine in 8 fresh red peppers. Paprika itself was not tested. | |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 3 | Paprika is not on the review's chart of foods the diets exclude. | |
| SIGHI food list 4 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
Measured histamine
| Food tested | Samples | Histamine | Other amines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spices sold in Spain (group) 1 (Table 1, row "Spices") | 12 | not detected | individual spices not named; other amines not reported |
mg/kg = milligrams of histamine per kilogram of food. "Not detected" means below the laboratory's detection limit.
How freshness and processing change it
Paprika is dry and keeps well, but it loses colour and flavour with time, light and heat; buy small tins and keep them sealed and cool. Smoking and drying are not fermentation. Chorizo and other cured meats seasoned with paprika are rated by their fermentation, not their paprika.
A group of 12 spices had no histamine; paprika is not named in it. (estimate)
Same estimate; smoked and dried, not fermented. (estimate)
Same estimate. (estimate)
Why we rate paprika 0
Paprika has not been tested for histamine on its own in the studies we use, but it falls into a group that was. A 2020 review by a University of Barcelona team found no detectable histamine in any of 12 spice samples sold in Spain. The review does not name the spices, so we cannot confirm paprika was one of them, even though paprika, pimentón, is a staple of Spanish cooking.
Paprika is made by drying and grinding red peppers of the same species as bell peppers, either sweet or hot; smoked paprika is dried over a wood fire before grinding. The fresh fruit has been measured: the same team tested eight red bell peppers and found no histamine, and putrescine was low, 2.42 mg/kg on average. The team's 2018 review explains that because amines are heat-stable, cooking and processing change them mainly by adding or removing water. Drying concentrates whatever a food contains, but there was no histamine in the fresh red peppers to concentrate.
Smoking, drying and grinding are not fermentation, so none of the three styles, sweet, hot or smoked, has an obvious route to histamine. We rate paprika 0, "low", on the strength of the spice group and the red pepper data, as an estimate for paprika itself.
The place many people meet paprika in a histamine question is chorizo. Chorizo is seasoned with paprika, but it is a dry-fermented sausage, and dry-fermented sausages sold in Spain averaged 21.57 mg/kg of histamine across 424 samples, and the highest sample had 474.82 mg/kg. All ten published low-histamine diets exclude them. The paprika is not the issue; the fermentation is. The same goes for other cured and fermented meats seasoned with paprika.
Paprika does not appear among the foods charted as excluded by the ten published low-histamine diets in the team's 2021 review. Paprika loses its colour and flavour with time, light and heat, so buy small tins and keep them sealed and cool.
Questions about paprika and histamine
Is smoked paprika low histamine?
Smoked paprika was not measured on its own. It is dried and smoked, not fermented, and a group of 12 spice samples had no detectable histamine, so we estimate it at 0, the same as sweet paprika.
Is chorizo high in histamine because of the paprika?
No. Chorizo is a dry-fermented sausage, and the fermentation is what forms histamine: dry-fermented sausages averaged 21.57 mg/kg in 424 samples. The paprika in it is not the concern.
Evidence behind this page
- A group of 12 spice samples sold in Spain had no detectable histamine; mean, median, minimum and maximum were all not detected. The review does not name the spices. 1
- Eight red bell peppers sold in Spain had no detectable histamine; putrescine averaged 2.42 mg/kg. 2
- Changes in amine content during cooking come from transfer to cooking water or from the food gaining or losing water, because amines are heat-stable. 2
- Dry-fermented sausages sold in Spain averaged 21.57 mg/kg of histamine (424 samples, up to 474.82 mg/kg), and all ten published low-histamine diets exclude them. 3
Sources
- Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules 10(8):1181, 2020. doi:10.3390/biom10081181 (Comas-Basté O et al. 2020)
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Rabell-González J, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Biogenic Amines in Plant-Origin Foods: Are They Frequently Underestimated in Low-Histamine Diets? Foods 7(12):205, 2018. doi:10.3390/foods7120205 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2018)
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Low-Histamine Diets: Is the Exclusion of Foods Justified by Their Histamine Content? Nutrients 13(5):1395, 2021. doi:10.3390/nu13051395 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2021)
- Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI). Food compatibility list for histamine intolerance. histaminintoleranz.ch (accessed November 2026), 2026. Link (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) 2026)