Help! My chili peppers have burned my tongue! or Help! My chili peppers have burned my skin! How do you stop the chili pepper burn?
How to Stop the Chili Pepper Burn
As a spicy food lover, it's bound to happen. You're chopping jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers for your meal and some of it gets on your skin and starts to burn, or you take a bite of your freshly prepared spicy dish and whoa, the spicy heat is just too much.
Honestly, this happens to the best of us. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to alleviate the jalapeno burn or chili pepper burn from your skin and from eating hot peppers.
Stop the Chili Pepper Burn on the Skin
The best way to avoid chili pepper burns on the skin is to wear gloves when handling them, nitrile gloves in particular. The reason hot peppers can burn your skin is because they contain an oily substance called "capsaicin" that sticks to your skin.
Capsaicin is the substance that makes chili peppers "hot" and spicy, so avoiding the oil is the ideal way to go.
However, we often forget to wear gloves or just don't think of it, which can cause burning not only on the hands, but on other sensitive parts of the body that you touch with your hands, particularly your eyes.
Below are several ways you can combat the jalapeno heat or other hot pepper heat on your skin, or "hot pepper hands". Some are my own recommendations, but also some ideas are from spicy food readers who have shared their own personal experiences.
Be sure to read the comments below to learn other ways people have alleviated the heat for themselves.
Dish Soap and Water - Recommended
Dish soaps are meant to help clean oily plates, so they can be effective in washing away the chili oil from your burning skin. If you feel burning on your skin from handling hot peppers, wash them very thoroughly with water and dish soap several times to work the oils off of your skin.
Use Milk (or other Dairy) - Recommended
Dairy products like milk contain the chemical "casein" that combats the effects the capsaicin (the chemical that makes peppers hot) by stripping it from its receptor site on the skin.
To use milk to help stop the jalapeno burn, soak your hands in milk in a shallow bowl for several minutes, or until the heat subsides. If needed, wash your hands again thoroughly with dish soap and soak them again in milk.
Consider using milk, yogurt, sour cream or crema, or even ice cream to soak the burning skin.
Here are some other suggestions from spicy food lovers.
Rubbing Alcohol
The oil that makes chili peppers hot, capsaicin, is more soluble in alcohol, so a quick rub down with rubbing alcohol (or even a high proof booze) can help wipe it from your skin.
Just be careful, as the initial application of rubbing alcohol can cause an initial burning or stinging sensation.
Oils
Oils can be effective in helping to dissolve the burning chili oils. Dab some olive oil or any other vegetable oil onto your burning skin with cotton balls or a napkin.
Soak or wipe the skin to help dissipate the chili pepper burn.
Weak Bleach Solution
This is according to Alton Brown of "Good Eats". He says to douse your already burning hands in a mild solution of 5 to 1 water to bleach.
The bleach helps wash away the capsaicin that hasn't yet absorbed into your skin.
Baking Soda or Corn Starch Paste
Starches can help draw out the oil from your burning skin so you can wash it away and possibly neutralize it. Use 1 tablespoon of baking soda or corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon water to form a paste.
Rub this into your skin and scrub to remove the oils causing the hot pepper burn.
Time
Please note that the chili pepper burning sensation on your skin will dissipate over time, so don't think it's going to last forever.
For most people it lasts anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, so give it time. It's not actual "burning" or damaging, only the sensation of burning, so you don't need to worry.
Hopefully this helps you find some relief with your burning skin.
Stopping Chili Pepper Burning in the Eyes
If you've been handling hot peppers and then touched your eyes, they can starts to burn and sting, as your eyes are extremely sensitive. If this happens, the best thing to do is to soak a paper towel in milk, then hold it to your burning eye.
The milk contains a chemical called "casein" that counteracts the burning chemical, "capsaicin", which makes hot peppers hot.
Stop the Burn from Eating Hot Peppers (Burning Mouth or Tongue from Chili Peppers)
Many of us have experience the burn after taking a bite of something too spicy. Often it's a bit too much hot sauce or an unexpected bit of heat at a spicy food restaurant, or you've simply miscalculated the heat of a pepper from your garden.
If you are experiencing mouth burn or tongue burn from eating jalapeno peppers or other hot peppers, here is what to do.
Eat Dairy
Because of the innate hotness of all chili peppers, they can burn not only the inside of your mouth, but your skin as well. If you find that you simply can't bear the heat after eating a chile pepper, try to consume a dairy product, like milk, yogurt, or ice cream.
Dairy products contain a chemical called casein that combats the effects of capsaicin (the chemical that makes peppers hot) by stripping it from its receptor site on the skin.
Milk can take some time to quell an intense burn, but it works. You'll notice an initial dissipation of the heat, but extremely hot peppers and foods can persist, so continue with the milk or dairy. Rinse and then swallow if necessary.
Sugar
I've also tried sugar and that seems to work in a pinch. Sugar can help absorb some of the hot chili oil and can reduce the burn, but it is primarily a distraction from the burn and lessen the effect.
Sugar is best added so recipes that already have hints of sweetness.
Time
The burning heat from eating spicy foods will eventually dissipate over time, so at least you know it won't last forever, even though it may feel that way at the moment.
I hope this helps. Again, please review the many reader comments below who've shared their own experiences and methods for combating burning skin, burning eyes, and burning tongues from eating hot peppers and other spicy foods.
Share Your Experience - Help Others
If you've found a solution that worked for you, please share your methods below to help others stop the chili pepper burn.
NOTE: This post was updated on 2/11/25 to include new information. It was originally published on 6/20/14.
Nancy says
When I have a large amount of super hot peppers to clean I double glove with good quality gloves. Still a small amount will get thru to the skin. (If doing buckets full stop and re glove occasionally).
Say you forgot to glove. . .try using the full strength dish soap a couple times like the above article says. When my hands still burn I have had good luck with the king of hand cleaner mechanics use. The one with grit in it.
CJ says
Try avocado!! I cut a wedge off so it still had skin on the outside to use for grip as I rubbed it back and forth on my affected hand for several minutes — periodically I flipped it over and used the texture of the peel to gently work the avocado into every nook and cranny. Then I rinsed in warm (not hot) water and repeated. I did this several times (using dish soap maybe every-other rinse) and it has cut the pain to a level I can cope with. Before this Hail Mary gamble, I tried dish soap, cooking oil, lotion, rubbing alcohol, bleach bath, baking soda paste, honey, oil-based make-up remover, alcohol-based bug bite salve, shampoo. I thought the avocado might work because of its natural oils while being thick enough I could keep it in contact with my skin long enough to break down the capsaicin from the chilis. Not a total cure but at least I can finally think straight! Like many of the other remedies that have worked for others, I expect I’ll need to repeat the process, but this is the most relief I have felt in about 18 hours. Hope it works for someone else out there!
Barbara says
Gordon Ramsay said to squeeze lemon juice on your burn. I can’t wrap my head around that one but the man has more experience than me.
Metka says
My hand was burning after cuting chili. I tried to put my hand in milk and it didn't work. I tried with olive oil, with nail polish remover, with body scrub....nothing worked. Than i washed my hands with shampoo twice. And it seems to be ok for now. Hope pain doesn't return.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Metka.
Nancy says
Shampoo is a degreaser.
Howard says
I grew a Dragon’s Breath plant last year, and the peppers were so hot that I had burning hands even with nitrile gloves. I found that wiping them with medicated hemorrhoid wipes worked. Probably the Aloe Vera and witch hazel among other ingredients. (The hot sauce was excellent, but I made a pepper relish with them that was out of this world)!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Howard. Very helpful! I'll bet the relish was fantastic. =)
claire says
Larry says
The best way that I have found to stop the burn on skin is to use Fast Orange hand cleaner for mechanics followed by washing area with hand soap works very well for me. I would think any hand cleaner for mechanics would work as they are made to remove oil and grease.
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks for sharing, Larry!
Jack Jackson says
Potato salad or macaroni salad works quickly
seedster says
after handling juiced peppers, I tried everything in the house and on this page including yogurt without the gloves; still nothing stopped the agony; until, I got to my wife's feminine wash: ahhhh-- instant relief.
Bob Byers says
Something I discovered works very well for "pepper hands". My wife was buying the foaming hand soaps. I took one of the empty dispensers and mixed 50% Dawn Antibacterial with 25% water and 25% rubbing alcohol. The resulting foaming hand soap refill recipe not only cures pepper hands, but works great on really dirty hands like when you've been working under the hood.
Because of the rubbing alcohol and the use of the antibacterial form of Dawn, it also works as a hand sanitizer. Good stuff, give it a try!
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Bob!
jeffrey palmer says
I dont mean to be a super man - but I wonder why people are really sensitive to the effects of cutting up chili pepps. I can do with no problem slice up habeneros and there is no burn - I am growing and sliced ghost and I will use gloves. I just have to be mindful that when I do any slicing of chili pepps is no touching of eyes or in the male sense well...No 1 is so to speak touchy:)
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
There appears to be varying levels of sensitivity.
Leo says
I have found that the mouth and hands are filled with tiny buckets. Drinking anything just takes the top of the bucket. Once you stop, the burn comes right back. The trick is replacing the contents of the bucket or neutralizing it. An old saying says that when people quit smoking food tastes better. Why? They emptied their buckets full of garbage. To neutralize the burn to a livable level bit an Orange or Lime and swish it around. For those that smoke. inhale and hold the smoke in your mouth. Takes about 2 times. This will replace the contents of the bucket. I haven't tried the honey or sanitizer tricks but you will know if it worked on the hands when you get into a warm shower.
Omoike Emmanuel says
My hands are burning because i cut pepper with my bear hands I don’t have alcohol or honey but I have sugar and vegetable oil what should I do
Michael Hultquist - Chili Pepper Madness says
Omoike, please see the post and comments above for all available possibilities. Sorry to hear.