2025’s Flavor Trend: Why Ají Amarillo is Set to Steal the Spotlight

• It is pertinent to mention that ají Amarillo, a kind of chilli pepper widely grown in South America, has been voted McCormick ‘Flavor of the Year’ for 2025 due to its intense aromatic appeal balanced by easy hotness.
• It is increasingly becoming popular across the world and is expected to do so much more since McCormick has developed a seasoning and a food festival in Miami to celebrate and highlight the condiment’s many uses in the preparation of foods and drinks.

The emerging trend of swicy, which essentially involves combining sweet and spicy flavours, is a classic example of how the industry continues to evolve. In that regard, the prospects are very promising for a particular spice in 2025. According to McCormick, a world-renowned brand of seasoning and spices, the ají amarillo will be the “flavour of the year.”. It is chilli and indigenous to South America. Soon, diners are expected to find this colourful condiment inside establishments, households, and even bartenders.

Why do people like Ají Amarillo?

Many people eat spicy food, but each has its favourite type of chilli. And for instance, ají amarillo is one of those. It is cherished for its bright colour, yellow to orange, and aromas, which do not overpower each other but can be described as sweetish and hot. Some people will also say that the taste reminds them of passionfruit or mango. In any case, it is fairly hot with almost the same degree as chilli pepper, although the heat distribution is different. That is why chefs find it easier to cook with when they don’t intend to burn their diners’ taste buds.

Then again, its adaptability is what has contributed to its growing acclaim. Ají amarillo is one of those spices that fits well with almost any dish, be it roast meat with different vegetables, dips, or vinaigrettes. It can be used in cocktail making as well, wherein cocktails are made with ají amarillo simple syrup, which would be replaced with pepper in the rendering. Along with its favourable culinary qualities, the bright hue of the seasoning is yet another attribute that one cannot help but adore while focusing on swicy dishes.

An Emerging Pattern

The ají amarillo was introduced to the list due to its popularity growth, and chefs as well as food scientists in McCormick’s food team noticed that it was being used a lot on restaurant menus around the world. They managed to come across the said spice on charred broccoli recipes in London, on raw shells of edible oysters in the land down under, and coasted sugar ice cocktails in Canada. The acceptance of the spice outside its native region of South America shows that more and more people in different parts of the world are becoming fond of the ingredient.

McCormick, therefore, has the view that the usage of ají amarillo in menus is going to rise by 44% in the ensuing years. This is parallel to the outbreak of giving in to Peruvian foods, in which case the spice without a doubt is ever present. For instance, over the past 5 years, there has been a 22% increase in the number of Peruvian restaurants alone in America, and this has also added to the growth in the demand for the ingredient.

And now let us apply our knowledge about the term in practice, swicy. It sounds like sweet and spicy. And it is sweet and spicy.

Making Ají Amarillo Available to More Kitchens

Starting on February 3, McCormick will launch its version of the seasoning, which can be purchased online for £9.99. A food festival held in Miami in February will also spotlight the ingredients in the form of delicious food and drinks, with culinary enthusiasts getting the chance to try its actual taste themselves. 

With the push for bold flavour and globalising ideas, ají amarillo is being primed to become a must-have ingredient in every cook’s household around the world. It will add a blushing, raw contrast to the spice. Whether staying true to its roots in traditional Peruvian dish traditions or updated for a newfangled take on food, the bursting aromatics produced will forever alter how we as a race define sweet and hot.