Tips For Cutting Spicy Peppers To Avoid Burning Your Skin

Spicy peppers add much-needed heat and flavor to all sorts of cuisine. From American chili to Asian street foods, and all sorts of Latin American dishes, spicy peppers play a pivotal role. But handling spicy peppers is tricky. If you aren’t careful, they can burn not only your tongue but the skin all over your body.

To help prevent skin burns from spicy peppers, you should wear gloves made of nitrile, latex, or vinyl. Avoid scratching your skin, especially your face. Do not touch the seeds of spicy peppers, and avoid reusing the same cutting board and knife for other vegetables. To alleviate burning symptoms, wash your skin with something acidic like vinegar or tomato sauce, or soak your hands in fatty milk.

Cutting spicy peppers can be a painful, and even traumatizing experience. But it doesn’t have to be. If you follow a few simple safety precautions, you can easily cut very spicy peppers at home without feeling any negative effects. Keep reading to learn all about the best ways to prevent skin burns from spicy peppers, and how to alleviate the pain these peppers cause.

Why Does My Skin Burn After Cutting Spicy Peppers?

Everyone knows that biting into a spicy pepper is going to set off all sorts of spice alarms in the brain. But fewer people know that these spicy peppers can burn your entire body, not just your tongue. 

Spicy pepper burns on the skin, or “jalapeno hands” as it's sometimes called, is caused by the chemical compound capsaicin. This compound is alkaline, meaning it is more basic on the pH scale. It is also an oil-like compound. 

Therefore, to battle a pepper burn, you need to treat it with something acidic, or with something that can fight oil —like more oil. Cold water alone won’t do much to help ease the pain of this burn. Spicy pepper burn can linger for many hours after you finish cutting peppers. This is why it’s so crucial to do all you can to help prevent this particular skin irritation from occurring.

Five Ways To Prevent Skin Burns When Cutting Spicy Peppers

1. Wear Protective Gloves

The best way to prevent skin irritation when cutting up spicy peppers is to create a barrier between your skin and the pepper. Protective gloves, like rubber kitchen gloves, are full-proof barriers that are sure to keep any burning sensation in the pepper and away from your hands.

Make sure you use quality gloves made of nitrile, latex, or vinyl. If there are any punctures in the gloves, or if they are of a low-quality (or breathable) material, then they won’t be nearly as effective at preventing pepper burn.

2. Don’t Use The Same Cutting Board For Other Veggies

You must remember that the capsaicin compound can linger on a surface for a long time, especially on your knife and cutting board. Since these are the tools used to chop, there will be a lot of capsaicin on them. In addition to washing and soaking the knife and cutting board thoroughly in soapy water, you should consider using a different cutting board for chopping other vegetables and food items. 

If you use the same cutting board and aren’t wearing gloves, you may transfer some of the capsaicin without knowing it. Since your guard is down when you aren’t actively cutting spicy peppers, you are also more likely to scratch your face and spread the burn. Once you use a cutting board to chop spicy peppers, consider it out of service for the rest of the day until it’s soaked and cleaned.

3. Resist The Urge To Scratch Your Face

When you cut spicy peppers, you must avoid touching your face, especially anywhere near your nose and eyes. It is a natural impulse to scratch your face when it itches, but you must resist this temptation.

Your eye and nose area are the most sensitive to the burn associated with spicy peppers. These areas are also hard to treat. Therefore, make sure you actively remember not to touch your face when cutting spicy peppers.

4. Coat Your Skin With Vegetable Oil

If you need to cut spicy peppers but don’t have any gloves on hand, there is another option. Place a small bowl of vegetable oil by the cutting board, and lightly coat your hands with the oil. Remember that capsaicin is an oil-based compound, and placing oil on your hands is a good way to prevent it from absorbing into the skin.

Oil acts as a makeshift and temporary barrier. Keep in mind that this method is better than no protection but not nearly as effective as wearing gloves. If you are chopping incredibly spicy peppers, there is no substitute for gloves.

5. Wash Hands Frequently With Dish Soap

While cooking with spicy peppers, you should wash your hands more frequently than normal. Even when you take precautions, is it still possible to get some spicy residue on your skin, which is why frequent hand washing is essential. Use soap with grease-fighting properties like Dawn dish soap to help remove any burning oil residue. Regular hand soap, or no soap at all, will do very little to help. 

Five Ways To Stop Burning Skin Sensation After Cutting Peppers

1. Soak Hands In Vinegar

When your skin is burning, you might think something acidic is the last thing you would want to put on it. When it comes to spicy pepper burns, however, acid is the cure. Capsaicin is alkaline and therefore needs to be balanced out with something high in acid, to correct your skin’s pH. Vinegar is a non-aggressive but highly acidic pantry item. Soak the affected area in vinegar diluted in some water. You should notice relief within a minute. For severe cases, repeat the process several times.

2. Bathe Hands In Tomato Sauce

If you don’t have vinegar or want a slightly less-potent cure, you can use some canned tomato sauce as a healing bath. Tomato sauce is also quite high in acid and is effective at relieving the burn and pain associated with spicy pepper skin burns. Simply place the tomato sauce in a bowl, and place your hands, or infected area in the bowl.

3. Apply Some Soothing Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is an easy-to-grow indoor or outdoor plant used to treat all sorts of burns. It can even help neutralize the burning effects that capsaicin has on your skin. As soon as you feel the burning or tingling sensation after cutting spicy peppers, apply aloe vera. 

Aloe vera not only helps end the pain, but it gives a cooling effect that will help manage your burning sensations while they are still present.

4. Dip Your Spicy Hands In Fatty Milk

If you have cream or whole milk, you can use it to help alleviate the pain and burn associated with spicy peppers. Milk is a great option for those who are in pain after eating spicy foods. It also works on your skin. The fat molecules in dairy products can absorb and remove the capsaicin when it is hurting your skin. For best results, soak your hands in a bowl of fatty milk, and don’t rinse them quickly.

5. Coat Your Hands With Coconut Oil

If your hands feel raw or are burning after chopping spicy peppers, you might want to reach for your coconut oil. Coconut oil is effective at lifting the burn you get after cutting hot peppers. This oil is also very nourishing for your skin.

Coconut oil can moisturize your hands while soothing them simultaneously. This is a great option for those who have skin that burns and feels raw after chopping many spicy peppers.

Wrapping Up How To Cut Peppers Without Burning Your Skin

Spicy peppers add a lot to cuisine, but when you cook with them, you may get more spice than you asked for. Spicy peppers contain capsaicin, which can burn your skin, causing long-lasting irritation. To avoid this skin irritation, you should always cut peppers while wearing gloves, or coat your skin in vegetable oil. Make sure you don’t use the same cutting board to cut other vegetables, and always avoid scratching your face while cutting spicy peppers.

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