The Seasoning You'll Taste Everywhere In 2025, According To McCormick

This morning, the household name spice brand, McCormick, released the 25th edition of something it calls its Flavor Forecast — an annual report on the culinary trends for the upcoming year. With it, McCormick announced what it deems to be the 2025 flavor of the year: aji amarillo. Translating from Spanish to "yellow chile pepper," aji amarillo is a type of chile pepper used religiously in Peruvian cuisine. Paired with the aromatics of garlic and red onion, this yellow pepper makes up what's known as the "holy trinity" of Peruvian cooking, serving as a staple ingredient in all kinds of classic Peruvian dishes, including everything from ceviche to aji de gallina and papa a la huancaína.

Used whole, chopped, or as a paste, aji amarillo has a distinctly fruity flavor reminiscent of passion fruit and mango. With a rating between 30,000 and 50,000 Scoville Heat Units, it lands somewhere between a serrano pepper and a Thai bird chile on the Scoville Scale for measuring chile pepper spice intensity. Preferably, the peppers are purchased from a local Latin market and used fresh, where you'll notice that they turn a slight shade of orange when ripe. But fresh peppers aren't quite so easy to come by outside of the South American countries they grow in. The good news is that McCormick is offering everyone a taste of the stand out flavor with its new Aji Amarillo Seasoning, which will be available online for a limited time beginning on February 3, 2025.

Made from a dried blend including garlic, onion, oak smoke, sea salt, and fruit-flavored aji amarillo, McCormick's Aji Amarillo Seasoning is, essentially, the "holy trinity" of Peruvian cuisine in a bottle. Adding it to your spice collection, in turn, unlocks your ticket to Peruvian cooking at home. But the combination of heat, smoke, and tropical flavors also takes it way beyond that. "Our Flavor of the Year, Aji Amarillo, is the true embodiment of flavors that pack a punch," Hadar Cohen Aviram, the Executive Chef and Senior Manager of Culinary Development for U.S. Consumers at McCormick, said in a press release. "Its versatility lends itself to diverse applications, amplifying both sweet and tangy flavors, and adds dimension to smoked or charred items."

Sweet and spicy, with a bit of smoke, McCormick's Aji Amarillo Seasoning blend will be delicious on everything from seafood to poultry, as well as in sauces, salsas, and more. Aside from all of the classic Peruvian dishes you could use this seasoning blend in, the Aji Amarillo Seasoning would taste wonderful blended with pineapple and lime juice for a quick homemade pineapple salsa. Added to your guacamole, it would also bring a hit of fruity and tropical flavors that would pair well with the addition of fresh chopped mangoes in the summer (try it in this fresh mango guacamole recipe). You could even add it to your marinades — spreading it over anything from salmon to chicken thighs for a spicy and tropical flavor from within — or, possibly even dash into your cocktails or slide along the rim of the glass for a bit of kick.