Jalapeño burning your eyes, hands or ... whatever else? Allow me to show you how to get jalapeño off your skin as we enter pepper season. Because even though you should wear gloves when you slice hot peppers - you probably don't do that.
I'm worried that you got to this post because you dipped your hands into jalapeño juice and are now running screaming around your kitchen so I'm getting to the important information immediately.
How to Treat a Hot Pepper Burn
Hot peppers get their heat from capsaicin—a natural oil that binds to your skin and sends your nerves into a full-blown panic. The problem? Capsaicin isn’t water-soluble, so you can’t just rinse it off with soap and water and hope for the best. That’s not how science (or pepper pain) works.
To actually stop the burn, you need to either:
- Neutralize it using an acidic ingredient (like vinegar, tomato paste, or dairy), or
- Dissolve the capsaicin using another oil (like olive or vegetable oil)
Milk or Yogurt
Soak the burn in cold milk or apply with a cloth.
The casein in dairy binds to capsaicin and helps lift it off the skin. It’s cooling, soothing, and fast-acting. Best for hands, eyes, or anywhere else you’ve made questionable life choices.
Vinegar
Pour directly onto the skin or soak a cloth and press it on.
The acidity helps neutralize the alkaline nature of capsaicin. Use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar—whichever you have.
Olive or Vegetable Oil
Rub oil onto the affected area, let sit for a minute or two, then wash with soap and water.
Capsaicin is oil-soluble, so fat breaks it down and lifts it from your skin. Soap finishes the job.
Tomato Paste or Sauce
Spread a layer over the burn, wait a few minutes, then rinse off.
Mild acidity helps neutralize capsaicin. Also a great excuse to use up that half can of tomato paste in your fridge.
Butter
Rub on cold, let sit a few minutes, rinse off, then wash with soap.
Same idea as oil—fat helps—but butter is less effective and slightly embarrassing to explain to anyone who walks in mid-treatment.
Bleach Solution (1 part bleach to 4 parts water)
Dip hands quickly (don’t soak), then rinse immediately and wash with soap.
Bleach chemically breaks down capsaicin, but it’s harsh—only use on hands, and only if you're desperate and out of dairy.
Use whatever method will work best with where your burn is.
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We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
I use the milk method all the time.
Here's the thing about me; I injure myself at least 3 times a week. I cut myself, burn myself and just generally maim myself. It's not because I'm particularly clumbsy or careless ... I just do a lot. Most of the time I just ignore these injuries and know they'll go away in a few days.
This is also why I keep my tetanus shot updated and mini alcohol wipes on me at all times. For some women it's lipstick in their purse, for me it's wound care. 🤷♀️
But sometimes I need the pain to go away IMMEDIATELY. Like that time I suffered a chili con carne injury that I couldn't ignore. Nor could anyone who looked at me.
When you have a finger full of hot pepper juice you should avoid touching your eye. I just soaked a pad in milk and wore it like an eye patch.
So if you get a pepper burn anywhere on your body, including your eyes, your fingers, your mouth, your fragile zones the very best thing you can do is soak it in milk or spread yogurt on it.
If you're a woman, here's where else I had to spread frozen yogurt once.
I left my eye sling on for 20 minutes total and I replaced the cotton pad with a freshly soaked pad every 5 minutes or so. You should feel instant relief from the milk, but as the burn starts to come back, replace with new, cold milk.
Now if you'll excuse me I have a mystery scab that needs to be tended to.
Kat - the other 1
Unfortunately most people buy skim milk these days, that will not work, it needs the FAT.
Thank you for your article.
I always wondered as a kid WHY people said to drink milk if you ate something to spicy. It never worked. Apparently it didn't work cause everyone was afraid of fat and only bought skim. *sigh*
Sadly can't have milk or peppers anymore (stupid ulcers!). Before the stupid ulcers however, I used to chop peppers. After reading your article and doing some other research and experiments, I decided on a different method to start with to help prevent any pepper burns. I set up my chopping station, I set a plate next to it, with a paper towel that I've added some oil to. Wash, dry, prepare, chop, etc the peppers. After finished touching peppers, I use the oiled towel to wipe / soak my hands and up my wrists, just in case. Use towel to wipe knife, cutting board, put them in sink/ soapy water, toss towel. Keep rubbing the oil around my hands a bit, let it stay for at least a minute or five, then wash well. I didn't get any more burns using that method. :)
Julia
I had just read this when my toddler decided to eat a jalapeno and it burned her lips. We put yougurt-ranch all over them like lip gloss. It did the trick!
Karen
Oh, good!! I'm so happy to hear that. ~ karen!
blue
I'm so confused, is this a thing that happens? I've never worn gloves when cutting up hot peppers and I've never burned myself. How do you even do this?
Carla
Hey Karen - I’m sure you remember The Bamboo Club in Toronto.
My husband was a cook there in its heyday often working the wok making their famous Thai Noodles - remember you could order mild, medium, or Yow! Well, every once in a while they'd get a tough (inevitably white) guy come in who'd say something like “they can’t make it hot enough for me”. Taken as a challenge the cooks would immediately would make an inedible dish with gobs of their special hot pepper sauce knowing they would replace it with a reasonable dish right after tasting.
So this one time, when the waiter gave the guy the dish, he tasted it and started to cough and it was obviously WAY too hot. He asked what he could get to cut the heat a little. The waiter rhymed off the standard remedies- white rice or milk. The customer asked for milk. The waiter brought a glass for the guy to drink, and the guy immediately poured it all over his noodles!
Needless to say, that didn't help.
Love your posts!
Karen
LOLOL! ~ karen
Mary W
I just bit into a little pepper I had picked call Fire Away. I thought that meant there was no fire and the green ones were not hot. Well it had turned red on the counter and I just bit half of one while preparing my salad. WOW, I wish I had known about the milk then. I won't forget now. Most heat lovers will probably think I'm a wus but Fire Away was plenty hot for me.
Joanna
Good morning from Oklahoma, USA! I used milk to neutralize pepper heat UNTIL I discovered sugar - works much faster and 'more complete' than milk ever did.
Jennifer Van Noland
I sliced up some jalapeno's a few years back and changed my tampon right after.
It took a few hours to get back to normal. I could have used this info.
billy sharpstick
My favorite is sour cream, good dairy content, and thick enough to stay in place. (yogurt is probably a close second). One time I stepped into some stinging nettles in the yard and was in reasonable agony. I went in the house and was preparing stuffed jalapenos(spam, cream cheese and pineapple, wrapped in bacon). I accidentally rubbed my eyes and was blinded with pain. As I was climbing the stairs on my hands and knees to get to the shower, it occurred to me that my nettle pain was no longer noticeable.
Kimeku
Why not just rinse the affected areas with cool water though? It's accessible and it works and most recommended by physicians. It really isn't difficult to simply rinse with water.
Madeleine Whitfield
Here's another DIY recipe for home-based medicine hacks. When looking after a child infected with pin worms, I discovered they had migrated to me. But it was the middle of the night! What to do? I quickly googled a "natural remedy" and came across a site recommending a paste made of raw garlic. You apply this paste to the, ahem, wormy area, and the theory goes that the worms disappear. They certainly do, but the host will be peeling herself off the ceiling. Not recommended! (It works though).
Medical professionals get a laugh out of this.
Kim Parker
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! My nine-year-old got hold of some bear spray (broke into my locked basement to get it), sprayed it and it got all over his upper body. He was screaming. I thought I'd have to call 911, but I quickly found your post. It took TWO gallons of milk, but it worked! I think he might think twice before using a spray he's unfamiliar with in the future. But ***sighhh***, don't think it will stop him from trying to break into places he's not allowed (he's extremely drug affected, thanks mom - brain damage!) Anyway, you are an angel - thought I'd have to take him to the hospital, and you solved that for me - you are truly the angel we needed!
Karen
Wow! I'm glad it worked Kim. I probably wouldn't have even thought of using it for bear spray myself! I've heard Olive Oil works as well but I haven't tried that method myself. ~ karen!
Megan
Thank you for that I had a bad day and you just made it so much better so funny and helpful thanks
Karen
Just out of curiosity Megan ... was your day bad because you burned yourself? Happy to help. :) ~ karen!
Brigette
I was in need of fast relief and your advice came to the rescue quick! Thanks.
Guillermo
Hi Karen, it did work and it brought me back to life. At one point I was watching in case I'd get hives in my skin, as I thought I was having an allergic reaction, it was that bad. I'll never look at chilli peppers the same way. Your blog is great and your story is well written, with a lot of humour, so I'll check your site from time to time. Thank you and enjoy Thanksgiving.
Guillermo
Thank you Karen, you just saved my life, or at least my lips and nose. Being Latin American and living in Europe I often laugh at Europeans threshold for Chilli, so I was preparing a recipe to treat my work colleagues, thinking that I would spice it up a little, I cut up a very innocent looking Scotch Bonnet and before adding it to the recipe, I put a tiny speck of it in my mouth to try it. After an hour of incredible pain and not letting up, I googled it and found your article. Thank you as I will be able to go to bed and sleep, something I thought impossible half an hour ago. Needless to say, I now have a new found respect for innocent looking chilli peppers and of course milk.
Karen
HI Guillermo! I'm glad it worked! (I'm guessing it worked otherwise you'd be cursing me not thanking me, lol). And yes … BEWARE of the innocent looking scotch bonnet! Welcome to my site. Hope you stick around. :) ~ karen
Jenn
Pepper in the eye can be serious business. I onced worked at a restaurant where we carried over 100 different hot sauces. One was so outrageous that you had to sign a waiver before we could let you use it. One of the servers I worked with had someone that was going to use it, so he pulled it down, and for whatever reason opened the bottle for the customer. The lid popped up a bit and a tiny drop flew up into his eye. He's been blind in that eye ever since.
I've dealt with enough issues in restaurants that I simply have a box of disposable exam gloves in the kitchen - raw meat or peppers, onions or garlic get the gloves. Cheap and you can find them everywhere! Walmart even has them in boxes on the shelves.
ckdesigner
That milky tear is poetic! As the recipient of nearly every rare skin affliction that can possibly happen to a hyper-cautious person, I have considered starting my own line of Rescue Wear. Your design is superior and dare I say, Trending.
Karen
Why thank you. It is quite fetching isn't it? ~ karen
logan
burned my nose today and thank god you had this up here cause if not i might have burned to death and want to know if the burning will just go away
Liz Lyons
Thank you for your advice. I burned my hands preparing jalapeno poppers for my step-son and his friends. I heard that just the seeds of the pepper burns your skin so I was extremely careful coring the pepper. Well not careful enough, very painful burn which lasted for hours. My step-son's friend who was watching me prepare the peppers told me later that he kinda knew I would burn my hands but he didn't say anything. I replied, is that your confession? Can you imagine someone so sadistic?
Karen
Oh dear. That sucks. Did you get to my advice in time? Or is it stored in memory for next time? ~ karen
Liz Lyons
Thank you for your empathy. No, unfortunately I did not get your advice in time. I am educating people, like you do. Yes it is burned in my memory; however, there will never be a next time, because I am now aware.
LInda
I mixed with a hot pepper once and I found that solarcaine worked wonders. We were on vacation and i didn't have milk and didn't know that would work. I tried alot of stuff but the only thing that did work almost instant was the solarcaine.