Growing Aji Amarillo Peppers: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · September 30, 2026
Aji amarillo is the yellow-orange chile at the center of Peruvian cooking. It is Capsicum baccatum, a different species from bells and jalapeños, known for fruity, citrusy flavor.
A long season
Sow True Seed lists 85 days from transplant, High Desert Seed 90 days, and Pepper Joe’s 90 to 99 days. Pepper Joe’s notes the pods reach 4 to 5 inches, the largest of the aji types, ripening to yellow-orange. Sow True Seed describes the heat as slow and medium-hot.
Because of that long season, start seed earlier than you would for a bell. We schedule it at ten weeks before your last frost.
Plant size
Pepper Joe’s gives a sturdy plant about 3 feet tall. Baccatum peppers tend to grow taller and more open than annuum types, so a stake or cage is worth setting at transplant.
One plant per square foot in the Garden Designer. The Bell Pepper profile covers shared pepper care, and the companion guide lists neighbors.
Growing it next to other peppers
Different pepper varieties cross-pollinate easily, hot ones included. NC State Extension notes that when hot and sweet peppers cross, the heat shows up in later generations grown from saved seed, and suggests keeping varieties 20 to 30 feet apart if you plan to save your own. Baker Creek, which grows seed for sale, isolates varieties by at least 500 feet. If you buy fresh seed each year, you can plant sweet and hot peppers side by side.
Sources: Sow True Seed, Aji Amarillo; High Desert Seed, Aji Amarillo; Pepper Joe’s, Aji Amarillo; NC State Extension, Saving Your Own Seed.
Companion planting guide for Aji Amarillo Pepper · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 3-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 2.5-3.5 ft
Method: Start indoors: Start indoors from seed, then transplant outside. It needs a head start most zones can't give it by direct-sowing alone.
When to plant aji amarillo pepper, by zone
Every zone aji amarillo pepper grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3a & 3b | Mar 21–Mar 28 | Jun 13–Jun 20 | Sep 11–Sep 18 |
| 4a & 4b | Mar 6–Mar 13 | May 29–Jun 5 | Aug 27–Sep 3 |
| 5a & 5b | Mar 1–Mar 8 | May 24–May 31 | Aug 22–Aug 29 |
| 6a & 6b | Feb 14–Feb 21 | May 9–May 16 | Aug 7–Aug 14 |
| 7a & 7b | Jan 30–Feb 6 | Apr 24–May 1 | Jul 23–Jul 30 |
| 8a & 8b | Jan 14–Jan 21 | Apr 8–Apr 15 | Jul 7–Jul 14 |
| 9a & 9b | Dec 7–Dec 14 | Mar 1–Mar 8 | May 30–Jun 6 |
| 10a & 10b | Nov 21–Nov 28 | Feb 13–Feb 20 | May 14–May 21 |
| 11a & 11bSummer window | May–Nov | Aug–Feb | ~90 days after transplanting |
Harvest dates are about 90 days after the sow or plant-out date, not after starting seeds indoors.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Aji Amarillo Pepper plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 2.5-3.5 ft.
Soil & water: pH 6-6.5. Needs well-drained soil. Amend with lime if soil pH falls below 6.
Good companions for aji amarillo pepper
- Basil: Reputed to repel aphids and improve pepper growth nearby, but a controlled garden trial testing this same claim on a related crop found no pest-reduction benefit from basil, and found higher pest counts on the basil-companioned plants. Treat this pairing as unproven, not as a working pest deterrent.
- Onion: Reputed to deter many common pepper pests, though this specific pairing hasn't been tested the way onion/carrot pest-masking has. Treat it as garden tradition.
Full companion guide, including what to keep away from aji amarillo pepper →
Where to buy aji amarillo pepper seeds
None of the seed suppliers we list carries aji amarillo pepper seeds right now. A local garden center or a specialty seed house is the place to look.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a clear consensus of positive, independent reviews, or ones we bought and use ourselves. Each item on our gear page says which.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing aji amarillo pepper" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
Pin this for later
Growing Aji Amarillo Pepper: Peru's essential yellow chile: fruity, medium-hot, and slower than most peppers.
Save to Pinterest