Impact of production and drying methods on the volatile and phenolic characteristics of fresh and powdered sweet red peppers

•Hot air, microwave and infrared drying were employed on pepper powder production.•Higher amount of phenolic compounds was determined in organic pepper samples.•Phenolic compounds from LC–MS/MS increased significantly with the drying process.•Microwave and infrared methods were more effective to preserve aroma and phenolics, respectively.•Sensory analysis revealed that hot air-dried samples were least preferred. Aroma, phenolic compounds and sensory properties of fresh and powdered organic and conventional sweet red peppers dried by three methods (hot air, intermittent microwave and infrared) were studied. The number of aroma compounds was higher in both fresh and powdered organic pepper samples; however, the total amount was higher in conventional samples. In both organic and conventional samples, alcohols were the dominant aroma group. (E)-β-ionone and β-ocimene, which are important compounds in peppers, were determined only in organic peppers. Among the drying methods, intermittent microwave drying was more effective in creating new aroma compounds. The liquid chromatography, coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) revealed that luteolin derivative compounds comprised an average of 70% of the phenolics. Higher amount of phenolic were determined in organic samples. Infrared drying was more effective in retaining of phenolics than the other two methods. Sensory analysis revealed that hot air-dried samples were least preferred.