The title of “hottest pepper in the world” is something that’s challenged more often than you may expect. Every year, farmers and other hot pepper cultivators find new ways to hybridize chilies and utilize their environment (soil, water, sunlight) to create peppers that will combat for the top position, if not beat it. Below we break out the hottest peppers based on potential peak heat on the Scoville scale (via their total Scoville heat units or SHU). See our full hot pepper list here to see our heat rankings of 150+ chilies.
Explore the Scoville scale through our Up The Scale spice set, featuring medium heat jalapeño, extra-hot habanero, and fiery super-hot ghost powders.
Table of Contents
- Hottest peppers chart (by maximum SHU)
- Handling the world’s hottest peppers
- Ghost Pepper
- 7 Pot Jonah
- Trinidad 7 Pot Pepper
- Infinity Pepper
- 7 Pot Primo
- 7 Pot Barrackpore
- 7 Pot Brain Strain
- Naga Viper
- Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T”
- Naga Morich
- Dorset Naga
- 7 Pot Douglah
- Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
- Komodo Dragon Pepper
- Carolina Reaper
- Honorable Mentions (potentially the spiciest of them all)
- Must-read related posts
Hottest peppers chart (by maximum SHU)
Handling the world’s hottest peppers
Let the names of these chilies – like Scorpion and Reaper – be a warning. These are the spiciest peppers around – holders of multiple Guinness world records and the base for many of the hottest hot sauces around. They all make jalapeño peppers look like child’s play.
And while their differences in Scoville heat units may look vast, your experience will be similar when handling each. These are dangerous chilies, and, as such, they must be handled carefully. If you’re going to dance with the devil, wear kitchen gloves, eye goggles, and take great care throughout the cooking process. Know, too, how to combat chili burn to keep yourself safe.
Ghost Pepper
- 855,000 to 1,041,427 Scoville heat units
- See our ghost pepper profile
It really says a lot about the state of super-hot peppers when the notorious ghost pepper – once Guinness Book champ – barely cracks the top 15 hottest peppers in the world. The ghost pepper (a.k.a. bhut jolokia) held the Guinness title for the hottest chili pepper in 2007, so it has gotten a lot of fame over the years. In fact, some of its non-culinary uses have given it notoriety. Residents of India use the ghost pepper as a way to keep wild elephants away. They incorporate it into smoke bombs and even smear the pepper onto fences. Those elephants definitely don’t want to tangle with this pepper, but you can if you like!
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7 Pot Jonah
- 800,000 to 1,200,000 Scoville heat units
- See our 7 Pot Jonah profile
7 Pot peppers abound among the hottest peppers in the world. The 7 Pot Jonah is much like the traditional 7 Pot pepper below, but bigger in size and (some say) even fruitier in flavor (if you can get past the extreme heat). They can dip down in heat below the level of a ghost pepper, but at their peak, they’ll easily beat out the ghost by over 150,0000 Scoville units.
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Trinidad 7 Pot Pepper
- 1,000,000 to 1,200,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Trinidad 7 Pot pepper profile
The common variety of the Trinidad 7 Pot pepper is a killer in the kitchen. It equals the peak heat of the Jonah strain, but with a higher heat floor that guarantees this chili is close to the top end of a ghost pepper, no matter what. 7 Pot peppers get their name for how far their extreme heat can go. One chili can easily spice up seven pots of stew – hence 7 Pot peppers.
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Infinity Pepper
- 1,067,286 to 1,250,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Infinity pepper profile
For a brief 2 weeks in 2011, the Infinity pepper held the Guinness Book of World Records title as the hottest pepper in the world, before being replaced by the Naga Viper. It stole the crown from the ghost pepper, and it’s easy to see that both it and the ghost have been relegated far down the super-hot line since that time. Infinity pepper is a good name as the chili has a slow burn, like the ghost pepper, that seems to last a lifetime.
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7 Pot Primo
- 800,000 to 1,268,250 Scoville heat units
- See our 7 Pot Primo profile
The Primo hybrid is a cross between a Naga Morich and a Trinidad 7 Pot pepper. Its heat level is at minimum the level of a ghost pepper with the chance to cross into the world of hotter chilies like the Moruga Scorpion. The 7 Pot Primo is known for its pronounced scorpion-like tail, giving the chili a real edge in the looks department, even among the hottest peppers around. This chili was founded by Troy Primeaux (hence the “Primo” name.)
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7 Pot Barrackpore
- 1,000,000 to 1,300,000 Scoville heat units
- See our 7 Pot Barrackpore profile
Coming in bigger and hotter than most other 7 Pots, the 7 Pot Barrackpore is a real force among the world’s hottest peppers. What it has extra in heat, though, it loses some in overall flavor. It’s a little more bitter and less fruity than other super-hot chilies.
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7 Pot Brain Strain
- 1,000,000 to 1,350,000 Scoville heat units
- See our 7 Pot Brain Strain profile
The name’s the thing with this super-hot chili strain. The 7 Pot Brain Strain truly strains the brain in heat-factor, but the pod also looks a lot like a human brain in shape, folded and round. It’s a popular 7 Pot because of its fun look and mega-spiciness.
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Naga Viper
- 900,000 to 1,382,118 Scoville heat units
- See our Naga Viper profile
The Naga Viper has quite the pedigree behind it. It’s a hybrid cross between three super-hot chilies – the ghost pepper, the Naga Morich, and the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. In 2011 it took the official Guinness Book title as world’s hottest chili pepper, beating out the Infinity pepper. It lost the title in 2012, but still few chilies have held the title making the Naga Viper one to know among super-hots. It has the high heat of a scorpion pepper with the slow burn of a ghost pepper.
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Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T”
- 800,000 to 1,463,700 Scoville heat units
- See our Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” profile
The “Butch T” is a strain of the Trinidad Scorpion pepper, and for 3 years it held the Guinness Book title for world’s hottest pepper. It ranks here for its peak range, but it tends to average out to a hotter temperature than the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (which has the much higher potential peak heat). The “Butch T” gets its name from Butch Taylor, the developer of this super spicy chili.
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Naga Morich
- 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Naga Morich profile
A relative of the ghost pepper, the Naga Morich (also known as the serpent chili), starts in heat where the ghost pepper ends. Its floor is 1 million SHU, compared to the ghost pepper’s peak heat of 1,041,427 SHU. It has a sweet, almost floral flavor and a slow burn heat.
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Dorset Naga
- 1,000,000 to 1,598,227 Scoville heat units
- See our Dorset Naga profile
The Dorset Naga is sort of a super Naga Morich. It was developed by choosing the seeds of the best possible Naga Morich chilies, creating a popular pepper in itself with a little extra heat. But the flavors (sweet and floral) are similar between these two peppers.
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7 Pot Douglah
- 923,889 to 1,853,986 Scoville heat units
- See our 7 Pot Douglah profile
The 7 Pot Douglah is not your typical 7 Pot pepper. It ages to a chocolate-brown and has more of a sweet and nutty flavor than fruity. And in terms of heat, it’s a major uptick from other 7 Pots – at its peak it nears the 2 million Scoville heat unit mark, which only a few chilies ever come close to (or surpass).
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Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
- 1,200,000 to 2,000,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Trinidad Moruga Scorpion profile
Sporting a killer name, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is from Trinidad and Tobago and gets its moniker from its scorpion-like “tail” that looks like the stinger of, you guessed it, a scorpion. Its heat at its potential peak hits 2 million Scoville heat units which places the Moruga Scorpion among the peppers that can be hotter than many pepper sprays. The Trinidad Scorpion chocolate (the brown sub-variety) falls also within these Scoville heat boundaries as well.
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Komodo Dragon Pepper
- 1,400,000 to 2,200,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Komodo Dragon pepper profile
With comparable heat to our #1 hottest pepper in the world, the Komodo Dragon has face-melting spiciness. There’s a sneaky sweet heat to this super-hot pepper – like the ghost pepper it’s a slow burn that doesn’t hit you upon the first bite, but builds over time into a firestorm. Interestingly, the Komodo Dragon chili is unique in the fact that it found its way into a major supermarket’s store shelves. It’s sold at TESCO stores in the United Kingdom.
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Carolina Reaper
- 1,400,000 to 2,200,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Carolina Reaper profile
As of November 2013, the aptly named Carolina Reaper has been the Guinness Book of World Record’s official hottest pepper in the world. It’s a United States hot pepper variety (South Carolina) with insane heat, coming in from 1,400,000 Scoville heat units (SHU) up to a mind and taste bud boggling 2,200,000 SHU. That’s essentially 200,000 SHU hotter than the hottest possible Scorpion pepper. Put it another way, it’s a whole habanero hotter in terms of peak spiciness, and at this top level, it blows past many pepper sprays. The Carolina Reaper has a fruitiness to it, and the PuckerButt Pepper Company (founded by Ed Currie, the grower behind the Reaper) have grown it to be a super-hot that doesn’t skimp on the overall flavor. That is if you can handle the heat, and that’s a big ‘if’!
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Honorable Mentions (potentially the spiciest of them all)
Our honorable mentions sport chili peppers hotter than even the Carolina Reaper, but don’t have the track record on consistent heat (yet) to take the official throne as the hottest pepper in the world. Still, you should get to know these incredibly super-hot chilies as their names will only grow in prominence.
Death Spiral Pepper
- 1,300,000 to 1,500,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Death Spiral pepper profile
Otherwise known as the Death pepper, this super-hot chili is a hybrid of a Naga Bubblegum and a Naga Viper. It’s a wicked mix and rather unpredictable at the moment. The heat ranges widely but tends to hit near the Carolina Reaper range. Its colors and shape, too, vary from fruit to fruit. At some point, when the strain is stable, we’ll see where it lands, but for now, know it’s among the hottest peppers.
Apocalypse Scorpion Pepper
- 1,400,000+ Scoville heat units
- See our Apocolypse Scorpion profile
Also called “Apocalypse pepper,” this scorpion chili packs around the same weight as the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, but the jury is still out on its consistent performance on heat. It could top the Carolina Reaper, but it will likely not touch one of the incredibly hot contenders further down on the list. Still, it’s one wicked-looking (and tasting) chili with a sweet, floral flavor behind its extreme spiciness.
Chocolate Bhutlah
- 2,000,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Chocolate Bhutlah profile
The Chocolate Bhutlah is a hybrid of the ghost pepper and the 7 Pot Douglah. It’s not currently stable, but heat tests have shown this chili to be around the 2 million Scoville heat unit mark. Other reports give it a floor of about 1.5 million SHU. But that’s not official. Still, this level of heat easily puts it among the hottest peppers. And it’s certainly among the hottest (if not the hottest) “chocolate” chili varieties around.
Dragon’s Breath Pepper
- 2,480,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Dragon’s Breath profile
The Dragon’s Breath received a lot of attention in 2017 for its potentially record-breaking spiciness. Put it this way, the Dragon’s Breath was originally grown for medicinal use, to use its high level of capsaicin as an anesthetic. Initial tests indicated a peak Scoville rating of 2,480,000 SHU. That would easily beat the Carolina Reaper, but more testing and official Guinness records judging are in order to definitively declare the Dragon’s Breath chili as the winner of the hottest peppers top spot. For now, it’s an honorable mention as an extreme chili, even among extreme chilies.
Pepper X
- 3,180,000 Scoville heat units
- See our Pepper X profile
The Puckerbutt Pepper Company – the makers of the #1 ranking Carolina Reaper – have another trick up their super-hot sleeve. Pepper X is said to be double the heat (yes, double) of the Reaper and a hefty 700,000 Scoville heat units above even the Dragon’s Breath. This is a maddening level of heat, yet – like the Dragon’s Breath – it has not been verified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Time will tell if this chili meets the standards needed to take the top spot among the hottest peppers in the world.
Apollo Pepper
- 3,000,000+ Scoville heat units
- See our Apollo pepper profile
Smokin Ed Currie (the founder of Puckerbutt) is en fuego with another crazy-hot chili. The Apollo pepper is a hybrid of the Pepper X and the Carolina Reaper, and all signs point to it being a contender for the title of hottest pepper. But, like Pepper X, the Apollo pepper has not been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. We shall see if this serious chili has the super-hot staying power to grab the title.
Must-read related posts
- What Is Capsaicin? Learn all about the compound behind chili pepper spiciness.
- What is the Scoville scale? Discover the story behind the famous pepper heat scale.
- What are Scoville heat units? We talk about SHU a lot, especially when discussing the hottest peppers out there. Know what’s what about SHU.
- What is Capsicum Chinense? This species of chilies holds the hottest of the hot. Learn all about it.
- How To Grow Hotter Peppers: If you have a green thumb and love extreme chilies, then you’ll want to consider how to maximize their overall heat while growing them.
- Does Cooking Peppers Make Them Hotter? What happens when you cook a chili? This is excellent intel if you’re trying to maximize spiciness in a dish.
Can’t see scotch bonnet in that list ???
do you know what is the actual hottest hot sauce even hotter than mad dog plutonium?
I’ve been following The Puckerbutt Pepper Company… and I heard about the APOLLO PEPPER a cross between the Carolina Reaper and Pepper X. From what I’ve also been informed, they have been certified by Guinness Book of World Records as THE HOTTEST.
Do the test of those 3 peppers at the emergency room desk. Just put them on napkins on top of the desk, then tell them you going to eat them right in front of them. See what they will do right after.
I grow jalapeños, ghost peppers, Carolina reaper, and Scorpion. Grind up when fresh and put in dehydrator. Makes great seasoning. Very hot but very tasty
Uhmm… A coward as i am, i wouldn’t try it(again). Hym about you trying it? Well i learnt my lessons after mistakenly chewing a carolina reaper raw when i was thirteen. Not my fault i didn’t know it was that hot. I had a fear of spices for the next two months.
Who has tried the Chocolate Bhutlah pepper? I was wondering if they are hotter than the Carolina Reaper? LA Beast said they seemed to be hotter and he eats a lot of hot peppers. Any one tried both? I’m just curious.
They are very easy to grow and they are also VERY prolific! One plant will produce dozens of peppers in one season. Good luck with the growing!!
I’ve been growing the Carolina Reaper now for about 4 years. I save seeds from the biggest and best shaped pepper from my plants and then plant seeds the following year. It’s more of a novelty pastime rather than a food source. I’m really not fond of hot peppers.
I am going to try the California reaper and the dragon breath and then the Komodo dragon pepper. Wish me luck. So I ate the peppers and the dragon breath was the hottest of all.
I grew Ghost peppers and Tobbasco peppers last summer. When I harvested I decided to ferment them for six months to make sauce. Had two jars of each kind individually and one bigger jar with them mixed. When I blended them to liquid I set in a ditch oven and smoked for about three hours then strained into jars. It’s very flavorful, but will burn you for hours with just a couple drops. Now going to grow some Reapers for the same purpose
In T’dad, we used to find habs just growing wild on hte side of the road, and my uncle’s cook used to make her own hot sauce which the whole family got jars of. She made it with mangoes and it was awesome!
I grew butch t scorpions. Sooooo hot. Definitely a sting in the tail the next day.
I ate a Reaper and cried in my room for like 2 days. It sucked do not recommend if it is your first pepper above ghost on the sheet
I’m growing the scorpion now,its a out a foot tall,how long before fruits?