The world’s hottest pepper is constantly changing, evolving almost. It seems every year a new pepper is either created or discovered.
Top 10 Hottest Peppers (Chilli) In The World
SHU = Scoville Heat Unit (A measure of Spiciness) Pepper Scoville Scale displayed as Peak SHU Values
SHU is a way of quantifying how spicy a pepper is by measuring the concentration of capsaicinoids. Capsaicin is the chemical responsible for the spicy sensation within a pepper.
1. Carolina Reaper 2,200,000 SHU
The previous world champion, Carolina Reaper has been beat! by itself… The Carolina Reaper is once again officially the World's Hottest Pepper.
Originally ranked as the world’s hottest in 2013, the Reaper was tested again in 2018 with an even higher SHU. (71,000 SHU higher to be exact) This gives the reaper a renewed title as World’s Hottest!
It was bred for heat and that it is, with an average SHU of 1,641,000 SHU and peaks at 2.2 Million SHU!
Let’s put the Scoville rating into perspective for you:
The Carolina Reaper pepper is 200x hotter than a Jalapeno
Just looking at it, you know its one mean pepper. The Carolina Reaper has a unique stinger tail that is unlike any other pepper. It gets this insane heat from being a cross between a Ghost Pepper and a Red Habanero.
Oddly enough this pepper doesn’t just have heat, but excellent fruity flavor to boot. Well, that is before it melts your face off.
2. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion 2,009,231 SHU
Straight from the depths of hell the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend, AKA Moruga Scorpion, is a rare sought after pepper that was only just recently discovered.
Native to the lands of Moruga in Trinidad and Tobago. Once you take a bite of this formidable pepper the heat never stops building.
This pepper may be lacking the Reaper’s stinger, but don’t let that fool you. The Moruga Scorpion is every bit as hot as The Carolina Reaper.
3. 7 Pot Douglah 1,853,936 SHU
Well, renown in the pepper community as one of the hottest peppers with the best flavor.
The 7 Pot Douglah is the hottest pepper you can find that isn’t red.
The hottest “superhot” peppers are traditionally red, but the Douglah defies the odds by being brown AND scorching hot.
You can’t go wrong with fresh, dried, or powdered Douglah on any food.
Also known as 7 Pod Douglah, Chocolate 7 Pod or the 7 Pot Brown.
4. 7 Pot Primo 1,469,000 SHU
This pepper was created by horticulturist Troy Primeaux.
Some peppers cultivators have tried to replicate the Primo look by breeding their own peppers to have a long stinger.
When you just look at this pepper, you know it’s going to be INSANELY hot. It coincidentally looks strikingly similar to The Carolina Reaper…
5. Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” 1,463,700 SHU
The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T is a previous Guinness World Record Holder (2011) from Australia.
No doubt it’s insanely hot, but other peppers have been proven to be hotter.
It’s aptly named due to the scorpion stinger found at the tip of the pepper and also the creator, Butch Taylor.
The burn from this pepper is unlike any other.
The Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper burns like you swallowed a 1,000 suns.
6. Naga Viper 1,349,000 SHU
It was never fully stabilized before being released so pod variation is expected.
7. Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia) 1,041,427 SHU
This is the first pepper to scientifically test over 1 million Scoville's.
Many mistakenly believe the Ghost Pepper is still the World’s Hottest pepper, this list shows it is far from it.
8. 7 Pot Barrackpore ~1,000,000 SHU
The 7 Pot Barrackpore is one of the hottest of the 7 Pot peppers.
This one is from the Town of Chaguanas in Trinidad and Tobago.
Many of these “super hots” come from this region.
9. 7 Pot Red (Giant) ~1,000,000 SHU
10. Red Savina Habanero 500,000 SHU
Back in the early years of super hots, the Red Savina Habanero was KING!
The Red Savina has since been dethroned and many peppers have passed it in heat.
The Red Savina just barely makes the Top 10 but does so in fashion with its great flavor and extreme heat.
