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Hottest Pepper
The world’s hottest pepper is constantly changing, evolving almost. It seems every year a new pepper is either created or discovered so check back often to see new record breaking peppers! PepperHead® has the most up-to-date list of the World’s Hottest Peppers. Here at PepperHead® we have been growing these “super hots” for over 20 years and have grown and eaten every pepper on this list. We are dedicated to providing you spicy lovers with the ability to grow all of these insanely spicy peppers in your own backyards. Without further ado, here is our Top 10 Hottest Pepper List.Share this Hottest Pepper List
Top 10 Hottest Peppers In The World [2026 Update]
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. Pepper X 2,693,000 SHU
Pepper X is now the World’s hottest Pepper with an average of 2.69 Million Scoville Units and peaks over 3 Million SHU. Not much is known about this pepper since seeds have not been publicly released. So unfortunately you cannot taste or grow Pepper X yourself.
2. Carolina Reaper 2,200,000 SHU
The Carolina Reaper pepper is 200x hotter than a Jalapeno #WorldsHottestPepperJust looking at the pictures above, you know its one mean pepper. The Carolina Reaper has a unique stinger tail that is unlike any other pepper and every pod is different! 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. More Carolina Reaper Info
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Watch these Chicks eat The Carolina Reaper
10 Even more Hilarious Videos of The Carolina Reaper Challenge
Test your heat tolerance with the PepperHead Challenge! Eat a whole Carolina Reaper Pepper on camera and receive a FREE T-Shirt!
You can now buy the reaper as powder, live plants or seeds so you can grow your own plant and try for yourself.3. 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.
More Moruga Scorpion Info
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Watch Rhett & Link from Good Mythical Morning Eat the Moruga Scorpion
4. 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 scortching 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.
More Douglah Info
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5. 7 Pot Primo 1,469,000 SHU
The 7 Pot Primo is very distinctive with its long skinny “tail”.
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…
More Primo Info
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6. 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.More Butch T Info
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7. Naga Viper 1,349,000 SHU
Naga Viper is an extremely rare pepper cultivated in the UK. Hybrid of many different peppers and years of cross pollination created this variety of “Super HOT” pepper.
It was never fully stabilized before being released so pod variation is expected.
More Naga Viper Info
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8. Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia) 1,041,427 SHU
The Ghost Pepper is the most famous “Super Hot” due to the amount of press it has received in the past.
It exploded in popularity on YouTube and other social sites where pepperheads ate whole Ghost Peppers as part of a challenge.
This is the first pepper to scientifically test over 1 million scovilles.
Many mistakenly believe the Ghost Pepper is still the World’s Hottest pepper, this list shows it is far from it.This isn’t 2007. If you have friends that still think the Ghost Pepper is the hottest pepper, share this page with them. However, don’t be fooled by how low this is on the list as it can still bring a grown man to his knees. More Ghost Pepper Info
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Kid swallows ghost pepper, instantly regrets it.
9. 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.
More Barrackpore Info
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10. Red Savina Habanero 500,000 SHU
Back in the early years of super hots, the Red Savina Habanero was KING!
It held the title of the World’s Hottest Pepper from 1994 to 2006. 12 Years!
The Red Savina has since been dethroned and many peppers have passed it in heat, but still to this day it is one of my favorite peppers to grow because it has the perfect balance of heat and flavor..
The Red Savina just barely makes the Top 10, but does so in fashion with its great flavor and extreme heat.
More Red Savina Info
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Are you a PepperHead®?
Try growing these Superhot peppers! PepperHead® seeds grow real peppers with real published SHU ratings.
Order all Top 10 Hottest Pepper Seeds and save 30% over purchasing individually!
We are so excited about our brand new product, the PepperHead Powder Sampler Kit! Its the perfect gift for spicy lovers.
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Honorable Mentions
Lets talk about some upcoming hybrid peppers that show promise. These two hot peppers will be added to the list once their validity has been confirmed.Dragon’s Breath 2,483,584 SHU
There have been recent reports of a Dragon’s Breath pepper claiming to be hotter than the Carolina Reaper.Preliminary testing of the Dragon’s Breath pepper pegs it at 2,483,584 SHU which would blow the Carolina Reaper out of the water.It could be a publicity stunt in which the “news” websites ate up, even claiming Dragon’s Breath could kill you. Technically a pencil can kill you too…
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Share this Hottest Pepper List
I have tried the ghost pepper cheese and it is amazing. The cheese makes the pepper taste come out more to make it more spicier. It is so good I would recommend the ghost pepper.
Komodo Dragon
1.400,000 to 2.200,000 shu
Tried a Carolina reaper once, not nearly as hot as I thought it would be but still burned. Forgot to wash my hands then touched my nose, I could feel each and every pore on my face burn with the wrath of 10 suns
Great peppers
I got mine growing I’m not going to eat them but I got people that want to buy some so I told them I’ll grow them
I always look at the top 10 hottest peppers in the world. I’m planning on planting at least a couple plants of each of the top 10 this year as soon as I get my green house up.
Yo I love peppers but the hottest I tried is a habanero I look forward to trying the carolina reaper….Hopefully its really hot
I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. My taste buds began craving spicey foods. I began eating 4 ghost peppers per day and to my doctors surprise the cancer is completely gone. Seven years now cancer free and I continue to eat 2 ghost peppers every morning and night.
Guys chill out!!! I personally can’t eat something with too much TONY’S
Great article! I picked up carolina reaper seeds this year since we had so many in between hot peppers and decided we’d just go all out burn your esophagus this year. I also picked up a curious pack of “apocalypse scorpions”, does anyone have any experience with these?
I’ve been growing Habaneros in N Texas since 1993 when 3-400,000 Scovilles was considered insane, and once had 60 plants. Getting older, I’ve cut back but I bought 2 Bhut Jolokias at Lowe’s[!] and have a few Carolina Reapers started from seed.
I’ve been canning them as a “mash” for about 15 years. De-stemmed pods, vinegar, and salt; then using a stick blender before canning. This decade I’ve gone to “mash”ing jalapenos as my friends’ aging guts get wimpier, canning up to 60 pints a year, but I still have 13 pounds of de-stemmed Habs in the freezer, in reserve.
One flavor trick that has my friends begging for those pints is smoking with mesquite. I de-stem the pods [with Jalapenos, cut in half lengthwise to expose more surface], and put them in dispo aluminum pans with holes cut in the bottom to allow more smoke to penetrate, and smoke them for up to a couple of hours with low heat, until the pods show signs of wrinkling and/or a glaze from the smoke; slower and glazed is better.
Mesquite smoking works for both jalapenos and hot pods alike to add wonderful flavor, far beyond that of the pods alone.
I have a plan to make the most delicious thing for a person with a hellava challenge. A mixture of the hottest peppers and whatever in the world. I’ll call it PROJECT:HELLFIRE or THE DEVIL’S WEAKNESS. It might so hot it would have me on watch by the FBI because it’s so life threatening.
I wish you sold fresh peppers, as I’m too impatient to wait for them to grow. Guess I’ll have to make due with flakes or powder, although a variety/ sampler pack with all the different flavors would be awesome. I’m looking forward to trying the red savina, and douglah
I too am not one with the hotness of the carolina reaper. Eating a quarter of it was enough for me to start crying it was so hot i wasnt litteraly crying my eyes starting watering if you can give me tips on how to fully consume that pepper
I’m 17 and I’d like to try a tiny bit of all of the peppers mentioned but I can’t eat a lot of extremely spices things so do you know what would “tone it down” a bit?
Hi so a Carolina reaper is really really really really really really hot and can burn your mouth.
I was wondering if a 12 year old could handle this.
i can i have eaten almost all of these peppers and cant feel heat
!!!
I am a wimp, I can’t even handle jalepeños.
Don’t say that! I cannot handle them either! They are spicy enough to make a 10 year old go nutz! Even when I am not 10.
My favorite is the orange habanero. It has a fruity flavor. I chop it up in small bits. Add it in different amounts to different foods.
I love spicy food. But what would be the most flavorful pepper?
I have had ghost pepper sauce and I am only 8 years old!
If you are going to put yourself through all that pain at least learn what neutralizes the pepper first. These peppers can cause life threatening conditions. Capisum is an oil, the natural neutralizer for this oil is betacarrotene. So you would have better luck using Carrot juice than milk, bread, cheese, butter or any other mythical remedy. Also if you can’t handle a habanero pepper what makes you think you are going to live through something ten times hotter.
I wish I can at least taste one of these peppers, my life will be complete lol
If u want one I’ll sell u one when mine come in
i can’t believe that pepper x is twice as hot as the Carolina reaper pepper so the pepper x heat unit is 4,400,000 SHU
Most people yell at me when I say this, but banana peppers are too sweet… and not spicy enough
🙂