Hottest Pepper in the World, Pepper X and the Top 10

What is the hottest pepper in the world?

Pepper X. Guinness World Records confirmed it in October 2023 at an average of 2,693,000 SHU, from tests Winthrop University in South Carolina ran on specimens from the past four years¹. Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Company grew it on his farm for over ten years, the same grower behind the Carolina Reaper.

If you saw one, you would notice the shape first: Guinness describes the pod's outside as having many curves and ridges, and says nothing about its flavor¹. The record figure is an average across those tests, not one freak pod. Guinness measures the record in SHU and in ASTA pungency units³.

To put the average in your own kitchen terms: if one jalapeño slice gives your salsa a mild kick, a sliver of Pepper X the same size carries the heat of roughly 540 of those slices.

What are the hottest peppers, ranked?

We rank by the best published figure for each pepper and label what kind of number it is. A Guinness average, a one-trial lab mean and a rounded lab figure are not the same thing, so read the third column before the second.

Every pepper from rank 7 up sits in our super-hot band, 1,000,000 SHU and above. You can see the full band, sorted by heat, on the super-hot peppers page.

Why is the Moruga Scorpion above the Reaper here?

Because its figure is a different kind of number. NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute lists the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion at 2 million SHU among the ten hottest chiles it has tested, as a rounded figure⁷. The Reaper's 1,641,183 is the average Guinness certified.

The same pepper can carry several numbers. Guinness first gave the Reaper an average of 1,569,300 SHU in 2013⁸ and later 1,641,183⁵. The ghost pepper reads 1,001,304 in the 2005 trial and 1,041,427 in its 2007 Guinness certification², and Red Savina tested at only 248,556 in that same trial⁴, far below its record.

NMSU's own list rounds Red Savina to 500,000 SHU⁷, so you will meet three figures for that one pod. When two sites disagree about a pepper, the cause usually sits in the kind of figure, and you can check it in our third column.

Epicurious made this 2023 video in which breeder Ed Currie tastes ten of the hottest peppers, so you can see what several of the pods in the table look like and judge for yourself how different they are, but records change, so use the ranking above when you need the current order.

Play video: Smokin' Ed Currie Tastes 10 Of The Hottest Peppers in the World 19:31

Smokin' Ed Currie Tastes 10 Of The Hottest Peppers in the World

From Epicurious

VideoPlays from YouTube when you press play.Watch on YouTube

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Which peppers are officially recognized, and which are only claims?

Only one body certifies a hottest pepper: Guinness World Records. Its rules judge the heat of a single pepper that someone has grown, in SHU and ASTA units, and they do not accept seeds³. Everything else you read, from a seed seller's label to a forum post, counts as a claim until a lab publishes it.

You will see two names come up most often. PuckerButt sells a sauce called The Last Dab Apollo, and the Hot Ones store lists Apollo in Thermageddon's blend, yet neither page gives Apollo a Scoville figure¹⁰¹². Thermageddon also lists Pepper Y in its mash with no description at all¹¹. Until a lab number appears, we leave both off the ranking, and you can treat any SHU figure you see for them as the seller's word.

What changed after Pepper X?

The record jumped by more than a million SHU in one step, and the Carolina Reaper lost the Guinness title it had held for ten years¹. You still cannot buy Pepper X as a pod. It went into sauces: PuckerButt's own shop has a Pepper X sauce collection¹⁰, and Hot Ones made it the first pepper in its hottest sauce¹¹.

Regulators in Europe acted in the same years. France's food safety agency counts six food products withdrawn from the European market since 2023 for too much capsaicin or labels that broke the rules¹³. The record history page has the full chart of every holder; the record line at the top of this page gives you the short version.

From Red Savina to Pepper X, the record went up almost five times in seventeen years (2,693,000 ÷ 577,000).

Which of the hottest peppers can you buy or grow?

You can grow several of them from the breeder's own seed, but not the record holder. On 18 October 2026, PuckerButt's seed shop listed Carolina Reaper, Orange Butch T and red Bhut Jolokia seed, and no Pepper X or Apollo seed¹⁴.

If you plan to grow one, give your plant a long run. Maryland Extension says habanero types ripen 90 to 120 days after transplanting, and that some peppers need seed started 12 weeks before the frost-free date instead of the usual 8 to 10¹⁵. Plants set out before the soil reaches 65 °F stall, the same page warns¹⁵, so a super-hot sown late in a short summer may never color up.

Is it safe to eat the hottest peppers?

Mostly it hurts, and sometimes it does more. Too much hot pepper can cause nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, and the poison center treats trouble breathing as a 911 call¹⁶. The irritation can last several hours, and days for some people¹⁷.

The poison center's case list shows you how far it can go. A 15-year-old who ate a Carolina Reaper on a dare had narrowed blood vessels in the brain and recovered fully¹⁷. In September 2023, a 14-year-old died hours after the One Chip Challenge, a chip made with super-hots¹⁷. The spicy challenges page lists the published cases.

To ease the burn, the poison center suggests small sips of milk or water¹⁶. In a 2019 study of 72 people, whole and skim milk eased the burn the most of the drinks tested¹⁸. Wear gloves when you cut super-hots, since capsaicin also irritates skin and eyes¹⁶.

Which super-hot should you pick, and when?

Pick by what you plan to do with it. Here is how we would match a goal to a pepper using only what the sources above show.

• You want to taste the record. A drop of Thermageddon on a wing is the one sourced route, since its mash lists Pepper X first¹¹. Its vinegar thins the heat well below the pod's 2,693,000 SHU average.
• You want to grow the hottest you can. Carolina Reaper seed comes straight from its breeder¹⁴, and it held the Guinness title for ten years¹. Start it 12 weeks ahead of your frost date¹⁵.
• You want super-hot heat in a pot of food. A ghost pepper, at about 1 million SHU in the 2005 trial⁴, already sits in the super-hot band. Start with a small piece and taste before you add more.
• You want a number you can trust. Stick to the rows marked as a Guinness record or a lab mean, and treat rounded figures as a rough rank you can use to sort, not to compare two pods.

Where to go from the record holder

Pepper X itself, with its breeder and every published figure, sits on its own index entry. Who stands right behind it depends on which kind of figure you trust, as the Moruga Scorpion question above showed.

The same pods also end up in bottles. Thermageddon is one of the hottest hot sauces built on them, and its label lists both Pepper X and the Reaper¹¹.