Heat explorer

The Scoville scale

Scoville Heat Units (SHU) measure a chilli's pungency — from the sweet 0 of a bell pepper to well over a million for the superhots. Here's every variety in the index, placed by its heat.

What a Scoville unit measures

A Scoville Heat Unit is a dilution factor. Wilbur Scoville's 1912 test diluted a chilli extract in sugar water until a panel of tasters could no longer detect any burn; the number of dilutions it took became the score. A chilli that needed watering down five thousand times scored 5,000 SHU.

Nobody measures it that way now. Laboratories use high-performance liquid chromatography, which separates the extract and measures capsaicinoid concentration directly in parts per million, then converts the result back into Scoville units so it sits alongside a century of older figures. That conversion is the reason the scale has survived: the method changed completely, and the numbers still mean the same thing.

What it can't tell you

Which pod you're holding. Genetics set a variety's ceiling; growing decides where a given fruit lands beneath it. Sun, water stress, soil and ripeness at picking all move capsaicin levels, and two pods from one plant can differ. That is why almost every figure here is a range, and why a range is the honest form for it.

Whether it's an average or a peak. A certified record is an average across many pods. The number that travels is usually the hottest single fruit anyone tested. Both get printed as “the SHU”, and between them sits most of a million units at the top of the scale. If a figure doesn't say which it is, assume peak.

How hot it will feel. A lab measures capsaicinoid content, not sensation. Which capsaicinoids are present, how fast they arrive and how long they stay all change the experience — and human response saturates, so three times the SHU is nothing like three times the burn.

Reading the bands

The four bands below are how this index sorts heat, and each step up is a multiplying rather than an addition. Mild covers the padróns and pimientos you can eat whole. Medium is jalapeño and serrano country — the everyday working range of a spice-tolerant kitchen. Hot runs from cayenne to bird's eye, where a chilli starts dominating a dish rather than seasoning it. Superhot begins at 100,000 SHU with the habaneros and Scotch bonnets and carries on, without an upper limit, to the record-breakers.

Ranges are read from the top down, so a variety appears in the band its maximum reaches. A tick beside a figure means we can point at a published source for it.

The chemistry, the history and the reason the ladder has to be drawn logarithmically are in Understanding the Scoville Scale. For the top of the range, ranked and sourced, see the hottest chillies in the world.

Mild

0 – 2,500 SHU · 23

Jimmy Nardello0–100 SHU Shishito50–200 SHU Banana Pepper0–500 SHU Florina0–500 SHU Pepperoncini100–500 SHU Sucette de Provence200–500 SHU Paprika Žitava0–500 SHU Paprika Tap de Cortí0–500 SHU Santa Fe Grande500–700 SHU Beaver Dam500–1,000 SHU Piquillo pepper500–1,000 SHU Tobago Seasoning0–1,000 SHU Medusa pepper1–1,000 SHU Italian Long Hot100–1,000 SHU Aji Dulce0–1,000 SHU Cubanelle100–1,000 SHU Sweet Piquanté Pepper1,100–1,200 SHU Aji Panca1,000–1,500 SHU Ancho1,000–1,500 SHU New Mexico No. 91,000–1,500 SHU Poblano1,000–2,000 SHU Kashmiri Chilli1,000–2,000 SHU NuMex Heritage 6-41,000–2,000 SHU

Medium

2,500 – 30,000 SHU · 30

Rocotillo1,500–2,500 SHU Pasilla1,000–2,500 SHU Chilaca1,000–2,500 SHU Anaheim500–2,500 SHU Turkish Pointed500–2,500 SHU NuMex Easter500–2,500 SHU Rocotillo (Caribbean)1,500–2,500 SHU Padrón Pepper500–2,500 SHU NuMex Big Jim2,500–3,000 SHU Mulato2,500–3,000 SHU TAM Mild Jalapeño1,000–3,500 SHU Espelette pepper500–4,000 SHU Cherry Pepper100–5,000 SHU Cherry Bomb Pepper2,500–5,000 SHU Siling Haba1,000–5,000 SHU Mirasol2,500–5,000 SHU Turkish Pickling1,000–5,000 SHU Guajillo2,500–5,000 SHU Sandia5,000–7,000 SHU Chipotle2,500–8,000 SHU New Mexico chile1,000–8,000 SHU Jalapeño2,500–8,000 SHU Fresno2,500–10,000 SHU Hungarian Hot Wax5,000–10,000 SHU Aleppo Pepper10,000 SHU Thunder Cacho5,000–15,000 SHU Peter Pepper10,000–23,000 SHU Cheongyang10,000–23,000 SHU Serrano10,000–23,000 SHU Serrano Tampiqueño10,000–25,000 SHU

Hot

30,000 – 100,000 SHU · 38

Oro de Ecuador5,000–30,000 SHU Roxi20,000–30,000 SHU Diavoletto d'Abruzzo15,000–30,000 SHU Chile de Árbol15,000–30,000 SHU Joe's Long5,000–30,000 SHU Hinkelhatz5,000–30,000 SHU Erjingtiao10,000–30,000 SHU Bishop's Crown5,000–30,000 SHU Fish Pepper5,000–30,000 SHU Aji Limon15,000–30,000 SHU Aji Pineapple20,000–30,000 SHU Manzano12,000–30,000 SHU Black Pearl10,000–30,000 SHU Bolivian Rainbow10,000–30,000 SHU Thunder Mountain Longhorn Chilli30,000–40,000 SHU Calabrian Chilli25,000–40,000 SHU Guntur Sannam35,000–40,000 SHU Facing Heaven Pepper30,000–50,000 SHU Ellachipur Sanman30,000–50,000 SHU Goat Horn20,000–50,000 SHU Cayenne30,000–50,000 SHU Sugar Rush Stripey25,000–50,000 SHU Aurora Pepper30,000–50,000 SHU Aji Charapita30,000–50,000 SHU Buena Mulata30,000–50,000 SHU Aji Limo30,000–50,000 SHU Aji Crystal22,000–50,000 SHU Filius Blue30,000–50,000 SHU Cayenne Ring of Fire30,000–50,000 SHU Aji Amarillo30,000–50,000 SHU Sugar Rush Peach30,000–50,000 SHU Aci Sivri5,000–50,000 SHU NuMex Twilight30,000–50,000 SHU Vindaloo Chilli45,000–50,000 SHU Tabasco30,000–50,000 SHU Pequin40,000–60,000 SHU Dundicut55,000–65,000 SHU Apache70,000–80,000 SHU

Superhot

100,000+ SHU · 45

Raging Bull100,000 SHU Aji Cito80,000–100,000 SHU Siling Labuyo80,000–100,000 SHU Chiltepin50,000–100,000 SHU African Bird's Eye50,000–100,000 SHU Xiao Mi La50,000–100,000 SHU Bird's Eye Chilli50,000–100,000 SHU Malagueta50,000–100,000 SHU Cumari o Passarinho100,000 SHU Thai Dragon50,000–100,000 SHU Rocoto30,000–100,000 SHU Basket of Fire80,000–100,000 SHU Kambuzi50,000–175,000 SHU Goronong150,000–300,000 SHU Datil100,000–300,000 SHU Habanero White100,000–300,000 SHU Trinidad Scorpion300,000 SHU Madame Jeanette125,000–325,000 SHU Dalle Khursani100,000–350,000 SHU Habanero100,000–350,000 SHU Hainan Yellow Lantern100,000–350,000 SHU Scotch Bonnet100,000–350,000 SHU Fatalii125,000–400,000 SHU Habanero Red Caribbean300,000–445,000 SHU Chocolate Habanero425,000–577,000 SHU Red Savina350,000–577,000 SHU Habanaga500,000–800,000 SHU Nagabon750,000–800,000 SHU Ghost Pepper855,000–1,041,427 SHU Infinity Chili1,000,000–1,067,286 SHU 7 Pot Yellow1,000,000–1,200,000 SHU 7 Pot1,000,000–1,200,000 SHU 7 Pot Primo800,000–1,268,250 SHU 7 Pot Brain Strain1,000,000–1,350,000 SHU Naga Viper900,000–1,382,118 SHU Trinidad Scorpion Butch T1,000,000–1,463,700 SHU Naga Morich1,000,000–1,500,000 SHU Dorset Naga800,000–1,600,000 SHU 7 Pot Douglah923,889–1,853,986 SHU Chocolate Bhutlah1,000,000–2,000,000 SHU Trinidad Moruga Scorpion1,200,000–2,000,000 SHU Komodo Dragon1,400,000–2,200,000 SHU Carolina Reaper1,400,000–2,200,000 SHU Dragon's Breath2,480,000 SHU Pepper X2,480,000–2,693,000 SHU

Heat figure has a published source on record. Unmarked figures are compiled from references we haven't yet cited on the page — accurate as far as we know, but not something you should have to take on trust.

The top of the scale, ranked and sourced: the hottest chillies in the world.

Browse the full database in the variety index, by species, or compare varieties side by side.