The 20 Hottest Hot Sauces You Can Buy
It’s not just about bringing the pain (to your mouth, nose, eyes and eventually the full track of your digestive system), it’s about that endorphin-laden euphoria that only true fire eaters know. Perhaps it’s also about the metabolism-boosting, heart-strengthening, cancer-slowing properties of the heat packing compound capsaicin. Or maybe it is just about the pain.
Whatever the reason behind man’s quest for edible fire, if you’re looking for the burn and the fury, you’ve found it here. These 20 of the hottest hot sauces contain scorching chili extracts as well as scalding blends of peppers that hold world records. Our list is a collection of hot sauce bottles whose contents give off dwarf-star heat.
Most come with warnings that aren’t messing around. Many caution against using more than the measliest dash, lest you sizzle away parts of your anatomy. And all of them hit dangerously high on the Scoville scale, some blasting out millions of Scoville heat units (SHUs) for a explosion of lightning on the palate.
Take the plunge, feel the burn, order up a few of these hottest hot sauces and try not to cry after dripping some on your food. See what you can handle before you crack. And get ready to sweat.
Mad Dog 357 No. 9 Plutonium
Heat Level: 9 million SHUs
Dubbed Plutonium because this is the closest you will (or should) get to putting something radioactive in your mouth. With 9 million Scovilles, this pepper extract is for those who’ve seen it all in the burning war of hot and are looking for something verging on the atomic. Heed the warning and add (sparingly) to food, lest your face become an annihilated nuclear wasteland. – Buy It
The Source Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 7.1 million SHUs
Once you get into the millions with your SHUs, you’ve left the rational world behind. You’re looking for the Source of all things hot. That’s exactly what this is. Clocking in at 7.1 mil, this super hot extract blend of pepper and pure capsaicin should not be used “around children or pets” and must be used one drop at a time. – Buy It
The End Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 6 million SHUs
This dare in a bottle comes from the Pepper Palace who have been kind enough to make a t-shirt for those willing to subject themselves to the risk of spontaneous mouth combustion — possibly because those who try it can’t speak for themselves for a while. Contains reaper peppers, the Carolina Reaper being the current world record holder for hottest pepper ever. – Buy It
Mad Dog 357 Pepper Extract
Heat Level: 5 million SHUs
Ashley Foods, makers of a terrifying range of sauces hotter than the sun, brings us yet another weaponized form of heat in this Mad Dog 357 pepper extract — the fourth in their Mad Dog Special Edition Extract Arsenal. Add a touch to your next plate of food and transform something formerly known as dinner into a firing squad aimed at your mouth. – Buy It
Mad Dog 44 Magnum
Heat Level: 4 million SHUs
Big gun, big heat. So goes the legend of this pepper extract from Mad Dog. At half the heat of their Plutonium, Magnum still should not be considered mild. This big barrel blast of capsaicin fury demands to be taken seriously. And while capsaicin is an ingredient in many over-the-counter pain creams, we don’t recommend you rub this one on your skin. – Buy It
Smack My Ass And Call Me Sally – Chet’s Gone Mad
Heat Level: 1.5 million SHUs
We keep recommending using these sauces by the drop. So this one goes ahead and provides you with a dropper — and a material safety data sheet. The only ingredient is oleoresin capsicum, which is the same stuff that’s in pepper spray. You too may ask for an ass smack after ingesting this heat bringer. Assuming you can still speak. (Actual Product Not Pictured) – Buy It
Da Bomb The Final Answer
Heat Level: 1.5 million SHUs
Da Bomb also makes a sauce called Beyond Insanity, yet this one is hotter. To attempt the Final Answer one must fly past insanity then keep going. More than just an extract, this one includes habaneros, spices and apricot nectar along with the pure pepper heat. But at one and a half million Scovilles, drip it on with a steady, cautious hand. – Buy It
Blair’s Ultra Death Sauce
Heat Level: 1.1 million SHUs
Still punching over a million Scovilles, Ultra Death can actually be called a sauce, not just an extract of pure pepper madness. The blend starts with the respectable heat of cayenne and works its way up the heat meter, adding serrano and habanero, before finishing off with a flame gun blast from hot jolokia peppers. It’s possible Ultra Death has the power to wake the dead. – Buy It
CaJohn’s Magma Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 1 million SHUs
If you like your hot sauce with a bit of showmanship, pick up Magma. The suspended oleoresin of capsicum forms a red-hot blob within the clear vinegar base, reminiscent of the once mighty lava lamp. Shake it to incorporate the heat, and tone down the burn to an acceptable level, like a full three steps back from a jet engine’s exhaust. – Buy It
Mad Dog 357 Revenge
Heat Level: 1 million SHUs
The bottle is just shy of two ounces, yet twelve pounds of hotter than Hades peppers go into making it. That’s the work of the chili pepper extract — highly concentrated molten scorch from the pepper’s capsaicin. A little extra habanero goes into the mix here to lend some flavor — and yes, another layer of center-of-the-earth heat. – Buy It
CaJohns Lethal Ingestion Bhut Jolokia Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 1 million SHUs
They’re calling this one the hottest non-extract hot sauce. That means it gets its heat from actual peppers and not just from extracting the peppers’ capsaicin. It still boasts a Scoville rating in the million range. That’s because it mixes three serious, top-of-the-list hot peppers: the Bhut Jolokia, the Red Savina and the Fatalii — the inspiration for the “Lethal” designation. – Buy It
Wanza’s Wicked Temptation Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 850k SHUs
It’s all about the dilution. Higher heat ratings go to the pure extracts, while something like this brings in a little tomato, pineapple and guava to temper the heat. Now, we’re saying ‘temper’ as in making the stuff slightly less hot than the unshaded parking lots of hell. Wanza will burn, but it might not sizzle a hole straight through the table. – Buy It
Dave’s Ghost Pepper Naga Jolokia Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 650k SHUs
Despite its name, the Ghost Pepper is far from an ephemeral, barely there apparition, the formerly hottest pepper on the planet is the very definition of here and now. This entry is a blend of Naga Jolokia (Ghost) peppers and pepper extract with roasted garlic pulp for a slightly tamer sauce than the million SHU bottles. But not by much. Use it by the drop not the dollop. – Buy It
Frostbite Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 5-600k SHUs
So hot it’s cold? That about sums it up. The water solubility of Frostbite makes it ideal for mixing in cocktails. Make a Bloody Mary extra bloody (hot) or get extra brutal with your Michelada. Since this adds little in the way of flavor, the white-hot heat will meld quite nicely with just about any mixed beverage recipe you’ve got. – Buy It
The Hottest Fuc*in’ Sauce
Heat Level: 600k SHUs
It’s an inevitable consequence of trying stuff this hot: you’re going to say some bad words. You’re going to curse your luck and your mouth and your decision making and the ground you stand on. That’s ok. It’s part of the ride. Containing both Scotch Bonnets and African oleoresin, ingesting it is the food equivalent of a hammer to the thumb, you’re not responsible for the outburst. – Buy It
Melinda’s Red Savina Pepper Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 577k SHUs
The Red Savina pepper was the cultivar of habanero that had a good long run (as in twelve years) as the reigning champion of the world’s hottest pepper. Bumped out of first place in 2007 by the Naga Jolokia, and a few other peppers since, it’s still got a very nuclear reactor style heat, made extra flavorful using the recipe for Melinda’s famous Original Habanero Sauce. – Buy It
Blair’s Mega Death Sauce
Heat Level: 550k SHUs
Note the space between the words, and the “a” in death. This isn’t an offering from Mustaine et al, but it nonetheless rocks the heat pretty hard. The inclusion of molasses here serves to mask the heat on the first hit, but then the habanero and cayenne offer a blaze somewhere in the neighborhood of a black steering wheel in July. – Buy It
Predator Great White Shark
Heat Level: 175k SHUs
You’re going to need a bigger burrito. Like everything on our list, this is to be used with a prudent hand — and glass of something cold nearby. Containing tropical island-themed ingredients like banana and pineapple to satiate the habanero and pepper extract flare-up, this warns it will take a “bite out of your posterior.” Test these waters at your own risk. – Buy It
Crazy Jerry’s Mustard Gas Hot Sauce
Heat Level: 125k SHUs
Adding another dimension of heat, Crazy Jerry has included mustard seed and mustard oil to layer with the pepper extract. The result will ignite your nose hairs, taste buds and anything else you let come in contact with it. The metal container is reminiscent of a mustard gas canister, and aptly depicts a skull in a gas mask. – Buy It
Habanero Punch TKO
Heat Level: 160k SHUs
At this point, if you’ve dutifully gone down the line and tried each sauce on our list, you have been subjected to radioactivity, shot by a 357 Magnum, got a lethal ingestion, been bitten by a shark and dosed with mustard gas. By now a punch in the face should seem like a walk in a park. A rather hot park with no shade and metal sidewalks, thanks to the T.K.O.’s habaneros and chili extract. – Buy It
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