Hottest Pepper in the World in 2023

The Hottest Pepper in the World in before October 2023
was the Carolina Reaper* 

This world-record-holding popular super hot pepper is the star of many hot sauces and salsas as it adds intense heat and flavor and makes your taste buds sing (or scream, depending on how much you consume!)

*As far as we know, time will tell if another pepper beats out the Reaper at some point to become the newest champion of heat. There have been some new developments in the testing of capsaicin in hot peppers, so it may become easier to test super hot peppers down the road. Of course, you still need to have a lot of peppers and a stable strain to test, regardless of the testing technology (people or a machine), and often new "varieties" of super hots can be inconsistent in heat, which is why it's hard to test new hot peppers! 

Check out the capsaicin oil oozing from this Carolina Reaper!


At this point in 2023, the Carolina Reaper still holds the crown for being the world's hottest pepper and will likely retain the crown in 2023. So if you want to grow a wickedly hot beast in your garden our Carolina Reaper seeds are sure to please!

Learn How to Grow Carolina Reapers »

They may be hard to find in stores, but it's not that hard to grow Carolina Reapers from seeds! Make sure to start them indoors with bottom heat, and we like to grow them in pots so that we can bring them somewhere warm indoors if a late spring cold spell or storm or early fall snow is in the forecast. Carolina Reapers are one of the fastest growing peppers of the super hot peppers, starting to harvest in just 90 days (while many other super hot peppers take over 100+ days.) Grow your own reapers for hot sauces, salsas, or spicing up stews/stir fries, roasted vegetables, you name it. Just be careful, they pack a PUNCH - so we like to use them in small doses and add more until the heat is just bearable. Of course, we like it HOT! 

Here's one of our all-time favorite salsa recipes...

Try our fabulous Carolina Reaper Salsa Recipe »

Our customers tell us that our Carolina Reaper seeds have the best germination rates, and have great success growing our Reapers as well as any of our other pepper seeds. We specialize in seeds for Peppers of the World, so you can grow international peppers in your garden no matter where you live.




Also, for lots of heat, don't miss out on our other super hot peppers including the Komodo Dragon which will make you feel like you're breathing fire! We also have Yellow Carolina Reaper seeds that produce beautiful bright yellow reaper pods with a million Scoville Heat Units!

Want to find out which of our peppers are the hottest down to the sweetest? Check out this list:


View our full List of Peppers by Heat