This Superhot Hot Sauce Recipe is made with a variety of superhot chili peppers including carolina reapers, 7-pot peppers and scorpion peppers. It's extremely hot and not for the faint of heart. For true chiliheads only!
Superhot Hot Sauce Recipe
OK, my friends. It's time to reveal one of the hottest hot sauces I have ever made in my own kitchen. Yes, it's homemade and it's crazy hot. Crazy hot in a good sort of way, the way only a serious chilihead can enjoy. This might just be the hottest hot sauce in the world that you can make right at home!
I grow a big variety of chili peppers every year. I love a range of heat and flavors, from flavorful sweet peppers all the way up to superhots with their incredible heat.
I use them in so many ways, and one of my favorites it making homemade hot sauce. I do enjoy milder sauces that focus on flavor over heat, but every now and then, I want some seriously heat in my hot sauce. That's when this hot sauce comes in - a hot sauce made from superhot chili peppers.
Superhot Hot Sauce Ingredients
- Superhot Chili Peppers - Use reapers, scorpions, 7 pots - use your favorite varieties - stems removed – use a mix! Anything over 1 Millions Scovilles, baby!
- Garlic
- Basil Leaves
- Vinegar
- Salt
Hot to Make Superhot Hot Sauce
Roast the peppers. Heat an oven to 400°F. Set the superhot chili peppers and garlic on a baking sheet and bake them about 15-20 minutes, or until the skins slightly char. Keep an eye on these. You don't want them to burn, and watch out for any fumes.
NOTE: Alternatively, do this on your grill outside.
Process the ingredients. Add peppers to a food processor. Squeeze garlic out of their skins and into the food processor they go. Add basil leaves and process.
Vinegar. While processing, add in vinegar until it is nicely pureed. Watch out for the fumes!
Salt and strain, if desired. Add salt and stir. Push the sauce through a strainer or use a food mill to really strain it, if desired. Adjust with more vinegar or water to your desired consistency.
NOTE: I don't always strain. It really depends on how thick you want your hot sauce.
Bottle it up. Pour into bottles and enjoy. Give to your friends! The longer you let it sit, the more the flavors will meld.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Protect yourself from fumes. Aside from the obvious heat you will achieve with this sauce, you must also beware of fumes in the kitchen. Make this sauce in a well ventilated room. Open the windows if you can. Pepper fumes can be rough, especially with superhots. Consider a mask and/or goggle to protect your eyes.
- Also, wear gloves. I cook with superhots all the time and the oils usually do not bother my skin, but when cooking with a large amount, cutting them open, handling them, you will get some on your skin. It may burn, but if not, it can still burn other parts of your body that you touch.
- Let it sit. Once you've made the hot sauce, jar or bottle it and let it sit a week or two for the flavors to truly meld, though you can eat it right away if you'd like.
Where did you get that hot sauce bottle?
I find them locally sometimes, but I also order through Amazon. Here is a link to some bottles I like (affiliate link, my friends!): Swing Top Glass Bottles, 8.5 Ounce - Set of 4. If you like the smaller bottles that most hot sauce makers use, here's another link: Hot Sauce Bottles, 5 Oz - 24 Pack.
How hot is this superhot sauce?
With superhots, you can expect a wide range of heat, though the majority of them start at over 1 Million SHU. Some will approach or surpass 2 Million SHU, which is somewhat insane, but again, these are ranges so you can typically expect your pepper heat to fall in the middle somewhere.
The heat depends on many factors, such as soil and growing conditions of the particular peppers. Well, my peppers must have been grown under some ideal conditions, because they were HOT. I didn't want them to go to waste, so I turned the majority of them into a hot sauce that I still have today.
This is a Louisiana style hot sauce with a few extras added in for flavor. A Louisiana style hot sauce consists of peppers and vinegar, and they're extremely popular.
With good reason. This superhot version brings in the variety of superhots and adds in roasted garlic and basil. That's it, with a bit of salt. You can expect variable results depending on the chili peppers you choose to work with.
To push for the top end of the scale, use only Reapers or 7-Pot Brain Strains if you can get them. Pure Scorpions would be crazy killer hot. Or vary it up like I did. You can also make this with roasted jalapenos, or pretty much any pepper you prefer.
Choose your peppers with love. That is always a good place to start.
Storage
It should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer. It's all about the acidity. To be technical, target level ph for shelf stable foods is below 4.6 ph, but should probably be lower for home cooks, around 4.0 or so, to account for errors.
I have not measured the ph of this sauce, but I won't have it around very long anyway. If you're concerned, add more vinegar to lower the ph.
The best ph meters that I recommend are from Thermoworks. Get yourself a ph meter from Thermoworks today. I am a happy affiliate.
See my post on "Does Hot Sauce Need to be Refrigerated?"
Enjoy More Hot Sauce Recipes
- Homemade Sriracha (both fermented and non-fermented varieties)
- Cayenne Pepper Sauce
- Ti-Malice – Hatian Creole Hot Sauce
- Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
- Habanero Hot Sauce
- How to Make Hot Sauce: The Ultimate Guide
- More Hot Sauce Recipes
If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you'll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don't forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I'll be sure to share! Thanks! -- Mike H.
Superhot Hot Sauce Recipe (The Hottest Hot Sauce I Ever Made)
Ingredients
- 1 pound superhot chili peppers (reapers, scorpions, 7 pots - use your favorite varieties) stems removed – use a mix! Anything over 1 Millions Scovilles, baby!
- 4 cloves garlic
- 12 large basil leaves
- 1 cup vinegar + more as needed
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Heat an oven to 400 degrees. Set the superhot chili peppers and garlic on a baking sheet and bake them about 15-20 minutes, or until the skins slightly char. Keep an eye on these. You don't want them to burn, and watch out for any fumes. Alternatively, do this on your grill outside.
- Add peppers to a food processor. Squeeze garlic out of their skins and into the food processor they go.
- Add basil leaves and process.
- While processing, add in vinegar until it is nicely pureed. Watch out for the fumes!
- Add salt and stir. Push the sauce through a strainer or use a food mill to really strain it, if desired. Adjust with more vinegar or water to your desired consistency.
- Pour into bottles and enjoy. Give to your friends! The longer you let it sit, the more the flavors will meld.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
NOTE: This recipe was updated on 11/26/21 to include new information, photos and video. It was originally published on 11/20/15.
Lori says
Another great sauce. Dehydrated the solids for a great tasting chili powder. Glad for that tip.
Mike H. says
Happy to hear it, Lori. Enjoy!
Rob says
Awesome mate, I chucked in some British Stout in mine too as I do with everything, and also used some chocolate douglahs so mine was quite dark in colour. Very hot, made the wifes eyes water after the roasting she wasn't happy 😉
Mike Hultquist says
Haha, boom! Sounds awesome, Rob! Yeah, this sauce can tick some people off, haha.
Chris says
I made this one today, cut in 1/4 (15 peppers). Love it!
Mike H. says
Great to know, thanks!
Hayden says
this recipe looks delicious! do you think it's safe to can to make it last longer?
Mike H. says
Thank you, Hayden. Yes, it is! See this section in the post: HOW LONG WILL THIS HOT SAUCE KEEP?
Alan Vosper says
I like the idea of not boiling the vinegar.
Mike H. says
Let me know how it goes 😉
Cynthia says
I am about to try this recipe with my crop of scorpian, ghost, reaper and super hot chilis...I have had problems with my sauces separating (i've just ordered xanthium gum. will this recipe be shelf stable without some kind of "processing"? I'm using small plastic bottles that I ordered on Amazon.
Mike Hultquist says
I hope you enjoy it, Cynthia. Super hot!! It will last many, many months without processing, but you can process it in a water bath to make it shelf stable. The xanthan gum will help with the separation. Have fun!!
Scott says
It's interesting that you don't specify which vinegar. I have used your Ghost Pepper recipe to great success (thank you!) and for this I assume white distilled vinegar (your Louisiana reference noted). I supposed that choice of vinegar could depend on one's desired outcome? I plan to make this with only scorpions as I have a ton, and I didn't grown reapers this year because the sauce I made last year was a bit ludicrous. 🙂 Thanks again, love your website! It's the only one I use for hot sauce inspiration!
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Scott! I don't always specify which vinegar, as any edible vinegar can be used, yes, to different results. I usually encourage experimentation to see which you might prefer. I do usually use a good quality white vinegar, though sometimes use apple cider vinegar.
Trish says
This is delicious! I’ve never made hot sauce before. I used peppers from our garden. Does it need to be refrigerated?
Mike H. says
Glad to hear that, Trish! It should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer.
Sam says
Thanks so much for this Mike, I appreciate your input. I will be receiving a 2kg bag of Carolina Reapers tomorrow. I will test this and take your advice. Makes a lot of sense with cutting back on some ingredients. I will def let you know how it all went, Thanks again.
Mike H. says
Please do - enjoy, Sam!
Sam says
Hi Mike. I've been reading through your recipes for a few days now and I'm quite intrigued. Do you have any advice for a tasty, flavorful Carolina Reaper hot sauce recipe that uses 1kg peppers at a time, (used to working with kg, grams, ml here in South Africa, not sure if converting is accurate)Basically to be made in larger quantities. I'm not sure if I can just multiply the quantities of your recipe. Your advice would be great. I'm looking for tasty flavors alomg with the heat.
Thanks so much
Mike Hultquist says
Sam, it's not an exact conversion when making hot sauces in bulk quantities. I learned this as I was exploring my own hot sauce line. You'll need to cut back on some of the add ons, like garlic, powders, citrus, and especially dried herbs and salt. It's really something you have to experiment with to get your preferred balance. I suggest starting with a base of peppers and vinegar, then adding the other ingredients in smaller quantities, then document amounts and test. You can always add more of the others in later to a batch, but can't take out. Let me know how it goes.
Daryl Porter says
I have used a mix of Naga Bhut, Scorpions, Birds Eye, Thai, Jalapeños and what else was fruiting.
I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Mike H. says
Please do - super excited to find out!
Naomi says
Fantastic, delightful (in a super hot way) and so easy to make 🙂
Mike Hultquist says
Yes!! Keep it SPICY, Naomi! =)
John Robinson says
I really liked your super hot hot sauce. what would you think about ghost peppers for a super hot hotsauce.
Mike Hultquist says
Absolutely, John! I have a few ghost pepper hot sauces here on the site. Go for it!